Organizing Curves

I did the rough reset of the pathways in the fountain garden today. The first layout was horribly askew. It annoyed me. Halfway done and it is already looking better.

The initial layout was done in an empty expanse of mulch by eye. Several trenches got dug through it. Then there was a rush for an event. Once I laid out the edging stones and paver base the day was done. I didn't come back until after the event. No one said a thing to me about it and it was like this for days before I came back and looked. It was screaming at me. The error was glaring.

Getting there, but not quite. I thought I was done. Not.

One more tweak. This will do. It is an odd shaped space I am working in. Perfectly symmetrical wasn't in the plans.

Only problem now is the gladiola are not in the center of the bed anymore. Should I move them?

The first hurried layout. Horrid.

Almost. That is a pretty huge improvement though. It's still a wee bit off.

Much mo betta. Now I can sleep tonight. Next weekend the flagstone gravel path will be laid.

Looking from this angle it is much harder to see askew. Maybe that is why no one said anything. But it is looking much better now even from this angle.

The fountain garden is coming along.

About the closest I get to organized at home are the straight rows in the roadside vegetable garden. It is coming along nicely too. I do need to stop and cut some bamboo for my pole beans.

I'm liking these pink alliums at the top of the driveway. Please be reliable, multiplying, repeat bloomers. You never know until next year if they are mail order annuals.

Who needs a fountain? I have fine garden accoutrements.

I went for a closer look at what I thought was Actaea pachypoda.

It isn't. The foliage is wrong for that. It has Thalictrum foliage. This must be what it is, Trautvetteria caroliniensis, Tassel Rue or False Bugbane. Bugbane is the Actaea I thought it was.

Nope. That's not it either. I just looked the Trautvetteria up online and the leaves are not tright for that either.

It is something related to a Thalictrum. I'll give it that. Whatever it is I want more of it. I need to watch for seeds.

 It's all out there in the wild cultivated gardens with Lorelei.

Miranda Gets Her First Bubble

My idea of colored glass balls for Miranda the Mermaid was really liked. The first ball was produced.

There will be more to come. I buy plants and other needed garden supplies. The Lady of the House does the rest of the shopping. When I had the idea I went online and looked. They will be easy to find. Glass balls are an ad everywhere I go online now of course.

The walkway along the carriage house leads to the steps down to Twin Falls Pond.

It is getting lush.

You see this side of Twin Falls Pond most often because it is in the shade when I am there. It is in half shade and half full sun most of the time. That is an impossible picture taking situation to show the entire pond and patio. One day.

I came home and finished the hardcore first round of editing out the last of the New England Aster. Editing isn't always pretty. There was some stompage involved.

There was just a bit of pollen in the air when I took this shot.

I have faith in the Lush. In a few weeks you'll never know I ripped out all that aster and dropped it to the ground to decompose. I saw some Joe Pye and Ironweed while I was in there. That is what I want.

There will be some touch up editing as more of it tries to grow back tall. The hard part is done though. I already have replacements planted in the garden. A much smaller store bought citified version of the New England Aster was gifted to me and it has started to self sow. Last year I received some starts of the Tatarian Aster which is much less floppy.

The Tall Flower Meadow is constantly changing under my tenure as editor.

What will it do this year? I never know for sure. I edit. I am not in control.

Miranda gets new glass baubles and I get broken crockery. I'm good with that.

Another Cracked Pot

I went to my favorite local independent garden center today and came home with another cracked pot for the garden. I have first dibs on cracked pots there.

I already knew where I wanted to put it. When the second cracked pot was placed in the garden the need for and siting of a third one shouted out right away. I told my cracked pot dealer I wanted another big one when it broke.

The first picture is truer to color.

The right side of the Lush in the foreground has had all the New England Aster yanked. The left side is still to be done. I have been snatching and grabbing the aster ever since our visitors left on Sunday and have made it through most of the garden. This is the last and worst section that needs editing.

I'm not sure I was completely ruthless with the aster last year. I may have let this section go. It shows by how much is in there. This year there will be no mercy. There are better asters milling about to fill in the empty space.

It is my garden. I do have some say in what gets to bloom here.

I just don't have much say in how well things bloom. The Yellow Flag Iris has enough bloom stalks that it may put on a bit of a show yet. That would come out to a heavy bloom in one out of every four years. Everything has to go just right for that to happen.

The weathers however prefer to remain decidedly fickle messing with many plants abilities to bloom. It's that one year out of four that keeps a gardeners dreams alive.

Lorelei Gets Around

It was just a quick drive by viewing to determine how long before my next visit. There she was stealing the show, Lorelei, sent off as a gift maybe three years ago.

Lorelei not once but twice, grown into big fat clumps from small divisions. At this point there is plenty more Lorelei to spread around.

But I was far more intrigued by this unknown amaryllis looking lily I spotted across the street from another garden I tend.

I knew there was a crinum in this very neglected garden. I looked to see how it was doing. That is it behind the blooming unknown.

It sure looks like an amaryllis. Amaryllis and crinum blooming and surviving in NC, in the ground outside, after two consecutive below zero winters? My covetous side was screaming. I really should ask politely first before something falls out of the ground.

I looked around on the interwebs and this seems to be what it is. "Hippeastrum x johnsonii is commonly referred to as Hardy Amaryllis, Johnson's Amaryllis or the St. Joseph's Lily."

I am seeing it rated to zone 7 and to zone 6. Would it survive on the mountain top? Boy those are big fat healthy looking clumps. I better ask.

It's not like the wild cultivated gardens really need anything new, but I have plenty of Lorelei I could trade for amaryllis and crinum bulbs

Bulbarella patrols her domain. I know she would trade Lorelei for a hardy amaryllis just to try and see if it would live up here.

That red would clash with a lot of things so we would need to find the right place for it.

Red and white would work, but I know the site for an experiment like this needs to be full sun with a sharply draining soil. Cold wet feet in the winter is not good for a bulb like this when pushing the edges of tolerance.

We have every color and then some. There really isn't a need to worry about things clashing.

This red, double petaled, pom pom azalea is rather different.

There is more yet to come. There are quite a few of the native Flame azaleas which bloom much later than the rest. Even their bloom times are quite spread out.

Lorelei is not the only plant on this mountain that gets around. Quite a few things have jumped the fence into the next county. A little Phacelia purshii can't hurt.

Other natives are not quite so rambunctious. I will be watching this Clintonia umbellulata to see if it makes seed. If it does I should plant them. That adds one layer of protection from the varmints eating them.

I must have more of this. I think it is Actaea pachypoda, Baneberry. I'll need to look closer. Some plants on the mountain are represented by a single member.

There is only one of these yellow and white Siberian iris so far. In a couple more seasons it will be dividable.

If it's anything like Lorelei and its close relation Caesar's Brother, well then, it won't be long until it is all over the place.

The Yellow Flag iris, Iris pseudacorus, has started to bloom. It is looking like this will be a decent bloom year since it wasn't severly frozen by a late spring freeze.

It is blooming at the same time as Caesar's Brother. Now they both need to do a mass bloom in sync that is visible from my front porch viewing station.

It's the loneliest poppy in the world. It's not an iris. For some reason I have been unable to grow more poppies. This one was here when I arrived almost eight years ago. At least it is getting bigger.

There's not just one Lorelei. It has spread throughout the county and beyond. I think Lorelei has made it from this mountain top to several other states as well. And there is plenty left.