Lots of work this weekend, so lots of photos (some work, some just pretty).

Friday’s accomplishment was extending the Black Swallowtail Buffet. FWIW, I seeded dill and parsley that I’d got at Walschwitz when I bought the last of their edging. I didn’t have quite enough mulch to finish, but there’s enough to keep the seeds down…more on that later.

I was wandering around, pruning a few things here and there, and found a pretty lady. Considering that I just (Monday afternoon) saw a male in the very same calibrachoa, I’m going to guess that Tigers like it.

It was there (curled tightly) when I got the plants, so it’s sort of cheating, but I have a new frond on the Christmas fern!

Asters are blooming far too early this year! I cut a bunch of them back; I hope the early blooming doesn’t mean late-season flutter-guys will be out of luck.

When I got these two tiny lilacs from the Arbor Day Foundation as freebies, I didn’t think they’d live, so I just stuck them in next to the white one. Guess they might live after all…and I’m going to have a creative-looking lilac clump.

She did a pretty damned good job of camouflaging her bright yellow self on the bright yellow coreopsis. Good enough to fool the fly!

First bloom from Echinacea paradoxa. The plants are still small, but I’ll take any kind of flower I can get.

I’m still deciding whether to move the other ones, but these trumpet creeper plants seem quite content where they are. These are the ones in the spot where I spent five hours of my life digging up a goddamned bush honeysuckle.

PowWow white coneflower. I just thought it looked cool, opening up from the side that gets the first sun in the morning.

On Saturday, I started making the flowerbed around the poor little dogwood that got broken (and, for the record, is growing new branches on that side). I just had whatever useful perennials that I could get at Buchheit; they aren’t getting any more plants in because they’re moving in August. That makes no sense to me because they’ll lose a lot of sales in two months, but whatever. I found enough for the space.

I got them all into the ground on Saturday, but didn’t have time, energy, or inclination to finish the bed. Working in the sun is HOT.

In cool news both of the Cup Plant stems that Charlotte sampled are making a new set of leaves! The last time she ate them, they just did nothing; I guess it was early enough in the season this time, and the plants are more established. Anyway, I’ll take it!

Sweet Tea, just because it’s pretty.

Guess it’s time to weed; here’s a giant one!

Sombrero ‘Flamenco Orange’. I remember that colour didn’t sell very well last year, which is kind of odd because coneflowers are sturdy and require so little care, and the bright orange is lovely!

Yesterday, I finished the dogwood flowerbed. I had purple and white prairie clover seeds, so I made a few blobs of soil for them. One is purple, one is white, and the third is mixed.

A photo of dirt–yay! It’s actually dirt with prairie clover seeds pressed into it. I hope they grow; bees love clover, and especially native clover.

Done! Well, mostly done. I’m short about a quarter of a bag of mulch, and I need another half a bag to finish the Black Swallowtail Buffet, but in both cases, I had enough that I didn’t have to run out (or ask P to run out) and get more.

I stuck some cardinal climber seeds in on the arbour. I didn’t think they’d sprout. I was wrong.

Pipevine bloom, just because they’re cool-looking.

Baby Sun coreopsis deserves its name–so bright!

I was mowing the lawn yesterday when I saw this lovely little thing. I didn’t think (s)he’d let me get a photo–Rust-Spotted Teal is a shy species–but again…I was wrong.

Sweet Tea again. Most beloved of bunglebees.

Baby’s breath in the dogwood bed out front.

I had done the laundry yesterday to leave today free to do nothing. I should have known better; I’m not terribly good at doing nothing. I got the gung-ho idea to work on the low spot of the pond. I had to move a fair amount of rock, too.

I built it up using a mixture of yucky clay that I’d dug out of the holes when I planted the dogwood bed flowers and cheap-ass topsoil, then topped it with Black Kow and garden soil.

I pulled some Virginia Creeper that had volunteered in the patio flowerbed (didn’t really want it there, but don’t like throwing away healthy plants even if they are native volunteers), and planted it in a few spots near the rocks. It wasn’t too happy about being yanked out by its roots, and I’ll have to water it for a week or two, but hopefully won’t have to cut it back.

After I planted the Creeper, I seeded white clover (unfortunately not prairie…not enough sun) and patted it down. I needed a temporary mulch until the seedlings are big enough to manage on their own, and the straw -sweepings that P had got for Work Kitty worked just fine. I watered everything, and will give a deeper watering to the Creeper when I go out to clean up the big mess I made.