As the month of May winds down, the Bugleweed (Ajuga reptans, 'Burgundy Glow') in the garden was bringing some much needed early color to the garden.
It has taken a couple of years after transplanting these plants from elsewhere in the garden to finally fill in the area in front of Buddha and near the Gazebo end of the garden's south side.
The purple color looks fantastic. In another years time both areas should be completely filled in. At that point I can take clippings and starting adding elsewhere (I have to be careful to keep it in controllable areas so that it does not spread out of control. Also, if you look closely in the picture above, you will see a small Japanese Painted Fern growing at the base of the rock wall. This appeared on its own, blown in last season from an existing plant no doubt. I have decided to let it grow, along with several others that appeared elsewhere. If they get too big over time, I can always relocate.
As spring gets underway, despite the extreme changes in temperature, I added some new planting and made some long put-off changes.
I decided to add one more Variegated Japanese Forest Grass plant to the base of the lantern. I know that they will all grow to a much fuller size in the future, but in the meantime I added the fourth plant I purchased to the base to fill it in better for this season. I can relocate it later as all the plants continue to grow.
I was also concerned about the Variegated Stonecrop (Sedum 'Veriegatum') I had planted last year in the corner between these grasses and the spirea. So, I moved it closer to the door step and replaced it with part of the Happy Returns Daylily (Hemerocallis) I spit from within the garden - although these were originally dwarf lilies, over the years they have grown substantially. I moved one plant last year. This year I split them again, leaving half behind near their original location and moving the other half to this corner. I also reworked some of the stones in the garden around these daylillies and the Beatlemania Mophead Grass.
Additionally, I split some of the hosta in the garden that had become too full last year. I moved them to different locations throughout the garden.
I also added some flowering annuals in different locations - White New Guinea Impatiens, Yellow Tuberous Begonia, and Scarlet Dahlia. If I can keep the slugs away, they might add some much needed color.
