I finally got to garden again today.
I moved:
- Rosemary ‘Arp’ again – it wasn’t getting enough sun in its second spot either
- One of the sunflowers I got at the farmers’ market – it also wasn’t getting enough sun in its spot and wasn’t growing nearly as fast as the others I planted at the same time.
I planted:
- The Greek oregano (finally!!)
- Summer savory
- A second Gold Coin (Asteriscus maritimus)
- Two Cape mallows (I never did find ‘Elegant Lady’ this year and ended up buying one labelled ‘Pink’ at the nursery)
- Two ornamental oreganos – Cascading Oregano (Origanum libanoticum) and ‘Amethyst Falls’
- Three gaillardia/blanket flowers – ‘Oranges and Lemons’, ‘Fanfare’, and ‘Arizona Sun’
- Two more Salvia nemerosas – ‘Caradonna’ and ‘May Night’ (I’ve grown ‘May Night’ before)
- An allegedly hardy-here hybrid salvia (in the S. greggii style), ‘Ultra Violet’
- Silene regia ‘Prairie Fire’ – I planted it with the Maximillian sunflower and the ironweed hoping they would provide a late-summer trio of tall splashy color: purplish-red, yellow, and brilliant red.
- Greek yarrow (Achillea ageratifolia)
- Another creeping bellflower (Campanula portenschlagiana ‘Resholt Variety’)
- Creeping germander (Teucrium aroanium)
- Prostrate rosemary ‘Irene’
- A third hyssop – this one is ‘Black Adder’
- Kniphofia hirsuta ‘Fire Dance’ – a dwarf red-hot poker plant better suited to small gardens (it’s done poorly in a pot; the root system was still good though, so I’m hoping it will recover now that it’s been planted)
- Soapwort (Saponaria ocymoides) ‘Alba’ – I planted this at the base of the Maximillian sunflower, ironweed, and Silene, hoping its creeping nature will help act as a natural mulch for these three plants that prefer more even moisture than what the front garden provides.
- Morning glory ‘Mini-Bar Rose’ (mentioned last entry)
- Two horehounds (Marrubium vulgare) – I recently read an article that they’re an especially excellent food source for bees, so thought I would try them out in an especially dry, windy section of my dry, windy site (they are supposed to love poor soil).
I also did so much weeding it was ridiculous. The seeded-in zinnias have been coming up really nicely. I didn’t even realize it till today because they were mixed in with weeds of similar heights!
There were an incredible number of pollinators in the garden while I was working today – all kinds of bees and small wasps as well as flower flies and other flies and a lone Cabbage White butterfly that nectared on a couple of blooms of tall verbena (Verbena bonariensis) during a low-wind period before fluttering on. (My old garden used to get so, so many butterflies; it’s been so strange this year-plus in a very windy garden where even when they try to nectar or rest, they often give up after moments and fly on.) I saw the highest number of honeybees I’ve seen in one place all year! They especially liked the ‘May Night’ salvia (one started nectaring at it seconds after I finished planting it), the globe thistle (I think mine is ‘Blue Glow’ but I’m not positive), and the blooming sunflowers (‘Velvet Queen’ and ‘Vanilla Ice’).
And lastly – late this week, the first sweet pea FINALLY bloomed. I find this really funny. Sweet peas are supposed to hate heat, and yet here they dither about till mid-July. I wouldn’t be surprised if this – a lovely pewter blue – is the only sweet pea bloom I see this year. Some of the garden pea plants are already dying.
