Babies, but No Guests Yet

Lookie, lookie! The Sempervivum 'Gold Nugget' is having babies. This is the first that either clump of it has made an attempt to spread.

And I told you the Donkeytail Euphorbia finally had babies. I've found 6 so far. I gave two away, have 2 in a pot to hold for contingencies, and these two are planted where I want them. One doesn't look great because something already dug it up once. Sigh. But succulents are tough. I'll see if it revives.

Guests are not here yet. One should arrive soon. The other is delayed and will be here in the middle of the night. Also sigh. But worse for him.

I figured out how to clean the filters on the vacuum cleaner after discovering there were two of them. That made it work much better. Some of the boxes of stuff are reordered and stacked, dishes are done. It's as good as it's going to get for me at this time.

Worked a tiny bit on gardens. The air was really oppressive today. But I got the Gaura out of its pot and into the ground. Finished weeding the driveway beds, did a few little tweaks here and there. Not sure if any gardening will happen tomorrow although I really need to get a couple of things out of pots.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's event.

See Rock Garden Report 2026- #2

2026- Rock Garden Report #2

I suppose it's pushing things a bit to have two rock garden reports in the same month, but so much happens in the spring that I am going to do it anyway.

This first round of color with daffodils, grape hyacinths, and moss phlox is winding down, and we are entering the next phase with the geraniums blooming, the sedums coloring up, and some of the dianthus starting to bloom.

This is the front view today.

And on May 3.

So the thing about a rock garden is that they are usually meant to feature low-growing plants, so you aren't going to get bright, splashy long-distance views. What I'm hoping for with that kind of vantage point is a mix of areas of foliage color and sometimes larger swaths of things blooming.

Here's the top of the garden today.

And on May 3

I think you can tell that I'm beginning to get a patchwork of various contrasting colors. But the best things are always going to be the tiny details I can share.

Here's a really tiny detail! I THINK the donkeytail Euphorbia has finally produced a couple of babies. Can you see them?

I'll help you out!

The 'Blue Star' juniper has a broken section. I suspect a deer stepped on it. I hope it fills itself back in. I really love the way it looks- so tidy and mounded with the blueish color. I went back to the place I got this on sale last year, but they don't have any of them this year at any price.

And I'll show you one more thing today. (I'm saving the sedums to focus on another time or two- they are the backbone of my dry rock garden plants.) This is 'Cerise Queen' yarrow. Yes, it gets tall, but I am trying it in this space beside the retaining wall. Tall is fine there, and I need something tall enough to hide the cable that holds the wall. As I've learned by trial and error, the spaces by the wall get pretty hot in the afternoons. But this was planted from seed last year, and it looks like it's going to be ok. The name should tell you that the flowers will be a shade of red.

Several of the dianthus did not survive- bummer. A few other plants that did survive are VERY small. We shall see.

The Confidence Campers gave me a gift card at the end of camp. I've decided to spend that on plants, which is why I've ordered a few. And I think I'm going to go buy that other Heuchera.

Today was the first truly hot and humid day of they year. I melted into a puddle of non-functionality in the afternoon. Got to the post office 8 minutes after it closed, so I guess that will be on tomorrow's list. I did get the gardens watered, so they are happy. My body has to adjust to temps over 80. Maybe I can get a few things done this evening.

Took a little walk in Scottville. About 1/4 mile. I don't think that even counts.

See 2026 Rock Garden Report #1

Festival in Yellow

I have daffodils everywhere!

And other things in yellow too. The Donkeytail, Euphorbia myrsinites, is starting to bloom in the rock garden.

More dafs. These are in the driveway bed. I just moved these bulbs here in the fall of 2024, and quite a few are blooming. (You can see some iris leaves looking healthy, and a bunch of grape hyacinth starting to bloom in the front).

The forsythia is just about perfect.

The "big bed" that I've been sort of trying to reclaim is full of daffodils- several kinds.

And here is fig buttercup. More on that another day.

There are even more clumps of daffodils in bloom in various other places. It's quite lovely. In fact, I need to get some of these patches split up and give a bunch of bulbs away.

It's been a few years since I did a "daffodil tour" to show all the varieties. Would you like to see that again? Some bloom earlier and some later.

I worked quite a lot on Confidence Camp today and did a few errands

See A Riot of Daffodils

Foliage from Adams Flower Show

There may be two posts with foliage. But these will surely be enough for today. As some of you know, I really like colored or textured foliage because it is interesting all season long. None of these would grow in my outside gardens (well, maybe one of the trees), but they all grab my attention.

This is a Dieffenbachia or dumb cane, but it's a cultivar with white leaves. Maybe 'Star Bright.'

