The Rock Garden Eats More Plants and Rocks

  Well, I allowed myself to cruise some of the places to get plants this weekend. Found two I liked already marked down and rescued them. Found a few others at reasonable prices.

There are six new plants and six new rocks in the rock garden, and you can't really tell where any of them went. I'm exaggerating a tiny bit on the rocks. Of course, I can see the rocks. The lower outer edge of this space never got finished. I worked on it last summer, and hope to get it really finalized this year. Still needs more rocks, and the logs Miki brought me. I need to get those spaces defined and leveled. Today is a good example of why. The rain just washes down the open slope with nothing to break it up.

Here are my new plant friends.

First is a rescue that isn't even hardy. However, it was really marked down, and if I remember to take it inside this fall it will be fine. Otherwise, it was really cheap, so... This is Sedum rupestre, mexicanum 'Lemon Coral.' It's a cousin of the 'Lemon Ball' I bought a few years ago that was marked as hardy, and isn't remotely so. Incidentally, Home Depot is still selling the Lemon Ball, and it's still marked as hardy. Ha! I won't make that mistake again. You can see the two little sad bits, but they may recover. If not, the larger portion of the plant is fine. It's supposed to stay that chartreuse yellow all season.

I'm just a sucker for various Sempervivum. I'm always hopeful they will actually end up looking like the pictures of what they are supposed to become when out in the sun, instead of like all the others. This one is 'Gold Rush,' and it should get reddish with bright golden tips on the leaves. I do like these ones that make babies on long runners. They look good no matter what. If it does get golden, I might have to move it, since I seem to have plopped it very near two other yellow plants. No big deal. There is a really bright golden variety called 'Gold Nugget' that gets bright yellow and orange. Quite unique. I suppose if I really wanted that, I'd have to order it.

Unless I do order things, I'm pretty limited to what the local places carry each year, which is not much. I cruise the aisles to see what they have that is different this season. When out of town, stopping at nurseries is something I always hope to have time to do. Here's another Sempervivum. Its variety is 'Black.' That sounds promising, right? I would hope it will turn very dark like those outer tips. The pictures on line aren't particularly dark. We shall see.

I'm always looking for interesting sedums. The Sunsparkler ones are just the cream of the crop. They are developed right here is west Michigan, somewhere. But the exact location seems to be something of a secret. I've emailed them twice to see if one can tour their research plots, but haven't gotten an answer, and can't seem to find what city they are in. I don't think I would have ordered this one, but there it was in the store. It gets bright pink blossoms in late summer, so that's a good time that always needs more color. It went in one of my "new" spaces. I have no idea what friends it will have yet.

The other sedum I got is some variety of Sedum spurium, the most popular ones of which are 'Dragon's Blood,' and 'Tricolor.' It's neither of those. Of course the label is useless. Tricolor would have pink on the leaves. This seems to be a variation that has only green and white. I kind of hope it stays that way because I have tricolor from two different sources (that are slightly different) already.

Speaking of 'Dragon's Blood,' I had one that was gorgeous called 'Fulda Glow.' I'm not sure if any of it survived. I have a sprig that was in the right place, and it's alive and labeled. Maybe it will bloom this year and then I'll know. A lot of the less colorful ones have survived.

Finally, I've been having really good luck with the several dianthus I got last year. Most of them were on markdown, as was the one I bought yesterday. Even the one that got seriously chewed is trying to recover. At the store, I was feeling a little sorry for myself because there was a bright red dianthus that would have been amazing. But it was full price. Anyway, I now have this pot home and deadheaded, and I love it! I may stop back and see if there are any of these markdowns left. They had several, and the garden could certainly hold another pot. Most of them bloom almost all summer. Can't beat that. This one is 'Red Dwarf, Eastern Star.'

I managed to get a few minutes in the garden between rain storms. Did some volunteer stuff and edited. A good day. I sort of wanted to goof off and read, but I managed to stay focused.

See Rock Garden Report 2