Blue and Purple

It was damp and cloudy all day. Not enough rain to bother with. I'll probably have to water the rock garden this week.

However, more things are beginning to bloom, and I'l feature blue and purple today.

Remember the iris I planted in the driveway bed two years ago? They came up last year, but weren't established enough to bloom. This year, there are 11 stalks with buds! Two have started to open. Of course their survival will have something to do with the amount of wind we get. I might have to put in some stakes for them. Although I dug random rhizomes to move here, they seem to be all purple.

The other thing in the driveway bed that is starting to bloom is the Meadow Sage, Salvia praetensis. There are cultivars, but I have no idea if this is a particular one.

I want to show you the two ajugas in the same post. This is the Bronza Ajuga, Ajuga reptans. Common name is bugleweed. I don't know if this has a particular variety name, but it might because the leaves are very dark. It was free long ago. Today, I want you to notice that the flowers are approaching purple. This plant is in both my front bed and the rock garden. It fills in very tightly and I have to fight it all the time to keep it in its place, but I love how it looks.

Bonus story: I got this from Matthaei Botanical Garden. No I didn't steal it, although I certainly could have. It was on a freebie table. I worked on the grounds crew a couple of summers in addition to the grad school research I was doing there. One of the jobs I did (because everyone else hated it) was to weed a big flower box full of this that was under one of the entrance signs. You just have to be a little careful, and I didn't mind that. I also got to dig weeds from between paving stones because I didn't mind that either.

If you think they don't look very purple, compare them to the variety 'Variegata,' that I bought maybe 3 years ago. I now have this one at the other end of the front bed. It doesn't spread as aggressively, but it seems to be expanding a little. And it's much more blue.

I worked on a bunch of stuff today, including plant records. Oh, and I ordered another plant. It was reasonably priced, but the shipping was as much as the plant. Hope I like it as much as I think I will.

See Driveway Bed 2025

A Few Rock Garden Details

I just have to show you the proof that there were four 'Jewel Baby' iris, and they all bloomed at one time.

This came up last year too. It doesn't belong in the rock garden. I also have a few others that are scattered around in various places. I should try to get them collected into one location where they would look better in a group. This is a 'Pheasant Eye' narcissus, a very old variety. In fact, I'm pretty sure these came from my home in New York.

And, speaking of members of the Narcissus genus, This is one I haven't seen for decades. this is 'Sun Disc.' My records say I planted 5 bulbs in 2002. It's a little unusual in how rounded and flat it is. I'd be happy to see it increase.

The Wall Cress is doing well. This was a survivor from the former rock garden that is thriving.

Finally for today, the Lewisia is starting to bloom, and the Sempervivum 'Black' next to it is still a nice contrast. Both Lewisia survived the winter, but are smaller than when they came from the store. I'm hopeful they will settle in here and grow. It bloomed for a long, long time last year, so perhaps that will happen again this year.

Oddly enough, the variety is 'Elise,' but there are many colors of that same variety. the store had yellow, white, and light pink, as well as this bright pink. I didn't buy another. I have a lot of yellow flowers. If I'm getting pink, it won't be light pink, and I can find more reliable plants in white.

And continuing to speak of the store... There wasn't a single plant I wanted. They are carrying all the same things as in the past. I haven't made the rounds of all the nurseries yet, but I suspect I'll need to order things if I want different things. That gets expensive. So far, I haven't bought a single plant this year. Can you believe it?

But I do need to get busy weeding. The rock garden looks pretty good, but it's going to be out of control soon. In particular, the blue fescue grass is getting seed heads. If I don't want 10 million of those they need to get cut tomorrow! Today was cool and humid with a couple of rain showers.

I continued on my quest to put things away, got back to editing, and some of my other routine projects. It's beginning to look as if some progress is being made. Oh, and I put a different aerator on the kitchen faucet. The one I bought last month was awful. I like the one I just put on. Of course, now we have a leaking toilet. The jobs never end.

See Fresh Color

Jewel Baby and Confidence Camp

Last year, 'Jewel Baby' iris had two blossoms. This year it might have four! This is only about 6 inches tall, and I really love it.

There is another little clump of leaves in a different place that I HOPE is the light pink 'Betsy Boo' iris. I did have one long ago, and I think it was in that location. Perhaps in another year, I'll find out!

Meanwhlle, the porta-potty was delivered today.

And Cathy and I got this bar bolted to the deck. Stay tuned.

I spent all morning shopping and doing errands. I MAY have purchased everything I need for Camp.

Worked on smaller things for Camp (partly with Cathy's help) in the afternoon, and had a Zoom meeting.

