One of the things I got done this Saturday was planting the stuff from swapping that had come in during the week while I was out of town. I got some Monarda Purple Bea Balm in on the side of the pergola by the chives. I didn’t actually need more bea balm, but since I got it, what the heck, I put it fairly far from my original clump, which seems pretty happy.
Holly Hock Anthea Rose supposedly gets very tall, (and looks very lovely from these pictures) so I put it next to the pergola on the back side of the post where the grape is. I was figuring that maybe if it ends up needing to be staked, I can use the post itself to tie it to. Yoda kept me company, and was being such a big, brave kitty today.
Lamium in pink/purple is new to me. Supposedly quite hardy, and I put it in next to the hollyhock.
Foxglove Elsie Kelsey [flowers from July to September. Beautiful snow white bells, heavily marked with a deep Raspberry pink inside the throat. Quite stunning when in flower. Fully Hardy. Plant in ordinary soil.] went next to all of my other foxgloves. It was something I specifically requested for swaps, and I think I have six or seven plants of different types now, as well as all of the little seedlings from the one I had last year. I must remember to deadhead these guys religiously, or they will completely take over that bed, if not the garden itself. (Marmalade kept me company, too.)
I also weeded quite a bit with Princess supervising, and found it a bit discouraging. I think all of the rain has the weeds as healthy as the plants, if not more. Some of my perennials are looking yellowish and quite waterlogged. I’d worried last week that the compost we’d put out was still too hot and had burned my plants, but instead, I think it’s just that they are almost drowning in all of the rain we’ve had.
I also noticed that we have baby ragweed coming up in the compost that we spread around the base of most of the plants. I can’t tell if they are just opportunistic plants that are taking advantage of the compost, or if the seeds are in the compost itself, which would be very bad as I spread it all over the garden. The other weeds that are driving me nuts is the vetch and the horsetail, both quite rampant all over the place. I’m working hard to stay ahead of it.
Still, in all, the garden is looking quite lovely. The shady spot near the front of the house is probably at peak right now. The columbine are in full bloom, as is the astilbe. I’m quite impressed with the way that the Japanese maple is filling out, and I cut it’s stake so that it wasn’t as noticeable.
The first water lily bloomed, and it is white and quite lovely. Frank worked on the pond pump, including having to turn it off, and I took advantage of the down time to get some grass out between some of the rocks in the waterfall. The fish have finally learned what the fish food is, but they still scatter and hide when we come to feed them, not having connected the appearance of food to our appearance yet. I saw no sign of the baby turtle that Frank took the picture of earlier in the week, but I’m telling myself that something the size of a quarter can’t go very far, and it was probably just in hiding.
One thing I noticed working out there today is that I might sort of maybe have a few too many purple and blue flowers at this time of the year. Or maybe I have just the right amount, and I should just admit that this is my purple and blue phase. But between the allium, the iris, the lupine, and the columbine, it’s very very purple right now.