Second Chances

I spent pretty much every penny I had fixing the truck. The best way I know to fix a pain like that is to treat myself to some store bought plants. Then it proceeded to rain all day and I couldn't even work to make more money. I came home and planted my new plants in between showers. I feel fine and all my clean laundry is folded and put away.

I bought more plants because I need more of the meadow filled with flowers earlier in the season looking like this.

Or like this.

This is what the main chunk of my part of the Tall Flower Meadow looks like at the moment. There is too much green and not enough chaotic color.

There is some impatience happening here. Rest assured the meadow is going to explode with color in another month. It is largely an end of summer/early autumn event of staggering beauty. There is some earlier color. A number of perennials are hiding in there that are already blooming else where. It just takes a bit longer to rise up the mountain.

I want more color now, but I don't want to do it with more daylilies. They are really too short for the Tall Flower Meadow and I don't want to edit around them. Then there is the competition factor. Wimpy plants just don't make it in the meadow. I need plants with good vigor.

I came home with two Helenium autumnale 'Fuego' and three Rudbeckia maxima.

I have seen common H. autumnale, Sneezeweed, in the wild and it is in the Goldenrod category of vigor. It was so vigorous and has such a sturdy, hard to pull root system, I was not interested in bringing it into the garden. My hope is this bred cultivar is vigorous enough to compete and thrive in the meadow without taking over.

I planted them in two different locations. I will see what happens.

I had already planted a couple of the Rudbeckia maxima several years ago. They come back every year, but have failed to thrive, much less bloom. I have not been impressed. I want that leaf, flower and height though. I read they tend to favor moist soils and this is my driest slope. Too dry or too much competition? I don't really know.

I didn't want to move the older ones. I bought more and planted them in wetter ground. I will see what happens.

Now that I write this, I realize I bought two more late summer bloomers. That won't help with getting more color in the meadow now. I guess I will have to add something else.

I did move a Dan Hinkley introduction Golden Crane Hydrangea angustipetala that was failing to thrive. It is rated to zone 6. It has frozen to the ground the last two winters. It is root hardy to a real zone 6 winter.

I moved it to more sun. My hope is more sun will help it grow bigger and faster in the short window of opportunity it has to do that. A bigger healthier plant will survive the winter better even if only the roots survive. The plant looks more like a H. arborescens or H. paniculata than a H. macrophylla. I really expected it to be hardier than this.

I'll move a more expensive shrub before I buy another one. Four inch perennials are cheap. I can buy more of them and leave the old ones where they are.

The echinacea, rudbeckias, liatris and Shasta daisies are getting read to bloom. I have more color on the way.

This is my playground, a living canvas to paint on. I keep experimenting with colors to find out which ones will stick to the canvas. When I find one that sticks, I start making bold strokes.