What A Difference The Lush Makes

I'm ready to do the second haircut of the season just because it makes my maintenance gardener self feel better. Once the Lush gets going it is a powerful thing. That touch of manicured makes a world of difference.

It's only a little over two feet high now. There is another two and a half feet to go. Higher for some.

When a tidy path leads through, it is much more inviting. The repetition of strong foliage is starting to show better with each passing year. That too adds an element of order.

Even better when bold foliage has blooms.

A newly tidy melon department awaits the planting of melons. Just having the parking lot tidy makes my maintenance gardener self feel better.

The unknown with an orchid like appearance is getting closer to bloom. My fear for it has been a slug will eat the bloom stalk. The slugs and I seem to favor the same less common and more interesting plants.

Every year they slime one of the Firepinks, Silene virginica, down to the nub. Damn slugs! They have also been enjoying my Aralia cordata 'Sun King'.

In all this Lush the slugs chew on the good plants. I have plenty goldenrod and asters to dine on. Maybe they do, but it is impossible for me to check them all. I don't look at the wild things as closely as the cultivated plants.

This is the best iris bloom in years. I attribute it to the lack of a late, hard, knock back freeze.

The wild orchid blooms.

The biggest news this spring is that the cold hardy clumping bamboo is sending up full height, taller than the old canes, new growth after two springs of stunted growth. Those two Polar Vortex winters with negative digits was not kind to the bamboo.

Big bold foliage is claiming space in the garden.

And I have a new vantage point from where I can watch it grow.