Jean, Is this a foxglove? and I Planted all the Crocosmia Corms

Jean, I was pretty excited today when I came across these. Do you think they look like they could be foxgloves from the seeds you sent me? I see four or five clumps in the area where I planted them.

I sure hope they are foxgloves. I could probably separate these. Would now be the time?

I am afraid the Rose of Sharon you sent me may have died. I see only six sticks rising from the soil. All of the leaves are gone and I can't tell if there is any life. I will leave them until next year because the stress of their long journey and new planting may have sent them into early dormancy for the winter.

But just in case they don't survive, I bought this at Wally's yesterday. As soon as I saw it, I thought of the starts you sent and I couldn't resist. This is the same plant, isn't it? It's Red Heart Althea (hibiscus).


I also planted all of the crocosmia corms from Chopsticks.

While researching, I discovered that they are corms, not bulbs. If like me, you have never heard this one pronounced, it's kro-KOS-mee-uh. Way back on June 17, 2005, I posted about a site that provides audio pronunciation of flower names. I still go there now and then to hear the name of flowers that I am not familiar with. It's worth another menion for new readers. The site is Fine Gardening's Pronunciation Guide. Give it a try. I bet you will love it.



The corms are planted in each section where the shovel is. I put only about 5 in each area. The three areas in my main garden are planted in a triangle.

This post is mainly for me to remember next year where I put the new plants. I have learned to take pictures because it's a given that I will forget within a week.

This is a colchium popping up. These bulbs came from another blogging friend who wishes to remain anonymous. They are in this area where I spent the summer killing off sedum coral carpet. Yesterday I raked all the dead debris up. Luckily they were underground and survived all the Round Up applications it took to get rid of the sedum. This area used to be full of creeping phlox, but it all had to be sacrificed to get rid of the coral carpet sedum. I am still not rid of it, but I've made a good start in this area.

So Much to Do in the Garden This Week

This little garden area goes through at least four different periods of bloom. First tulips, then Asiatic lilies, now this purple phlox, and soon Sedum Autumn Joy.
I consider this tiny area a good planting scheme because of its successful blooming phases. There is something of interest from spring to fall. It's about the only area that looks nice right now.

The rest of the gardens are in need of a very thorough deadheading. Just two feet from the area above, I have these Shastas ready to deadhead.
Shastas are a big mess when they die and I have a ton of them that all die at the same time.

Here is another area with Shastas beyond their prime.
It's in the woodland garden so I am tempted to leave those pretty Queen Anne's Lace that popped out in the front. Queen Anne's Lace is another of those incredibly invasive wildflowers that I have spent years trying to get rid of from the main gardens. Although it's pretty it will take over quickly. I have dug hundred from the other gardens. I should probably reconsider letting these live.

Here is another villain dressed in a pretty gown.

She is tall, graceful, lovely and the second most invasive plant I have ever had the displeasure to tackle (next to sedum 'coral carpet'). After three years, I have been pretty successful eradicating these. I still get a dozen or so popping up in different areas, but that is nothing compared to the hundreds I had. I will be digging this one out this weekend.

The Big Kahuna is on vacation this week, so I have to go into work on both Sat. and Sunday for a couple of hours. I am on vacation next week, but I also have to work all day on Monday since the Big K is gone then, too. It kind of ruins your vacation when you have to work the first three days of it! Oh, well, such is life.

My Gardens Used to be all Pastels

Until about five or six years ago, when I got tired of pinks/purples and started gradually adding oranges and reds. (The big bare spot of soil is another area where I have had to remove everything to get rid of the sedum 'coral carpet'.)

I still have a few pink Asiatic lilies and some purple phlox. Around August all the orange color is gone and the garden begins to look softer with more pinks and purples. These lilies are 'Vivaldi'.

On the deck one of my favorite dahlias of all time is blooming. It's the pink 'Park Princess' and it's the first dahlia I bought. Some years it does not bloom at all and I thought it was gone, so I was happy to see it back this year.

Here's another dahlia bursting forth. As you can see the pink is out of place on my deck.


It does not go so well with the oranges and reds on the deck, but I like it, so I just let it clash for the short time they bloom together. I often pick the pink to use in the living room, which I may do this weekend if I am in the mood to create a bouquet.

I Almost Fell Over When I Read This

When I got home from work today my latest issue of Backyard Living was sitting on my computer chair. DH puts all my mail there because he knows that is the first place I go to when I come home.
I had to look twice when I saw this article on sedums:

Those tiny white flowers looked hauntingly familiar.

I quickly scanned the print to see if it really could be what I thought it was....
I nearly screamed out loud....it was indeed 'coral carpet'!
Backyard Living needs to send a reporter over to my garden to photograph me all red-faced and nearly falling over from exhaustion as I dig this stuff out in my now two-year attempt to eradicate it from my garden.

