WiseAcre Gardens

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.

The Chapel Street planting is filling out now that I’ve managed a couple of runs to the perennial grower. I know it’s taking a long time but considering each round trip is over 900 miles people are lucky to get anything.

 Getting a bit closer on the left side

Now the right side

I’m growing a couple new varieties and am happy with them so far.

Coreopsis Verticillata ‘Creme Brulee’

The first is a real test. I only wished I took more when offered to try them out. The “Plantage” on Long Island is offering a new variety of Coreopsis ‘found’ in the owners garden and they’ve been busy propagating it for us lucky gardeners. Coreopsis Verticillata ‘Creme Brulee’ seems almost a cross between the broad leaf and needle leaved types.  The foliage is a very narrow leaf and the flowers are similar to ‘Moonbeam’ and ‘Zagreb’.

 The ‘Creme Brulee’ is blooming before the ‘Zagreb’ which is only beginining to bud.

Wouldn’t you agree this is a very nice?

 Achillea m. ’Paprika’

 I have avoided Yarrows since transplanting some ‘wild’ Yarrow into a garden years ago. That garden is long gone but the Yarrow has established a colony that only the lawn mower keeps restrained. I have a feeling if it wasn’t mowed it would have spread to the next town by now. But newer varieties of Achillea are not nearly as aggressive so I thought I give ‘Paprika’ a chance. It was just too hard to resist those nice red blooms.

 They are a bit floppy right now. Right after being planted they were hammered with one hell of a storm.

Geranium pratense ‘Hocus Pocus’

 I had to try the ‘Hocus Pocus’ just for the foliage. The color is a deep purple and it make for a great contrast against the light colored rock and the green of the Sedum. The flowers are nice too.

And now for something completely different!

This daylily should almost be considered a wildflower. I haven’t seen any of these sold in years but the supply around here is almost unlimited. Miles of roadside are lined with these large old daylilies. They’re quite tall often growing over 4 feet high. Unlike the newer daylily varieties these must be considered very aggressive. They’re not hard to controll but you better not forget or you’ll be up to your wazoo in them.

Ok the planting is done for now. I need to make another trip to the nursery but I’m going fishing first.