I’ve worked in the garden for I don’t know how long, never really taking a day off. Every spare minute, I’ve been out there, even when it was really too wet, and I needed a break. I’d planned to plant black-eyed susan and butterfly weed when I got home, but I had to do laundry, I was hot and sweaty, and soooo tired, and I said to hell with it. All I accomplished was putting the (very expensive) border on the Virginia snakeroot bed. That’s it. Well, I sprayed insecticidal soap on sunflower aphids and hibiscus sawfly larvae, and deadheaded a few coreopsis, and did laundry, but that’s it. Oh, well…perhaps tomorrow, or on the weekend if there’s a break in the rain. I like the border, at least, and I asked dude to hold off shipping the snakeroot until Monday. The way the mail goes around here, that’s the only safe day.

I took half a vacation day yesterday; I went to Buchheit at lunch to get the compost I bought and forgot in the shuffle of topsoil, garden soil, mulch and plants. I got a couple more black-eyed susan for Sarah-Flah’s garden, and noticed their trees were 35% off, and they still had red dogwood. C told me to take her truck and go get them, but I don’t like driving other people’s vehicles if it can be helped. If an accident is going to happen, it will happen when I’m driving someone else’s car/truck/golf cart/whatever. I said lunch was over, and she told me to take the afternoon. I didn’t argue.

I still don’t know where the second one will go, but I have them. One goes out front where those ugly cedar and juniper were.

It’s amazing what I can fit in my car. The compost was in the trunk.

I finally planted the Prairie Twilight penstemon. I moved the smallest Red Rocks over by the other one, then planted these together.

I also got the Virginia snakeroot bed to the point that it could be planted. Still needs edging, and the cardboard needs trimming.

Brought the palm outside.

Growing things…

Coreopsis in the Honeysuckle Horseshoe. I forget what kind, but it’s perennial.

Baby Sun

Sweet Tea looking better.

More borage flowers.

The zinnia I planted on Sunday.

The cardinal climber.

Hard to believe these were seeds a year ago. Cindeh-flowers are sturdy!

I didn’t get much done, but I did plant the 8 Lobelia cardinalis plants that arrived yesterday, and finally got the two grape agastache in the ground.

I’m giving fancy agastache one more chance; if the ones I got this year don’t live, then I won’t buy any more; I’ll stick with the native stuff.

The borage finally gave up a bloom.

I got the sample of milspec raschel fabric, too; it’s stiffer than finch feeder mesh, but the holes are perfect, and I think it’ll work. I bought 2 yards, and also some “foliage green” (military colour) webbing to put around the tops.

Might work for butterfly raising sleeves, too. Fuck you, wasps.

Also got dirt/poop for Virginia snakeroot, and some black-eyed susan and butterfly weed for Sarah-Flah’s garden.

I was supposed to be doing laundry, which I did eventually, but…

Planted Autumn Colors rudbeckia and Route 66 coreopsis. Also planted morning glory and Chilean glory vine, and the last of the evening scented stock.

Moved the Carolina allspice to fill in the “peekaboo spot” by the woods. Hope it grows like mad and suckers like crazy. Also hope I didn’t kill it.

Moved the sad little persimmon. I think it was too wet there. It’s too close to the other one, but assuming it lives, I’ll be dead before I care.

Mulched the other one.

I still have photos on my camera that need to be posted, but for now…cool stuff.

Found a second bit of baptisia. I think I just had enough seeds for two spots.

Jewelweed looks wonderful. Hope the summer heat doesn’t murder it; I’d love to get a colony going!

First “yellow flower” (Heliopsis) soon.

This oxalis is growing in the soon-to-be-gone flowerbed on the patio. I know it’s technically a weed, but I like it, it’s native, and I just read today that it’s a host plant for a butterfly whose name escapes me ATM.

Foxglove near the patio. This is the one I planted last year that actually is Spanish Peaks, which the stuff I got this year is not (it’s white).

First fully opened gaillardia. I’m thinking of putting gaillardia in front of the “swamp bed”. Dunno…late for seeds.

Houston, we have…anise hyssop! I thought it was bee balm, so I broke a leaf and sniffed. Licorice–wonderful!!

544’s Bright Lights, getting there.

I should have been showering, but I had morning glory seeds in my pocket, so I yanked the weeds out and planted them just as it was getting dark. They’re red, which probably means purple, but meh.

Finally unloaded camera. Cute little Scudderia!

