Playing in the Big Bed

We won't say that I have been doing any serious gardening in this space, but I have been playing and pulling weeds. Of course, there is still a ton of autumn olive to remove.

The really bad news is that I found out last month that this isn't even on our property. The 20-acres between us and the cemetery changed hands again, and for the first time the lines were actually surveyed. I can only hope that the new owners care as little as the previous owners over the past 54 years.

If it turns out they do care, there's not a lot down there that couldn't be moved in a hurry, but I would lose the work of doing all the edgings and steps. I've shown you this before, but this is what it looked like around 1999.

Friend Penny from bell choir was giving away some Asters and gave me a bucket full. They seem to have taken the transplant well. Of course the real test will be next year. She thinks they are Bushy Aster, but the leaves aren't right. I'll work on that. I suspect they may be Blue Wood Aster. I'll need to spend more time with the leaves and other details.

Another plant that used to come up on its own all over in that garden was wild Columbine. There are a few leaves, so I'm trying to be careful and not pull them up.

I'm not really trying to make it a native plant garden, but these are nice additions. I know there are a lot of daffodil- picture from this spring with many of them in bloom is in the link below. Lots of iris, which need more sun to be happy. I found, of cousre, more grape hyacinth- they are everywhere, but also some clumps of Snowdrops and a few clumps of Star of Bethlehem that have survivied.

When I was putting in the aster, I also uncovered some bulbs I don't recognize, so they will be a surprise. Anyone know? Even an internet search wasn't helpful. Seems like that elongated shape should be an aid to identification. I'll bet these are plain old orange ditch lilies. I didn't think there were any down there, but it's possible. They are too long for the lemon lily.

I also found some little puddles of tiny bulbs that I don't recognize. Put them back in the ground too. We shall see what they become.

Woke up slow this morning, but then I got into gear and worked on things.

See Rain, Not Quite Singing in the