moved around

I roughly tore up all the milkweed on the larger sideyard last year- it always looks kinda sickly, and no monarchs visit. I knew I wouldn't get it all and sure enough some are sprouting up again. Two also were higher up the slope among the obedient plants and turtlehead- must've come up from seed- I dug those and moved them to a blank spot against the house wall. Maybe they will do better in a different location.

The obedient plant patch is spreading- sideways into the walking path (which isn't paved yet, just grass and weeds I keep mowed short). I dug up a bunch along the edge and resituated them further down.

Also dug up some of the 'autumn joy' sedums from the front bed- giving more room to the pulmonaria I've put in that spot

Since learning that the daisy-looking plant with nice scented leaves (when you break them) is a native that feeds the pollinators, I've been rescuing the ones that come up in the lawn, moved them to a back area under a tree where I don't want yellow salvia anymore. The fleabane actually looks nice there. Here's some I put in pots to take to the plant trade, as well.

things emerging

I take more walks around the yard, admiring the new green shoots and unfurling leaves, happy to recognize some, puzzling over others (I've forgotten so many names and appearances). 

Young leaves on my hybrid maple:

I love seeing the ostrich ferns arise! (though do need to pull weeds here)

I'm pretty sure this is obedient plant 

Glad that much of the little sedums I moved over here when took out the remains of the stump in the front yard (where this pretty little redbud is now growing!)

are still here- mixed thickly with violets in this spot-

here's a fuller stand of it-

I know this is a flowering plant I put here on purpose- the taller stems among the violets- but I can't remember what it is, or what it looks like blooming

This one I distinctly remember transplanting as well- catmint?

Since this turned into a walk down the 'sunny' sideyard, here's the last plant to show: my hollies! They grew a lot this past year. The one on the left (with a chunk of old stump under it) is much shorter- gets less light

The one on the right is taller than me now!

warming up

It's going to be 80° today.  My thyme plant is greening up

and the chocolate mint is showing new leaves

Out front the tulips were getting eaten by deer (or rabbits?) but I have been sprinkling cat fur (there's always a fresh supply around my house!) and human hair (likewise from my hairbrush) around the plants, and it seems to have stopped.

They don't touch the alliums growing in nearly the same spot. I have a nice row of those going partway across the front bed now, and hope to remember to divide some of the larger clumps after they bloom, to extend it further.

It's nice to see other things coming back as well- the clary sage and groundcovers-

the smaller lungwort I moved here in the fall- didn't dig up and transplant enough of the 'autumn joy' sedums right next to it though.

Guess I haven't lost that old habit after all, of walking around in the spring taking pictures of the same things over and over, because I'm so pleased to see them again. Still alive and well.

plant swap!

I made this bench on the front porch (some of the legs a bit wonky, it's not nearly as sturdy as I'd like, but it does the job of holding up whatever I need to set down for a moment)

and here it is with plants ready to go to the swap. I took two rue, four pots of echinacea, the mini geranium, some coleus, three potted catnip, and some aloe vera babies. But nobody wanted the catnip, I had to bring it home again. And I'd had it identified wrong all this time- I thought I was growing catmint, but it's catnip- no wonder it seemed too tall, and the flowers not-quite-right. I was corrected at the swap.

and what I brought home! Here's some, plus more pics below of individual detail- the one lower front left is buttonweed. Not even sure I'll plant that one now, having discovered it's considered a difficult-to-control lawn weed . . . 

The rest I'm pretty happy about. I got slender mountain mint-

'Shrubby' St. john's wort- Hypericum prolificum-

Elephantopus carolinianus or Elephant's foot (referring to the root) makes small purple flowers, in the aster family. Seemed interesting!

A sedum that looks different from the ones I already have-

Virginia sweetspire

Also a small rosemary plant, two New England aster (yes, trying that again even though every time they disappear. I think get eaten) and a wild bergamot (monarda, or bee balm) why do plants have so many names for the same thing. And- shining sumac! I have wanted a sumac for many years, although I was hoping to eventually find a stahorn sumac, this will do for starters.

American beautyberry!! Very excited about this one.

and a good-sized rosemary that someone had obviously just pulled out of the ground, so maybe I'll have one that gets through the winter at last. It's as tall as my hip.

