Sue, Toni let me piggyback the Black Forest onto her order and then ship to me from Colorado. She ordered the Charmant by mistake, so I offered to buy it from her. I haven't had miniatures for awhile and this one will be fun to try.

Neal - love all your foilage shots. And love the suggestions dirtdorphins! It is giving me some planting ideas - especially if they grow in "evil clay"!

Thanks everyone! Its such an odd thing to see a mulched, un-planted space that big- but that surely won't last long.

Debra, Black Forest is gorgeous! Dig a big, deep hole- Palatine roses have crazy big root systems!

I really want a red and white bed, but can't decide where. When and if that happens, Black Forest should live there.

Happy dance indeed!
That is great now and it is really going to be fantastic soon

bindweed amazing stuff--might be the perfect weed
When I bought this place it was inundated--the porch 'gardens' were black plastic topped with lava rock and nothing but bindweed--tangled up underneath it to be sure but also coming up thru it and growing in the fake stucco and even behind the siding. I tried to 'get it all' and all of its root scraps. I thought I had done a fairly decent job...other weeds took over...
Well, when we dug out the porch gardens here just a bit ago and removed the evil clay to a depth of 4', guess what I found just laughing at me...

Looking forward to seeing that bed evolve Neal.

whoops--that red one is not ben ledi...I went looking for ben ledi and came home with mesa wine and dazzler instead


Neal, I think you should get the one called 'Fire Dragon' at least

Yes, I agree, AND get Mesa Wine!

@dirtdorphins , Look what I picked up at a garden center in Lexington yesterday!

The time is rapidly approaching when bearded irises are the stars of the show.


Will post more photos later, they're uploading really slow right now.

Right on Neal!

The first one Bayberry Candle?

Sue, that is the one tentatively identified as Honey Glazed. I'm sending some to Mary Ann to compare with hers. I believe the red is Red Zinger. I had Bayberry Candle when I was a teenager, with my first order with Schreiner's or Cooley's, can't recall which one. I remember when it bloomed I thought it was the color of snot, LOL.

Lost track of the id of this one, but love it.


I believe this historic is Amas. I had dug some rhizomes to grow at the base of the silver maple where it is so dry not much will grow there. I had forgotten and left one sitting on the ground, mostly in gravel. Here it is happily blooming. I love those tough as nails oldies!


The 2nd one below is a good rebloomer for other people, just not here. Some friends in Louisville had a gorgeous clump in bloom last October that I oohed and awed over and asked where they got it. They replied "from you!"


A no id historic from a friend.

It is columbine time here! I think of them as ladies in waiting for the tall bearded irises.

Love them.

Snot!! I always get the two names mixed up.

Neal, I love the way you mass your planting season. Not much room for weeds to grow there my friend! Last fall I decided to take out some things as I thought it needed thinning.. Now I am looking every day for something to come up.. And realize I might have gone too far.

Sue

Debra, I'll never be able to look at Bayberry Candle again without wanting to blow or wipe my nose!

LOL, Sue, sorry for imprinting that image- Oh how my strange mind works!

Thanks Veronica! I guess its 6 on one hand, half a dozen on the other; crowding the way I do does help crowd weeds out somewhat (and simply obscure them from view), but it also hides some to such an extent that they become a real problem without realizing it is happening. I love the neat, organized look you've got in your gardens, and the way you can easily spot weeds that pop up. However I know myself all too well- all that blank space would call for me to plant something there. It's a compulsion I no longer try to resist, LOL.