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

Most of the New Plants

 There's purple in my future, no doubt about that. But the only purple you'll see today is my nearly yearly sharing of New England Aster, growing on a roadside.

The rest of what you'll see are all but one of the plants I bought on Saturday at the Mason County Garden Club sale. Three of them will have purple flowers. That wouldn't have been my first choice, but I was specifically looking for tallish plants that would tolerate at least partial if not full shade. I came home with 6 different plants for what I would have paid for the one I was going to order. So, I'll see what is happy here. The ones I'm showing you today have all gone in the Front Bed.

The one I put in the deepest shade is 'Winky' Columbine. It will also get the tallest. This is one of the large ornamental columbines, and the flowers are purple and white. Spring bloomer.

I got a big pot of garden allium (onion), and split it into three clumps. This one, I think, will not get over 2 feet tall (there are giant ones). It went in partial shade at both ends of the front bed. Purple balls of flowers in spring.

The other purple bloomer is Lirope. This gets spikes of purple flowers in the fall. I've never tried any of this, but what the heck. It went in mostly sun with a little shade. There are two species, and I don't know which this is, so that will be next season's surprise. It gets about 18" high. I put it in a space that is kind of empty once the daffodils die back. That should work pretty well.

I have wanted to get another Brunnera. This is the 'Jack Frost' that I have and is established. The one I like best is 'Frostbite,' but oh, well. Not only do these have bright foliage, but in the spring they have tons of tiny blue flowers.

The new one isn't looking very happy yet, but it was probably only dug up last week and then moved twice. The other plants were well-established in their pots. I think they were dug earlier in the season. (and some of the plants were donated by garden centers because it's the end of the season)

My other plant for the front bed was a freebie because it was so sad. This is a 'Mouse Ears' hosta. Indeed, it had two leaves, and one of them fell off on the way home. But if the root is OK, it will be back in the spring. The leaves are small but rounded, and the color is quite blue.

In other news: I worked in the morning and part of the afternoon. I walked the summer taxes to the town hall. Total walking 4.2 miles

Miles walked in 2024: 425.1

See Purple Parade

Betty's Garden Fun

It's turning out to be a huge job to go all through the blog posts and make notes of who was there on which days, and how long I stayed at each host, etc. How about some more pretty plants instead?

This is a garden loosestrife (not the horrible purple loosestrife that takes over wetlands. Actually, this probably isn't even in the same genus.)

She still has a columbine in bloom!

These are some variety of "Sundrops," which is an evening primrose relative. Genus Oenothera. I used to have some shorter ones, but they all eventually died out.

Here's the one that takes my breath away. She can grow delphiniums! I have killed a few. This is a lighter blue one, but it's still stunning.

And how about those pots of coleus? They are looking great! But she has not escaped the deer eating her hosta. I'm not gloating... just saying.

Can you tell that I'm getting a lot of joy from plants and flowers and gardening? Very much so!

See Gardening with Betty