. . . showed garden pictures

After I finish reading the paper and doing the crossword puzzle, I always take my coffee outside with me to see what's new overnight in the garden. This morning I was delighted to see that my daylily "Baby Betsy" was in bloom. I bought this little one when my baby Betsy was about six months old. This year the deer overlooked eating its blossoms, at least so far. While I was out there, I took a few more pictures. . .



This thing is a monster and I don't remember what it is. I must have planted it late in the season last fall, when perennials usually go on sale, and it must have made no impression on me at the time. This past spring, when I was moving the mulch and uncovering the perennials, I noticed this little thing poking out. It didn't look like a weed, so I left it alone. It is now taller than I am, with these beautiful blue blooms. I thought maybe it was a delphinium, which excited me because a very good gardener told me once that if you can grow a delphinium in Kansas, you are a good gardener. I look on the internet and I believe it is a larkspur, which is a close relative of a delphinium. I guess I must be a close relative of a good gardener.



And this is the reworked shade garden. . . well, at least part of it. I moved a lot of plants to this area, especially some that were not thriving in their original planting space. The left part in this picture shows the rocks we hauled in or dug up from our neighbor's yard. We need another row or two of these, as well as a load of good potting soil in that part of the garden. The part that is bordered by bricks was pretty level, so I made a winding path of sorts, just playing around. Directly to the right, with just a bit in the picture, is a boxwood hedge and in front of that is a small birdbath. Behind the boxwood hedge is a huge mess of lily-of-the-valley full of weeds, a dogwood tree that finally bloomed this year, and a couple of huge hostas that are so big I'm having trouble digging them up to transplant. Inspiration for the last part of the shade garden hasn't yet struck me. . .

So this is what I work on instead of art, although I did paint yesterday. I don't like it much, it's very geometical and not very spontaneous, but I can see it as a part of a set of three paintings. So I will work on the other two today. Maybe you will get to see them, maybe not.