The Mystery of the Blue Pearl

Nice title. It really is turning out to be something of a mystery.

This is the plant I ordered in the spring that is supposed to be 'Blue Pearl' Sedem. This is one of the patented SunSparkler varieties. I moved it to a new space today, and here is what it looks like.

It does not look anything like the pictures you can find on line. ID apps say it is a Kalanchoe. Now, I'll NEVER bet the farm on the photo ID apps, but it does lend some weight to my thoughts.

Here is one pic of Blue Pearl from the web.

I contacted the seller. I don't think they did anything dishonest, but somebody could have mixed something up. She assures me this is 'Blue Pearl,' but it won't look like the pictures until it is older. OK...

Here is another picture from the web.

And this is a 5-year old one. Large leaves, doesn't look anything like my plant.

Well, here is the tiny new growth at the base of what I have. I suppose it's possible it will grow up to look as advertised. In fact, I'm the one who keeps pointing out how different plants can look at different times. But a complete change in form? We shall see!

I had a total rest day in mind, but ended up puttering at things that need to be done. For example: those of you who think I'm disciplined, I had left the total kitchen mess over the weekend. It was pretty bad. It's mostly cleaned up now. Played in the garden slowly and moved some things. Came home from the weekend with some new plants I'll show you soon. Did some computer stuff. Avoided a trip to the store, and hope to be able to continue to do so for a couple more days.

See Sedums I Ordered

Sedum Odds and Ends

 Two success stories and two not so much, today.

This is the SunSparkler 'Dazzleberry' that I ordered and got a tiny sprig of. It is growing slowly. Here's what it looks like now, and it's going to bloom.

This is what it looked like in June, so I guess there is a certain amount of success there. But it sure doesn't spread like some of the others.

I continue to be very happy with the SunSparkler 'Lime Twister.'

It was blooming at this time last year. I have it in two different places. It shows no sign of getting buds this year, but that's OK, I really like the foliage, and it spreads nicely.

I used to have a Sedum spurium 'John Creech.' It didn't do well. But I couldn't figure out why it didn't, so I bought another one this year. I split it into two places. I was looking good at the end of June. But when I got home from NY it was seriously chewed. I guess it's tasty. Again, the muncher has to be something small. But I think a little ground dweller has an inside door to the rock garden.

This is one of the tricolor Sedum spurium. I seem to have three different "kinds" (maybe developed by different nursuries) of the same variety. This one is the least successful. It refuses to collect itself into a space and just wants to ramble on and on and find the next place to get to. Pretty sure it will be "leaving" when I choose something better to fill that space.

And I won't even show you one of the Dianthus. It got seriously chewed last year, but was recovering and had some leaves. Now it is back down to nothing but stems. I guess if I want to keep that, it will have to be more than fenced but will need to be in hardware cloath prison.

I'm down to crunch time to get the program done that I'm working on for Celebration. Spent most of the day on that.

See Sorting Out Sedums

Starting to Weed

 The quote of the day comes from Marie. I called her to chat. She said, "Enjoy your lack of panic while it lasts." I have an unbelievable amount of work to do in the next 8 days, but so far, I am oddly calm about it all. Maybe I've reached a point where major projects just don't induce panic? Maybe I'm fooling myself and I need to kick things up a notch?

At any rate, I did manage to work at things all day long today. Spent one hour weeding the rock garden. Of course, it's a big mess after being neglected for a month, but that's nothing like neglecting it for years. We had 1.2 inches of rain last night, and the weeds are coming out easily. Here's the section I got done today. About 16 out of 80+ numbered spaces.

Now for some goodies. This space is weeded. This is Sedum 'Atlantis.' It remains one of my favorite purchases from last year, and it's spreading really well.

Here's a surprise. This is the Sedum 'Ezawe' which was so blue earlier in the year. It got shaded by an out-of-control larger plant, and it has gotten leggy and much lighter blue.

These next spaces aren't weeded yet, but they were blooming when I got home, and I don't want to wait to share. I don't know how long the flowers will last.

This is one of the SunSparkler Sedum, 'Firecracker.' This is one of my favorite purchases of this year.

And this is another of the SunSparklers, 'Lime Zinger.' I'm a little surprised at how bright the flowers are. This was new this year, and even so, it has filled in the space really well.

This last one makes me really happy. This blanketflower got seriously chewed by whatever grazed over the top of the rock garden last year. It looks great now! This one is the variety 'Arizona Sun.'

I got the mesh fencing up before I left for a month, and I am happy to tell you that apparently it worked to keep out the critters who like to eat things. The blue racer did not come back and get caught. I was a little concerned about that.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be another solid work day. I may try to mow a little more this evening. The weeds (yard) have dried pretty well now.