Plus a few little houseplants- two little succulents, Haworthia and a dwarf snake plant, plus this one with purplish tint that wasn't labeled- it looks like another begonia variety to me, but I'm probably wrong on that.

and three bags of iris bulbs- 'Black Gamecock' Louisiana Iris, 'Pallida' and 'Victoria Falls' both a tall bearded iris. I've never grown iris before but I have a damp area I think they'd do well in.

time to joyfully plant stuff

smaller sideyard

I've been working over here, too. Clearing weeds again, spreading leaf mulch- mainly because I have leaves to rake up, and the compost bin is full- need to turn and empty that soon- not because the plants actually need protection against the cold yet. I mulched around and behind the joe pye weeds, the black-and-blue salvia, the gladiolas. Had to tie a rope horizontal between the wood against the bank to a metal pole I drove into the ground further downslope, to prop up the glads. Made it easier to reach in there and mulch. 

And found that my soft gentle lambs ears are looking grand! I really feel that the effort I took a while back to pull out all the blackened old foliage from underneath the plants, paid off. It looked to me like had aphid leavings. And now the plants seem healthier. Or maybe the weather just agrees with them more!

The black-and-blue salvia I cut back is flowering again- 

though who knows how long it will last until cold hits. I trimmed back the one on the upper side of the bank, too.

Funny thing, this row of sedums did so poorly in this narrow strip between my driveway and the neighbor's lawn- that in previous years I dug some up and moved to the opposite end of the main front bed. And planted coleus here in between the smaller sedums. But this year they're doing fine!

I've been trying to figure out

the identity of a plant growing on the sunny hillside. I can't remember if I transplanted it, or perhaps it spread by seed naturally. I think it's the same as this one- the false indigo down in the back near the compost heap. This one, in more shade, has longer leaves, which made me think it wasn't the same plant, but perhaps they grow longer because of the light difference.

The second false indigo in the original location by the panicle hydrangea is not there- I remember it was faltering one year, and I can't recall if I dug it up and moved it over here to have more sun . . . that would explain this. I looked back in my record here to see if I'd made note of it, but nope.

Here's the one I'm wondering about. 

Closeup of the leaves

They look so much the same, with that simple pleated fold in the middle, except some of these have slightly serrated margins? It does have a very vase-like shape viewed from a distance, which clued me in. Nearby are two smaller plants I think are the same, though at first I thought they were some kind of clover (ha) and almost pulled them:

The large one is about to bloom- so soon I can make a more positive identification (and remove it promptly before seed sets, if it turns out I once again nurtured a weed!)

I do recognize this clump nearby- one of the sedums I transplanted over here from the other dead stump spot in the front yard (which is so rotted out now I could remove all that sedum and put a new young tree there . . . )

Yesterday

I just did two of the many tasks on my list, and it was enough to wear me out again, sigh. Because I actually mowed half the lawn a few days before that, which got me really beat. Cleaned up a bit in the rear perennial beds- cut out older leaves from under the hellebores, and cut back all the dead stems of monarda from previous season. Pulled up some volunteer viburnums and japanese honeysuckle. Noticed that my spring beauties are a bit more numerous this year, and the mayapples are coming up!

Admired my little patch of lysimachia purpurea- it's hard to notice unless you look close- but the leaves do have a nice delicate blue-green edged with red. I hope these spread some!

the arum has got nice and thick

I love seeing the new leaves unfold on the oakleaf hydrangea. They make me think of candles when the light hits them in late afternoon. Hope next year the plant will be tall enough I can remove the fencing that's keeping deer from eating it.

From the kitchen window or deck, can actually see the younger euonymus shrubs I moved back there, finally filling in (to the right and behind the hydrangea). There's three more on the other side of that tree, but they're much smaller- eaten more by the deer, or don't get quite as much sun I think.

Under the panicle hydrangea, rumex is coming up again-

All the shade areas have yellow salvias growing back in thick and fast. I've gotten a bit tired of this plant and started actually pulling it out where it's spreading too far.

I do like seeing how thick the 'autumn joy' sedums come in though

Sad that in the front, I still only have one cranesbill growing in. The other shows no signs of life although when I push aside the mulch there's a little center shoot left, so I hope it can regrow eventually.

Ajuga is showing bright color under the trees- but in some places it's not staying in a tidy area, spreading out into the lawn. Just an opportunity to dig and move some.