Here's one that was completely new to me. It's called Japanese Umbrella Pine, Sciadopitys verticillata. This one MIGHT grow here, but it's pretty fussy. Probably why I've never seen it before. It's a "fossil" plant, the only one remaining from the Sciadopityaceae family since the Pliocene period. It is a conifer, but not really a pine.

I had one of these as a houseplant long ago, but as you can probably guess, it died. This is Firestick Cactus, really a euphorbia, Euphorbia tirucalii. I like quirky things like this.

Here is one I wish would be hardy here, but not quite. It would be great in the rock garden (well, unless it turned out to be too aggressive). This is actually a bindweed, so it gets white flowers like a small morningglory. It's called Silverbush or Shrubby Bindweed, Convolvulus cneorum.

This is another tropical houseplant, fairly common, but it's still very cool. Rattlesnake Plant, Goeppertia insignis (formerly a Calathea).

Finally for today, this one might grow here. The Dow Gardens had a stunning one (even better pic at the link). This is a Korean Fir, Abies koreana, and it's the same cultivar as at Dow: 'Horstman's Silberlocke.' Supposedly it has bright purple cones. I could easily covet one of these.

Yeah, there will be more foliage. But not today.

I got some stuff done, but had a little tummyache this afternoon, so the accomplishments weren't stellar.

See Colors from Adams Flower Show

Various Verdure

I'm making progress weeding the rock garden. The most difficult (steepest) part is done, but I'm not ready to do an entire report yet. Here are some miscellaneous plants to show.

I'll start with a Sedum that is making me pretty happy. This is the 'Cherry Tart,' one of the Sunsparklers. I got one little stalk for $7 plus shipping two years ago. Here's how it looks this week. The color stays consistent all season- this red-purple. It grows slowly, but I'm pretty happy with it.

This is how it looked last year, after one year of growth, so you can see it IS getting bigger.



Now for a big mistake. I've been allowing the weed Silver Cinquefoil, Potentilla argentea, to fill in areas because it has a nice texture and small yellow flowers.

The backs of the leaves are white, thus the "silver" name. This gives it some interest in a breeze.

Turns out it's a perennial with deep tap roots. Once a plant is two years old, it's very difficult to pull it out. It sprawls and fills a much bigger space than expected. If I'm going to let small plants grow in the spring, I need to root them up before July. I'll have to work on eradicating these.

Now for happier topics. The Icelandic Poppy is giving yet another round of flowers, although these are much smaller. It's very interesting that the one is yellow with orange edges.

The donkey tail Euphorbia continues to add interest even after three months. Actually, the seed pods were interesting too. Not sure I showed you those. However, the previously flowering stalks have turned bright pink and almost look like a different kind of flower.

And the new growth in the middle looks compact and healthy. I hope this has babies. Here's how it looked in April, and it's still giving joy in July.



When the gardens don't lend themselves to colorful long views, it's good to focus on small puddles of interest.

The weather was decent (cooler) today. I had an extra dose of editing to do, but spent a decent amount of time working outside. Can't complain about the editing- it's paying my bills!

See Purple Parade

Lots of Color!

 Right now, I am truly thrilled with how the rock garden is looking. Sure there are still bare spots, but after only two years of trying to bring it back to life on a budget, I'm feeling as if this might be something I can make happen and end up with it looking really nice.

That said, a few of these pictures are not in the rock garden, but I'll tell you which ones.

All these photos are staged. Not that I moved anything around except the camera, but I did work at trying to get a nice angle to capture the most different colors in one shot.

This one is the donkeytail (yellow) with pink moss phlox behind and above it. One grape hyacinth and one violet snuck into the corners.

I showed you this same view a few days ago, but it's much better now. The Erlicheer daffodils are in full bloom, and more of the grape hyacinths have opened.

Still in the rock garden... I purposely left a lot of common violets because they can nicely fill in spaces both with spring color and greens later. They are starting to bloom, and so is the moss phlox behind them. I used to have four colors of moss phlox- blue, white, this pink, and a candystripe one. So far all I'm seeing this year is pink, but it's early yet.

One more picture from the rock garden. Even though there is bare dirt between these two plants, I'm calling this a huge success. In the lower part is 'Firecracker' Sedum that I showed you more than once last year. The sedums are just starting to fill in and get their summer colors. This will spread even more as the season goes on, but the whole plant has only been in place for one year.

Above it, with the little purple flowers is a rock cress. I bought and planted a little 3" pot of this last year while holding my breath. It should be a perfect rock garden plant, but I have previously killed a couple of them. But look at it! I know there is nothing for scale, but it has definitely grown, even though it didn't look all that happy last fall. And, much to my surprise, it's blooming! Maybe it will even get more blossoms, but I took a picture now so I wouldn't miss it. As these two plants fill in the space better, there won't be that ugly stripe of bare dirt.

