Front Garden Report 2026- #3

The Front Garden is turning out so amazing! I have a lot to share.

First is the general view of the west side. This never fails to make me smile.

And of one part of the east side. I had to take a picture of either the part in sun or shade this afternoon. The shaded part only has greenery right now since the blue Globe Bellflowers finished blooming, so here is the part that has afternoon sun.

There is quite a lot to talk about right now. Let's start with Astilbe. I have one pink one and three white ones. These were some of the plants that cost me 10¢ each a couple of years ago, so I can't complain. But despite being where they should be happy, I've never had much luck getting Astilbe to thrive. I'm thinking about replacing them with other things if I find something I like better. They are OK, but they should be bigger and fuller.

The pink one is 'Rheinland.'

And the white one is 'Bridal Veil.'

I have one new hosta here. Betsy gave me a multi-clump of 'Hacksaw,' which is fun with narrow scalloped leaves. (Small Halcyon behind it- I just moved several of those this spring too)

And speaking of hosta- the 'Tiny Tears' are in full bloom now. A whole lot of this bed is edged with it.

I'm still trying to get this patch of white Lamium (Deadnettle) to fill in better. As you can barely see, it has white flowers too, although I'm much more interested in the white foliage.

Finally for today, the 'Landini' lily bulbs I bought on closeout at the end of 2024 are really looking great! I thought these would be more maroon based on the pictures, instead of the almost candy-apple red. In fact, most of the pictures of it on-line are much deeper- from maroon almost to black. It's possible they aren't getting quite enough sun as they are in almost total shade. Nevertheless, I really like these.

And the flowers are huge!

I've been working sporadically at putting a broken brick edging around this garden to make it a little easier to mow around, so I don't have to do as much hand trimming. You can see the Seven Sisters Rose in this shot.

There are still things that need to be moved around, and one section is pretty much a "weed patch" of bellflower and dwarf Solomon's seal. I'll continue to work on replacing some of that with other things. Additional plans for this year are to buy one Heucherella I want, but most of my upcoming plant purchases will have to do with the Moon Garden.

Here's a news flash! I was outside just after dark last night and saw... FIREFLIES! I don't know when the last time was that I saw any here.

In other news: I edited, walked a mile on the road, did some housecleaning including getting some of the recycling ready to take to where it has to go. My special hosta came today. Stay tuned. It came bare-root, but looking very healthy. It's in a pot and should be nice and perky in a couple of days.

Humidity not too terrible, so I kept moving pretty well.

Miles walked in 2026: 196.1

See Front Garden Report 2026- #2

Color Me Smiling

I got my bu++ out of the chair today and then put it right back down in the seat of the lawnmower. There's really no excuse for why I don't do a better job of keeping things mowed now that we have a good mower. But I don't. Oh well. I did 3 of the 4 areas that I mow (if you don't count the space out back for Confidence Camp). The rest might happen tomorrow.

While I was riding around, of course I took a look over at the rock garden. Wowser! The camera doesn't do it justice. Actually, I've figured out why. The human eye can continually change focus to see the long view and then note the spaces of purple and yellow and maroon and all the shades of green which it puts back into the brain in the long view memory. Forgive the drawbacks of a camera; it's looking really nice right now.

The yellow Asiatic lily opened its first blossom today.

And looking westward in the front bed, this is a nice shot of the blue globe bellflower with the bright pink firefly heuchera flowers behind it.

And just for proof of mowing:

The weather was delightful today. I didn't have to beat myself into going out to work because it was too hot or whatever.

Finished one editing job. Mostly mowed. A little weeding, trimming, etc. But now I think I'm tired.

See Life Is Good in Color

Jean's Been Weeding

Since the last time I was at Jean's house a month ago, she's been doing a LOT of weeding. Lots of her garden hill now looks nice.

She has lots more room for large plants than I do. This is right near her front entrance.

Her garden space is also on a hill, and she has stone steps with an interesting creeping evergreen growing over them. Just ignore the hose. We didn't pose the pictures.

The color of these lilies is stunning!

And 'Stargazer' lillies are always good for a show. It's no wonder they are so popular.

Oh, you want to know how those chicks that had just hatched a month ago are doing? Sure.

Laya is being a good Mom to them.

