Mostly Current Colors

Another post with combinations of color.

This is the two purples in the driveway bed. The iris are mostly done now, but what a show! The other purple is Meadow Sage.

In the rock garden, The Dianthus 'Kahori' is in the lower left, Bloody Cranesbill at the top, and the Creeping Thyme is starting to bloom purple at the lower right.

This one was a few days ago. The Moss Phlox is just about done now, but this is phlox with the Variegated Vinca in front of it.

This is also in the rock garden, and it's more about texture than color, but it's part of why I love the Pasqueflower so much. It starts blooming in early April, and now in June we still have the showy seed heads.

And I'm going to share one more shot with a Poppy in it. This one does a better job of showing the various colors of foliage behind the Poppy and the Fleeceflower. I like that there are enough interesting plants to have a depth of field to the color.

It turned out to be a rather unproductive day. Just never got moving, really. I finished cleaning the edges of the front flower bed and watered it. Edited. Mostly read a book.

Tomorrow, I need to be out the door by 8:30 in the morning. Stay tuned!

See Fresh Color

Thyme Time

I'm very happy to say that two kinds of thyme I bought are doing great. Neither one of them looked very happy this spring, but they are certainly healthy now. I'm pretty sure both are larger than last year.

This one is 'Sparkling Bright.' It's blooming with a very light purple flower if you can tell.

I split off a little piece to transplant last year. It's very tiny, but still alive.

The other one is 'Archer's Gold.' It always looks sunny and bright.

I got a patch of common creeping thyme for free way back when I was just starting this rock garden. I mostly missed its blooming this year, but it's pretty for its brief flowering time. Mostly, you have to rip it out or it takes over, but it's easy to rip.



I used to have a wooly thyme that I liked. It was softly hairy and a blueish-green. It was also pretty invasive, and I'm surprised none survived the long period of neglect. Apparently I have no pictures of it. Phooey. I'll just have to get more, right?

Today turned out to be a rest day. It would have been a great day to work in the gardens, or any number of other tasks. There was an NCT Chapter hike this morning, and I forgot all about it. I must be brain dead. I worked on a couple of projects, but not with any discipline. I just puttered. I think I needed that.

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Today's Cleaned Garden Space

 Today, I worked my way up along the retaining wall by the steps.

I have a love-hate relationship with the Blue Fescue Grass. I love the blue mounds- they are a nice size and they are quite blue. But... the ones you can see have been given a haircut three times this season. If they aren't trimmed, they look like this.

They also get stuffed with old thatch down near the base.

The first trimming of the year cuts off the seed heads. They are pretty, but if I don't do this I have thousands of tiny fescue clumps to weed out. These were just trimmed today.

I haven't showed you the 'Sparkling Bright' Thyme this year. It's spreading nicely. In fact, I took a clump and put it in another place, but it's not as happy. I think it got shaded and maybe too dry. (I haven't looked up how much it rained while I was gone, but I'm thinking not a lot) Oddly enough, the leaves smell a bit minty, not like thyme.

And this is a thyme I bought this year. I used to have one, but it did not survive the long neglect. It is called 'Archers Gold.' It seems pretty happy.

Here is a mystery. The first part is no secret. This got chewed off completely last year, but it should bloom this year. It's one of the tall autumn sedums, and it survived from the original rock garden. The thing is... the one in this location should be 'Vera Jameison' which is a deep purple. I did have an 'Autumn Joy,' but not in this space. Huh. Perhaps the variety reverted. Anyway, I think I'll get a chance to see what flowers I get from it.

And this is just a show-off picture. This is Artemesia 'Silver Mound' with a background of the Bronze Ajuga. Well, there's a violet in there. I pretty much let any violets live this year. Next year I'll decide where they get to stay. (And yes, they are chewed. Something small that got around the fence likes violets and one of the sedums.)

I already did my evening mowing because the internet was being a pill for a while. This is hard mowing and the result looks like crap. I'll have to do some raking, but at least it's getting done.

All day long I did things I was supposed to do. That should give me satisfaction, but it mostly feels like a big bore.

See Rock Garden Goodies

Newly Blooming- Mid June

 Lots of the plants I've shown you before are still blooming. The pink and the magenta cranesbill (geranium), Dianthus 'brilliant,' The Siskiyou primrose (which is a spectacular success), the Sedum sexangulare, Dianthus 'Kohari,' Dianthus 'Eastern Star,' Heuchera 'Firefly,' the Salvia I showed you yesterday, daisies, the two ice plants, and the ground cherry. I'm beyond pleased with all this.

Things seem to be a little earlier than last year. That's been true all this season, so no surprise.

But some more plants are now adding to the color. I'll start with one that was just beginning last week, and I did show you, but look at it now! This is Dianthus 'Zing Rose.'

Out front, last year, only one of these bloomed. This year, there is a whole patch. Actually, with the bed nicely weeded, they are out-competing a lot of other things. I'm ripping a lot out that are invading other spaces. I used to have white ones too, but I guess they are gone. Globe Bellflower, Campanula glomerata.

This is one of the Sedums I bought last year. It's doing really well. Spreading slowly, but it's very healthy. 'Bright Idea.'

