I’m just now catching up not because I did a lot last week (I didn’t) but because I did so little that it wasn’t really worth writing. The weekend, however, I didn’t waste even though it was cold.

Week stuff.

I’m glad I didn’t pull these, thinking they were lady’s finger because they are actually the Missouri evening primrose that I’d planted last year. These weird, red-spotted buds and the fact that they appeared in each front corner of the south flowerbed are what saved them because I’d almost decided they were weeds!

It was dark and rainy, but my little pines are alive so far. All but one appear to have new growth; they won’t all survive (and there wouldn’t be room if they did), but I hope to get one or two big enough to be useful to birds.

The birds plant sunflowers everywhere…and I do mean everywhere. This one is growing in an osage-orange tree! It won’t get very big, and might even die because there’s no room for a taproot, but it’s pretty cool anyway.

I had to go to ACE to get an empty paint can (shipping touch-up paint to a customer), and found these honeysuckle fuchsia. Fuchsia triphylla “Gartenmeister Bonstedt” (for when I forget). They’ll need to be indoors over the winter, but they certainly are pretty, and I think the MLBs will like them.

Friday after work, I potted the fuchsia. I agonized over where to put them because they want part sun or light shade, but fuchsia doesn’t like hot afternoon sun; it likes morning sun, and I didn’t really have dappled shade anywhere that these would work. Over by the pond would’ve been okay, except that the MLBs rarely venture over there due to the fact that the songbirds and woodpeckers congregate there, and it would be a shame to waste such perfect MLB flowers.

Saturday and Sunday, I worked my arse off. Lots of seeds that didn’t get photographed, but lots of other stuff, too!

I dug up some native bee balm, cut back even more of it, and made room for some morning glory seeds.

I moved the gloriosa daisy and my two remaining (sad-looking) ‘Winky’ columbines, and planted Maximilian sunflowers on Saturday. On Sunday, I was looking for a place to plant a forgotten packet of Mexican sunflowers, and since the Maximilian won’t do anything this year (perennials, and natives), I threw the Mexicans in as well. Dunno how that’s going to turn out, but I had nowhere else for the Mexican; I’ve already planted it everywhere else I wanted to deal with it.

Gloriosa daisy, looking rather droopy, but it had just been uprooted, so that’s understandable. This is its second year, so I tossed a few seeds in along with the plant so even if this one doesn’t come back, I won’t have a bare spot next year.

Also a bit droopy, the bee balm that I moved over to Thug Life. I planted it over on the southwest side last year, but it didn’t bloom. I expect it will this year (I hope!), but this may not because I wasn’t any too gentle; the roots are too much a tangle of runners for “gentle”. Anyway, it’s there; that’s good enough, and if it does bloom, so much the better.

I didn’t do this, exactly, but the two little penstemon Husker Red I had at 544 and couldn’t dig up so I brought seeds have been very busy!

I forget which penstemon this is, but it’s pretty.

The pond. Where to begin? I’d had a HUGE leak problem, and suspected that it was the same problem I’d had last year, but fixed with landscape foam and silicone instead of pulling apart the rocks and doing it properly. On Sunday, I donned a pair of dirty garden gloves and proceeded to turn them into muddy garden gloves. I cheated with insulation and built up that side, and had to take away most of the dam effect because once it backs up even a little too far, it runs over, and I’m right back where I started. I did manage to get it at least sort of the way I want, but I’m still not 100% happy with this pond, and only time will tell as to whether I’ve actually fixed that spot for good. I still might change up the rocks around the main part, if I can find any very large, flat rocks without having to buy an entire ton of them. We’ll see, but for now, at least, I’m not losing 4” of water in a day.

Oh, and I found this lovely (and enormous!) lady when I was planting Maximilian sunflower seeds.