Tomorrow we'll be at Holland's Art in the Park!

Did a morning road walk. Miles hiked in 2025: 321.6

See Jean's Hobbies

The Unplanned Sixth

Does this sound like the name of some musical piece? I just like the sound of it.

Here's what happened. "Attached" to the driveway flower bed (that seems to have all blue things blooming) are a series of small rectangles that march down along the driveway, each with a central daylily. There have been five of these spaces for a lot of years.

But yesterday at Meijer they had a daylily in my lily color scheme that was marked down from $9 to $3. I couldn't resist. But it meant I had to dig another square for it. The name of this one is 'Monterey Jack.' The color scheme is maroon and yellow. It's blooming, and has several buds. I think it was marked down because some of the leaves are unhappy, and I think that is a result of being horribly rootbound. Now the roots will have plenty of room to spread.

None of the others are blooming yet, although I'm very encouraged at the potential. These beds had not been weeded in several years until last summer. I'm posting them all here so I can track what their status is on a given date. You'll probably see them all as they bloom. I'll just tease you with the names today.

The first square has one called 'Young Love.' It currently is small but has two budding stalks which is great because it hasn't bloomed in years.

The next square is the huge success because these lilies are unstoppable. They are also my favorite. It's commonly called 'Lemon Lily' for the clear bright yellow color. The buds should start to open in just a few days. It's a very old variety. Serious tinkering with daylilies began in the 1930's, but this one and the next are both old.

Here's the other heritage variety. It was created in 1941 and has the name 'Black Flacon.' Darker varieties have now been developed, but I've always loved these. They also have not bloomed in years, in fact I didn't even see leaves for a few years, and I thought maybe I'd lost them. They don't spread nearly as fast as most of the other varieties, but it has three stalks with buds, so if the deer don't decimate all the lilies, there is good hope to see some of these this year.

Just for the record, the next square is another patch of lemon lily, but it is much smaller. Any years when I managed to weed some of these spaces, it was usually only the first two. Last summer, I recovered the rest from being overgrown and choked with grass.

The formerly last square has a tiny plant of 'Revolution.' It has no buds right now, and my other patch of it is already starting to bloom. I think it's just panting with relief that it's finally not being choked.

Now, let's talk about daylilies. Technically, they aren't lilies, and taxonomists have now moved them to their own family, Asphodelaceae. The genus is Hemerocallis.

You probably think most of them have six petals. Actually, they have three petals and three colored sepals. Plant tinkerers have gotten some of them, like the one I just bought, to focus on the three petals so they look triangular. I actually prefer the ones that look like six, but I couldn't resist the correct colors at the low price. Here's a closer view of the 'Monterey Jack' flower.

These squares have had various plans over the years. This post has gotten long enough, so I'll save that for another day. You can probably tell that most of them are not weeded perfectly, but at least they aren't being choked by grass.

I was hoping to mow today, but we had a good rain last night, and it has continued to be wet and misty all day. Maybe tomorrow. I didn't sleep much last night, so I got up late. Spent extra time editing and cleared this new space and dug out the grass around 'Revolution.' Enjoyed the cooler temps! Right now it sure looks like more rain, but there's nothing on the radar.

See Yellow and Maroon

Something New in the Garden

I'm just getting back to regular weeding of the flower beds. The rock garden is going to be a big job. The Sedum Sexangulare is trying to take over everything. But I switched up my schedule so I got outside a bit in the morning before it hit 80 degrees and that way I got a little bit done.

Meanwhile, The new Landini Lilies I showed you just starting to come up in May are going to actually bloom this year.

I thought I was going to miss the mystery yellow lily, but nope! Four flowers when I got home, and the fifth one has since opened. This is the most blooms it has ever had.

The rock garden is a big mess. The aggressive plants are overshadowing other things that are supposed to contrast. I'm working on ripping lots of those out. This space doesn't look too bad, although the Wandering Jew doesn't seem to have grown much. The white is Sedum Album.

And here we are! Two of the Landini Lilies have bloomed. The picture on the package shows them being a much darker purple, but this is OK. And they aren't very tall this year. They are supposed to get three to four feet in height and these aren't half that. As long as they are happy I can be patient.

Also, I got brave and moved a small chunk of the Japanese Painted Fern to a new space, and it is growing.

