2026 Rock Garden Report 1

I guess I don't have a full rock garden report from last year with a comparable date, but I found a couple of pix.

Here is the front view today.

And May 5, 2025. There was a little more color, but I really think we are a couple of weeks behind last year.

And for comparison, this is top part on April 27, 2024



And the top today.

It's filled in quite a bit more. Not all of the fillers are quality plants, but they help hold the soil until I can add better things.

Now for some goodies.

This is violets with 'Angelina' sedum and Sempervivum 'Gold Rush' (but it's red)

There's a lot going on here. The light purple is moss phlox, but the rock cress behind it is in bud (white). There are sedums greening up, and the pasqueflower is still blooming. I just like the colors and textures.

Here are a couple of bits of good news. The Lewisia has survived, and is blooming. It's not huge and healthy like it was when it came from the store last year, but I have hopes that it will improve in a year or so as it gets used to this spot.

And this sedum, 'Oriental Dancer,' which stays purple, gets tall, and has a dark purple flower heads is looking good.

I worked all day long on Confidence Camp. Was hoping I could find my notes from mapping workshops I did long ago because I knew I had some good materials for the handouts there, and I did find them! Also, Miki and I went out to look at the space for the final field exercise again, and we solved the last of the issues that needed to be checked there. I need a third "staff person" for that, and she has volunteered.

Also, Miki and Brian are going to let me borrow a campfire pit ring/grate that they just picked up. Hopefully, I can find one for me to keep in the next year, but now I am all set for this year.

A good day with good progress made.

See 2024 Rock Garden Report 1

Small Goodies

I spent most of the day working on Confidence Camp. Cathy came over and we divided and packaged a lot of the items that participants will receive and learn how to use. I spent most of the rest of my time refining "lesson plans."

Meanwhile, some more areas of the rock garden are looking nice. This area of color is great. The yellow is Moneywort, Lysemachia nummularia 'Goldilocks.' This has totally surprised me by looking better than ever since I've revived the rock garden. It really prefers something more moist. There are violets, and a Sempervivum Margaret gave me that stays quite red.

This is another of the miniature daffodils I bought a long time ago but has come back. This is 'Rip VanWinkle' with violets and some of the first of the moss phlox to open behind it.

This is a daffodil I split last year that had gotten all bunched up. The other patch didn't come up, but the ones I left in the rock garden did. They are really too tall, but I put them at the very bottom, so that works. These are a tarzetta daffodil, variety 'Erlicheer.' The leaves persist way too long, so I need to figure out what else I can also put there for later in the year.

I just have to show you the Sempervivum 'Gold Nugget' again. It's starting to change from red to gold!

And for the final act of the day, we will switch to the front flower bed. This is the sunburned Brunnera I bought at the end of the summer last year. It's the first of my Brunnera to bloom this spring! Variety is 'Variegata.' I'm really happy with this one. I really bought all of my Brunnera for the foliage, but have been delighted with the early spring forget-me-not-like flowers.

It still hasn't rained, but it's been plenty windy!

See A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

More Rock Garden Surprises

I'm going to start right out with the big, big surprise. You might remember that I managed to dig up the pasqueflower that came up in the yard and move it back to the rock garden. Took me two years. I marked it in 2024, but then it died back and I couldn't find it, but I got it last year.

I had originally purchased three varieties of pasqueflower, Pulsatilla vulgaris: the common purple one, one called 'Papavera' which has a variety of colors, and 'Rubra' with red flowers. Well! The one I rescued from the yard is one of the two that isn't purple! I'm guessing 'Rubra,' but will see if all the flowers are red. Big smile from me, either way!

And the regular purple one is blooming now too.

Now back to more about the 'Gold Nugget' Sempervivum. Patch 2 is still really red. Picture from a different angle.

And the other patch (1) that wasn't red before is getting a deeper color.

And here is the status of the space that I was really hoping would come back after winter. This is the 'Black' Sempervivum with the Lewisia at 4 and 9 o'clock. All alive! I was pretty confident of the Sempervivum, but I've killed Lewisia before, so that was a concern.

I edited, I worked on all my projects (although not enough on the taxes), I cleaned up the yard a little, blah, blah

In disappointing news, I could be the owner of the 'Topaz Jazz' Heuchera. For $30. That's not going to happen Ha! I need to be saving to finish my dental work.

See TRock Garden Surprise

Rock Garden Surprise

The snow is melted off the rock garden. I went on the deck yesterday to see how bad things looked (more on that later), and was stunned at this bright red Sempervivum. What the heck?!

This is the 'Gold Nugget' I bought last year. Let's call it group 2 because it was purchased more recently

I could not believe the color. It really is that bright red; it's not a trick of the light. I had to find my plant records to find where the other 'Gold Nugget' is planted. (more on that later too) Here it is. Not nearly so red. Call this group 1.