Sensational ground cover- I guess that is true --as long as you want ALL THE GROUND YOU HAVE to be covered.

At least this article makes me feel a bit better about being seduced by this plant. I pity the author of this article when the lynch mobs come looking for her once they find out what this plant is really like!

Well, I must get back to my pedicure. Yesterday I had my nails done and now I need to get matching toes. I do it myself to save money, but the fatter I get, the harder it is to reach those toes! :)

I use the magazines to shield the carpet from the red polish. Then I just bend over right from my computer chair and polish them. That way I can blog while I do it. I told you before that I am a master of multi-taking! :)

Butterfly Bush, or should I say Lack of Butterfly Bush

My butterfly bush did not endure the harsh winter very well. It's not dead, but as of yesterday, it looks like this:

A couple of scrawny one & a half foot stalks. If you have been reading my blog for awhile, you may remember that this bush gets very large - over 7 feet tall and usually overhangs the deck. I used to love coming home and going out to take butterfly pictures while sitting on the deck.

It does not look like I will be having any blooms this year.

Yesterday I was walking up from the basement through the garage and saw a Monarch through the window. I put my laundry away and then went to see if it was still there. It was still happily sipping the drumstick allium nectar.

I didn't get a great picture, but, hey, we beggars can't be choosy!

I have been in the bad habit of doing no garden chores when I get home from work. My gardens are too big to be tended to only one day each weekend. So today I came home and immediately went out with my trusty shovel and wheelbarrow and spent 1.25 hours digging out more sedum coral carpet.

Years ago I planted it with ajuga because I thought it was a nice combo. The ajuga bloomed in the spring and the sedum in July. At the time I didn't know just how aggressive the sedum was.

Last year I thought I had removed it from this area. Ha! It was back this year with a vengeance. All the little white flowers are sedum. I decided the only way to remove it was to remove the ajuga right along with it. So today I dug it all out of this little area.

I also removed this silver snow-in-summer which is intertwined with the phlox.
After 1.25 hours I had two wheelbarrow loads removed and one load of top soil added back in.

It needs more top soil, but I was too pooped to haul more. I threw some of the nicer ajuga into a bucket of water and left it under the shade of a cherry tree until I get time to replant it.

The wheelbarrow and shovel were left there also because I have many more loads to haul out. I feel pretty good that I at least accomplished something after work today.

Just look at that green grass at the end of July! Unheard of in my yard. I hope it rains tonight.

I have no idea what the temperature is, but it was hot out there! I came in red-faced and ready for a long shower. It's been over 45 minutes and I am still red in the face. If I should ever disappear for a few weeks with no post, you can be sure that the sedum coral carpet finally did me in!

Remember my new garden shoes in early June?
Here they are today with my garden gloves right after I finished the above.

Wild Garden and Callas Galore

About two years ago, I started throwing shovelfulls of plants over the small rockwall garden into the wooded area. I just slung them over. I didn't dig holes and carefully plant anything...just threw it over the wall. I figured a few things would take hold and would provide a bit of color instead of all the weeds that were back there.

I was right.

Just look how colorful this area is today.


As you walk through the arbor, you see billowing masses of white ground cover.

Guess what that is? The dreaded 'coral carpet' sedum that I am trying to remove from all the other gardens! You can see why I fell in love with it way back in the beginning. It's like falling for the pretty boy in high school. After a while you discover he's all about, me, me, me...and you can't wait to dump him for someone a little less pretty, but more sociable.


There are plants growing all the way down the path to the compost pile.


It's pretty dark down that path and I am just amazed that flowers bloom in those conditions!

I often walk thru this wooded area to cut flowers for inside bouquets. That way I don't have to cut from the main gardens.

How about something a little less wild? Just look at the callas!

I wish I had some other colors. Are there red callas? I will have to remember to get some different colors for next year.

update: I went searching for red callas. I found this one called Anneke. It's more purple, but I like it.
They also had this pretty mixture, but I don't need any more yellow.

Where is that New Path in Relation to the Rest of the Garden?

O.K. so nobody really asked me that, but I always like to know these things, s0 just in case somebody is wondering, here it is.

I can now walk across a wide grass path and continue on my afternoon stroll to see what is happening deep within the border. I like that I can now reach into the center to weed. That is so much nicer than trying to walk through dense plantings where you can't see the ground. I don't want to step on any surprises, if you know what I mean.

The new path ends in the seating area of the woodland garden.
Early this morning I sat here with a cup of coffee. After a few minutes I took the cup of coffee and walked down the new path, across to the second path which turns in two directions, so I walked it twice, and then I continued on past the table to check out the rockwall garden.

I only had time for one cup of coffee, because on my little stroll I noticed that the deer have really attacked my hostas. Some of the biggest hostas are half gone. So I mixed up a bath of Hinder and sprayed everything.