Not yet, but eventually. I’m posting this Monday morning because it’s 0547h, raining, and I’ll spend my last holly-day doing Thursday’s laundry as well as Sunday’s. Yay? Anyway, I made more progress, so that’s something. About half of the edging is packed in, and the rest is at least trenched out. Thankfully, I keep scraps because I was about a foot short. I’ll have to weed whack one spot in the back because I extended it enough to make room for cardinal climber and scarlet runner bean, and it’s too close to the morning glory bed. I used cardboard, which I hope I don’t regret, and took out only a little grass (actually, mostly clover). The bed resembles a paramecium, with last year’s bed being the nucleus. In the spot next to the west side of the nucleus, I threw in a few royal red catchfly, a few cleome, sneezeweed, 4000 purple bee balm, some marjoram, and some dwarf zinnia. I doubt I’ll see anything from the catchfly or the cleome, but meh. I still haven’t planted the ‘Autumn Colors’ rudbeckia, or the ‘Route 66’ tickseed. If it’s too muddy today, I’ll try tomorrow after work. Still kind of looks like shit, but it’s getting there.

Doesn’t look big here, but it really is quite. I think the front will get the grass removed (?), and I’ll plant gaillardia…seeds.

I thought the spicebush I planted in February looked odd, but then I figured maybe the leaves were just immature. Nope–entirely different. Leaves are smaller, darker, glossier, and opposite instead of alternate. Not spicebush. I sent pictures to the seller, asking whether she recognized it (maybe she grows it next to her spicebush and didn’t notice because it was dormant). She said, “It looks like allspice, which is close to spicebush…” Um…no. Bitch didn’t even half-arsed apologize for sending the wrong plants–not a word–and I hadn’t asked for a refund or anything; I just wanted to make sure it wouldn’t choke out my damned spicebush. She said “it’ll be fine,” but I was tired, hot, sweaty, dirty, sunburnt, and in no mood for her blasé response. I wrote…

Do you mean Carolina allspice, Calycanthus floridus? That’s not at all close to Lindera benzoin; entirely different genera, and not a host plant for Spicebush Swallowtail butterflies, or any others. Anyway, if it’s Carolina allspice, I’ll move it; it suckers readily, and it’s literally in the middle of two clumps of spicebush. Thank you for your response.

Bitch. I almost bought Carolina allspice once, so I’m not heartbroken or anything, but that bitch is on my Never Buying From You Again list.

“Close to spicebush”. Oh, reeeeeally?

P made a friend. It just landed there for no particular reason. I thought it was a bunglebee at first, but it was a robber fly. They’re damned good mimics!

Someday, I’ll have lavender flowers.

Oregano is getting close.

Borage still teasing me. I pruned back the evening primrose and catnip so my poor, struggling aster seedlings don’t get choked out, and had to trim a few borage leaves. God, they’re prickly!

A “double bloom” (literally!) Mesa Yellow gaillardia. I have funky flowers this year.

Oh, and I almost forgot…I found this amongst the Helenium in Sarah-Flah’s garden. I checked with C in case it was some weed I just didn’t recognize, and not a tomato, but nope…it’s a tomato. LOL!

EDIT: I almost forgot because the pictures are on my camera, not my phone, but the first Monarch of 2015 paid a visit yesterday, and she left presents! She seemed to prefer the orange butterfly weed to the milkweed (of course…they’re all small seedlings), but I think she hedged her bets. I’ll post the (crappy…she wouldn’t stay still) pictures when I get them off the camera.

Finally getting around to it…

In sad butterfly news, my pipevine eggs are gone. Just gone. Hopefully, another pipevine girl will come; the extra Virginia snakeroot I bought was not cheap!

EDIT: First Baby Sun coreopsis!

Not nearly as much as I’d wanted, and I was too tired to write last night, but some progress is better than none. I got the bee balms planted: Fire Marshall in back, Raspberry Wine in front.

It’s kind of slow going, mostly because I’m not sure how I want to do this. I’m still not sure, but I’ll be working on it again today. I think I’ll just work at the edging, and figure out what to do with the grassy bits as I’m putting in edging. I put a layer of cardboard over the grass, then some dirt atop that, but I’m low on cow poop compost, and a lot of the dirt PL used is either too dense, or full of the biggest, nastiest crabgrass roots I’ve ever seen, plus it’s mashed solid by a skid steer. I dunno. Maybe steal some dirt from the north side of the yard? I’ll have to think about that.

I didn’t finish the mulch, but I did get the parsley, dill and carrot planted for the Black Swallowtails. Hopefully not too late.

