WiseAcre Gardens

Join Green Thumb Sundays

Lysimachia clethroides

There’s only one thing that bugs me about this plant.

It’s too aggressive to put in a garden. It prefers moist almost wet soil but that won’t stop it from spreading in dry soils. It might be slowed down a bit but expect it to pratice monoculture if it gets established. Gooseneck Loosestrife will out compete even the toughest weeds.

A couple of transplants moved to the wild edge of the yard have formed a major invasion force in only a few years. The area is wet in spring but by midsummer the soil is very dry. These plants are a bit small because of the dryness but that didn’t stop them from claiming the area for it’s own. One of the few plants I’ve actually seen take on quack-grass and win.

Now there’s a load in your ‘pants’. I can’t begin to identify this bee-fly that’s been working so hard. At first glance it looked like a fly of some sort with that green body. A second then third look reveled what looks like a bee-hind. But I still can’t get over the ‘pantaloons’ with that huge load of pollen.

I’d be guessing what variety of Purple coneflower this is. I was hoping I had it marked in the catalog that I have yet to discard. But my record keeping doesn’t amount to even a scribble. It is an Echinacea, it survived the winter, it grew well and the flowers are great. Now I need to keep going back to the nursery until I can identify more to bring home.

And next time I’m going to make sure I remember it’s name.

Hopefully someone can identify this colorful worker. Each photo links to a 1024 x 768 image for a closer look.

If you like - Right Click the large photo and chose to make it your Desktop Wallpaper. If you would like one re-sized to your computer resolution - make a comment and say what size. I’ll post a link in my reply to the requested sized image.

Join Green Thumb Sundays

I was caught by surprise when I went to check on a planting yesterday. I found a Sedum I was trying out had flowered. It wasn’t the fact that it was in bloom that surprised me but that the flowers were a pink / purple.

Sedum spurium

‘Summer Glory’

I usually read the plant tags but when it comes to Sedums I just grab and buy.  This one was no different and I chose it because of it’s low dense spreading growth without thinking about bloom color. I just assumed it would be another yellow flowering sedum.

Sedums are easy to propagate. Break off a stem, stick it in the ground and then forget about it.  Well maybe not that easy but close. In hot dry weather it helps to water the cuttings and keep the soil a little moist.

They thrive in dry sunny conditions as long as the soil is well drained.  They don’t like wet feet and will do poorly if the soil gets saturated for prolonged periods. Cold doesn’t bother most of the Sedums found at garden centers either. They also shrug off the cold winters of the north country of NY. where temps can drop to -40 F.