I turned my back for a few days

This past Saturday was spent mostly doing housework, Sunday was Mother's Day so family came over (hence the reason for the housecleaning), and Monday it poured, so my SO and I left town. Today I was surprised to find *more* flowering going on in the yard. (Please excuse all the weeds!)

Volunteer Canadian columbine are popping up all over the place

Prunifolium viburnum, a.k.a. Blackhaw

Aronia melanocarpa, a.k.a. Chokeberry

Chokeberry, up close

Prairie Fire crabapple, year ONE

Finding blossoms on the stick-like Prairie Fire crab was a delightful surprise. Not all color is from flowers, though. Two shrubs I planted last summer are fulfilling their promise of providing contrast to my mostly-purple-leafed front yard.

Lemony Lace elderberry

Golden Spirit smokebush

Not everything is doing well, though. It looks like the climbing rose bit the dust. Periodically, I would contemplate removing it, only to have it put on a great show. After deciding I would keep it, I planted shasta daisies in front of it for contrast. Now it is dead. At least the hosta bed survived the dog trampling, as has one coral bells plant; the other is questionable, as is the mountain mint.

Palace Purple heuchera

Hosta bed

Big hostas have big impact, but my favorite is this small-leafed Golden Tiara (at least I think that is the variety). The bed also has some volunteer columbine and violets (and dandelion, which I cropped out of the pic).

Golden Tiara hosta

I hope your yard and garden are just as full of surprises!

They come and they go

While dividing and transplanting the 'Autumn Joy' Sedum, I found some old plant markers from previous attempts to fill the bed by the front walk. This discovery led me to comb through my blog, looking for references of what other plants I have loved and lost. The list is mournfully long.

Whatever happened to the lovely Hibiscus 'Luna Red'? Or the equally red crocosmia? Some plants just succumb, but others meet their demise because of my never ending need to move things around which results in my losing track of them. So now I am trying to catalog everything that is currently growing in my yard AND mark their location so they won't be forgotten.

Here are two examples of plants that need tracking collars. The Heuchera 'Zipper' above and the Japanese painted fern below are easy to forget about. I added the former to the hosta bed last year, the latter two years ago. I have faith that 'Zipper' will grow big and strong and fulfill its destiny to provide some contrast to the two other heurcheras that flank it. The fern has survived despite being located next to the dryer vent, but I think it could do better elsewhere, if I don't forget it altogether.

Without some kind of system, I will also continue to make the mistake of calling something one thing when it is something else entirely. Take the grass below, which I have been referring to as big blue stem, even though it looks nothing like big blue stem, especially its plume-like seed heads. My SO commented in passing how it looks similar to his silver grass but not quite.

After scrolling through my blog, I now think it is maiden hair grass, a.k.a. Chinese silver grass. I planted some in the yard once upon a time and don't know what happened to it. I think this plant (which I moved to its current location last fall) might be it.

How do you maintain your garden census?

Newbies (and some controversy)

This year I have been surprisingly resistant to making purchases for the yard and garden beyond bales of peat, bags of compost, and a bit of this and that. However, there were a few holes to fill, so some plants followed me home the other day. (Sorry for the quality of the photos - the light was not ideal.)

I am crazy for Coreopsis, but most cultivars crap out after a couple of years, so I have been replacing them with other loves. Somewhere along the line, the Penstemon disappeared from the yard, so I added some into the bed by the front walk, to fill the spots absented by some Coreopsis. This variety is 'Red Riding Hood', purchased at Arbor Farms. I hope the hummingbirds like it.

I am also a sucker for Sedum. While visiting a new-to-me nursery north of Auburn (Garden Gate), I saw some new-to-me Stonecrop, 'Blue Spruce'. Thinking I had no room for it, I passed, only to succumb when I saw it later at Home Depot. It too is now in the front bed.

I have also added some calendula and white alyssum, with the hopes they will self-seed next year. At any rate, I think this bed now is as full as it can be (until something else dies off).

Another full bed is the hosta bed on the north side of the garage. That did not stop me from picking up another Heuchera, this one 'Zipper', to contrast with the darker two in this bed.

I'd also like to add something tall, maybe Ostrich Fern, maybe even replacing the hostas in the back as they are an older variety that is susceptible to slug damage, but that idea will have to wait for another year.

No photos, but I added three Purple Coneflower plants to the south side of the house, all 'Magnus'. This is the bed that contains the Catmint that is spreading every which way. Maybe if I fence it in, it will stay put?

When I started seeds for the vegetable garden this year, I aimed to produce the exact number of plants needed. Unfortunately, this did not allow for the fact that some transplants would not survive. Something has eliminated a few marigolds and 'Roma' tomato plants, so I purchased replacements.

Now for a controversial topic: Neonicotinoids. Some of the plants I purchased from Home Depot came with the following tags, tags I noticed only after I pulled the plants from their pots for transplanting.

My first inclination was to return the plants to the store. But after reading HD's policy online (their suppliers must include these tags for plants that have been treated), I realized that while I now *know* these plants had been treated, I have no idea if any of the other plants I have purchased now or in the past from wherever have also been treated. I could ask, but I would be surprised if many of the local nurseries even know whether their suppliers use Neonicotinoids. And if they do know and the answer is yes, do I stop buying from them even though they are local businesses, which I try to support? It's a bit of a quandary. What would YOU do in my place?

Mad Dogs and Englishmen

Not only was I out in the noonday sun, but I was hard at it. Just as one doesn't realize one has been in the sun too long until it's too late, I didn't realize I had worked too hard until late in the evening, when hoisting my butt off the couch became a major endeavor. This morning I feel about 80% recovered, though. Some gentle yoga should release the remaining aches and pains.

