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The years are going by by and so are some of my perennials. My Hollyhock (63)Alcea rosea failed to reappear this year. along with a couple of the Tulips & Daffodils that were planted along the way. I also have a Sedge slated for zone 7 that I tried and was able to keep it over the winter but it never gets very big and it comes around later in the season then it would somewhere else. It still lives though. O.K., The yard is finally looking like more then just a barren landscape with a dash of color or a dot of green here and there. So in keeping with my tradition I'm off to the nursery. My first purchase this year was a couple of Missouri primrose, (64)Oenothera missouriensis, Cardinal flower, (65)Lobelia x speciosa, New England hair sedge, (66)Carex albula Oak leaf hydrangea, (67)Hydrangea quercifolia, (68)Houttuynia cordata, Monkshood, (69)Aconitum napellus, Purple leaf sand cherry, (70)Prunus cistena, Bleeding heart, (71)Dicentra spectabilis, 1 very expensive Young's weeping birch, (72)Betula pendula youngii &, Pink Turtlehead. (73)Chelone lyonii. All @ Tower farms in Cheshire Connecticut. I also found 2 Pacific giant Delphinium, (74) Delphinium x elatum @ Frank's. Just a word about the Lobelia, Don't let these dry out as they will lay down. When you water them they stand back up about 80% and the next time a little less until there on the ground. So, keep them moist. I had two of the four die off over the winter and I'd be willing to bet it's because they were so stressed the summer before.
I threw about 6 packets of California poppy (75)Eschscholtzia californica seeds in one of the small beds just along one side of my deck and they continue to come back ( from seed ) every year. I was invited to a pig roast one day and while I was there I noticed the woods were full of a fern . I'm told it is a (76)marginal wood fern, but was also told by another that it is a Connecticut wood fern. Maybe someone can tell me by looking @ the picture. I have decided that from now on I am going to take Sunday's off as I have been working so long & hard in the yard I never get to see it. I also found that there's more to keeping up the yard then just placing a few perennials, shrubs, trees and the like here and there. There's the mowing, weeding, mulching, watering, trimming, pruning, fertilizing, moving, dividing, & so much more. You really need to take the time to look at what you've accomplished and that way you can also see what you did wrong. Now you can fix it. It seems that I've always got 2 to 3 projects going on at one time too. Try and finish one before you start another or none of them seem to get finished. If you take on a big project ask for help. I wanted to do it all myself because I don't trust anyone else to do the same job I would, but what I've learned from that is, if it takes all your time, you tend to neglect your other chores. By neglecting the other chores too long you create what will now take up all your time and the snowball affect takes on shape. If the people helping you don't meet your expectations just say thank you and fix it up later. At least this way the project is complete (more or less) and you didn't neglect the other stuff.
All righty then, It's already 2003 and time to add to the menagerie. I built a 50'Long, by 6'Wide, by 1'High raised rose garden. So in it I put 3 Tea roses, (77)(( Tropicana, ) (78)( Fragrant Cloud ) & (79)( Sheer bliss )) 4 Miniature roses, (( 2 Golden halo, bought in 1998) 1 (80)( Winsome ) & 1 (81)( Tropical twist )) 1 Floribunda (82)( Outrageous ) 6 Climbers 2 of them antique (83)( Zephirine Drouhin, ) & a Cecile Brunner, bought back in 1996. (84)High society, (85)Golden showers, (86)Social climber, & (87)Blaze of glory. Along with those I mixed in the two Clematis from the fence posts in the front border, you remember in front of the pine trees. By doing so I missed some of the Jackmanii and now I have two. The one piece that got left behind is already twice as big as the one I moved. That's a good thing though. In the fall I put in an 80' long by 6' wide bed along the back wall and in it I placed Some tulips. (88)Tulipa Fosteriana, (89)Tulipa perestroika, (Darwin hybrids), (90)Halley's Comet, (91)Guinevere, (92)Red Dynasty, & (93)Golden Parade. I also planted a (94)Stokesia laevis which has died but I will try again. In 2004 we will get more plants in there. For the rest of the yard I put in (95)Tricyrtis hirta, (96)Linum perenne, (97)Geranium wlassovianum, (98)Geranium Lancastriense, and 3 more Hardy geraniums called (99)Johnson's Blue. Then there was (100)Cimicifuga racemosa, 2 Rhododendrons, 1 (101)Roseum Elegans & 1 (102)Mountain rosebay. Let's keep going. (103)Alchemilla mollis, 2 more Polemonium 1 more of the caeruleum called Brise D'anjou like I got in 1996 & 1 called (23)Purple Rain. This was a gift from a friend, thanks Heather, your the best, Alan. (104)Veronica Hybrid, (105)Trollius x cultorum, (106)Ligularia dentata. I liked the Cardinal flower so much and 2 just didn't seem to be enough so I picked up 2 more. What else ? Oh yea, (107)Astilbe x arendsii, (108)Sagina subulata, (109)Primula auricula alpina, (110)Lavandula angustifolia, (111)Lamiastrum galeobdolon, (112)Heliopsis helianthoides, & (113)Physostegia virginiana, I also moved some (114)Epimedium x rubrum from another part of the yard. Then there's the (15)Potentilla nepalensis, which was consumed within the first 24 hours by those pesky wabits. (115)Heuchera micrantha, (116)Allium roseum, (117)Portulaca grandiflora which turned into 1000 a year later. These things self seed. (118)Delosperma cooperi, These need to be very dry in the winter, Good luck! Mine died after the first winter. (119)Chrysanthemum x morifolium, & (120)Cyclamen cilicium, When I got the Cyclamen they looked like soggy sponges, so I called Breck's where I purchased them and they said that they would be fine and plant them anyway. I waited until 2004 but they never showed up so I e-mailed them and complained. Two weeks later I e-mailed them again and Three weeks later I sent them another e-mail with a piece of my mind. Finally I received a reply and they apologized for the delay and promised to send me 60 more in August. I think I would like to have another weeping type tree right about here. (121)Salix caprea pendula.
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