Closer In

Just a few fun pictures of closeups. This is the seed head for Gaillardia, the blanketflower.

And this is Sedum elecombeanum that I like so much, but I missed all the bright yellow blooms this year. However, again, the seed heads aren't shabby if you look closely. See all the little stars and polka dots? This plant looks good all season with thick mats of yellow-green leaves that don't get sprawly.

This one isn't blooming yet. I sort of showed this before but it wasn't as good a picture. This is Sedum 'Thundercloud.' The leaves and the way they grow are so interesting!

I'll end with one of my favorite weeds. It has several huge plants in the driveway garden this year. Since there isn't much else, I'm happy to have it. This one got so big it sprawled all over. Next year, I have a ring I can put around it before it starts to grow all the stalks. But the point of this post is the closeups. Here are a few flowers on the long stalk.

There are a few milkweed leaves behind it. The field beside us is full of milkweed, so I don't feel the need to grow it in a garden. But I let a few live this year to fill in spaces.

The temperature was wonderful today, and I had good energy. I spent extra time on computer tasks, and worked outside quite a bit. I'm trimming where I can't get close enough to things with the mower. That makes everything look better. And I spent another 15 minutes on the autumn olive.

See Short Rock Garden Report

A Short Rock Garden Report

I did finish weeding through the rock garden yesterday. Here's the top half today.

And that same view at the end of June when I got home from New York.

It's interesting. In these long shots, the messy one from June almost looks nicer, but not really. Here's why. There were several yellow sedums blooming, so those were colorful. But the geranium and some of the sedums were simply overtaking a lot of the other plants and completely hiding them from view. And trying to crowd/shade them out of existence. It's a cruel world in the botanical wars.

Also, being gone in June means that the several dianthus didn't get deadheaded, so those mostly haven't rebloomed and I pretty much missed seeing them this year.

But I hope you can tell that the picture of it cleaned up shows more textural differences, and that you can see patches of some of the purple and deep red foliage plants. It's interesting how it is hard to see some of the beauty in a photo. When you are standing in the same place the picture was taken it looks much more interesting.

Here is the bottom of the rock garden today.

And at the end of June.

At any rate, I'm very happy to have it all weeded. Apparently the second half of June is a rather critical couple of weeks for crazy growth of aggressive plants.

I'll share some other closeup sections in days ahead as other things begin to bloom.

The vendor event was a bust. But I worked on the little knitting project that I can't show you yet while I was there. There were so few potential customers I didn't even feel guilty doing that.

In other news, I'm tired and achy. Not sure why- humidity? just one of those days?

See Rock Garden Report June 2025

Poor Little Mouse Ears

My little 'Mouse Ears' hosta hasn't been looking very happy. I have decided it wants deeper shade. The place where I put it gets sun for a few hours a day which may be too much. Lots of yellowing leaves.

This is kind of a surprise, since there are two hostas very close by, but different varieties tolerate sun differently.

You may remember that I got this for free last fall because it had only two sad little leaves. But the root was fine, and here's what it looked like in May with its brightly-colored hosta friends.



Two weeks ago, it was even getting ready to bloom- nice fat buds. Then something bit those off, despite the fencing.

Today, I went by the markdown plant rack and found another plant that is the right height and size for that space. It's a 'Blue Chip' Campanula. I've killed a couple of these in the rock garden (long in the past). The rock garden has way too much sun for this plant, but I think the dappled sun where the 'Mouse Ears' was should be perfect. It's not the best looking right now, but that's why I got it for only $3. It will stay low like this and contrasts pretty well with the nearby plants.

And the 'Mouse Ears?' I moved it into deeper shade, but it probably won't look nice any more this year. I think this variety doesn't do well with stress. When I got it last fall those two leaves fell right off, and all the yellowed ones now just came off when I moved it. I'm also not as happy with where I put it- it isn't showcased as nicely. But for now it will do.

I worked on things all day, although it seems like I should have been able to get more done. O well. I edited, I did computer stuff, I shopped for groceries and worked in the gardens some. Maybe I can get outside a little more yet this evening. I'm very close to finishing a weed-through of the rock garden.

See Foliage and More

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

35 Years Since...

Well, it hasn't been 35 years since I've seen Annabelle and Sophie, although it has been a little long.

And it hasn't been 35 years since I've seen Sue, or even since I heard her play a piano.

And it hasn't been 35 years since I've seen this Kathy. What are we doing?

Can you guess? I now have a piano again. (it was FREE- can you believe it? PTL) And it's been 35 years since that was true. You know I'm horribly out of practice, but I played a few pieces that were in the piano bench (badly). I have two cartons full of piano music, plus about 15 hymnals and uncounted chorus books. I'll need to get some of that out. Yeah! More mess.

It was a fairly major project to clear out a space where the piano could live and I need to find better homes for some of the stuff that was in that space. Sue and Kathy came to help move it. That was really a major project, but we did it! Took most of the afternoon.

We also had ice cream, but I didn't realize the SD card wasn't in my camera, so no picture of that.

The morning had the usual computer tasks. Another really hot one today. We are supposed to get some serious rain tonight. I hope that's real or I'll have to water the flowerbeds tomorrow.

See Got Out to One Place