(A brief paean to yoga: If it weren't for the yoga classes I have been attending, I would not be able to do a fraction of the yard work I have accomplished this year, particularly the digging. I highly recommend yoga for improving ones strength and flexibility.)

I attacked the Queen Anne's lace and thistle with vim and vigor, concentrating on the larger plants which were starting to bloom. Because of the amount of foliage I removed, the 3B garden now looks ravaged. Soon the coneflower will be bursting forth, though, which should distract the eye.

Earlier this season, I planted black eyed Susan and tickseed. The former is just kind of sitting there, presumably setting down roots. The latter is doing the same, but also blooming.



I'm glad I surrounded this area with chicken wire, as I have come across rudbeckia I planted in previous years, or rather the remnants of those plants. The bunnies must really like the stuff.

This astilbe is a long-suffering resident of my yard.



I have tried it here and there, with little success. It is supposed to like shade, but I guess it's possible to get too much of a good thing. It is getting more sun than usual this year, and is responding with some nice color.

Heuchera, aka coral bells, is not known for its flowers, but it does bloom.



Another shade lover, the dark foliage provides colorful contrast to the hostas.

The yucca flower stalk has broken free from the asplenifolia.



Its petals are already dropping.

On the south side of the house I have a fair amount of painted daisy of the 'Clara Curtis' variety.



It's not really a daisy per se, but a member of the chrysanthemum family.

There are a few shasta daisies mingled with the monarda.



This bee balm is known as 'Fireball' and is mildew resistant. Ordinarily, the bees cannot resist it, but so far this year, the blossoms are sadly lacking their insect companions.



I read an article yesterday about how not only is the honeybee population in danger, but all pollinators are struggling to survive, even hummingbirds. This tragic fact is evident in my own backyard. Last year hummingbirds and butterflies were daily visitors but I have seen very few of either this year. No one knows for sure what the problem is, but likely culprits are loss of habitat and overuse of pesticides and herbicides.

Ordinarily, my yard is not totally pesticide/herbicide free. I have been known to apply weed and feed on the lawn and wage battle with mulberries and Canada thistle using Round Up. But this year I just did not get around to the lawn treatments, and every time I thought about spraying weeds, a breeze would spring up, leaving me fearful of herbicide drift. My lawn looks a bit raggedy and is not nearly as lush as it usually is, but it is basically green, so I am not going to worry about it too much. I'll take care of the thistle by pulling it and using newspapers as a weed barrier beneath the mulch. It's more work than spraying; I don't know about you, but I can always use the exercise.

Disappointment

After bragging about how well my 'Blue Muffin' bloomed this year, I'm frustrated to report there are no berries on the plant. Ditto the 'Onondaga'. What gives? Well, according to my research, research I did now and not before I bought the shrubs, the 'Blue Muffin' requires a cross pollinator, which I apparently do not have, and the 'Onondaga' is not known for its berry-producing powers.

What really aggravates me, though, is when I bought these shrubs, I told the nurseryman that I was looking for berry-producing shrubs for my backyard habitat. He came up with a list of likely candidates, and I chose five from that list. Now I discover that two are goldbricking. I can try to solve the 'Blue Muffin' problem by planting a cross pollinator (which may not be as easy as it sounds, from what I have been reading on gardening forums). But I will never get that beautiful 'Onondaga' to squeeze out more than a few token berries.

To add to my irritation, the serviceberry, which the robins love, has never produced much, while the blackhaw viburnum has tons of berries that the local wildlife is not wild about. At least the chokeberry is choking with fruit this year. I need to protect it better from the marauders that snip whole branches and drag them away.

Not everyone is goldbricking.



I have been diligently plucking spent blooms from my Stellas, in hopes of extending their season. What makes yellow so cheerful?

The name of this groundcover is anything but cheerful: 'Dragon's Blood' red sedum.



The blooms are not very dramatic, but it is a robust grower, spilling over the castle brick retaining wall in front of my house.

One way to prevent weeds is to grow 'em big and grow 'em dense.



The heuchera is barely holding its own against the hostas that ate New York and the volunteer violets. But notice: no weeds in this bed. I just have to guard against grass creeping in along the edges.

While the hostas above are biding their time, this hosta is pushing the blooming envelop.



What is odd about this particular hosta is it shares its bed with a twin. A puny, underdeveloped twin. A twin I planted at the same time. These two plants are less than three feet apart, in an old tractor tire, and one thrives while the other is stunted. Maybe it's a case of sibling rivalry. Maybe they need to be separated.

I was late planting my snap peas, and they probably do not get enough sun, but they are blooming.



I think in years past I was harvesting pods by now.

The following photo, blurry as a UFO picture in a tabloid, is proof that I have tomatoes on the way.



Now I have to tell a story on my co-worker. M asked me if the blossoms on the tomato plant were what produced the tomatoes. Yes. Then we got to discussing his tomato plants. He wanted grape tomatoes, but he thinks he got cherries. He planted them in a container, and some people have told him that he has too many plants for the container. How many cherry tomato plants did he plant? Ten. As in 10. As in Roman numeral X. He lives by himself. I told him he will have to set up a cherry tomato stand in his front yard to dispose of the extras. Or trade them for zucchini.

He is not the only one to end up with the wrong plant. When I bought this tiger lily, I thought I was buying a tiger daylily, aka ditch daylily.



It's still a beauty.