I’d pulled up a Cindeh-gold because it volunteered too close to scarlet pumpernickel, and was looking for a place to plant it. I almost dug up this “clover”…until I saw it was actually baptisia. These are the poor, put-upon seeds that soaked for three days instead of one, then got planted and didn’t necessarily get watered because I forgot where I’d planted them.

I also planted P’s Mexico Midget tomato.

Sweet Tea is blooming, but it’s not as gasp-inspiring as I’d expected. Still pretty, though.

I have exactly one of the seven or eight gaillardia that I bought potted last year. I have all of the gaillardia I grew from seed.

First milkweed bloom. I thought this was common, but the blooms look like showy, and I guess the leaves are a little narrow. Anyway, it’s gorgeous no matter what!

WTF. Where did the rest of this go?

…and it’s still not done. I got all three weigelas in, and ten Radio Red salvia, and two baptisia. PL left quite a bit of gravel, and I really hope that I dug wide enough and deep enough to give everything enough of both good soil and drainage. I dunno. I also moved what was left of my Nanho Blue butterfly bush, but I don’t think it’s going to live. I’ll probably just buy another one.

I’m still not sure how I’m going to do the edging–I’m considering using cardboard and mulch instead of pulling up all of the grass–and it’s going to take forever to get the excess dirt off the grass around the flowerbed, but progress is progress.

I think this one may have had the wrong tag. Maybe.

Not in the flowerbed, but I shudder to think how deep the roots are on clover with leaves this big.

Goldfields are cute, if a bit crowded by the catnip that struggled last year and looks like a jungle this year.

I actually gave up on my lobelia cardinalis seeds, and bought some plants. I almost bought great blue lobelia as well, but I think these might be just that. Not sure, but they look right. Also, once I bought the cardinalis, I noticed a bunch of seedlings like this over there, too. Of course. Oh well, the only thing better than flowers is moar flowers!

Today, I’ll try to at least get the bee balm and ‘Autumn Colors’ rudbeckia planted. Dunno what else.

For the record, hibiscus sawflies need to die.

Unimpressive, but it’s the first, so I’ll take it!

I went to Buchheit after work to buy yet more mulch (12 bags) because the sale is over on Monday. I also got potting soil for the new pots I got at the dollah sto’, and some annual salvia to put in a hanging pot for the MLBs. The Hypoestes was a pity purchase; it was all wilted and looked half-dead, but it was the only one left, and I know they do that when they need water, but generally perk up pretty well. This one did lose some leaves, but it looks okay, and it’s going to be a house plant anyway. Hard to go wrong for 97 cents.

Long holiday weekend, but I don’t know how much the rain will let me get done. We’ll see!

EDIT: Crap picture because it’s nearly dark, but I potted the salvia.

It’s not really a hanging plant, but it stays too short for MLBs to be safe, so I want it up high.

There. My 97-cent house plant. Lost a few leaves, but it’s a fast grower, and I’ll clip off anything that doesn’t recover. It’s really quite pretty.

S called it “blackberry winter”; that’s the cold snap that occurs about the time blackberries are flowering. I just call it shite weather. Anyway, I have flowers, at least, and it’s supposed to be sunny and 65 tomorrow. I’ll take it.

First blue bachelor’s button, not quite open yet.

First light blue is!

Tornado Honeysuckle giving it hell in spite of aphids. God, I love this stuff!

I am also the proud owner of 30 Virginia snakeroot plants, or I will be. My flutter-guys may still be eggs, but I’ll do my best to see that they have enough to eat!

I can make Sarah Jane’s garden now. PL came and removed the gravel, then put in topsoil.

They levelled it, but kind of didn’t notice the little Nanho Blue butterfly bush. They ran over it with the skid steer, and then buried it. Took me a few minutes to find its remains; there’s nothing left above ground, but maybe it’ll recover. The roots should be okay, and it’s still early enough in the season that it may grow. I might actually move it, since they mashed the poor thing anyway. They also knocked over my poor, put-upon forsythias, but I just straightened those.

While they were working, I obviously should have been watching, but I was working, too. I got a pair of hedge shears at lunch today, and cleaned up out front.

Now for some pretty things that didn’t get run over by a skid steer.

Scarlet pumpernickel doesn’t waste ANY time when it’s put in potting soil! I planted these…Saturday (maaaaybe Sunday).

Now this is a double bloom coreopsis!

It was nearly dark when PL came back and pulled out those two stupid trees out front that just sat there, taking up space and doing no good whatsoever. Hooked a chain on the bucket of the skid steer and yanked ’em out. I’m putting in a dogwood…assuming I can figure out how to get one into HK! 🙂