Just want to say that if anyone will be in the area on the 23rd, please feel free to stop in and join the party. Tree mail me and I'll give you directions. Onewish1 and 2 of her friends will be coming and I can't wait to see them again!!

A few blooms from yesterday:

Pennisetum 'Karley Rose' and Coreopsis 'Sienna Sunset'


Helianthus 'Lemon Queen'


Lobelia cardinalis

That's wonderful, Roses! Thanks for the invite!

The larger of my 2 black swallowtail caterpillars has given signs that it will be pupating soon. Yay!

I'm feeling overwhelmed at the moment. Planted the ginger but I believe I am going to have to move it eventually. It doesn't get as much sun there as I now believe it's going to need. And it was exhausting, because of all the devilvine roots and the little oak tree I had to dig out.



But, there it is! I'm going to ping the grower and ask about the shade/sun factor.

@Catmint, I confess I have not opened the daylilies yet. I figured they would be okay in the box for longer than the ginger so I started with that. And I don't know the varieties!

It is a mix, and they were very cheap because the seller chose them -- if she IDed them, I'll be pleasantly surprised! I think tomorrow is when they'll go in.

Oh! I saw another Monarch today, while we were on the way to the garden center to buy potting soil and manure.

WOW @Kyla you sure did have a GREAT day yesterday, WooHooooo!!! Have you been having fun out playing in the dirt today?

@Catmint, Oh my GOSH, I just LOVE that combo of your Pennisetum and Coreposis!!!

@Roses, thank you so much for the invite, how sweet of you! Sorry to say I won't be up in your neck of the woods any time soon, but thank you!

@Roses_R_Red, I forgot to say that, but yes, thanks for the invite! I'll know I am missing the party of the year!

@speediebean, eh, no, today was not so fun, but that's because I am an impatient gardener and also got weary with the one project I did which involved more work than I wanted to be doing for about 16 square inches of the bed! So much stuff to clear out, ick.

Howsomever. Tomorrow I expect to have more fun, planting those daylilies.

I'm a bit frustrated by some factors, such as the challenge of keeping everything well watered for instance.

Took a lot of pictures today but most of them are meh.

Here's a plant I'm not familiar with but love already: calamint!




Taken in early morning full sun, and I've forgotten how to change the light setting on the camera, but this little plant is doing beautifully and it makes me happy. It has tiny lavender flowers and actually there were two plants in the container, so the part in the back has even tinier white flowers. I decided, when I discovered that, to leave them as they are and see how they do.

@Kyla, your Calamint looks wonderful!! This is the first year I'm growing it as well (to honor our beloved Catmint ), and it's really doing well for me too. Let me see if I've got any pics of mine to share...




Here's one on "Installation Day". ... and it looks as though it's time for me to take more pics!
It looks like 2 plants, but what I'd done is cut it back BIG-TIME, and tried to root those cuttings.. why not, eh? It didn't work.

Yes indeed, why not?

We have to learn what doesn't work in order to be better gardeners, right?

Whew, @Kylaluaz! That sounds like a handful of a spot to dig up! I admire your persistence with it. Congrats on that Monarch!! I've only seen one this season. Calamint--so pretty. Is it 'Blue Cloud'? The pollinators love them.

@Speediebean, thanks for your kind words about my pennisetum/coreopsis combo. The pennisetum did not bloom at all for me last year, so it's really nice to see it doing well this year!

LOL Thanks Speedie--did you know there's a Snapbean 'Speedie'?? I'll have to look for it! Your Calamint looks great--so nice and rounded! You should see mine--all sprawled out!

Ahhh--I've never had any luck with rooting so far either.

Oh that would be fun! I was thinking too, what could we plant in honor of speediebean? Good idea, Catmint!



and yes, that entire area is gnarly as all getout, Hannah's corner. I've dug out a lot of that stuff in various places in that area and probably will run into more tomorrow when I go to plant the daylilies. There is one small section next to the fence that I've not gotten into yet, between two hydrangeas, where I can see at least one real healthy length of devilvine leering at me!

You *know* why it's named that! Rooting it out is the devil, rooting out the devil is hella hard work!

ohh, 'Hella's Corner'! LOL

Did you know there is a Daylily 'Kyla Cupp'? There is also a pretty plant called a chiRITA, and a whole series of 'Jackie', 'Annie', and 'Teri' Daylilies! And of course, we don't have to look hard for Roses, Holly, and Aspen around our yards.

There's also a BerlANDier's Sundrops! Did I miss anyone?? Quite a garden we have here... ;-)

That would be so fun, to plant a bed with all our names represented by plants.

I'll have to have a look for Kyla Cupp. Nope, didn't know there was one. How cool is that?!

Well, shoot. I can't find a picture of 'Kyla Cupp'.

kylaluaz said:Well, shoot. I can't find a picture of 'Kyla Cupp'.

I couldn't find one either. Interesting.

Well, last night I had a dream that I was inspecting my Milkweed and found all kinds of tiny Monarch caterpillars!

That is a most auspicious dream! How wonderful.

This morning, I finished Hannah's corner! Well, to the extent anything is ever finished. I guess I am at 95% though and have worked the whole bed. Whew!

Here's what all I had to dig out this morning, not counting the patch of perennial vinca which I potted up to use in containers. In the ground, it's too hard to work with, IMO.



I amended soil, with manure, alfalfa pellets, bonemeal, and Milorganite. Not a big dose but enough to blend in the whole area. I'd already transplanted iris I'd moved, and a bunch of those orange ditch lilies. Today, I planted out the 20 plus noid dl starts I received from this wonderful sale.


I also placed four slate tiles as stepping stones in an area where I don't want to compact the soil at all. (Found a couple stacks of these in the shed!)


The sky stayed overcast most of the time I was working, but then the sun came out, and the light makes these hard to see detail. (You can see more in the larger images, just a bit.) The pale mulch is white pine shavings. That will darken some over time, and I like it better than the wood chips that got blown onto all the beds a while ago.

Everything is going to get enough sun there with the possible exception of the ginger! But I feel it will grow forward, a bit, away from the fence, which is good, and if next year it still doesn't seem to be getting enough sun I can move it then.

Finally, just for fun, here are my tarragon and thyme seedlings. They were started in smaller pots and transplanted to these a couple of weeks ago. I'm going to put them in the ground soon. This was just me not being able to wait to try a few seeds. I am not really organized yet but they grew anyway.

whew!

I need to feed my soil in the garden beds this fall. How did you decide on the combo of manure, alfalfa pellets, bonemeal, and Milorganite? How much do you use of each of these?

Mainly I used those cause I have them around. I have read about each of those as good for daylilies in particular. I don't have a recipe, just mixed some up. Less bonemeal and Milorganite in relation to the amount of alf. pellets and manure. I'd already amended that soil, or most of it, with manure and in some places also with bonemeal, so this was really no more than a light touchup because of adding all those daylilies.

Wow Kyla, it makes my back hurt just thinking about all that work you've done! But my GOODNESS it sure looks great! I tried to find a "Kyla Cupp" day lily as well, but didn't have any luck. What is up with that!?

LOL, there's a bean named "speedie"?? That is really funny!

Well, the only photos I have to share today are ones from work. The guys (yeah, we just call 'em "The Guys", ha!) were digging around in the wood pile out back, doing some clean up, and they found these really cool looking bits of stumps and "logs", so one of 'em decided they were too pretty to ground up as mulch. He was right!