compost cake!

turned the pile and dug in few days ago

recipients around the yard: first the young shrubs. I've quit feeding my mature euonymus at all- I think if I just give the shrubs a light leaf litter mulch in fall, they'll be fine without the richness of compost. I have a few of the offspring going well now, but don't want to keep pulling up more seedlings! Here's two of the young ones I transplanted, and turtlehead off to the left.

Largest is starting to look like a decent little bush. There's three more between the next two trees, but they aren't as large. Maybe too shaded.

Turtlehead! This patch did well this year, after I got mealybug off it. Turtlehead around my garden plot did great, too. And the other patch in the rear of the yard got broken- stepped on it looks like. But it will come back.

Hydrangeas

Hostas. My favorite blue ones- with huecherella off to the side.

I had to clear some encroaching mock strawberry away to give the heucherella some mulch feeding. It's doing better here now.

My other heucherellas- the purplish one in the other side yard- are doing poorly. Bitten by the rabbit or deer, but I have a plan for that...

Mock strawberry is overtaking the lawn in that corner, btw. It does better than grass where there's shade. So far I don't mind just mowing it back- here it crowds against the garden plot edge.

Gladiolas- all falling over. I think they've doubled in number this year!

Salvia 'black and blue'

All the yellow salvias

Sedums 'autumn joy' around the lilac- um, these plants don't at all look like what I'd imagined. I think I bought the wrong variety. I wanted the shorter one that has paler leaves and stays compact. These grow tall and fell over. Maybe if I cut them back hard, they'll do better next year? Or I'll move them and find something else for this spot.

Little sedums (stonecrop) against the retaining wall and around the front yard stump. These I cleaned up last week, cutting off all the dead flower heads that made it look untidy.

Nandina. One of these appears to have grown larger this year,

the other I can't quite tell (it's half the size)

Daylilies

Milkweed

Native lilies-of-the-valley- sporting a few orange berries

Arum- I love how lush these look, coming up around the sad end-of-year rhubarb

Hellebores, of course

Heartleaf brunnera- they look sad. Got hit hard by the bugs this year

My newer ones didn't seem to grow much, either

Columbine. This is the main plant. One of the seedlings I moved to another spot in the yard survived it.

Liriope-

Their colors were really striking- lighting just right

Also fed, but not pictured: forsythia, rhododendrons, monarda, summersweet, peonies, lilac, etc etc.