Loosestrife 'Alexander' in front of a Bodker Dairy milk can

I like this perennial with variegated foliage and its bright yellow flowers.  Loosestrife is known for being invasive, but I do not find this variety to be invasive at all.  That may be because I have it planted in terrible rocky soil, so I am thrilled with anything that lives in these conditions.  :)

Do any of you living near Detroit,  know of the Bodker dairy advertised on my milk can?

I have had 'Alexander' for a few years and it has grown large enough for me to separate.  I have it in four different areas right now.  Here is another section near my bird bath:

I do love to get four or five nice plants from one purchase. 

I even have it growing in the area where I toss all the debris I remove from my garden.  Somehow I must have dug up a small section of 'Alexander' and tossed it along with something else. 

Unfortunately the foliage has reverted to its original green color.   I am still going to dig it up and find a place to put it in one of my gardens.

I took a vacation day from work today and spent 6am to 10am working outside.  One of my main projects was to trim the yew hedge leading to my deck.

I have about half of it done in this pic. 

It is getting pretty wide, so I also removed a bit of its girth.

It took about 1.5 hours to get it all done (it is only half done in this pic, too).

I just used my little Felco pruners, so I had to make a gazillion cuts.

This yew bush in the front of the house  also got a haircut.

You see the unpruned shrub. I did not take pics of the finished work, so you will just have to trust me when I say that it all has a much cleaner appearance now.  I still have one more shrub to prune, but my fingers are getting a bit stiff, so it will wait for another day.

It's about 11 am now and I just finished a ham/cheese sandwich for brunch.  Even those it is already 80 degrees outside, I am heading back out. I never waste a day off just sitting around.  I do intend to work on less strenuous projects like painting a table and some chairs.  Of course, you know that I will show you how it turns out in a later post.