Bigbract Verbena or Not?

In 2016, I encountered this plant while walking to town one day. It's Bigbract Verbena, Verbena bracteata. It's kind of funky, and I hoped it would grow in the same place again, but it's only an annual, so it would need to reseed.

I've never seen even a hint of it again, and I've been looking. These pictures were taken in August of 2016. The appeal of the plant to me is the texture of the bracts.

So imagine my surprise when a couple of days ago, in the correct location, I saw this.

Could this be some of last year's seed stalks?

Maybe. I gathered up those dried stalks, and yesterday here's what I did. I had to take the daffodils out of a rock garden space they were too tall for. I put them along the lower edge of this as-yet-unnumbered space. Mixed in compost. Stripped the seed stalks and mixed them with some soil. Filled the top part of the area.

Hopefully, something will come up and then I can find out what it is and if I want to keep it. I'll be really happy if it is the Verbena.

It was nice and cool this morning, almost chilly for July. I walked 3 miles. Other than that, it's all the usual stuff, including finishing the trimming around all the gardens. That looks decent. Editing, computer stuff, am writing my next column. Researched some ideas to water my flowers with less water waste.

The lilies are almost done for the year, but a few other things are starting to bloom, so stay tuned.

Miles hiked in 2025: 318.6

See Bigbract Verbena

Some Rock Garden Colors Without Flowers

Very little is blooming right now, but if I take pictures from careful angles there are some nice colorful areas of the rock garden. This is my goal- that there will be nice contrasting colors all season, everywhere. Well, that is certainly a few years in the future! But I like the process, not the completion, so it's all good.

This is an area that looked really nice last year too, but I usually showed it to you from a different angle. The plants are larger this year, and it still looks good. White- Lamb's ear, red- 'Wildfire' sedum, tall yellow-green- Hylotelephium spectabile 'Rosenteller', low yellow-green- Sedum 'Lemon Coral.' And various other green foliage. One thing for sure- there is less bare dirt this year compared to last.

This is the 'Red Heart' Sempervivum which isn't as deep maroon as some times of the year, and Sedum 'Thundercloud the greenish-white below it.

This is turning out to be a nice-looking space this year. The dark red is Sedum 'Firecracker' (which spreads quickly!), the white again is Lamb's Ear, and the yellow is Sempervivum 'Gold Nugget' which is finally turning more gold.

And this space is suddenly looking pretty good because I picked up another $3 Sedum 'Wildfire' from the sale table last week. It's huge and sprawly. It won't come back that large at first next year but right now, it looks great with the yellow-green Sedum elecombeanum. The white rock helps too.

I walked again in the morning. Got some rock garden work done also in the morning because the forecast was for rain! I got some bulbs moved and planted some seeds I want (maybe- more on that another day), worked in some more compost.

Indeed, about noon things got cool and dark. So far we've had 0.3 inch. Very nice.

Editing, computer stuff. And I finished that knitting project I can't show you yet. Just a few more days and I'll share that. I sure haven't wanted to play with yarn when it was so hot!

See Late May Garden Color

One Handful of Hosta

Several of my hosta that have never bloomed before are doing so this year. Some of those are only in bud right now, but I hope to get a decent picture of each before I'm done.

Here are a few of them. This is the 'Forbidden Fruit' hosta that I got for ten cents. OK, OK, eleven cents. It's turning out to be one of my favorites just for the color and shape. And on top of that, the flowers are big.

Here's the whole plant with buds on a stalk.

And a closer view of the flower. Very pale purple. Almost white with lavender tinges. And the flowers are somewhat clustered.

Of course, hosta flowers don't have a lot of variety. The plants are grown mainly for their leaf colors. But that said, it's fun to compare. The 'Royal Standard' is a variety with big white flowers that really give a nice display, but the plants are much bigger than I want in my garden. But I've seen stunning borders with them in bloom.

Meanwhile, here is one of mine I have no variety name for. This is the bright yellow-green one I stole from a city planter quite a few years ago. When I found out they threw them all away at the end of the season, I no longer felt guilty for swiping a couple of leaves and a root. I now have two nice patches of it. It might possibly be 'Lemon Lime,' but there are so many similar proprietary ones, I can't be sure. The flowers are very typical.

