Tired of winter

After that lovely snow, this week rain fell on top of the snow, then everything iced up with a little snow on top of that. Today the sun is trying to shine while the clouds try to snow. It's not totally ugly out, but cold, cold, cold. February may be the shortest month of the year, but it feels like the longest.

Since not much is happening out in the yard, I thought I would spend some blog posts on new plants for the yard that I am not familiar with. First up is roundleaf ragwort, Packera obovata. It will be planted in the area between the castleblock and the front sidewalk, where its yellow flowers will bloom early on 1.5' stalks while spreading to its heart's content, thereby smothering weed growth. It tolerates dry soil but it also thrives in rain gardens, which is good because that bed is a bit sandy but also sometimes holds standing water. All I have to do is cut the spent flowers before they go to seed, when they may spread like dandelions.

Photo courtesy of Missouri Botanical Garden

Another newcomer is hairy beardtongue, Penstemon hirsutus. This plant tolerates sun and shade, which is what it will get on the east side of the house. It serves as the larval host to checkerspot butterflies; the Baltimore checkerspot is found locally. It also attracts hummingbirds. I have grown penstemon before, the latest attempt a container experiment (Penstemon barbatus 'Coccineus'). Those will be transplanted into an area in the backyard, so we should have hummingbirds coming and going.

Photo courtesy of Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

So those are two newcomers. Seed catalogs keep arriving, but I think I will have plenty of new plants to deal with without adding more... at least, this year!