Late May Garden Color

The rock garden is sort of in between color phases right now. However, the Bloody Geranium is beginning to bloom. Most of the magenta-purple you see in this picture is that geranium.

Some of the geranium I have in the rock garden is a light pink (looks white in the picture). It spreads very slowly which is good. I'm trying to get a few other spots of it started and remove more of the Bloody one as I get good things to replace it. It's OK, but it's a little too tall and it's SO invasive. The roots are really a pain to dig out.

Also in the rock garden is another plant I wish I'd never bought. I have to keep fighting with it all the time too. However, it's a little easier to control. I try to keep it restricted to some clumps instead of letting it send runners all over the place. It's the variegated Vinca. But it does have beautiful large blue flowers at a good time of the season.

Moving to other locations, because I cleared out a bunch of autumn olive last fall, a few of my iris got enough sun to bloom. Purple...

... and yellow. Nothing unusual or fancy, but I'm happy to see some of them bloom again.

Best color display? The front flower bed. This is a teaser for a more complete report another day, but I'm waiting for one more flower to open before I do that. Best of all, only two of the colors you see here are from blossoms. Most is foliage, so it will look great all summer.

I think I can safely show you the knitting project one more time without giving away the final goal.

Not much gardening happened today. Editing, errands, wrote my column for Mason County Press, finished mowing the lawn. Maybe I have time to get out there right now for a few minutes!

Tomorrow is a book vendor event in Rockford.

See Nailing the Spring Color Palette

October Rock Garden Report - 2024

 This will be the final rock garden report for 2024. I see that last years was posted about two weeks later, but I finished the third weed-through for the season, and wanted to take pictures while it's all cleaned up. You can compare the year's change in the link below.

This is the top section as seen from the deck. There's still a fair amount of contrasting textures and shades of color. And it's a lot fuller with plants than an year ago.

And the bottom section. Out at the far bottom edge it's still quite bare. But I created that whole section this summer. There is still a little bit to do near the bottom using more rocks and the rest of the logs Miki brought me. That soil is clay there, so I hope to add some compost.

Here are a few spaces that are still looking really nice. The blanket flower is still going gangbusters. This plant was eaten to the ground at the end of the year last year. Hooray for my fencing even if it is a total pain to deal with when I weed. The variety is 'Arizona Sun.'

This is one of the spaces I'm particularly happy with that I haven't shown you this year. It's also one of the two plants I'll have to bring inside for the winter. The light green one behind can stay, but the front plant, the pinkish-green one, is Sedum linare, 'Sea Urchin.' I really, really like the way it has filled in the space. Hopefully, I can split it and put it in two spaces next year.

Although the garden looks much fuller, a bunch of that is the result of my leaving various plants that are OK, but not what I ultimately want. This stayed light colored all season, varying from yellow-white to this pinkish phase, so I'll happily pull out some of the "filler" stuff and put more of this in.

I have showed you this a couple of times, but it's one of my favorite purchases from this year. It's a sedum called 'Coral Jade.' Obviously the flowers are gone, but the seed heads are interesting enough that I like it, and the leaves sort of change from purple to olive/khaki green as the season progresses.

And here is the reason I'm keeping a fair amount of the 'Bloody Cranesbill' geranium. This is the color of the leaves in the fall. OK, a lot of them are darker red. It looks nice with the variegated vinca. I never should have bought that stuff because it wanders everywhere. But I've learned to trim it back severely and keep it in certain spaces.

And here's a long shot from the other angle, out in the yard. Looks pretty good!

Other than the gardening, I spent the day working on databases. Things are clicking in my brain.

See Rock Garden Report October 2023

What's Blooming Now

 I have to lead with the stunner, the oriental poppy. This is a great success story. I rescued this nearly shaded-out and dead poppy from the hedge down below when all that was left was a tiny sprig. That was only a few years ago, and look at it now!

While we're in that front flower bed (which I have begun to weed), let's look at the Heuchera. I really don't care much about the flowers, but they are the reason that the common name is "coral bells." The wonderful 'Peach Flambe' plant has light pink to white bells. You can barely see them on that tall stem. Remember the song, "white coral bells upon a slender stalk?"

This Heuchera I got from my friend Margaret. I don't know the variety, but it's similar to one called 'Firefly.' The flowers are actually attractive in a darker pink. Behind it is the dwarf Solomon's seal. I've shown you that quite often.

Now let's move to the totally un-reclaimed flower bed out behind the house. Much to my surprise, the Star-of-Bethlehem has survived. I think a few of these might get moved to the rock garden. They are not supposed to like shade, but that's about all they are getting where they are now!

This is one of the Dianthus I bought last year, 'Kahori.' I discovered this year that it was in the same space with all the N. canaliculatus daffodils. Not an attractive plan as the daf leaves linger. The dafs were too tall for that space anyway, so I've dug all the blubs from under this and will move them. Despite the disturbance, this is very happy. It's covered with buds.

Here's a plant I wish I'd never bought. It's everywhere, and I have to just keep ripping it out. I've left a few clumps. It's variegated vinca. The flowers are twice the size of the regular vinca (creeping myrtle, periwinkle), and it's not quite as invasive, but it's a pest.

Speaking of nuisance plants, I'm working on keeping the Bloody Cranesbill geranium controlled to certain areas of the rock garden. Meanwhile, I have to admit that it does fill things in beautifully with color. The flowers are the magenta. The lighter color is a pink geranium I got years ago for free. Maybe G. cinereum. It's not nearly so invasive. Right now, the rock garden is primarily magenta and pink with these plants. I have put a few plugs in the new section because I want it to look balanced in the long run. Even the pink one that was a tiny sprig I moved last fall is blooming already this year. They all look brighter in person.

Finally, this is one of my last year's purchases that is making me very smiley. This is the Red Mountain Flame ice plant. Instead of one reluctant blossom at a time, it's going to just bust out with color!

There are several other plants with buds on them. Very exciting!

I edited other people's stuff and my own stuff today, and went shopping. Big vendor event tomorrow and Sunday.

See The Rock Garden Eats More Plants and Rocks