Chicory Chop

A butterfly on Joe Pye

It was still blooming blue, but the tall old stems were turning brown. All the chicory got chopped down.

I might get a shorter in height brief re-bloom with the chicory, but the main idea was to clean out this bed for the fall showing of the grasses and the Sheffie Mum. In these parts gardening has a more demanding seasonal clock.

The Japanese Blood Grass has grown more in three months since I moved it to a wet spot than it did in all the previous four years combined when it was planted on a steep dry slope. We'll just see if it can out compete my weeds. The Ground Ivy, Glechoma hederacea is no slouch in the competition game. 

All my weeds seem to be thuggish by nature.

So imagine the effort it will take to organize my chaos into some semblance of a garden overflowing with color from spring to fall. Add good things. Subtract annoying things. Create large drifts. Accept that mingling will occur and plants will move about with and without my help.

I think the key to this chaos is going to be respectable paths that lead you on to discovery.

Like a butterfly on Joe Pye