These two puddles are the same variety, but purchased different years and at different places- in different states, actually.

These pix are group 1 at other times of the year





And these are group 2. The first is when it was purchased in May 2025.



And in July 2025

More: I had a genuine scare when I went to look for the garden records. When I switched computers last fall, my backup hard drive did a catastrophic failure. Everything is gone. Although beyond annoying, I didn't lose much at all because it was a backup. But could I find the computer file with the plant records? Eek! No! But I finally did a search of my whole computer and I had put the folder in a different place. (Take deep breaths, calm down.) I would have lost about 2 years of records if I'd had to go to the older backup.

More: I left the fencing up all winter, but it clearly didn't keep the critters out of the rock garden. You can see how the dirt around the second picture above is all churned up around the plant. It's much too early to be working on it yet, but I can see I'll have a lot to do.

I was super, super good today. I edited, I worked on one of my pet projects, I finished most of the unpacking, and I cleaned the kitchen floor. I did those in rotation with pieces in the big puzzle. I actually need to get that finished because I need that table to do taxes!

And I feel fine. Still draining the head a bit, but hopefully I'll get outside for a while tomorrow.

See Those Shifty Semervivum

Sempervivum vs. Jovibarba

 Not all the things that look like "hens and chicks" are Sempervivum. There are six genera in the Crassulacaceae family that look similar, but Echiveria, Aeonium, Greenovia and Aichryson look enough different they aren't a big problem. But Sempervivum, Jovibarba and Monanthes are pretty much lookalikes.

I don't know much about Monanthes, but I learned more about Jovibarba when I discovered that I have two of them, and there are only three species.

Both Sempervivum and Jovibarbasend up a big stalk in the middle of a mature rosette. This is 'Red Heart' a year ago getting ready to bloom.



This is the Sempervivum 'Gold Rush' cultivar in bloom this year. Most of the Sempervivum look like this and have pink flowers, but not all. Apparently, the thing to look for is that there are more than six petals that open like a star.

This is a rather sparse Jovibarba heuffelii that bloomed just a couple of weeks ago. Obviously the flowers are yellow, and they do not open like a star, but stay somewhat bell shaped. (I called this one 'Green Stars' until I learned what it is)

Here is a nice picture of this flower from a couple of years ago. All three of the Jovibarba have yellow bell-shaped flowers.



I've been waiting because it looks like the Jovibarba globerifera (which I called 'Roly Poly' for years until I learned what it really is) is going to bloom. But this big lump hasn't really changed much in 6 weeks! I've never seen this one bloom, so I really want it to succeed! If it ever gets around to it, it should be yellow.

Of course, now I want one of the Sempervivum that blooms in a different color. Supposedly 'Black Lotus' has white flowers, and has dark purple leaves. Might have to look for that one.

Busy day. Editing and stuff, then walked to the bank and PO, and then there was bell choir. I have a weird little stomach ache. I don't think it's anything important, but I may go lie down soon.

See Those Shifty Sempervivum

Late Summer Colors in the Rock Garden

I'm working my way through the third complete weeding of the rock garden. I got the most difficult places done (the steepest, with fewer good places to put my feet).

I'm really pleased with a few areas of contrasting colors and textures. This one has (front to back) Blue Fescue, 'Vera Jameson' Sedum, 'Sparkling Bright' Sedum (past blooming this year), and Sedum Sexangulare beyond that. A couple of Sempervivum below.

This space seems to make my colorful list quite often, but it's working very well. Lamb's Ear (left), 'Wildfire' Sedum (center), and Hylotelephium 'Rosenthaller' in bud (right). Various bits of greenery around the edges- Moss Phlox and the Bloody Cranesbill.

The central area in this picture is Sempervivum 'Gold Rush,' which takes forever to turn goldish, but apparently it got around to it for the last couple of months of the season. In front of that is a patch of the Bronze Ajuga which has beautiful blue flowers in spring but these nice dark leaves the rest of the year. Blue Fescue for texture. Behind it all are violets, Sedum 'Angelina,' and a mess of stuff that needs weeding yet. The top center patch is Sedum 'Weihenstephaner Gold' which bloomed in June.

Here's another space that is looking really good this year, most of the season. The center is 'Firecracker' Sedum, with 'Gold Nugget' Sempervivum above it. It's just not as gold as the advertising pictures show it, but it did get orangy much earlier than the 'Gold Rush.' Behind that is more Lamb's Ear, with a spray of the blue-green 'Blue Spruce' Sedum.

The 'Red Heart' Sempervivum is red, although it's never gotten as dark as when I bought it. Still, it's much better than 'Ruby Heart,' which is hardly red at all. I like the way it looks with the 'Thundercloud' Sedum which still has quite red edges on the leaves making it look pink. It's in bud. Some Moss Phlox up in the top right, and a few other green sprigs of things.

