Two Moderate Successes

 Two of the plants I'm trying to get to grow in my gardens are alive. I won't call say, "and well," because they are struggling, but there is hope, and neither one cost me money, so, hey.

First is the Anise Hyssop. This hitchhiked here with a plant from Betsy. I moved that one, and it bloomed, although the flowers aren't in focus. And the flowers are very small.

Betsy gave me a second stalk of it this year, and it lived, but no flowers.

You may remember that I was trying to get the Bigbract Verbena to grow in the rock garden. Well, it's alive. It's certainly not as lush as in the cracks in the paved road shoulder. Maybe it needs more harsh treatment.

And a freebie... an attractive camo grassphopper! S/he's not very big, but is an adult because it has wings.

I edited quite a lot today, did laundry and am working on the maps for the hike. It's a huge job, and I really shouldn't have left it this late.

See Bigbract Verbena

The Other Verbena

I'm too hot to post anything very spectacular today. I'll just show you the other Verbena in my flower beds. Verbena stricta, Hoary Vervain. It starts blooming at the bottom of the flower head and work its way up to the top (the most common pattern).

I mentioned last year (link below) that a couple of these had reappeared, having gone missing after years of not weeding that garden. This year there are lots, and I've even dug some up to give away. They are popping up all over and I move the little ones to places I want them.

This is a wildflower- I dug this out of a ditch years ago.

I managed a tiny bit in the gardens today, and watered everything. It's supposed to rain Thursday, but things were looking wilty.

Did a fair amount of editing, and a lot of reading and trying to stay awake. Even though it's not as hot as a couple of days last week, I had a hard time today.

See Purple Hidden Amoung the Blue

I Think I Suceeded!

This little beauty is growing in my rock garden. OK, it's not too beautiful, but I'm pretty happy to see it.

This is the weed native plant I've been trying to get to seed itself in the rock garden, Bigbract Verbena. You might recall that I first identified it in 2106 growing along the shoulder of the road. Then it disappeared for a few years.

Then I decided I wanted to try to get some started in the rock garden. But it's an annual so I need seeds. Thought maybe I got those last year.

And, I am prety sure that I have some growing!

I showed you the tiny flowers last week, but we'll have to wait and see if it really develops those runners with the bracts all around.



I didn't get a lot done today becuase I still had people here for a while, and then others came later. Got in some garden time, but not much in the way of computer work.

Also, annoyingly, Google has changed the links to older blog pix, so almost every place where I showed an older photo on the blog for a second time to illustrate some point, the link is now broken.

I forgot somewhere I was supposed to be this morning. Hoping I'll be more with it tomorrow.

See Tiny Flowers

Tiny Flowers

Some of the things blooming in the rock garden right now have very tiny flowers.

I'll lead off with one of the brand new sedums. I'm very happy with it, but it may not be hardy. I'm going to leave some out for the winter and bring another pot inside to be sure I'll have some come spring. I think I do need to buy a grow light. I suspect my poor luck with overwintering is related to poor light.

This is the 'Little Missy' Sedum. The flowers are extra-tiny. The leaves are only about a quarter inch long.

Here's one I've shared off and on. This is one of the Sedum hispanicum varieties. I have 'Blue Carpet,' and 'Pinkie.' They tend to move themselves around and pop up who knows where. I expect they also get promiscuous. But my guess is this is 'Pinkie.' Betsy just gave me another clump, too, that seems to be neither blue nor pink.

Can you even see the flower on this one? Unlike the Creeping Thyme that gets covered with blossoms, this is Thyme 'Sparkling Bright.' It's taller and the foliage looks more white from a distance. But it does get tiny light purple flowers.

This is the Creeping Speedwell 'Georgia Blue.'

Finally, here is a really, really tiny one. I won't tell you what this is today, but it will be featured again.

In other news: The ground squirrel must be slipping under the fence. He's doing some damage. I put out repellant. Lets' hope he doesn't like it.

In the morning, I worked my little part-time summer job and weeded the driveway flower bed in the afternoon. I finished the big section of that and was going to show you, but the light is all dappled now, and pictures are no good. So that will be another day.

Tomorrow, I'll be doing trail work. Have to get up earlier than I like, but I can do it. And if I'm home in time, I have a meeting in the afternoon.

See Sorting Out Sedums

Roadside Flowers

This will be a collection of a few plants I've seen flowering along the roadsides in the past few days.

I walked to pay the summer taxes today. The humidity was a killer, but I got some exercise.

Here's a bull thistle Cirsium vulgare. They have big spines all down the stems as well as on the leaves.

Remember a few days ago I talked about a couple kinds of Silene? I got pictures of another of the common ones. This is Evening Lychnis, Silene latifolia, or White Campions. It used to be in a genus called Lychnis but I guess they have all been moved to Silene. It's confusing in more ways than one. It's really hard to tell this one from Night-flowering Catchfly.