Now, I'll settle in to work on handouts for a couple of hours here.

See Jewel Baby 2025

Is It Spring Yet?

I don't know about you, but I am absolutely ready for something a little more spring-like outside.

Meanwhile, it was Easter! A great worship service this morning, and then a very laid-back dinner for Om and me. Just ham, salad, and strawberries for dessert, with the rest of the hot cross buns. Oh, and a little cheese.

What's happening in the gardens? Very little.

The oriental poppies are getting some nice leaves. This will be the red one.

The rock garden is pretty much still dormant. OK, that may be better than having things green up too early, but hey... things are about 2 weeks behind last year.

This is the pasqueflower, trying to get something going.

This is the same one, ONE, mini-iris that came up last year. These don't seem to spread for me either. They just struggle along for a few years and then die. But one is better than none. I used to have purple, yellow, and blue.

It was a laid-back day. I did a few things, but not with much dedication.

See So Early! Too Early?

Late May Garden Color

The rock garden is sort of in between color phases right now. However, the Bloody Geranium is beginning to bloom. Most of the magenta-purple you see in this picture is that geranium.

Some of the geranium I have in the rock garden is a light pink (looks white in the picture). It spreads very slowly which is good. I'm trying to get a few other spots of it started and remove more of the Bloody one as I get good things to replace it. It's OK, but it's a little too tall and it's SO invasive. The roots are really a pain to dig out.

Also in the rock garden is another plant I wish I'd never bought. I have to keep fighting with it all the time too. However, it's a little easier to control. I try to keep it restricted to some clumps instead of letting it send runners all over the place. It's the variegated Vinca. But it does have beautiful large blue flowers at a good time of the season.

Moving to other locations, because I cleared out a bunch of autumn olive last fall, a few of my iris got enough sun to bloom. Purple...

... and yellow. Nothing unusual or fancy, but I'm happy to see some of them bloom again.

Best color display? The front flower bed. This is a teaser for a more complete report another day, but I'm waiting for one more flower to open before I do that. Best of all, only two of the colors you see here are from blossoms. Most is foliage, so it will look great all summer.

I think I can safely show you the knitting project one more time without giving away the final goal.

Not much gardening happened today. Editing, errands, wrote my column for Mason County Press, finished mowing the lawn. Maybe I have time to get out there right now for a few minutes!

Tomorrow is a book vendor event in Rockford.

See Nailing the Spring Color Palette

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

Other People's Flowers

 Vendor event all day. I did well.

Walking to my car, I enjoyed other people's flowers. These are allium (in other words, an onion, but these are ornamental for the flowers)

Red lupine, also a garden cultivar.

The presentation of these was nice. White iris in front of a yellow-green tree, with the red lupine.

This garden had purple and yellow iris.

And a stunning rhododendron bush. This was all just in two blocks!

The vendor event was very busy. Pictures of these events all look alike. Here's the food tent alley. The good news is, I'm doing great. The bad news is that I have another event next weekend, and even though I have books that will arrive this week, I'm going to run out of a couple of titles. It's always a total guessing game how much to order.

I weeded a few minutes after I got home, but talking with people all day long is exhausting. And I'll be doing it again tomorrow. I'm probably going to crash with a book.

See What's blooming now

Last Garden Post for a While

Surprise! I have one iris blooming. Hey, it beats none.

I doubt that I'll have any time tomorrow to garden. I really wanted to get the front bed finished before I left for the hike completion. I came close, but no cigar. Well, maybe a cheap cigar. All the hard parts are done, so it won't take long, but I really need to stop and focus on getting ready.

I am going to miss the blooming of two plants. So few of mine are actually happy enough to bloom that I'm disappointed, but THE HIKE. MUST BE FINISHED. Anyway, the peony is going to have quite a few flowers this year. It's plain blah pink. But this may be the most buds I've ever seen on it. Some years, it doesn't even bloom.

This one... I'm really sad to miss this one. This is not the salmon poppy I show you every year. Actually, I don't think that one is going to bloom. We used to have a row of stunning bright red and red-orange poppies when we lived down nearer the road. The lilac hedge shaded them out. But at least 5-6 years ago, I found a tiny one alive and moved it up here to the front bed. I figured if the salmon one was happy, it would be too. It has slowly grown, and this is the first year it is going to bloom. I thought with the heat it might pop open this week, but it's only got one more day, and I don't think so. Well, the sun made the bud look nice.

