Those Purple Sedums, Two Weeks Later

Who knew that in two weeks I really wouldn't miss any of these sedums blooming. I'll present them in the same order as last time.

This is 'Jade Tuffet,' the one I bought less than a month ago. It has just burst with joy since being let out of its little pot. Not quite in full bloom yet.

The 'Cherry Tart' is partly in full bloom, and it continues to make me really happy with the colors. There are still a couple of the heads with buds.

This is the one from Betty, pretty certainly identified as 'Vera Jameson.' Not quite in full bloom, so plenty of time to enjoy this yet.

'Dream Dazzler' still has rather tight buds. It's interesting that I now have three small patches of this, and only one of them has many buds. That's OK, I'll let the patches get established now, so more should flower next year. These leaves change color a lot as the season progresses. It looks nicest earlier in the year.

The 'Coraljade' continues to be a big success story. This is just about in full bloom.

'Wildfire' also is doing different things in different places. The original patch does not have buds. A small patch I took off that has some tight buds. The leggy discount pot I bought a few weeks ago is covered in buds, but the leaf color is not as good as the one that overwintered. This is the new one. Blossoms still to come. The truth is, I really have these dark sedums mostly for the foliage, so I'm not too worried if they bloom or not.

Last year, 'Firecracker' bloomed a lot. This year, it only has a couple of buds. But that's fine. It's happy; it's filling in the space.

'Dazzleberry' has lots of buds that aren't quite open, so it should be stunning in a couple of days.

So far, I'm also really happy with 'Oriental Dancer.' This was a 4" sprig when I bought it this spring. That I'm getting one moderately tall stalk with blossoms this year is great. These are not open yet. Can't wait to see how dark they will be!

Weeding to do. Lots to do on every project here. But today I didn't accomplish much. This was a crash day. I mostly rested. Hopefully tomorrow I can get back in gear.

See Sedums Almost Blooming

Plants I Overwintered Inside

I said I'd show you how the plants did that I took inside for the winter last year. One is a great success, and the other is moderate.

The real winner is Sedum mexicanum 'Lemon Coral.' I ended up with three pots of it after dividing the clump I had in the fall. You may remember that this all started with a sad little $2 half-dead sprig. I put one of them back where I had it last year. The new single clump is as big as what I had here last year.

And the other two clumps of it. This one looks very nice filling in between the rocks.

And it contrasts nicely with the bronze ajuga. This is definitely worth bringing in for the winter. The color stays this bright yellow-green all season, and it quickly fills spaces where I tuck it in.

The other one is Sedum linare 'Sea Urchin.' The color is interesting, and I bought a very full pot of this last year, not realizing it isn't super hardy. (I did know the lemon coral wasn't). Here's a reminder of how great Sea Urchin (the green-white-pink spiky one) looked all season last year paired with Sedum elecombeanum.



I also split that clump into three pots for the winter. While both kinds of plant got leggy, the Sea Urchin got leggy and sad, and then sort of died back. Not completely, but the plants I could put out in the spring were not very big.

The one really interesting thing is that I had left a little bit of the original plant just to see if it might survive. The tag said it was hardy to 30 degrees- so, tender- but I thought it was worth a shot. That piece I left out survived. It was tiny this spring, but I had only left a tiny bit. Here's what that one looks like now. This is the same place as the above picture. Not filled in nearly as nicely.

So, then I still had three small plants to put other places. This is the most successful one.

The other two are still alive, but struggling.

And the very smallest one is not really any bigger than when I put it out.

As you can imagine, the small ones really don't show up at all in a garden of this size.

But, I will bring them in again this fall and see if I can end up with happier plants in the spring.

One web site says it can survive down to 14 degrees, so for sure I'll leave a couple of spots of it outside this winter. Maybe I can remember to insulate those spots with some extra leaves.

I gave away the fishbone cactus. It did not like being outside. I still have a little struggling aloe 'Pink Blush', but it doesn't like being out in the sun either.

Part of my sorting/cleaning project involves a place to keep plants over winter where they will be happier.

In other news: I worked on that project a lot this afternoon. Worked on computer stuff and editing in the morning. Very little gardening. The sun was HOT. I'm doing some garden record-keeping when I don't play in the dirt.