Neither one is a very handsome plant. They are leggy and sticky to touch with sprawling white flowers.

The veining is slightly different on the swollen calyx, and the Evening Lychnis has 5 styles while the other has 3. You have to pull a flower apart to check. I did, so I'm pretty sure this is Evening Lychnis/ White Campion.

I learned something new on this one. These are the flowerheads I found. I couldn't figure out what it was.

But these clusters of calyxes looked familiar.

Yup- same kind of growth pattern. This is after the blooms have faded. This is common soapwort.

It grows all over the place here. Saponaria officianalis, also called Bouncing Bet. The flowers are usualy single like these, rather than with doubled petals. Truth be told, I don't like either one very much. But I guess the double one is a sort of vintage garden plant.

Here's one I am not happy to find near home. This is False Cervil, Anthriscus sylvestris, which is becoming horribly invasive. It's easily confused with Poison Hemlock if you don't look closely.

But here's the coup for the day. In the other direction from where I found it a few years ago, here is another patch of the Bigbract Verbena, Verbena brateata,.

But wait. It gets even better! A little farther, I found a couple of small patches that weren't growing right out of the edge of the pavement. Using a flat beer can as an improv shovel, I managed to bring one of those home with me. It's now in the rock garden in the spot where I planted some seeds that may or may not be the same plant- if they are even viable. Hope it "takes" because I love the texture. One reason some plants get labeled as weeds is because they spread so easily and grow without much of anything special. So, I think it has a good chance!

We got a wonderful 0.7 inch of rain this morning. But now, I'd be happy if it stops for a day because I have to do a lot of outside things tomorrow to be ready to leave. Today, I concentrated on the indoor stuff- collecting items to take, paying bills, cleaning the kitchen. It's still quite wet outside, but hopefully the grass (weeds) will be dry enough to mow tomorrow.

Miles hiked in 2025: 327.6

See A New Silene See Bigbract Verbena or Not?

Bigbract Verbena or Not?

In 2016, I encountered this plant while walking to town one day. It's Bigbract Verbena, Verbena bracteata. It's kind of funky, and I hoped it would grow in the same place again, but it's only an annual, so it would need to reseed.

I've never seen even a hint of it again, and I've been looking. These pictures were taken in August of 2016. The appeal of the plant to me is the texture of the bracts.

So imagine my surprise when a couple of days ago, in the correct location, I saw this.

Could this be some of last year's seed stalks?

Maybe. I gathered up those dried stalks, and yesterday here's what I did. I had to take the daffodils out of a rock garden space they were too tall for. I put them along the lower edge of this as-yet-unnumbered space. Mixed in compost. Stripped the seed stalks and mixed them with some soil. Filled the top part of the area.

Hopefully, something will come up and then I can find out what it is and if I want to keep it. I'll be really happy if it is the Verbena.

It was nice and cool this morning, almost chilly for July. I walked 3 miles. Other than that, it's all the usual stuff, including finishing the trimming around all the gardens. That looks decent. Editing, computer stuff, am writing my next column. Researched some ideas to water my flowers with less water waste.

The lilies are almost done for the year, but a few other things are starting to bloom, so stay tuned.

Miles hiked in 2025: 316.6

See Bigbract Verbena

Purple Hidden Among the Blue

I keep saying that I came home to a nearly completely blue floral palette in the driveway bed. But I also noted earlier in the year about the variety of plants that had come up in the driveway bed.

Yesterday evening I did a little weeding out there and suddenly wondered what had happened to one plant that had seemed pretty healthy in the spring. I went hunting among the spreading stalks of the Viper's Bugloss, and look what I found.

This is actually a native wildflower. I dug it out of a ditch at least 20 years ago. It's Hoary Vervain, Verbena stricta.

And even better, there are 3 or 4 additional seedlings coming up. It's a perenniel, but will self-sow. If it bloomed last year, I didn't see it. But it must have for the babies to appear. I don't think it propogates vegetatively. I'll try to collect them into one general area. It's native, and pollinators love it.

The Viper's Bugloss is also loved by pollinators. It's a biennial. So I have to move the small rosettes to where I want them next year in the fall. I'll try to get one started somewhere other than on top of the Vervain because it gets huge when it's happy.

Want to see just the Vervain closer? Here you go.

This makes me pretty happy. It blooms for a long time, so hopefully I can get a clump of it going.

The heat got a bit oppressive this afternoon. There is a nice breeze, but even so, it's hard to breathe. I did a little bit outside, but spent more time doing computer things. In fact, I got one knotty problem solved with trying to get my mysteries moved from Amazon KDP to Ingram Spark. Once all 6 books are transferred (4 have successfully migrated, 2 to go), I'll try to get some bookstores to order them. This is taking months, but it will be worth it. Don't worry if that doesn't make much sense to you.

We are supposed to get a little rain tomorrow, but I've had to water the gardens as things were actually getting droopy.

See Flowers and Weeds See Driveway Bed