the corner

So here's the corner between my front yard driveway and the neighbor's lawn. A spot I wanted to fill with plants so I don't have to mow it. I think I'm getting there.

I put that little wall in place so I don't get upset when their lawnmower person runs over my echinacea anymore. In fact, the day I put this line of edging bricks up, I heard him starting the machine and went over there to make sure my space wasn't getting run over again. I asked him "Please can you be careful not to mow over this corner, I have flowers growing here." He smiled and said "Sure," but at the same moment was stepping on one of the plants. I had doubts how much care would really be taken, so I said "I'm going to put a little wall here just to make it easier" and I did.

The echinaceas I was protecting. Eventually I think the lilac (which looks fantastic, lots of buds) will shade them out, and I'll find something else to grow around the base of the shrub.

The sedum 'autumn joy' is more full and lush than last year. I think all the plants really appreciated the leaf mulch I put down.

Daylilies looking grand! Starting to think I could divide this and put some on the other side of the yard.

In front of them, surprised to see not only the alstroemeria, but also the asiatic lily growing back.

Hyssop in the corner is big enough to be noticed now. I'm hopeful it might even bloom this year.

fed compost

to the plants: 'big boy' hosta

Solomon's seal. So sad, these are the only ones left. Something has been eating them.

Rhododendrons. Looking droopy- it's been so dry.

Heucherella and turtlehead by the garden

Yellow salvia and blue hosta just upslope of that. I don't know why this yellow salvia always looks great,

while the two groups out front wilt severely if I don't water them in this heat. Is the ground damper on the west sideyard? or it gets fuller shade so doesn't suffer as much. Here's salvia on top of the east sideyard, next to smaller patch of turtlehead that does a little better:

and yellow salvia in the back, where particolored hosta I moved this spring also fares better in the heat:

Speaking of hostas, I thought they'd do well under the holly shrub-

but only three have survived and one of those looks pretty bad right now. Here's the better ones:

Newer, narrow-leaved hosta

That shady east sideyard is slowly getting filled in. One view of it:

and the other:

slightly better photo of the joe pye-weed 'chocolate' (it only got a sprinkling of compost):

I was generous with compost to the young oakleaf hydrangea

Less so with the two nandina, which look pretty established now. Still feel ambivalent about this plant, though I like its foliage.

the big, light-green hostas against the house wall. I need something taller behind them...

Hellebores:

Volunteer viburnum I moved out of the back perennial bed, also just got a scattering of compost.

Coleus in the front yard. They're still doing okay as long as I remember to water every other day.

Alstroemeria on the front edge:

The hyssop kind of looks like rosemary, but with longer leaves, and a very different scent

I was generous to the peonies, too. They are starting to look dusty and pale with a bit of mildew...

Younger 'sorbet' one. Looks very different from when I first got it.

Chrysanthemum. I'm so pleased how these turned out with two pinchings. Just the right height and fullness. And not too much work.

Last of all, the rue. It got the leftovers when the wheelbarrow was almost empty- just a scraping of compost off the bottom. Doesn't need as rich of feeding as other plants, though I will mulch it thicker with dry leaves when cold really hits.

There's brown drips on its edging on one side. Almost oily-looking. I have been searching for an insect, but now wonder if it might be rue oil or sap dripping from a broken stem? can't figure

That's not even every plant I fed, just the ones I felt like taking pictures of. So you see why I was so tired yesterday!

more from yesterday-

A walk around the yard, making a note of things and taking photos. My daylilies don't looks as large or thick as last year- I think because the vinca has been encroaching on it. The contrast looks nice, but I want my daylilies healthier-

So I cleaned it all up, pulling out vinca runners and cutting them back. Will mulch with compost soon.

Happy to find that my alstroemeria is alive! This is one the crew dug up and tossed aside when they redid our driveway, and then nobody told me the plant was lying uprooted under the lilac bush. I found it a day later, all dried out (so angry!!) and replanted it, watered it a lot, days in a row. It's recovered!

In spite of being on the edge of a stressed lawn (the neighbors'), very dry soil and nearly mowed down a few times by their hired lawn crew, hyssop on the side bit has survived and even grown. The other I planted on opposite side of the front yard didn't do so well. That's okay! At least I have these three here, and I will mulch them and get them to grow larger and then maybe the crew won't step on them or run over with the riding mower so often because they'll be noticeable.

It's nice to see the foliage of argyranthemum is still alive, making nice delicate blue-green color, even if it doesn't sport fall flowers.

Some of the African daisies are still alive, too- although just barely- bits of paler green foliage among the mums and dusty end-of-season peony foliage.

Here's that viburnum I transplanted out of the back bed. I need to clean up some of the weeds around it so it looks like a deliberate plant in a purposeful place- on the edge of the yard it's at risk kind of. (My other neighbor's hired help seems to ruthlessly hack everything down that isn't a tree. Their slope is completely bare).

Look- the ice plant is healthy! No sign of pests on it this year. The lizards and spiders did their job.

Heucherella by the blue hostas near the garden.

Variegated hosta under another tree, with yellow salvia. I found the last one that's still in the monarda patch, I want to dig it up and move near these, but it's too hot. We have another week predicted of temps in the eighties and low nineties, no rain in sight. Sigh.

I've started using more graywater on the shrubs and flowers outside (from showers), even run the sprinkler a few times to keep my new-seeded grass (trying to fill in some bare spots) from dying.