The Flicker and his mate came back to my deck today. I have put out the birdbath, but they didn't use it, just squawked a lot and then left. I'm happy to have them.

Despite the heat, I managed to accomplish more today with better management of the tasks. There are a two more days of this with it not cooling down much at night. I only have fans to regulate the inside temp, so hot nights keep me from getting a jump start on the next day.

Tomorrow has a fun promise. Stay tuned!

See Flowers and Weeds

Front Garden Report East 2025- #1

This post will get long, but I want to get all this documented. Browse until you get tired of pictures.

I sure never thought I'd get the east end of this flower bed looking this good in only a couple of years. Due to the birthday money this year, and a bunch of free and marked down plants in the past couple of years, I've been able to fill it in fairly well. But I need to remember to take pictures earlier in the afternoon when the light isn't all dappled like this.

This is the east end of the east side.

Here it is from a lower angle with the lily of the valley patch (that is really outside the garden) behind it.

I've showed you some of these already this year. The blue is the Variegated Ajuga

The west end of the east side is a jungle. This is mixed up Globe Bellflower and the Dwarf Solomon's Seal. This is going to be a real mess to separate. I'll probably just rip out the plants that aren't in the section where I want them. This is what happens when you don't have a plan and you let two aggressive plants grow without control. However, I'm going to wait until the Bellflower blooms because it's already getting buds.

Now lets do a tour of some plants. Here you can see the 'Wiggles and Squiggles' Hosta I showed you earlier this year. It's really happy, and one leaf of the 'Forbidden Fruit' Hosta is on the right. Above that is an Astilbe (really cheap two years ago) and some tiger lilies (plant sharing with a friend last year). The new plant here is another purple Heuchera, 'Season's King' (reasonably priced).

If you look in the first picture above, you'll see a reddish heuchara encircled by the 'Mouse Ears' Hosta, 'Wiggles and Squiggles,' and 'Forbidden Fruit.' OK, I gave into temptation and paid full price for this one. It's another Heuchera, 'Carnival Cinnamon Stick.' I orginially put the 'Season's King' there, but it just needed something brighter. I resisted buying this one once, but the next trip to the store, it jumped into my cart.

Here's an unhappy Hosta, 'Vulcan.' It was another of my almost freebies two years ago. Not sure why it's so small. I don't seem to have any pictures of it from last year, so maybe I accidentally cut it off and it's just recovering. Now it's labeled so I can find it, and it should be OK in another year.

Mixed in with the old 'Francee' Hosta are two of the Allium I got at the Garden Club sale last fall. They are healthy, but I don't think they are going to bloom this year. That's OK, they'll be a nice surprise for the future. The 'Francee' is finally recovering from being chewed to the ground by the deer two years in a row.

Now let's talk about lilies. There are a couple of pathches of Tiger Lily that I was given last year. They seem to be healthy and growing, but they might not bloom this year.

This is the yellow mystery lily that I have no idea where it came from. One year it got eaten, last year it had three blossoms. It looks pretty good this year, but I'll probably miss seeing it bloom because of my hike.

I'm pretty excited about these. Can you see three lilies starting to come up among the 'Francee' Hosta? I got six bulbs for half price earlier this year. They are a variety called 'Landini.' I'll keep it a surprise what they will look like, and of course they may not bloom this first year. But I'm happy to say that all six came up. If they bloom it should be after I get home from the hike.

Finally, this is one spot of organization in the west mess. Last year I put in some of these small hosta near the front of the bed. I have no idea what variety these are. I think they came from Ester. They don't match much of anything in pictures I peruse. They stay small, and the leaves have narrow yellow edges. They make a nice border (you can see the black edging along the front of the photo). Oh, I guess I didn't catch it in the pictures, but last year I spread more of the 'Tiny Tears' Hosta to the very front of this edge as well, and it's spreading nicely.

That's plenty! But I did get a pretty good record of the work done.

I mowed all the grass up here on the hill. I'm not a super lawn-care person, but I have to say that it looks pretty nice mowed as opposed to the mess it's been a lot of years. Also did the computer tasks, blah, blah. Quite productive, and the mower is good conditioning for my core since I still don't have the seat modified. Tomorrow I play.

See Front Garden Report 2024 #3

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