I was pulling weeds this weekend in the back garden (always much weedier than the front due to not yet being planted nearly as thickly) when I noticed something that did not, in fact, actually look like a weed. I crawled over and peered down at it in disbelief. It looked like a salvia – and yet it couldn’t be. Could it? I kept peering. It looked like a young Salvia patens. (Last year I grew S. patens in the back in my continual quest to judge what is most important to each plant: Is it more important that it get lots of sun, or that it be in a more protected, less harsh spot with more compost in the soil? It didn’t do very well in the back, so that’s why I decided to plant it in the front this year. I planted it in front of the tallest, thickest bearded iris leaves, and it is doing wonderfully sheltered from the worst winds; it currently has three bloom stalks going.) I peered at it some more, still in shock. I went into the front garden when I finished up to compare my memory of the little plant in back with how the growing S. patens in front looked. Yes, it most definitely seemed to be the same plant.
This after a calla liy survived (it also sprouted very late, probably around the end of June) in the same bed in back and a creeping snapdragon survived in the front (sprouting in May, a bit later than the rest of the front’s plants). None of these things are supposed to survive winter here. I’m amazed. Salvia patens and calla lilies both sprout from tuberous roots, and I wonder if that helped them survive. Perhaps they both sprouted late because of some cue in the soil warming up once our weather turned more consistently hot in June.
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In unrelated news, this morning I walked out to a scene of carnage: The dwarf sunflower ‘Big Smile’ had been beheaded and its big glorious bloom (nearly as tall as the plant it was on) was in tatters on the retaining wall, the least ripe bits and the petals left behind in a messy pile. I had no question about what had done it; I’m sure it was a grey squirrel. I abruptly remembered that the same thing had happened twice last year, and that the sunflower started to struggle each time it was beheaded and eventually simply abruptly died. I hope it doesn’t die this time. It’s such a beautiful sunflower, with huge cheery flower heads on tiny plants (compared to the size of other sunflowers). It also made me glad that in this garden the squirrels have yet to figure out a way to reach the taller sunflower heads, and they have the luck of going to seed for the birds to eat. In an old garden of mine, the squirrels would do what they’ve done to ‘Big Smile’ to all of my sunflowers, even the five foot tall ones!
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Yet more sweet peas have bloomed and budded since my last entry. The newest bloom is a rich pink that looks so striking with the pewter blue blooms and the blooms in a hue of pink that’s a little lighter and edged in white. I’m so curious to see what the other budded plants will bloom in. I planted mixed sweet peas this year (one was ‘Old Spice Blend’ from the seed company Botanical Interests; another was ‘Perfume Delight’ from Renee’s Garden Seeds; I think there was a third, but I cannot remember it at the moment) instead of specific cultivars like I’ve done in past years, so every bloom to open is a delightful surprise of color.
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I’m still working on fixing my camera issues. My apologies for currently having a low-photo gardening blog, which is certainly not ideal.
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This morning I’ve done some more weeding. I hope to get to some planting on this beautiful day, hot but not too humid, mostly sunny with a sporadic breeze.
