And It Was All Yellow...

I have that Coldplay song Yellow stuck in my head as I look at all my plants turning yellow and ugly and getting ready for winter. Yuck. I'm fine with my plants in winter, especially looking forward to my Northwind switch grass contrasting against the snow - but the slow transition is not so great. Most of my plants don't have a good fall color, at least this year. It's all sort of yellow brown.

Ruby Falls weeping redbud -  Cercis canadensis ‘Ruby Falls’

Hosta 'Sum and Substance'

Annabelle hydrangea

River birch

Northwind switch grass - Panicum virgatum 'Northwind'

Liriope muscari 'Variegata'

My fall yard leaves something to be desired...

Hosta la vista, June!

My hostas have been just loving this rainy June weather. Swampy side yards? No problem! Standing water? They love it! In fact, my Hosta 'Patriot' are blooming and my Hosta 'Sum and Substance' are sending up stalks. 

Hosta 'Patriot' flowers

Hosta 'Patriot'

Hosta 'Sum and Substance'

Hosta 'Sum and Substance'

I also noticed that my 'Patriot' look-alikes are not blooming yet, another distinction between the two. These 3 are ever so slightly beige around the edges where the Patriot is much brighter white. I tried to look online to see what they could be, but with hostas it's hopeless. I remember seeing another type of white variegated hosta at Lowe's that was similar to Patriot but not quite - I'm guessing that's what it must be because I doubt they are some fancy special order variety. Update: Similar hosta at the store is Hosta 'Libby' with slightly darker slightly twisted leaves.

These look similar to Hosta 'Patriot' but there are some notable differences - probably Hosta 'Libby'

This hosta has slightly beige edges that aren't pure white like the 'Patriot' and a slightly darker leaf color

Hosta 'Patriot' leaf detail, lighter green with pure white variegated edges

Pretty sure this is Hosta 'Patriot' on the left, and Hosta 'Libby' on the right. Libby doesn't bloom until August and has slightly darker leaves.

Hello there garden toad! I looked him up online and it seems to be an American Toad, very similar to a Fowler's Toad except this only has 1-2 warts per dark spot whereas the Fowler's Toad will have 3+ small warts in each dark spot.

Hosta Hail Damage

We had quite the storm the other night and even had some pea-sized hail here in central Indiana. The forecast calls for more storms this weekend and most of next week it looks like. I'm hoping I don't see any more hail because my gorgeous Hosta 'Sum and Substance' out front have massive leaves that might start looking like Swiss cheese!

Hosta 'Sum and Substance' with hail damage

Pea size hail in Indiana on Monday night

Hosta 'Sum and Substance' in my front bed behind a row of boxwood

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - May 2015

Happy 15th of the month and Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day! It's so nice to have a monthly check-in that I've created a Bloom Day tab in the navigation bar. I don't plan to use this day each month as an inventory of every single plant in my yard, but I would like to highlight the ones that have got my attention.

This Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day is also extra special because I have a Ruby Falls weeping redbud arriving by UPS this afternoon! I've had my eye on this tree for a long time and I can't wait to give it a home (and hopefully it likes clay soil more than my poor Japanese maple).

Lavandula angustifolia 'Wee One'

My dwarf lavender "Wee One" is blooming. I have two of them, both ordered from High Country Gardens. One is doing great and the other is just okay - it's still alive and putting up new shoots but had about half the stems die back. It'll be fine!

Next up, my Armeria maritima 'Dusseldorf Pride' is doing amazing! I've been dead-heading the old flowers and it's putting up so many more! They just keep coming! It's amazing especially because they come out of this little lump of what looks like grass, it's like magic - how many blooms are hiding in there?

Armeria maritima 'Dusseldorf Pride'

Salvia sylvestris 'Little Night'

Itea virginica 'Sprich' Little Henry

Lilium 'After Eight'

Ok, so I like to note that all of the things I have in bloom above were bought and planted this Spring, so they are not growing from the ground up. Everything below, however, was planted last year and has grown from the ground - which gives a much better indicator of true bloom time here in Indiana.

Hydrangea arborescens 'Annabelle' - plants are now above the knee and have buds forming!

Hosta ‘Sum and Substance’

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - April 2015

It's been a big month for my yard and since my Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day post in March. It's time for a monthly check-in! A month ago I was still awaiting my first crocus blooms. Now in April, they've come and gone, and other much bigger perennials are waking up and taking off quickly. I only have a couple plants blooming - and they are both new additions that were already in bloom at the store, so that's kinda cheating.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, April 2015 - Phlox subulata 'Drummond's Pink'

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, April 2015 - Armeria maritima 'Dusseldorf Pride'

Other than blooms, I have a lot of progress with other plants emerging. Not just a tiny sprout here and there, but actual growth and some real movement! My much anticipated Hosta 'Sum and Substance' are finally waking up too - I guess the bigger varieties sleep a little longer because 'Patriot' has been emerging for a while now.

Now emerging - Hosta 'Patriot'

A little slow to start - Hosta 'Sum and Substance'

Moving on up - Siberian Iris

Finally awake - Echinacea prpureua 'PowWow Wild Berry'

Really accelerating now, woohoo! -  Hydrangea arborescens 'Annabelle'