Back to my pleasant non-panicked mode.

See SunSparkler Sedums

Wildfire

 The sunrise was like a wildfire. This looks more like a sunset at my house, framed on the left with the pines. But I assure you, I woke up early, and there was this outside! (besides, the sun hasn't gone down yet today, so it couldn't be today's sunset anyway)

And I can't resist showing you the 'Wildfire' sedum again. This is definitely in the running for my favorite plant purchase of the year. I need to get more of the geranium pulled away from nearby because the height of the geranium is preventing it from showing off as nicely. I cropped the photo so you can't see how it is being overshadowed.

I've formatted for 6 hours today, plus shopping and an hour of volunteer stuff. I'd really like to do one more hour if my eyes will stand it. That way, I'm pretty sure I can finish this round of formatting tomorrow.

See SunSparkler Sedums

SunSparkler Sedums

 I've mentioned the Sunsparkler (trademarked) Sedums several times. These are ultra-hardy hybrids of Sedum and (at least in some cases) Orostachys. Orostachys is a genus of succulents mostly from the far east. I had never heard of it. I believe the first of these released for sale was in 2012. Of course that represents a lot of years of research and testing, and then growing enough to be able to sell them. They are commonly referred to as sedums, but most seem to be in a new genus Hylotelephium.

You might also remember that I've been trying to track down where their demonstration garden is located. I'm pretty sure it's in Hudsonville, MI, and is part of Garden Solutions, which also creates the Chick Charms brand of Sempervivum. Well, that's a bunny trail for today. (But only for today.)

What I want to do today is show you all the Sunsparkler varieties that I currently own.

Before I even knew that the trademark was going to become of great interest to me, I bought this one as a reward for a week of hard work in 2020. It came from Wal-Mart, and as you have heard me complain yesterday, was not labeled as to the variety. But it has to be 'Dream Dazzler,' patented in 2019. The original was a single sport of the already hybrid 'Plum Dazzled' (which is solid purple and much taller). I've already split this a couple of times, so I can't complain that the original clump isn't much larger than when it started. The leaf bi-color is stunning.



The second one I bought in 2023. It's 'Lime Twister.' I liked it so much I bought a second one at the end of the season last year. Here's what that first one looks like now. It spreads well, and is filling in this space. The newer one isn't quite as large yet, but it's also doing fine. 'Lime Twister' was released in 2015.

Not long after getting 'Lime Twister,' I looked up the Sunsparkler series and realized these were going to seriously be plants I wanted to acquire. In fact, I confess to being covetous. So much so, I ordered two plants. Well, this is often not too satisfactory. You get some tiny sprig of the plant for an exorbitant price. Nevertheles, I ordered 'Cherry Tart' and 'Dazzleberry.'

'Cherry Tart' is a bright red-purple. It's doing OK, but it certainly doesn't spread very quickly. That said, it's looking a little bigger than it did this spring, and my purchase last year only got me one little stalk. Interestingly enough, this is no longer listed in their official catalog, so perhaps it hasn't been as successful as some of the other hybrids.

The 'Dazzleberry' has dark blue-black leaves which I love. I might have gotten two sprigs of this for my $8.99 plus shipping. :/ (that's what greed costs). When it gets large enough to bloom, the flowers are a bright raspberry color. Meanwhile, it seems to be slowly getting larger.

By now, I was actively on the prowl for other varieties created by Sunsparkler. I have found three more this year. The first one I found is 'Firecracker.' I almost wouldn't care what color the flowers are, the leaf color and spread is so great. The flowers are supposed to be magenta. I've only had this a month, and it's spreading fast.

A week later I came across 'Wildfire.' I wildly love this. It spreads quickly and the colors are spectacular. I've already pulled off one sprig to get it started in another place. Just for contrast in price. I got this entire large plant for $6.99. Interestingly enough, this one was developed from a sport of the previous one, 'Firecracker,' in 2014. It's supposed to get rose pink flowers. I've had this less than a month and you can see it's already growing new shoots.

Then I saw this one at Wal-Mart a few days ago. And I'm really sure this is 'Lime Zinger,' one of the first ones Sunsparkler released. I love the growth form as seen from the top. Very concentric.

Now, mostly for my own reference, I'll list the Sunsparkler varieties I don't yet have:

'Plum Dazzled' - dark purple leaves and it grows upright rather than spreading
'Angelina's Teacup' - pretty much like Angelina, but it stays small and doesn't spread all over so much.
'Cosmic Comet' - very blue foliage and low growing (apparently popular- it's sold out in their catalog)
'Dazzling Dynamite' - a lot like Dream Dazzler but add orange to the two shades of purple/pink
'Jade Tuffet' - more upright habit with pointed green leaves and pink flowers
'Saphire Tuffet' - taller and upright, with smoky-blue serrated leaves and hot pink flowers (new 2024)
'Blue Elf' - one of the first ones released, a low mound of blue leaves with purple flowers

That might be all the choices for now.