I didn't zoom that picture in because you can see small dark green leaves behind the yellow-green ones. That is the 'Tiny Tears' hosta. It's blooms weren't spectacular this year, probably because the garden didn't get quite enough water while I was in NY.

But here is a picture of it from last year when it went nuts! The flowers are a deeper purple. Very nice. I have a border of it almost the whole length of the front flower bed. It spreads like crazy and I started with one small puddle. The flower stalks are only about 6" tall, and the mounds of leaves about 2" high.

I probably saw this one bloom long ago, but I don't think I have pictures. This was the first variety of hosta I ever had, given to me by my then pastor's wife. It's one of the oldest named varieties- 'Francee.' I had a lush strip of it along the house, but the deer ate it down to the roots several years in a row, which is tough even for a hosta. It's coming back, and a few of them bloomed this year.

Nice large flowers, although spread apart on the stem somewhat.

And the last for today, another one given to me that I have really no hope of identifying the variety. The flowers are typical. The leaves are a bright green with thin yellow edges.

There are several others in bud, so hopefully, there will be another handful of hostas later. Of course, the poor 'Mouse Ears' got chewed. I already showed you the bud. Maybe next year.

Feeling unhappy with my lack of exercise lately, I got myself out early this morning and walked 3.5 miles- roadwalk. I have to tell you that since the big NCT hike, I really have a hard time convincing myself to go do a road loop. But it was 66 degrees when I started and 75 when I finished. Not too bad.

The day was hot, but not as humid. I did all the usual stuff, and watered some of the gardens. But now I need to get the computer off my lap. It's just too hot!

See Poor Little Mouse Ears

Compost and Cole Slaw

What do those two item have in common? They alliterate. Both of them figured prominently in today's activities.

I've been composting for decades, but I rarely seem to get around to using it for anything. Decided to change that today. Look at this beautiful, rich dirt!

Some of the spaces in the rock garden on the far edge have an awful lot of really heavy clay soil. There are pockets of clay in the sand here. It was a terrible problem when they rebuilt the road in front of the house in 1990. It's a pretty bad problem in a garden too.

Can you see the three spaces that are darker? I mixed that compost in with the clay to lighten it up.

That was all the outside time I managed before things heated up.

But I had bought a cabbage yesterday so I could make cole slaw. However, I did not buy an onion because I thought I had one more than I did, so only half of the cabbage got chopped up for now.

Here's another thing this compost and cole slaw have in common- they are both in round containers and they are both made from natural ingredients.

One feeds me, one feeds the plants. What else?

I'm feeling entirely too sedentery, but it was too hot to function. I watched a movie and did computer stuff most of the day.

See Swimming and Slaw

Blueberry Tart?

I am too hot and tired to post anything very wonderful. I did OK at the vendor event. The heat is just intolerable.

So, this is the possible result of my search yesterday to try to find what variety of Hosta this is. It is smallish, has long pointed blueish leaves, and what turns out to be the key feature, long petioles (leaf stems).

It may be a variety called 'Blueberry Tart.' The only thing that doesn't fit is that variety often has a purple tint at the base of the petioles. I can't see even a tiny hint of that. However, everything else fits, and I can't find any other varieties shaped quite like it.

And, it's going to bloom, so you'll get to see it again.

I had to get groceries on the way home from the event. It's so hot... I had potato chips and ice cream for dinner. So there.

See Hosta and Heuchera

More Blue and Purple

Look what's going to happen soon in the driveway flower bed.

These aren't in full bloom yet. This is the globe thistle I transplanted last year at the totally wrong time. It has lived, and has two blooms this year. It's small, but give it another year or two and it will be 5-6 feet tall.

Like these- the patch from which I moved this one. You can see the ball on the left is at about the stage of the ones above, but the big one in the middle is is full bloom. I really love these!

I moved two more up here last fall, and one of those also is blooming.

And then, in the front bed is a nice little surprise that came up last year. We think it was a hitchhiker from a friend's garden in something she gave me. This is only a promise of a bloom. And it can't stay in this location. But if it continues to grow maybe I can save some seeds and get it started out by the driveway.

I'll let you guess what it is for a little longer. But Betsy should recognize it!

It may not really bloom this year. The last wind we had bent the stem. It's struggling to pull water up to those buds, but I've got it supported, so we will see.

