AND THEN...MORE GARDEN HOOKY

So yesterday, it seemed like a good idea to get some bark mulch and maybe a few ground cover-type plants. I headed off to RiteAid, saw without even turning in that they didn't have any plants outside, and made a beeline for Garden Fever. (Alarms should have been going off, lights blinking, signs flashing, "DANGER! DANGER!")

I made it out only $44 poorer, after browsing dreamily through cool outdoor aisles, reading tags, lifting pots, lusting (No, that is not too strong a word!) over choices that were too many and too wonderful.

Best new non-plant item: Coco shell mulch! Oh. My. Goodness. It looks like hazel nut shells (filberts), but is more delicate. It cost more than the bark mulch, but the helpful worker I talked to said you use roughly half as much for weed suppression, with the same results, and that it doesn't fade to gray, but keeps its color. Plus, (Are you ready for this?) when it warms in the sun, it smells like chocolate! I'm going back for another bag today. I love this stuff!

I brought everything home, and went to work, actually digging up one of the dahlias I planted Saturday, and replacing it with a new euphorbia, Canyon Gold. (It's the wrong time of year for it to have any real distinguishing characteristics, so no photo. It looks like any other euphorbia right now.)

Then I planted the other newbies, and spread that lovely mulch. Here's the result:

I'm looking forward to next year, when the new plants will have spread out, especially the lemon thyme and other ground covers, and the caryopteris incana, which will stay about as tall as it is now, but get about two feet wide:





Close-up, it looks like this:


Isn't it beautiful?


And those dahlias:


Melody Lisa



Get closer...



Melody Swing



Step into the whorl...


That takes care of one corner of the front yard. There's a huge Matilija Poppy (Romneya coulteri) needing to be cut back:


Eight feet tall, & it looks like it's covered with fried eggs!


and the rest of the yard is just completely out of control. sigh.