I may also miss the yellow oriental lily that is in a tight prison since the deer love to chomp it off. It has a whole circle of buds. But maybe it will be blooming when I get home. There's another oriental lily that I have no idea what it is. I'd never seen it come up before. I'm sure it came from Ester. Her garden is such a dense collection of things, almost every transplanted clump has multiple items. (This has resulted in the enhancement of my plant collection!) It's tangled with a blue hosta which I think was the goal of the gift, so I'll separate them later this summer.

I've learned that I have three giant Krossa blue hosta growing- also serendipitous gifts from Ester. They are also now in prison for their safety. They aren't giant yet, but one of them is looking large-ish.

Here's my lost cause project for the summer. Yeah, I'm playing in the rock garden. I forgot to take a completly "before" picture. But maybe with some spaces cleared it shows that there is something under the weeds and grass to recover. Anyway, there are about 80 identified and numbered niches nestled in the rocks. They are not all the same size, but each has a "map" and a plant list. Ha! Not much is still alive. So far this year, I've weeded 10 spaces. You can see a few in this picture, working from the bottom up. The geranium is everywhere, but it gets to stay for now. There's no sense ripping out something pretty if everything else is dead. Some of the light pink one is still alive too (those light spots near the wall).

Speaking of things being dead or alive, I have so far found remnants of four other of my Sedums. If they have survived this long-term neglect, they are definitely hardy. I'm REALLY happy about two of them which were particular favorites. They are tiny, but have the potential to recover. One I have not found yet is common and hardy and grows all over the area in bare fields and lawns. If none of it shows up, I can get more for free, easily. I'm shocked that I haven't found any of that one yet.

Some of the cleared spaces are at the top of the hill. This includes the hybrid sedum I bought in 2020. It has turned a deeper purple- a common reaction of plants to the hot, dry environment. I like it even better this way.

I've found a few tiny Sempervivum (hen and chicks) survivors. Those usually recover quickly. There is so little that's still alive (think about how many plants were in 80 spaces- and they almost all had multiple plants), it will be almost like starting over. However, I think I have a little more sense about what kind of plants will live on the hill. I can give you a long, long list of ones that are not suitable!

Tomorrow is a Spirit of the Woods Chapter meeting with a pot luck meal. I am taking this salad made with pearl couscous. The recipe looked so good on the box, and the reality fulfils the potential. I had to make myself be good and not eat a bunch of it for my own dinner! But I get fresh juice from the leftover citrus fruits.

OK, if I can make myself be good, there is one more task I should do this evening. The heat today really got to me. I was productive enough to get by, but nothing great.

See A High Probability of Naughtiness

Trail Work and a Pretty

  I haven't been on the trail much lately- it's been hot, and I've started working on the trailer. And I was doing a lot of editing. These are all good things (OK, maybe not the heat). But today, Andrea asked if we could get out to continue the blazing on her section, and it all came together. Isn't the trail appealing with all the greenery?

We didn't get a lot done. Sigh. It just takes a long time to do it right. This is one of the old blazes. Red pine- never the best choice, but it's what is growing there. The bark on red pine just flakes and flakes. A couple of swipes, and this blaze was completely on the ground. Did a good scraping, and painted a new one.

Anyway, we did a half mile. That's a half mile more than would have been done if we hadn't gone.

Both of the small creeks in this section are completely dry, but one of them has blue flag growing. One of my favorites.

After Andrea left, I finally got things fixed (almost) at the Freesoil Trailhead where a new snowmobile trail was put in that cut right across the trail and obliterated any indication of where to go on the north side of the road. So consider this a public service announcement. The magenta line is how you used to cross the road, on an angle to the west. Now, you'll go straight across- see the Carsonite post on the other side.

You go for a few yards on an old 2-track road. This is the place I could not totally get right today. There is absolutely nothing on which to paint a blaze for the left turn. I think I'll have to put in a 4x4 post. However, you CAN see the next blaze if you look left. I chose this route, because it means the trail does not cross the snowmobile trail at all. Seems safer That trail comes up the seasonal road to the corner, crosses Freesoil Road and makes an abrupt left. Our trail now stays to the east of that motor trail corner.

After you make the left turn, then you have to make an abrupt right to get on the former route of the trail. That turn is correctly marked now. You can see the turn blaze if you squint at the picture. It's been over a year they've had that whole construction area torn up, so it feels good to have it close to properly marked.

North Country Trail miles for 2021 is at 324.

In other news: I edited. I made yogurt. I worked on a pet project. I worked on that big Bondo project on the trailer. I had another book meeting this evening.

North Country Trail, Lake County, MI. Freesoil Trailhead south and back- total 4 miles

See Lopping, No Loping