Mulch and Late Summer Blooms featuring BELLEZA Dark Pink

The little prairie patch near my utility box got a bit of a facelift today. AT&T finally came out to bury the new cable line, so I was able to mulch and clean up the area. My new Gaura lindheimeri BELLEZA™ Dark Pink are going gangbusters and already started flowering and rooting in well. I can't wait to see them in the Spring and blooming all next summer.

  Gaura lindheimeri BELLEZA™ Dark Pink

Here's my mulched utility bed

In other parts of the yard, my dwarf red hot poker plant is taking it's transplant to the rock garden very well, and even put up 2 new blooms. I'm hoping that's a sign that it will survive the winter and come back next year. Glamor shot!

Kniphofia hirsuta 'Fire Dance' - Dwarf Hot Poker Plant

Also in the rock garden, this Sedum 'Dazzleberry' is blooming even though the rest of the plant looks a hot mess! I hope it comes back a little less leggy next year. Also check out these grasshoppers mating, and my aster 'Purple Dome' is getting ready to put on a HUGE fall show with tons of purple blooms ready to pop. Any day now!

It's Mail Order Plant Day!

I love mail order plant day! The day my online orders from January show up at my house fills me with excitement - this year it was April 12. I got some more exotic and fun plants that you don't typically see at Lowe's or Home Depot.

My mail order plants arrived from High Country Gardens on April 12 this year

Last year I stuck the plants in the ground the same day they arrived. This year I did something a little different - I let them get some sun after being in the box for 4 days, and gave them some water. Then I took them inside and put them on my windowsill to firm up a little before exposing them to the wild outdoors. Hopefully they perk up a little and catch their breath before trying to adapt to the clay soil.

I got 4 dwarf red hot poker plants - Kniphofia hirsuta 'Fire Dance'

I got 1 false indigo after reading they are good in clay soil - Baptisia australis v. minor Blue Rocket

I got this for my rock garden, a cute little succulent that self seeds with purple flowers. It looks very delicate and I hope my dogs don't mess with it - Fame Flower - Phemeranthus calycinum (Talinum) Judith's Favorite

And once again, I'm trying my favorite little sunny moss look-alike after the one last year all but died. I've got a new location picked out and we'll see if the 2nd time's the charm - Arenaria Wallowa Mountains - Mossy Sandwort (Desert Moss)

Last but not least I've got purple coneflower 'Magnus' down by the utility boxes. This one is supposed to get 4 feet tall so it should do a better job hiding things than the Pow Wow that only gets 2 feet tall - Echinacea purpurea Magnus - yeah this one was the runt of the package and might not make it. Luckily High Country Gardens is pretty good about refunding if your plant dies right away.