Mid Season Makeover, Part 1

Now that the fence is done, I have time to buy and add some new pants and do some maintenance on others. Based on all the plants I purchased, its going to take a few days.

I started by putting something into the two red pots. They have been empty since Spring and needed some plantings before summer comes to an end. As I Have done in the past, I opted for Hameln Dwarf Fountain Grasses (Pennisetum alopecoroidses "hemlin"). 

They look nice here and later in the summer I will be able to transfer them to another location on the property where they will be planted permanently.

In the Zen garden, just to the right of the Japanese Maple is a spot that once had a plant that had been eaten last year. All that remained was a significant hole that I have ignored all season. 

There is a significant amount of moss in this spot, a small bed that had been mostly covered by the ever growing Maple. I decided to place a Curly Fries Hosta (Plantain Lily 'Curley Fries'). 

This location is mostly shady, with some morning sunlight. It also gets watered well by the sprinklers, which the Hosta should like. I just need the slugs to stay away.

Although I don't usually buy Hosta these days, I opted for yet another, an Island Breeze Hosta (Hosta "Island Breeze"). I really liked the different green tones of the leaves, different than most of the other Hosta I have planted elsewhere in the garden. 

I'm placing it where I planted an Orchid Frost Deadnettle (Lamium maculatum 'Orchid Frost') last year, right next to the Dwarf Korean Fir (Abies koreana 'Cis'). 

As seen on June 4

Although the Orchid Frost Deadnette started out great at the start of the spring, the slugs completely devoured it by the time of this posting. Not a leaf left. 

Too bad, I liked it when it was flowering. The slugs have been just terrible this year. This Hosta will probably do better since its rubbery texture is not so yummy to slugs. If it continues to grow, I may have to relocate it in a few years or split it, but in the meantime, it looks nice in this location.

Tomorrow I will move on to the other new plants.