Foliage and More

The primary focus of the day will be on foliage. I'm working on weeding the "Front Bed." I've got part of it done.

First I'll talk about the Variegated Ajuga. I bought this two years ago thinking it could go in the rock garden, but it absolutely would not tolerate the full sun. It wilted immediately and was in danger of dying. Now, it's happy here in the semi-shade. This shows the leaves last fall. They were darker at that time of year, but you can tell they are variegated.

It's blooming right now, and much to my surprise, the flowers are also mottled! I'm really liking this. And you can see that the leaves are lighter in the spring. This will spread rapidly now that it's happy. It sends out runners and I'm sure it will be nearly out of control in a couple of years.

It's beginning to spread and has a friend in the lovely 'Forbidden Fruit' Hosta, that I got for practically nothing in the fall of 2023.

Back out a little bit more, and there are two new friends. The hosta with wavy yellow leaves is 'Wiggles and Squiggles.' I got it last week for half price because it was small. It's tripled in size since I bought it.

The little blue one at front left is 'Mouse Ears' hosta. This is the one I got free at the garden club sale last fall because it had no leaves. But the root was alive, and it's already making a small clump this year. This hosta stays small and is very blue.

With something reddish in the center front, this will be a nice grouping. And I think I have something in mind.

And the Japanese Painted Fern is looking good again. I tried to encourage it to spread a little more last year. Can't tell if that was a success or not, but it's at least as big as it was. This will get a little fuller yet this year.

Finally for today, a foliage problem! This is what happens when you don't pay attention. This side of the front flower bed has only recently had much of a plan. I have thrown in some things that were gifts, I have moved a few things around, and surprise plants have appeared in clumps that came from other people's gardens.

So, I now have an Astilble, a Hosta, and a Corydalis growing right on top of each other. I'll get them separated soon. It's the perfect time. The Corydalis is done blooming. The Hosta isn't too large yet, and I'll try to disturb the Astilbe as little as possible. It will stay there. The Hosta came from Ester with other things a long time ago, and I have no idea what kind it is, but it stays medium-sized and blue.

I did all my usual computer things, and spent a fair amount of time weeding this garden today. There is enough stuff in this section now that I will probably do a "report" on it in the near future.

See Front Garden Report 2024 #3

Blooming Before the Weekend

 Here are plants that are newly in full bloom. Some of them probably won't be as pretty in just a few days, and I'm going out of town for Thursday-Saturday, so we need a good look at them today.

This is the Bronze Ajuga (Bugleweed). Most of them like shade but the bronze one seems to thrive in the full sun. The dark leaves are great all season, but when it blooms, wow! This patch is too big, but until I have other plants to replace some of it, this is fine.

We are also at the peak of the Moss Phlox. This is everywhere, but this is the largest patch. I used to have four distinct colors, but they seem to all be reverting to near a magenta/pink. It does make lovely mats of color.

This is another of my rock garden favorites. It decided to have two blossoms right on top of each other. There was a third bud, but it got broken somehow. Not sure if there will be any additional blooms. This is 'Jewel Baby' iris. It's a regular bearded iris, but it grows only about 6 inches tall.

Only a couple of plants did not survive the winter. Of my three ice plants, one died. I was able to get a replacement, so this is 'Ocean Sunset.' The ones that overwintered have leaves, but are just starting to think about blossoms. So, you could say this bloom is a greenhouse cheater. But here it is.

Moving out of the rock garden, umpteen years ago I rescued a couple of trillium from a construction site. It took them quite a few years to settle in, but here they are. That dead grapevine is trying to change the habitat, and I might need to do something about that. It may be getting too much sun now.

We had some nice rain today, 0.2 inches. That kept me doing mostly inside work, but it meant I didn't have to water the gardens. The two plants I had ordered came and I planted them. You'll see them later. I was quite happy with their size and the packaging.

The rain made it humid. I'll have to have a few days to get used to that again.

Tomorrow I am headed for Gaylord- activity to be shared tomorrow. Then Friday and Saturday I'll be attending the Michigan Outdoor Writers Association Conference. Should be some fun stuff to share.

See What's in Full Bloom

Front Garden Report 2024 #3

 Indeed, you are getting a report on the Front Garden Bed. It needs a lot of plants yet, but I'm really happy with how far it has come in a couple of years. Today's report is exactly 3 months later than the first post linked below. That was in June, and the colors in this one section that I have looking nice were much more vibrant, but it's not shabby for September. The space is 100% weeded, so I'm patting myself on the back. The netting fence has stopped almost all of the grazing by the neighborhood beasties, and it doesn't look too ugly. The two problems with it are the snake it caught earlier in the year, and it's also trying to kill me, since I keep forgetting it's there and tripping.

The other half is still rather bare, but a plan is developing. I only showed you this plant once, about a year ago. This is a variegated ajuga. It has survived one winter and settled in and is beginning to spread. I tried it in the rock garden first, but unlike the bronze ajuga, it won't tolerate the sun. It seems pretty happy here. I'm going to encourage it to spread around and showcase that 'Forbidden Fruit' hosta. You can also see a small blue hosta that came from Ester in a cage.

This is a major addition to the front bed this year. Friend Sue gave me a lot of tiger lilies. I've put them into two groupings. While doing so, I filled the chipmunk hole, but you can see that the chippy is still using it since it's cleared out today. That may not bode well for the lilies. However, so far s/he has left the two lilies I already have alone. Maybe I should move the one that's almost IN the hole, eh?

Last change for this year, I think. This picture doesn't look like much, but it documents what I did. Last year, I moved some of the two kinds of primrose I have, but I wasn't happy with where I put them- sort of strung out in a line. I've now moved them into groupings with the low blue-flowering ones in front and the taller yellow ones behind. These transplanted just fine last year, so I'm hoping that will be true again. Just in case, I left a couple of each right where they were!

I have an idea for a plant I might want to buy for the background. We'll see if I decide I can justify another expense this year. It can be planted in the fall, so it would be nice to get it going.

In other news: I worked on required projects in the morning. Walked to the P.O, bank, etc. in the afternoon, and also worked on the rock garden. I'm trying to get that last little bit on the west edge organized with rock spaces so I can finish the numbering. I've put in quite a few plants that are in locations with no numbers. That makes it difficult to create accurate records so I know what should be appearing in the spring.

Miles hiked in 2024: 393.6

See Front Garden Report 2024 #1 See May 2023

The $1 Marigold

In mid-June, after I finished the hike, I planted a dollar's worth of marigold seeds. I figured whatever I got would add a spot of color. Well, they did. It did. I got one, one spot of color!

The impatiens haven't recovered from being eaten a second time. That was probably asking a lot. Well, they were practically free, and the foliage looks better than weeds.

Here's one more gazania. They are doing pretty well.

The tiny coleus that was absolutely free because it was an accident in one of the other pots didn't get big, but neither did it get eaten.

I never did show you the plant I bought for the rock garden, but it wouldn't stand the sun. It's this vareigated ajuga. I really like the looks of it, and it's quite happy in the shade. The bronze one will tolerate the rock garden, but not this one!

And finally, I wanted to show you the flowers of one more hosta. I have no idea what variety this is, it was free long ago. Ordinary green leaves with narrow white edges.

But it's another one with pretty flowers. The blooms in the above picture are past their prime. But when you look inside the blossom, they are neat.

As you can see, a lot of that bed did not get weeded for the second time. I may have time to do one more fall cleanup after I get home in October, but right now I'm focused on getting ready to head for New York.

More NCT work and some house cleaning today.

See How Are Those Annuals?