New Plants.

6-23-16 VERMONT: Yesterday was so cold, after so hot earlier in the week, that we had a fire in the evening. It did finally rain, a quarter inch, yesterday morning, and in the afternoon, I did more planting. At the top of the new wall bed, I planted two Echinacea purpurea ‘Ruby Star’ and two ‘Kim’s Knee High’ in the rock garden, two hollyhocks, Alcea rugosa ‘Blacknight’ and ‘Spotlight Radiant Rose’ in the new wall bed top, and a Liatris spicata ‘Kolold’ in the rock garden.

Today was a lot warmer. I planted five lupin, three L. polyphyllus ‘Tutti Frutti Hybrids’ and two without name tags. I put them next to the rock formation behind the pond where I had put other lupins in the past. I dug out the nice soil that was there and replaced it with road sand/gravel. If that sounds odd, it’s because lupins are legumes, they take nitrogen out of the air so they don’t need fertilizer. The poor quality soil gives them an edge because it reduces competition from weeds and other plants.

I also did a lot of weeding and some pruning, but there’s lots of both still to do.

New blooms: fever few, Russian sage, ninebark diablo, lychnis, Bradbury monarda.


Lucy's favorite.

I saw four painted turtles at the same time today. I had thought there were only two in the pond.