Now we will move to other garden spaces. This is in the front flower bed, and again I've shown you part of this already this year. However, now we have not only common blue primrose, with the 'Blackberry Wine' corydalis behind it, but we can add the yellow cowslip primrose, the tall one behind the corydalis. I moved all the primroses again last fall, so I'm pleased they tolerated it well.

Here's a daffodil that I'm not sure is a favorite, but I have lots of it, and I do enjoy the fact that it's a little different. This is Narcissus delnashaugh. Before it opens it looks as if it's going to be yellow and white, and then develops this peachy color. I show you this most every year, but it's very reliable.

And the last for today is another favorite of mine. This is the pure white Mt. Hood daffodil. They are also quite large.

I spent a lot of today getting ready for something that will happen tomorrow and Friday. I'll be blogging early tomorrow, and will tell you what I'm doing then!

Other than that... you know the drill. I edited, I wrote one of my columns, I did errands, I puttered.

See Next Round of Color

Still More Euphorbias

 There are yet more Euphorbias I can show you from the Philadelphia Flower Show. It's such a diverse genus, I never get tired of marvelling at the variations.

This one is Euphorbia decaryi. I thought maybe I'd shared this one before from previous flower shows, but a search says not. There are about 2000 classic species of Euphorbia, making it one of the largest genera.

One thing they all have in common is that the colorful parts aren't really flowers. You know this already because Poinsettia is a Euphorbia, and I'm sure you've been told the red or white colors are bracts, not flowers.

This one is Euphorbia hofstatteri, and I think you don't want to make friends with it. Actually, all Euphorbias have a toxic sap, so you don't want to break the stems and play with any of them, although some are more toxic than others.

Here is Euphorbia polygona, Crested Montrose form. There were two of these plants, and they don't look very similar. I have to assume they were each in a slightly different phase in the life cycle.

I have one Euphorbia in my rock garden by choice. Do you remember which one? You will see it in just a few days. It's getting ready to bloom for the first time. But I'll keep it a mystery for now.

I also have one Euhorbia "weed" that I let grow just as a ground cover where no plants have been placed yet.

Looking like a writhing green caterpillar, we have Euphorbia ammak. You know the only reason I "know" all this is that they had labels, right. I do know a few when I see them, but I suspect that being a Euphorbia expert would be a lifetime pursuit by itself.

Here's another cactus-y one. Some Euphorbias are succulent, some have spines like cactus. Others are neither succulent or spiny. This is Euphorbia aeruginosa.

My favorite for this bunch is Euphorbia crassicaulis. This is native to Madagascar.

Over the years I've shown you pictures of over 30 different Euphobias. Only 1970ish to go. Haha. If you care, Wikipedia has a complete list of over 5000 species which includes several genera that are now being thrown into Euphobia.

In other news, I edited in the morning. The weather was great and I spent some outside time in the afternoon. I continue to remove autumn olive- the never-ending project, and did some other stuff. Still a little early to start weeding the gardens. There are things that aren't up at all yet, and I'm afraid I'll dig things up by accident. Worked on garden records which I hope to get in better shape before I start playing with things for this season. It's supposed to rain all day tomorrow!

See Euphorbias

Three New Euphorbias

 It doesn't take much to find a new Euphorbia. There are about 2000 of them. They are one of the largest genera of plants. But I love them. I found three new-to-me ones at the Philadelphia Flower Show.

This one is 'Miners Merlot.' It would be a potential rock garden size, but it's not hardy as far north as I live. I love the color.

This one gets too tall for the rock garden, but it is potentially hardy in the north. However, it's supposedly pretty rare and hard to purchase. It's Euphorbia characias, 'Glacier Blue.'

And this one was in bloom. It's Euphorbia x martini, 'Ascot Rainbow.' The leaves get streaked with red and orange as the season progresses. It's also a rock garden potential except that it isn't quite hardy enough for where I live. Close. It would need extra care and special winter covering. I'm probably not up for that.

This photo is a bit too yellow, but it has fairly large and colorful flowers for a Euphorbia. You can see a couple of buds in the corner of the picture above. When the center opens it is bright red, but the rest should be paler green.

Marie and I spent a lot of time working today. She and Ed belong to a shooting club, and she was in charge of a meal at the clubhouse tonight. She's actually the chair of all the meals (what a job!). We spent the entire morning shopping. Then we walked another 2 miles at the mall because it was still raining. It was also reduced-price produce day at another store and we got a peck of green beans for 99 cents. So after we ate, we processed and froze all those! Then we managed to play one game before we had to go to the club and start cooking and setting up for the meal.

Miles hiked in 2025: 33.2

See Euphorbia