Deja vu

I saw this pretty little aster at my local independent garden center so I bought it. Aster tongolensis 'Wartburg Star' is a short mound forming plant that sends up foot high lavender flowers. I looked it up online to read more about it and thought this all sounds so familar.

Have I bought one of these before? I looked in the collection of plant tags I keep to see if there was an existing tag for Aster tongolensis. I keep the tags so I can find the names of the plants I've bought when needed and to know which ones have permanently faded away into the Lush.

Yes I had bought Aster tongolensis before.

So where was it? Where did I plant it? I certainly had not seen it blooming anywhere. I pondered this for a day and finally remembered where maybe it had been planted.

And here it is, Aster tongolensis, a tiny remnant of its store bought self, still alive and looking meek. It had even been planted in a prime, low Lush competition location. Well this won't do.

I need vigor in my plants if they are to successfully settle into the lush. We need Ox-Eye Daisy vigor in the aster 'Wartburg Star'.

The first one was planted in the front bed near this patch of Veronica officinalis. This creeping veronica is a  naturalized alien weed that forms a rather pleasing evergreen ground cover with pretty blue blooms. It is one of the weeds I like so I leave it.

This veronica could creep right over the Aster tongolensis and smother it for sure. I better keep an eye on it now that I remember where it is.

My new aster 'Wartburg Star' waits to be planted. I don't want to put it in the same place where shrinkage has occurred. It needs to go in a different location. I'm thinking in a place that has less drainage and more moisture.

There are days when I look out on the garden becoming and don't worry about whether it will fit in with the natural surroundings. These are the beds I planted from scratch. They contain what I planted, many of them nearby weeds and the weeds that showed up on their own that I like and didn't have the heart to pull just yet.

Maybe I can fit the aster 'Wartburg Star' in there some where.