(click to enlarge - and focus)
And this year it's foxglove. Wintersown last year, they made large clumps in the beds. This year they are stretching up and strutting their stuff. There only seems to be 2 colors: a darker purplish and a lighter purplish. There are some unopened spikes yet to come so perhaps the later ones will be a different color. (Later in the day: another color is blooming - ivory.)Either way I'm now determined to never again be without these spring beauties. Just as soon as they started getting tall (even before the blooms) I threw a handful of seeds into a large pot to sprout next year's plants.
And here's another nice surprise. Penstemon grandiflorus. Another 2009 wintersown winner.
I love the thick grey-green foliage and the lavender trumpets of this perennial. Being a May bloomer is also nice. I think I'm going to have to start some more seeds of this for next year, too.Here's a shot of the ring bed from a new angle; from the south looking uphill. Thought I'd show a different perspective of the on-going bee-forage project.
I've moved around some of the plants this spring. I'd planted the Joe Pye weeds too close together. Also some of the milkweed. As you can see here, the 3 kinds of milkweed I planted last year are really doing well.
This variety (shame on me for not knowing which variety off the top of my head) appears will be short because it's already budding up to flower! Woohoo!
Theres a lot more going out there, but what now I've got to actually go out there and get some more work done. (Oh, my aching back. LOL)P.S. Check out the Vegetable Beds page for the first 2010 post. Also the Propagation page for the last 2010 post. Obviously there is an order to these things. ;-D
P.P.S. The Flower Beds page has been updated. The first post of 2010. And it only took me, what? Three months? My bad.... ;-D
My milkweeds are just starting to grow. Yours are ahead of mine. I think it had to do with the dry period we had with very little rain. After this week, they should take off.
ReplyDeleteThe butterfly bushes are getting ready to bloom. I can't wait. Honeycomb is still pouting, I had to move it to a sunnier location. It'll be later in the summer before I get that one cloned. BUT, I have tons of new babies from other butterfly bushes all around the parents. I'll keep you posted.
The hyssop is getting BIG!
Everything is looking so great. Things have just continued to improve in all of your designed areas since I first started visiting your blog. I have such a weedy mess to get under control yet before I can take any broad area photos.
ReplyDeleteTom - I've got an abundance of Golden Jubilee in my WS containers. Can't wait until they get big enough to plant out. Thanks for the seeds.
ReplyDeleteLarry - Thanks. It's a lot of work and sometimes feel I'm not too bright for trying to do so much. Still, you just can't keep me inside in nice weather, so what the heck... LOL Right now the white clover is starting to bloom inside the ring garden. The bees will love it!
BTW - your gardens are lovely, even your alley looks inviting! :-D