This is another of the sedums I bought last year. I thought it was not going to survive it looked so sad all season. However, there are now several happy patches of it. I'm a little confused, because it's very similar to another sedum I used to have. There are more patches of this (maybe, or maybe only similar) than I can account for. But I'm quite sure this one is Sedum hispanicum 'Pinkie." It's not showy, but its a good filler between rocks.

This one has a story. This is plain old Creeping Thyme. I got a whole pile of it for free back in about 1999. I was walking Maggie (my last dog), but before she was mine. This was in Ann Arbor, and a lady was ripping vast wads of it out of her lawn. I asked if I could have some. She said, "you'll be sorry!" Well, you do have to pay attention or it gets out of hand, but it's very pretty. I might grab a chunk and add some to the newer spaces of the rock garden.

I've now got 3 varieties of thyme, and would like to replace the Wooly Thyme I used to have. However, it can also be pretty aggressive. We'll see. Currently, sedum hybrids are making me more happy, so I'm not desperate.

And for the last act of the day... are you ready?... I am jumping-up-and-down happy. This is the 'Arctic Fire' dianthus. It's mixed in the clump of 'Brilliant (center front),' and the softer purple are one of the geraniums. There's another bud behind it that's opening up. No way will I try to separate these out this year, but maybe there's hope I'll have more of them next year. I don't think I can tell the leaves from the 'Brilliant.' Maybe they are a little darker, but maybe not.

Soon, we are going to have to have an update on many of the hybrid sedums I bought. I can tell that some spread quicker than others. That's OK, I'm beginning to understand which ones can have friends in their spaces, and which ones not so much.

I finished the second time through editing the book today. Hooray! Now I can move on to general editing. Staring at those scrolling columns of campsite data was seriously getting to me.

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Rock Garden Report 5

I wanted to have more of this done before I showed you, but it's going to a couple more hours or so of work to get to that point, and that's probably not going to happen for a few more days, so here's the progress I did make. Here's the photo from the same angle so you can see the change. Yes, there is a big difference!

See the shovel on the left? I wanted to get that edge all finished before I shared. I've been digging up the dirt on that side. I still have to put in rocks, and I don't have quite enough rocks hauled up here. Most of the rocks are from the foundation of our old house. They are now either in the rock garden or in a pile down by the road. I'll need to bring up some more.

The reason for expansion isn't really about expansion. The size of the rock garden was predetermined by the need to cover the space that is too steep to drive the lawnmower down. Yeah, there will still be a little to trim by hand, but not much.

I'll just share a few of the new plants tonight. This is a Thyme hybrid called 'Sparkling Bright." There's not much contrast with the dry sandy ground, but after it fills in, there will be a nice light-colored area. The tiny leaves are variegated, and the flowers are pink/purple. It sits up like a little shrub instead of lying flat on the ground. So far, it looks happy.

This is parts of two of my numbered spaces. Above the wood there is currently just one plant. That is half of the sedum I bought 2 years ago, one of the Sun Sparkler hybrid series called 'Dream Dazzler.' It has turned deep purple in the sun. This half isn't looking quite as happy as the other half, but I think it's going to be fine. It's proven it will survive on my hill over two winters already.

On the left, below the wood, is Sedum hybrid 'Bright Idea.' It's very happy, and that makes me happy. It looks like it will stay in a nice erect mound with clusters of yellow flowers. (I paid full price for that baby, but it looks like it will be worth it.) On the right below the wood is an unknown Sedum that Betty gave me. The leaves are blue-green with reddish stems. There are so many cultivars it could be... who knows?

Then there's the sedum Deb gave me last week. I'm 90% sure it's Sedum ellecambianum, which is one of the ones I have that I was glad to see survive. However, mine has been in crappy soil for 25 years. Deb's was in great soil. So mine is about 2 inches tall, and hers is 8 inches. Sedums are tough, but this was in bloom when she dug some up, and we just tossed it in a tray. It's now been in the ground for 4 days, and it's starting to perk up. I'm sure it won't be this tall next year when it discovers the reality of the soil it's now going to have to deal with. That's OK. I planted clumps in three spaces in my garden, and we'll see how it does.

I told you there are other nice views of the rock garden. This is from the deck after the rain started. With the ground wet and dark it makes everything look better. Of course, there is just way too much bare, open space at this point, but if I manage to keep up the maintenance it will look nice in maybe 2 years. Part of that depends on how much money I spend and how quickly the plants I have put in spread. But I always see what things could be rather than what they are. So if you just see dirt with a few measly plants... sorry, I see nice patches of all shades of green and blue-green and purple.

I moved the new plant that was so unhappy. I don't know what I was thinking of when I bought it. I've thought of two plants I could put there instead. One I can buy locally, the other I'll have to order. We'll see what the prices are when they go on sale.

The big non-garden news of the day is that I finished another article, was recorded for a podcast, and, and... drum roll. This is huge because I had to beat myself into doing it. I got all the autumn olive out of part of the yard by the road and mowed that section. There are still two other sections that need ditto, but it's a start.

Now it's raining which is such a blessing!

P.S. I'm sorry this all probably looks like bare dirt to you. It is making me incredibly happy. I know that true joy does not come from things, but sometimes they help.

See Rock Garden Report 4