In other news: I edited, I weeded, I spent way too much time trying to ID one of my hosta varieties. I really like to know what they are but this one came from a friend's garden and she has no idea. May have narrowed it down. Miki stopped by. I worked on other things. Life is good in the gardening lane.

See The Unrelenting Drive to Reproduce

It's Been a Long Time

Back in 2019 I was trying to make all my own bread. Kept it up for a lot of months. Not sure what happened, but I pretty much stopped. I'm not a great bread baker but seem to be a little better than in the distant past.

So, I had some sour milk and went looking for a yeast bread recipe that would use it. Found this one: Sour Milk Yeast Bread.

I replaced one cup of white flour with whole wheat. Could probably do a bit more.

Yes, it was a hot day to be baking, but I did it first thing in the morning. I wanted to use up that sour milk.

After removing from pans and rubbing with butter.

How did it turn out? Texture a little coarse- a problem I often have, but it tastes good. All sliced and put in the freezer now except what I'll eat in the next couple of days. With no preservatives, homemade bread gets stale and moldy fast.

It was another really hot day, but not as humid. I managed to keep working on things pretty well. Wrote my Ludington Daily News column, edited, worked on other stuff. Did a little bit outside. "They" say August will be cooler. I will not be sorry.

One more book has worked into Ingram. Just Paddy Plays in Dead Mule Swamp to transfer.

See Bread Day Experiment

Whose Cute Little Tush?

I haven't shown you one of these for quite a while. They are rather permanent fixtures in my yard. Maggie (dog) was fast enough to catch them, so she kept the population down. I suspect the larger blue racers are also helping with that.

Well, of course, it's a thirteen-lined ground squirrel. Never knew anything about these cute critters until I moved to the Midwest. Although these and chipmunks are both in the Sciuridae family, ground squirrels have longer bodies. Some of their habits are different as well. At any rate, they are all very cute to watch as long as they don't eat my flower bulbs and roots.

And I'm happy to say that the birds have found the birdbath again this year. Terrible picture- the camera won't focus through the screen. But it's one of the finches- house or purple. There were three of them there at one time just a few minutes ago.

Today was too humid for me. I managed to work a little bit on several projects, but not a great deal was accomplished. It's cooling down now, perhaps I'll perk up for a final spurt of energy for the day. Or perhaps not.

See Look Who Woke Up See Birdbath Wars

Purple Hidden Among the Blue

I keep saying that I came home to a nearly completely blue floral palette in the driveway bed. But I also noted earlier in the year about the variety of plants that had come up in the driveway bed.

Yesterday evening I did a little weeding out there and suddenly wondered what had happened to one plant that had seemed pretty healthy in the spring. I went hunting among the spreading stalks of the Viper's Bugloss, and look what I found.

This is actually a native wildflower. I dug it out of a ditch at least 20 years ago. It's Hoary Vervain, Verbena stricta.

And even better, there are 3 or 4 additional seedlings coming up. It's a perenniel, but will self-sow. If it bloomed last year, I didn't see it. But it must have for the babies to appear. I don't think it propogates vegetatively. I'll try to collect them into one general area. It's native, and pollinators love it.

The Viper's Bugloss is also loved by pollinators. It's a biennial. So I have to move the small rosettes to where I want them next year in the fall. I'll try to get one started somewhere other than on top of the Vervain because it gets huge when it's happy.

Want to see just the Vervain closer? Here you go.

This makes me pretty happy. It blooms for a long time, so hopefully I can get a clump of it going.

The heat got a bit oppressive this afternoon. There is a nice breeze, but even so, it's hard to breathe. I did a little bit outside, but spent more time doing computer things. In fact, I got one knotty problem solved with trying to get my mysteries moved from Amazon KDP to Ingram Spark. Once all 6 books are transferred (4 have successfully migrated, 2 to go), I'll try to get some bookstores to order them. This is taking months, but it will be worth it. Don't worry if that doesn't make much sense to you.

We are supposed to get a little rain tomorrow, but I've had to water the gardens as things were actually getting droopy.

See Flowers and Weeds See Driveway Bed

The Perils of Pauline and Ray

In honor of Dad's (Ray Leary) 121st birthday, here's a story I've never shared with you before. It needs some buildup.