See Mid-Winten Garden Report

Two New Purple Sedums

This isn't a real rock garden report, but I have to show you one picture. I like how it looks when the ground is damp. I had just watered, and it makes the colors of the plants really stand out. This looks so much nicer than even a year ago!

I went to three nurseries in Holland over the weekend and bought 3 new plants. I'll show you the two sedums today. This is one of the Sunsparkler ones. It wasn't on my priority list to get, but it's hard to find the ones I don't have, so I bought it. This is called 'Jade Tuffet.'

The leaves are bright green in spring, but then they turn dark red in summer. The flowers are bright dusty pink in fall. I'm always looking for more dark-leaved plants. And the 'Sunsparkler' sedums are all great, so I'm glad I got it.

This one won't look like much until next year. It was broken, so it was on a markdown table. This is one of the tall sedums, now moved to Hylotelephium, called 'Night Embers.' The leaves are very dark. It will get tall and also have pink-purple flowers. It will make a great contrast with my other tall sedums which are all light green. I used to have another dark one, but it died out.

Today was productive. I made yogurt, edited, worked in the garden just a tiny bit before it got hot, worked on my sorting/cleaning project, and will do some more computer stuff yet this evening.

I bought some stuff- a granular powder that is supposed to repel the rodents without killing them. Hoping it will keep the chippies out of the gardens.

See Three Nice Sedums

Three Nice Sedums

Two of these I can positively ID. The other one, maybe not.

The first one was given to me by Betsy. I have two clumps of it now, and it will get about twice this tall before it blooms. This is a Sedum hybrid 'Thundercloud.' I had not noticed before this year that at this stage, the leaves have red edges. Classy! This stays compact and grows where I want it to. Excellent rock garden plant. It is flanked on the left by Sempervivum 'Red Heart,' which stays pretty consistently deep red. Of course, in the picture I see that I missed pulling a stalk of grass there. Sigh.

Next up is one I bought in 2023. It spreads slowly, but it's really wonderful. I bought a second one this year, but it's straggly yet, so I'll just show you this one. This is Sedum takisimense 'Atlantis.' I put it on the blog fairly often, but it has a lot of seasonal differences, so there's always something to see. It's just starting to bloom. You can see one yellow flower head opening.

So you can see how much it has filled in, here it is when I bought it two years ago. There are many sedums that spread faster, but this is worth waiting for.

Finally for today, here is the one I'm not sure of. I was thinking it was a Sedum hispanicum. I have 'Blue Carpet' and 'Pinkie.' But here's the deal. They drop balls and spread all over the place. That's fine. They fill in cracks between rocks. Both were just finishing blooming when I got home, so they aren't looking their best right now. And this is pre-bloom, also making me think it isn't one of those, in addition to the lighter green color. The others are blueish and blueish-pink.

The other choice for this is Sedum pallidum, sometimes called 'Turkish Sedum.' I also got that one from Betsy. My records say this is nowhere near where I planted it. However, these small carpet-type sedums just move themselves around very easily. At any rate, it's looking quite wonderful filling in the space between these two rocks.

I got back on track today and worked diligently on a number of my projects including editing. More rock garden weeding. It's beginning to look better. I'm enjoying time alone.

See Thyme Time

More Plants

Today was super busy with necessary tasks including laundry, shopping, mowing, blah, blah.. This evening was the Zoom meeting compliments of the UP Publishers and Authors Association (for the UP Notable Book Award). If anyone wants to hear me talk even MORE about the trail, I'll post the link when it goes on YouTube.

Meanwhile, have some more fun plants. This is one of the 'Sunsparkler' sedums that I really like. This is 'Dazzleberry.' It's got a lot of sun on it in this picture, but it stays this muted blue-purple color. And it's spreading well, if slowly.

Here's what it looked like a year ago, so it's gradually increasing in size. This color is more accurate in shade.



This is a mystery Sedum that my friend Betty gave me. I've made several guesses as to what it is. My current guess is another of the 'Sunsparklers' called 'Blue Elf.' It's spreading at about the same rate as Dazzleberry. Again, I like the color.

This flower isn't even really in a flower bed. I put some alongside the east edge of the house because it can stand the morning heat. It spreads like crazy, but doesn't stay in one place very well. It's probably oregano gone wild.

