The Chaos Is Underway

Once the summer bloom begins in earnest, it doesn't stop until it's all over in the fall.

The daylilies are a main indicator that the bloom time is upon us. That has a lot to do with the sheer numbers of them. Daylilies are right up there with the bulbs and the hosta with a certain gardener on this mountain. She always needs more. I get the over flow.

Now is the time when you can begin to see who grew bigger, who multiplied, who moved elsewhere and who has faded away or is struggling. It is never the same from one year to the next. The truly wild things are a rambunctious lot.

There are self sowing annuals, biennials, weak perennials and enduring perennials. There is a lot of competition.

To live and thrive in this garden, to make any kind of impact in the chaos, a plant has to be tough.

Being thuggish or invasive isn't always a bad thing, particularly in a garden with this amount of space to fill. There are limits of course. Other bad habits combined with thuggishness can be cause for elimination.

The first of the purple coneflower have started to bloom. I think these came from the strawberry patch in the roadside vegetable garden. All kind good stuff germinates in the vegetable garden. I sure wish ironweed would transplant better.

The chaos is underway and I learn more every year about which plants are tough enough to endure and which will standout in the Lush. Then I start repeating them through out the garden. That element of repetition is a hint of order. It is a hint that this is indeed a garden hiding in plain sight in the wilderness.