Early Monarch Visit

I've been following the presence of a lonely monarch butterfly the last few days. The butterfly seems to  be moving from flower to flower trying to find its place in the garden. Even though its preference plants are not available the butterfly has chosen to go to whats available, mainly Dianthus. 

I'm curious if we see any eggs in the future on the swampweed. I'll keep everyone posted.

Wordless Wednesday Hot Pink

Dianthus 'Firewitch'

Iberis - Candytuft grown from seed

Cooperia - Rain Lilly growing through a rock.

Wordless Wednesday - Holy Week

Tulips at Botanica-Wichita, Ks.

Can anyone see the praying hands?

Foilage Follow Up

Dianthus 'Firewitch'

 

Had to have a excuse to go out in the garden this morning. Thanks Pam @ penick.net for providing me with inspiration to  go! Spring is awesome, even if it got 36 degrees last night. Morning light is so impressive!

Picea pungens 'golbosa' 

Globe Blue Spruce - Love the 

'candles'

Miscanthus 'goldbar' making a peak with Festuca and Stipa

Cedurus atlantica - Blue Atlas Cedar
Nice contrast with the limestone. A very popular ornamental conifer here.

Gotta have fuzz in the garden. Stachys-Lambs ear.

Gotta have a little spice. Foeniculum vulgare - Bronze Fennel

Beginning to look like a gray garden. Salvia daghestanica - Dwarf silver-leafed sage - enjoy the almost white foilage. Still hasn't bloomed in three years. Maybe this year. Does well in all kinds of soils.

Sambucus nigra - Black Lace Elderberry. Wow what a great contrast plant. The texture isn't bad either, sometimes it's hard to fit in because it's so bold.

Not sure whats going on with the blogger formatting here but these last two images are two Japanese Maples - Acer palmatum 'Bloodgood' and 'Disectum'  Both trees do well in full sun.

Finally what would a foilage followup be without a little 'Guacamole', Hosta that is.

GBBD Fragrant Persian Stonecress

Aethionema schistosum - Fragrrant Persian Stonecress

Not quite in full bloom.

 
This particular plant was purchased 3 seasons ago from High Country Gardens in a moment of lustful greed for horticultural pleasure. I was looking to fulfill the fragrant sense of the five senses, and the "dainty" pink blooms would fit the color combination's I was looking for at the time (pink and gray). Three years later after moving this plant 3 times I believe it has found its home, in the corner infernal bed. That would be the hottest and driest place in the garden. However to be able to sense the fragrance I had to get on my hands and knees to get even a small whiff of fragrance. So the plant will not reach the "top shelf" area of the garden, the front entry way. I planted the stonecress with Sedum 'Blue Spruce' and found that the two were very similar in texture and foliage color. Join Carol @ May Dream Gardens for her Garden Bloggers Bloom Day celebration.

Viola

Linum - Flax

Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip'

Wordless Wednesday - Stonecress

Aethionema schistosum - Persian Stonecress

Sneak Peak - Glads on the rise

Blooms before the Bust

Fragrant Persian Stonecress

Aethionema schistosum

Looks like one more frost on the way this weekend, so I went out this lovely morning and snapped some pics.

Viola, Linum

Linum, Heuchera, and Foeniculum 

 

 

Buxus 'Green Velvet', Ajuga "Catlins Giant'

Hosta 'Guacamole"

Digitalis bloom

Iberis

Dianthus 'Baths Pink'

Spring is for Transplanting

As many of you gardeners understand we are a compulsive lot. We are many times controlled by our perfectionism to achieve just that right look. My wife laughs while she sits in here coaster chair watching me observe and analyze the current state of the landscape. To me its almost like a curse, like a squirrel burying his nuts or looking for nuts from past burying episodes. We go to different venues in our minds, maybe that would work, maybe not. For me with my artistic and analytical mind I am in constant thought on what to do or plan next. I guess it keeps me young. Ha.

Hydrangea "Lady in Red"

I've already moved over twenty something plants this early spring before they begin active growth. This Hydrangea "Lady in Red" struggled over the past year under a Red Oak Tree, never achieving the greatness it deserved (hows that for reasoning). Actually I thought it "looked" better here. I wonder how many more times it will be moved. Ha! Of course every time you start a project you run into the unknown. Upon starting the "hole" I ran into a layered conglomeration of ____.  Put your own four letter word for the imperfection there (stuff). One layer of river rock, a layer of bark, a layer of plastic trash bags laid flat for a barrier I guess, and another layer of river rock, and that doesn't even include the heavy clay soil. I removed the crud and amended the "hole" with sphagnum peat moss in order to achieve the desired "pink" inflorescence. We will see if the Lady meets the requirements (this year anyway).