Summer into Fall

In September the flower garden is full.  All the plants are full grown!! The black eyed susans are huge, as are the phlox, turtlehead and coneflowers.  It’s time to thin them all out.  My dilemma is always the same: give away plants if possible but  the “extras” go in to the recycle.  That hurts me. I don’t understand why garden people don’t accept free plants when the same plants sell for a minimum of $5.99 in the local nurseries. 

Even if that all bothers me, the flowerbeds look so much better.  I thinned out the Shasta daisies, the monarda, the phlox,  and put some in pots and some in the plant recycle but I also planted small sections in other flowerbeds for pops of color next summer.

This gave me room for three huge unnamed hostas that I received from a hybridizer.  He experiments with a variety of combos and lets them grow 4 or 5 years to see if the plants develop into something new and interesting.  If he doesn’t like the result he digs them up and gives them away or throws them out.  A five year old hosta is amazing and I got three of them.

I thought I knew where I was going to put them but after I saw them I realized that they needed better spots. 

I dug up a bed of old oriental lilies and moved them and a small loyalist hosta into the sun and then had a super nice spot for one large hosta. one down!

I had a great spot halfway behind the pine and beside the monarda for hosta number two. Large spots for large hostas!

I bought a new hibiscus and finally planted it today up front where I had a large turtlehead. The turtlehead was an experiment last summer. It came up and was in beautiful bloom but just in the wrong spot. I had split it and given half each to two friends last week so now I had a great spot for the new hibiscus. It finally went in today! May it love it there! 

I also planted  and transplanted lily bulbs.  I do have a few more to dig up from shady spots. 

I felt I was on a roll ... I moved a Japanese grass, planted lavender, moved small plants out of hiding etc etc.  It was all so much more

work than I thought it would be.  I worked, sweated, rested and started over!!

I’m sure it will all be worth it.