Squirrel Tails and Miscellaneous Musings

These Purple Fountain Grass seed heads remind me of squirrel tails. I can't resist touching them every time I walk by.

I took this picture at 6:40 a.m. Look how dark it was. Not long ago it was full daylight by that time.

The fanflower (scaveola) is beginning to grow up and through the Persian Shield. I like having the lighter purple peeking through.

The sunlight through the Tropicanna leaf in the barrel.

In the front you can see the chives have rebloomed, though the second bloom is always sparse.


I have found this optic grass very frustrating to use effectively.I have moved it from four different containers until I finally stuck it in the big canna pot a few weeks ago. It's right under the Purple Fountain grass.
Finally, I have found a place where I think it works well, nicely softening the hard metal edge. The problem is I expected the optic grass to grow big and tall like the Purple Fountain grass, but it has stayed quite small. It is easily lost among other large plants unless they grow very upright like these Tropicannas.

See this green sweet potato vine? You never seen this color for sale, do you? It has overwintered in this container and came back without much of it's purple/black color. You can see the darker color in a few of the leaves.

I really hate to see the containers, so I am just glad this plant decided to make a reappearance and do such a fine job of covering the big pot. I love to get surprise rebloomers!

To add to the odds of getting wonderful surprises, I sprinkle seeds of plants that have escaped my not-so-diligent-of-late deadheading. There was a time when no plant on my deck would have a chance to set seed because I was deadheading daily. I no longer find spending 3o minutes a day with scissors rewarding, so I have cut the task back to every couple of weeks. This brown stalk of seeds was a tall blue ageratum. It would be quite welcome to pop up next summer in this container. Because I store these containers with all the soil intact in above freezing conditions, so it has a small chance of surviving.

We are still waiting for the rain.