The silent film series, The Perils of Pauline were mostly filmed in Ithaca, NY. Ithaca was the Hollywood of the silent film era. The gorges, waterfalls, and beautiful Cayuga Lake- all of which I show you pictures of when I go home- created dramatic backdrops for the cliffhanger stories.

Pauline was played by an actress by the name of Pearl White, a native of the Ozarks. The films all had the same plot. Pauline would end up in some sort of mortal peril, and then she would be rescued, usually by a handsome man such as Creighton Hale or Lionel Barrymore. You've probably heard his name at least. Here is Pearl with (maybe) Ted Wharton who with his brother Leo were the big name filmmakers of the era. The 20 Pauline movies were made between 1914 and 1919.

Now we switch to a journalist/ author named Arch Merrill. He lived from 1894-1974. If you are from the Finger Lakes area of New York, you are probably familiar with his books. Some are collections of newspaper columns, others were written as books. They are filled with highly readable tales of the history and culture of the Finger Lakes. Some titles are Slim Fingers Beckon, Tomahawks and Old Lace, The Towpath- you get the idea.

In his book Upstate Echoes, there is a chapter about the era of silent films. He focuses on Pearl White, giving this description. "She wore slacks and smoked cigarettes at a time when women just did not do those things." She drove a canary yellow Stutz Bearcat, usually at breakneck speeds. She was arrested in Trumansburg (a town near my hometown) for speeding, paid the fine and swore at the judge.

In that same book is a story which I will quote:

And there's the tale of the teenaged lad who had long worshiped the actress from afar. One day while standing in his yard, he saw the yellow car stop in front of the house and the angel of his dreams step out. She advanced toward him and the boy blushed and trembled. No doubt the actress, struck by his manly beauty, was going to offer him a ride. Disillusionment was swift and complete when his idol called out: "Little boy, may I use your bathroom?"

Dad always claimed that he was the boy. It's possible. The time frame is correct. The house was on the main highway north from Ithaca and just five miles from Trumansburg. Dad was not given to tall tales or bragging, so it wasn't in his nature to make up stories.

Here is Dad on the porch of the house (with his parents). He looks to me to be 14-16 years old, which puts the years at 1918-1921, but it could have been a year or so earlier. The photo is not dated, and Dad always seemed to look older than his years in every picture I have of him as a child. So this would be about when this episode took place.



Here he is in what I think is 1922. I think this is his high school graduation picture and he would have been almost 18.



At any rate, enjoy the humorous tale. I like to think it was Dad!

Interestingly enough, he died the day before his 71st birthday, or 49 years ago yesterday.

I spent a bunch of time on the computer today and went to the store for supplies. Critter report: We've got ants in the kitchen. I chased a chipmunk out of the house twice today and fixed the loose place on the screen where it was coming in. The woodpeckers are banging on the deck posts, and I'm again fighting the bees.

See The Lake that I Love

The Annual Mistakes- Part 1

I wonder if I'll ever get over trying to tuck some annuals into the gardens for splashes of color or texture. I never seem to have much luck with them. So, I annually make mistakes with annuals. Think I'll ever learn?

On the other hand, neither of these is dead yet, but they can't be described as happy either. They definitely want more water than they've been getting in the rock garden.

I showed you this one when I bought it Setcreasea purpurea, formerly Tradescantia pallida. Yes, a spiderwort, commonly called 'Wandering Jew.' It's gorgeous.

But here's how it looks now. Alive, but hasn't grown at all and it's curled up its toes to conserve moisture. (Although maybe I see a little stem trying to stretch out there at the bottom of the picture.)

Here's the other. I just couldn't resist the texture and color of this. It's Fanflower, or Scaevola 'Suntastic Yellow.' This is how it looked when I bought it in April.

And today. Sad, sad, sad. But alive, so there's that. I wonder if I can keep it watered enough to make it happy again this season.

And, I'm actually sort of lying. Neither of these is an annual. They are tender perennials which can be grown as houseplants. I'll try to bring them inside over the winter and keep them going. I did that OK with a couple of sedums last year. (One of these days I'll show you how that went.)

I spent 3 hours today on a volunteer project. But then I managed to work outside a little bit, do laundry and some editing. Might get outside a little more yet this evening.

See New Acquisitions