A Grass by Any Other Name...

This year I am only having to replace or add a few plants. The garden is for the most part self sustaining. 

Three plans did not make it through the winter: a long term Beatlemania Mophead Sedge Grass (carex caryophyllea ‘Beatlemania’) was taken over by moss (this was one of the original plants in the garden from 2009); a small Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Just Dandy'; and the Heuchera "Autumn Leaves' Coral Bell I planted last year.

I replaced the Cora Bell with another, but this one had a unique orange color (bottom right of photo). Right above it is a variegated grass plant I used to replace the Hophead Sedge Grass. 

Finally, replacing the 'Just Dandy', I planed an Everlite Variegated Sedge (Carex oshimensis 'Everlite').

Hoping the grasses get enough sunlight - will have to wait and see.

Chips Ahoy!

Decided to rework the garage side bed along the Stroll Garden. Actually, I only removed one plant, some Japanese Forest Grass that I had temporarily placed near the gate. It was getting crowded out by the Hosta and the Lilies. It's now in a bucket waiting for a new home. Unfortunately, I am running out of places to put plants.

I also thinned out the Super Blue Liriope (Liriope mascara 'Super Blue') along the edge. I will use the cuttings elsewhere in the Stroll Garden. It was getting thick and starting to spread into the bed away from the edge. Looks like this thinning may end up being an annual event. In the long term, not sure what to do with all these annual cuttings - perhaps donate them to friends.

The major change in the bed was to use large pine bark chips as mulch instead of regular mulch. In the past the brown mulch always looked nice until the first rain. There is no gutter, so an enormous amount of rain can fall from the garage roof, and a heavy rain can be like a flood. Most of the mulch tends to wash away or into the pea stone. The Liriope on the edge helped, but there was always an exposed trench after a big rain. 

Using the large pine chips should help solve that problem. It still helps with weeds, but really shouldn't move. Also, I may get a few years out of this before it needs to be replaced, unlike the mulch which was an annual project and expense. The pine bark also looks nice.

Early Blooms

The two Azelas in the Dragon's Spine seemed to survive the winter and attacks by deer. Both bloomed in late May with bright flowers, first the pink flowers in the back, followed shortly after by the white.

The Bugleweed (Ajuga reptans, 'Burgundy Glow') in front of Buddha also bloomed with with bright purple flowers by early June, making for some nice early color in the garden.