Then I spent four hours digging, hauling, and moving plants. I also sprayed the 'Coral Carpet' sedum with Roundup for the 4th time. I think the 4th spraying might be the charm. I told you that stuff is tough to kill!

Now it's just after 8:00 pm. DH and I have just come inside from another stroll through the paths. A perfect ending to a wonderful day.

My First Fresh Raspberries of the Year

I never take for granted the fact that my dear husband does the grocery shopping. He does a great job and I am so grateful that I don't have to worry about that chore. If I want something I just write it on the list that we keep on the kitchen desk. He's very good at checking the sale ads and he knows more than I do when something is a good price.

Today he found fresh raspberries on sale. I decided to make a baby spinach, raspberry, and pecan salad for dinner. I shook together raspberry vinegar, oil, and 2 tablespoons of mixed berry ice cream topping to make a slightly sweet tangy dressing.

What a pretty salad and it was good, too. The only thing it was missing was a few thin rings of red onion.

We got a little thunderstorm about 5:30 p.m. today. I stuck my camera out of the window in my computer room to show you.

It's hard to get a good picture of rain. Have you ever noticed that?

Earlier this morning, I was out digging up more of the sedum 'coral carpet'.
I removed three wheelbarrow loads from this area. Tomorrow I will do the other side. I already did it last year, but somehow tons of it came back.

This is one area that I hit with Roundup yesterday. I was very happy to see it all dying down like this!

I went around and gave everything a second dose, which still will not kill it all. Those fleshy leaves are so tough to get rid of. If anyone ever wants to give you this stuff, RUN in the other direction. It is even worse than the creeping bellflower I battled a couple of years ago.

Finally a Poppy Blooms Where I Want it To!

I planted an Oriental poppy in the Wagon Wheel garden at least three years ago. This year the plant finally got big and had a few nice plump buds. They were the buds I showed you in an earlier post that turned brown. I thought the whole plant was toast, but today I noticed two blooms. I guess you can't even see them unless you click this picture to make it bigger.

Well, here's a closeup.

It's not much, but it's progress.

It's so ironic that I have to use Roundup to kill off the other poppies and I can't even get the nice Orientals to bloom. Sometimes gardening can make you crazy!

I went to Walmart today and they had annual plants 50% off. I bought a trunk load.

I bought some King coleus and other annuals to make three more planters. I have planted them all already, but I'll wait until they grow before I let them make their blog debut.

Every year I see hydrangeas and every year I say, "I need to plant some of those." I always forget until it's too late. Today they had these marked down to $9 each. I bought three of them. They are repeat bloomers.


I took the day off work today, and spent all morning working outside. I am at war with sedum 'coral carpet'. I know that stuff is going to outlive me, even though I have been pouring the Roundup to it for the past two years. Today I hit these areas:

This area is our second driveway. Somehow the sedum got in there and has spread all through it. All of that red is the sedum. I think it turns red when it gets a lot of sun. In other areas it's green. I am planning to kill it all and plant grass as we never use this driveway.

This area is in front of the house. I thought I dug out most of the sedum last year, but it's already loaded with it again! It's almost ready to bloom. It does have nice white flowers, but the pretty little flowers are not worth the headaches this invasive plant causes.

I finally decided that digging was not going to work and I decided to spray the whole area with Roundup. I will loose a lot of creeping phlox and ajuga along with the sedum.

I just hope I don't lose the Alberta Spruce.

I Like Ground Covers (I bet you've already noticed that)

My third ground cover is just beginning to bloom. It's the silver stuff with the white flowers behind the phlox and ajuga.

It's Snow-In-Summer (Cerastium tomentosum). I planted it from seed years ago to bloom with the poppies. The plan has been marginally successful. Most years the poppies are finished before it's in full color.

Just like with all the ground covers I have , this one is mass planted in the rockwall garden and it was chosen (as all the others were) because it looks good even when it's not in flower. Good foliage is very important because they only flower for about two weeks.



It is not in full bloom yet, but when it is, it will look pure white like a big mound of snow.

At about the same time the white blooms, this yellow sedum (my 4th ground cover planting) will also be in full flower.

This is one I don't yet have enough of. It's a very well behaved sedum ground cover unlike the white-flowering sedum coral carpet that I have been removing for the past two years.

My plan is to eventually have the entire rockwall garden in ground covers, shrubs and just a few flowers. I am planning for my golden years. :)

Two years ago I added two of these Royal Purple Smoke trees (Cotinus coggygria 'Royal Purple'). They are just tiny now, but can get up to 10 feet tall in 10 years. Not too long ago Lostroses posted a picture of a huge one in it's full smokey glory.

It's looks like this one may be ready to take up smoking this year.