There was a breeze all day which saved the weather from being oppressive. I did a lot of editing and a good bit in the gardens. I might go out for another 15 minutes yet this evening.

See Sorting Out Sedums

Sorting Out Sedums

 First, I have to tell you that I broke two of my rules last week. I shopped at Wal-Mart, and I bought a plant that wasn't properly labeled. OK, I go to Wal-Mart a couple of times a year, and one of them is to just check out the garden section in case they have something I want. I think maybe one of the reasons things are cheaper is because they don't care whether stuff is labeled correctly. This is a Sunsparkler hybrid Sedum, but it doesn't say which one. However, by elimination, since there are only a limited number of Sunsparklers, I think it has to be 'Lime Zinger.' When it blooms I should have a more solid idea. I do like the way it fills in a space.

It's also interesting that W-M's plants have the Better Homes and Gardens Label, Lowe's carries Proven Winner, and Meijer has Garden Exclusives. But if you read the small print on the tags, they were all grown at Sawyer Nursery.

This is the Sedum I showed you a few days ago in bloom. I bought this last year. It's Sedum hispanicum 'Pinkie.'



It was another I thought I'd give a second try because I'd previously killed a S. hispanicum. That one was 'Blue Carpet.' Guess again. Two little patches of it have shown up. Opposite corners of this picture.

I also had another tiny low-growing sedum, S. dasyphylum. I haven't discovered any of that yet. But so many things have unexpectedly popped up, I'm keeping my eyes open.

Finally, for today, Sedum spurium 'Tricolor.'

Remember the one I bought that was only green and white, and I hoped it would stay that way? I should have known better. Now that it's getting sun, it clearly has pink edges. That's OK, it looks nice.

This is a tricolor I've had for a long time. It has settled in and become almost "woody."

And then, this is a tricolor that Betsy gave me last year. It wants to ramble all over the place, unlike the other two. It's interesting to me how variable this is. That said, it's a hybrid, and might have been created by different greenhouses. It's an "old" hybrid, so it's not like it's patented any more.

It's so hot and humid here that I struggled to keep working, but I managed laundry, shopping, editing for others and myself, and a couple other things. I can live with that. Only a little garden time. Too hot.

See Newly Blooming Mid-June

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

Purple Parade

 After I looked at the pictures, I decided this is an interesting collection. Individually, most people would call all of these purple (maybe with some fading off to maroon, but if you had to pick one of the 6 basic colors, most people would pigeonhole them into purple).

The first one is PURPLE purple. This is Jewel Baby Iris, and it's the first time it's bloomed in a while. So far this year, I've had two blossoms. It's about 4 inches tall.

We all call these purple lilacs- just the old farmstead standby. But compared to the Jewel Baby they look pink.

The Sempervivum sp. 'Arachnoidea' looks really nice. The one I used to have was smaller and green. It's long dead. This one came from Betsy, and it's certainly pushing purple. EDITED: This is not arachnoidea at all. It's the variety 'King George,' growing right where my plant records say it should be. I did not realize it also has some slight webbing.

Its friend is Sedum reflexum, what I call "blue spruce sedum." I've had this forever from a freebie pile. It spreads easily and sprawls all over but never looks all that great. Well! I guess I now know what it needs to look better. In two places where a clump is crowded between rocks it has made this nifty "fountain spray." I like these together.

Found the Sedum 'Cherry Tart!' This is another of the Sunsparkler hybrids. I actually ordered this and got a tiny, tiny sprig for $7 plus shipping. I really wasn't expecting to see it this spring. And then, I wasn't sure where I put it. But I at least got it labeled, even if it didn't get in the notebooks. This is going to be gorgeous when it starts to spread. You might almost call this red compared to some of the purples. Keep in mind this is clump is about 2" on a side. But, it's no smaller than when I planted it, and it's alive.

Just for reference, these are true purple; I think we'd all agree. Plain old common violets, but they fill in open spaces nicely.

And for today's final purple, here's Sedum 'Ezawe' again. I showed you this earlier, and thought it looked more blue then, but maybe not. Today it seems purple. I do like the plants that display multiple colors depending on the time of year, the light, etc. As a reminder, I wasn't sure this one was going to make it, but it seems very happy so far this year.

Today was packed full. I worked on some volunteer stuff. I did 108 miles of campsites. I was interviewed by "Senior Games" for a podcast. It will be out in a couple of weeks, and I'll post a link when I get it. I managed to work for an hour in the rock garden.

I'm tired, but that's the way I like to end the day.

See Sedum Scramble