Not a lot else to say about today. I have to get up early to go to meet with Matt Rowbotham and Bill to process our info from the Adirondack hike.

Oh! And I saw something last night I'd never seen before. A very young fawn with its mama in the back yard. Way too common. But the fawn had the zoomies! I never saw a deer do that. It was just going crazy for about five minutes.

See Various Verdure

Various Verdure

I'm making progress weeding the rock garden. The most difficult (steepest) part is done, but I'm not ready to do an entire report yet. Here are some miscellaneous plants to show.

I'll start with a Sedum that is making me pretty happy. This is the 'Cherry Tart,' one of the Sunsparklers. I got one little stalk for $7 plus shipping two years ago. Here's how it looks this week. The color stays consistent all season- this red-purple. It grows slowly, but I'm pretty happy with it.

This is how it looked last year, after one year of growth, so you can see it IS getting bigger.



Now for a big mistake. I've been allowing the weed Silver Cinquefoil, Potentilla argentea, to fill in areas because it has a nice texture and small yellow flowers.

The backs of the leaves are white, thus the "silver" name. This gives it some interest in a breeze.

Turns out it's a perennial with deep tap roots. Once a plant is two years old, it's very difficult to pull it out. It sprawls and fills a much bigger space than expected. If I'm going to let small plants grow in the spring, I need to root them up before July. I'll have to work on eradicating these.

Now for happier topics. The Icelandic Poppy is giving yet another round of flowers, although these are much smaller. It's very interesting that the one is yellow with orange edges.

The donkey tail Euphorbia continues to add interest even after three months. Actually, the seed pods were interesting too. Not sure I showed you those. However, the previously flowering stalks have turned bright pink and almost look like a different kind of flower.

And the new growth in the middle looks compact and healthy. I hope this has babies. Here's how it looked in April, and it's still giving joy in July.



When the gardens don't lend themselves to colorful long views, it's good to focus on small puddles of interest.

The weather was decent (cooler) today. I had an extra dose of editing to do, but spent a decent amount of time working outside. Can't complain about the editing- it's paying my bills!

See Purple Parade

Those Sedums I Ordered by Mail

I'm always on a quest to find hardy, colorful sedums I like that I don't yet own. I'm most impressed with the 'Sunsparkler' varieties, and there are still a few of those I'd like, but those will also probably need to be ordered. I've seen a couple of the choices at Garden Solutions.

Meanwhile, I found two varieties that I didn't have, both from the same seller on eBay so that saved postage. Even so, there are no bargain plants when you order them this way. However, the plants came through exceptionally well packaged and larger than is usually the case, so I was fairly pleased.

I got these in May. They are growing slowly but nicely, and both look healthy. The first one will get medium tall and has bright pink-purple flowers. New growth isn't as purple, but as they mature the stems and leaves get dark. The rock garden can take a few taller plants, particularly by the retaining wall. Things by the wall also have to be able to stand some serious heat. The afternoon sun bounces off the wall and will fry anything delicate beside it. (Shasta daisies were a no-go there.) So this is Sedum 'Oriental Dancer.'

The other new one isn't quite what I expected. It's larger and coarser than I envisioned, but I'm certain I can find a place I like it. Maybe not where it is now, but that's fine. This is apparently a 'Sunsparkler' cultivar, but I'm not sure it's one they support any more. They seem to have dropped some of the ones that aren't the fastest growing. I think this will also get taller than I thought. It's called 'Blue Pearl.' It's also less blue than the pictures right now. In fact, it doesn't look much like the pictures. That doesn't mean it's the wrong thing. Sometimes it takes a while for plants to reach a growth stage that is the one promoted. Anyway, it's happy, and it's something different.

BONUS SECTION: piles of infamy

This is just 15 minutes worth of trimming autumn olive. I'm sure I got the flat tire trying to get too close to these bushes yesterday. I'm determined to make a dent in beating back the autumn olive this year. Tomorrow I'll drag the piles out of the yard.

In other news: I mowed more- everything near the house is done. That is not to say the edges are trimmed. I weeded in the rock garden- it's going very slowly. I should have tried to do it once before I went to NY, and now it's out of control. I edited and did computer stuff.

See Sedum Odds and Ends

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