Finally, I'll show you a Sedum all by itself. It isn't a big enough patch yet to contrast with something else, but the color is great. This is basically just a Sedum spurium tricolor, but instead of pink it has a more orange tone. It's named 'What a Doozie.' It was unhappy where I put it last year but didn't die. First it got too much shade. Then something ate it. I also think it prefers to be where the roots get a little crowded. A few weeks ago, I moved it into a small space by itself, and it seems to be responding well. I hope the colors stay true. The tricolor ones sometimes revert to just green and white. I have three patches of tricolor, not counting this, and each is slightly different with the reddish hue varying from pale pink to dark red.

Hopefully, given a few more years, the rock garden will have lovely spaces like this anywhere you look!

I worked hard today at various jobs, including cleaning up the house. They never do seem to clean themselves.

See Late Summer Colors in the Woods

Some Rock Garden Colors Without Flowers

Very little is blooming right now, but if I take pictures from careful angles there are some nice colorful areas of the rock garden. This is my goal- that there will be nice contrasting colors all season, everywhere. Well, that is certainly a few years in the future! But I like the process, not the completion, so it's all good.

This is an area that looked really nice last year too, but I usually showed it to you from a different angle. The plants are larger this year, and it still looks good. White- Lamb's ear, red- 'Wildfire' sedum, tall yellow-green- Hylotelephium spectabile 'Rosenteller', low yellow-green- Sedum 'Lemon Coral.' And various other green foliage. One thing for sure- there is less bare dirt this year compared to last.

This is the 'Red Heart' Sempervivum which isn't as deep maroon as some times of the year, and Sedum 'Thundercloud the greenish-white below it.

This is turning out to be a nice-looking space this year. The dark red is Sedum 'Firecracker' (which spreads quickly!), the white again is Lamb's Ear, and the yellow is Sempervivum 'Gold Nugget' which is finally turning more gold.

And this space is suddenly looking pretty good because I picked up another $3 Sedum 'Wildfire' from the sale table last week. It's huge and sprawly. It won't come back that large at first next year but right now, it looks great with the yellow-green Sedum elecombeanum. The white rock helps too.

I walked again in the morning. Got some rock garden work done also in the morning because the forecast was for rain! I got some bulbs moved and planted some seeds I want (maybe- more on that another day), worked in some more compost.

Indeed, about noon things got cool and dark. So far we've had 0.3 inch. Very nice.

Editing, computer stuff. And I finished that knitting project I can't show you yet. Just a few more days and I'll share that. I sure haven't wanted to play with yarn when it was so hot!

Miles hiked in 2025: 313.6

See Late May Garden Color

Those Shifty Sempervivum

Today, I'm going to demostrate how changeable in color the Sempervivum can be.

We'll start with the variety 'Black.' I've talked about this one quite a bit, and was rather disgruntled that it wasn't anything approaching black all last year. However, after overwintering, it was very dark in the spring. You might remember that I was pleased to pair it with the pink Lewisia.

However, here's what it looks like now, in July. So I clearly made a good choice to pair it with something contrasting that blooms in spring.

Here's what it looked like when I bought it.



Now lets switch to the other end of the color spectrum. This one is called 'Gold Nugget.' Here's what the plant tag suggests it's going to look like.

I bought one last year, and another this year. Here's the one that overwintered. It was light maroon up until a couple of weeks ago, but now it seems to be lightening and brightening a bit. Still, not as gold as I had hoped. Or maybe it will be in August-September. We'll watch and see.

Here's the one I bought this year. They are very pale yellow-green when purchased. This has been in the ground for two months and is a bit more green than it started. I've decided you can't forn an opinion about colors until they've overwintered outside.

The 'Gold Nugget' was purchased in response to dissatisfaction with 'Gold Rush' which was also supposed to be golden in color, but hasn't quite lived up to the description. You can see that 'Gold Rush' is going to bloom, but it only has hints of gold in the leaves.

By contrast, it was very golden last year in August, so we'll see what happens this year.



But the point is, they aren't very consistent in the coloration, so if that is important to me (and it is), I need to understand what it looks like at various times of the season.

Those are the most variable ones I have. 'Ruby Heart' was disappointing- not very red. 'Red Heart' is a nice bright maroon all the time, so there's a lesson learned. The 'Red Heart' multiplies quickly, so I can get some other patches started.

We got a half inch of rain last night! And it was cool and breezy all day. Wonderful for weeding. I got a lot done. I'm close to having a full rock garden report.

Also did my editing and some computer work. Played piano a few minutes. I'm currently not feeling obsessed with the music, but I'm sure that will happen at some point. Probably when I find the box of music I want.

One of the flickers came and just sat on the deck for about 20 minutes today. I have no idea why. The baby rabbit was in the rock garden again. Sneaky little bugger.

See Semper Vi