Burgundy

So it's not the color of passion, but it appears in various plants around the yard, usually in the form of foliage. There's also purple and pink.

Veronica spicata "Red Fox" with perilla.



Purple heart (or purple queen).



Etoile Violette clematis on the perennial bed arbor.



More bloody dock.



Thundercloud Plum.



Castor Bean.



Agastache "Golden Jubilee" and Perilla.



A sea of self sown Amaranthus and Crabgrass. Pink bee balm will bloom later in the summer.



Camellia sasanqua. This was the large pink flowering camellia that I cut down in the summer of 2008 to provide the backyard with more sunlight. It was probably 20' tall.



It's 63 degrees. The high today will reach the low 80s. No rain, plenty of sun.

Who was I kidding?

I got up this morning, had some coffee, and went back to bed. The slow steady rain is still falling. It's 72 degrees. So that's the perfect weather for scattering seeds, moving reseeded annuals, and doing some general weeding in all parts of the yard.

I moved a few things into the upper meadow, like amaranthus.



A gazillion cosmos that were growing in the rose garden.



Perilla.



I planted out my 12 Salvia subrotunda seedlings. I replaced them with cuttings from Montauk Daisy, Salvia greggii, and a red mum that survived the winter.



Looking back towards the house from the gully, it's filling in with pokeweed and Virginia creeper. I'm okay with that, for the time being.



I also divided a few wintersown things that were planted out in big hunks. Ox Eye Daisy, that notorious weed, has been spread all over the Crape Myrtle Bed. I need more white in that spot. Not many of my cosmos seeds have popped up yet. Maybe after all this rain they'll do something.

I plan to spend the rest of the early afternoon weeding in the rain. I'll continue to move things here and there, filling in areas where seeds failed to germinate. There's a lot of crabgrass out there.

Returning.

The perennial bed was my main focus last spring. Most of the wintersown plants went into this bed. I also grew a great number of annuals like melampodium, zinnias, petunias, salvias, and cleome. Already, after a few days in the low 90s, there are blooms in the perennial bed. Many more will be coming along shortly.



Red Valerian, or Jupiter's Beard, is about to bloom. One comment I read about this plant says it's best suited where chaos is desirable. Let chaos rule.



Clearance dianthus are blooming. These were purchased for a song last fall and used in the window boxes until Thanksgiving. I planted them out in the garden along with pansies and violas.







The purple columbine is heavily budded. I've waited a whole year to see these bloom.



Small white bell-shaped flowers stand atop these plants. I don't know the name. I moved some from a neighbor's yard in mid winter this year.



The canna found in the lawn last summer has returned. Must be a cold hardy type. I hope it blooms.



The ferns transplanted last week are growing.



Perilla seedlings. I made a huge mistake.



In the backyard, a dark leafed weigela is budding. The other three I have are a little behind this one. It gets more sun.



Spirea. This was the first plant I moved to the shrub island I built in June 2009. I took cuttings this spring. None seem to have survived. I'll take more later.



More hosta have popped in the North Bed. I was planning to reorganize these before they grew too large. I don't want to disturb them now. Maybe I'll do it next year. I have lots of wintersown babies up in three containers in the driveway.



It's 39 degrees. I moved my tomato seedlings indoors last night before dark. I set out the water sprinkler in the perennial bed, just in case of frost. There seems to be none with the relative humidity so low. The sky is starting to turn. There's a thin sliver of the crescent moon through the trees in the backyard. The high today will reach the mid 70s. It's going to be chilly for a bit this morning.