Hi dirt,@dirtdorphins I'm slowly following your paths with my rock garden project. Quite a few penstemons on my list that were successfully grown from seed are awaiting fall transplant into the ground.I'm absolutely hooked on that incredible N.American genus. A few more are on my seed wish list and many more in the back of my mind. Looking at all your "disaster" color pics, my feeling is that if that were to happen in my garden I wouldn't care at all!! I actually have fun moving things around. I live in a relatively simmilar environment with dry summers with cool nights, but not very cold winters and no permanent standing snow. So I expect many of the species dapted to arid conditions should do very well here. Now a year later I wonder what happpened: Could you update the "disaster"?What happened next? If you think that this post should be moved to the rock garden forum let me know. Thanks. arturo

I had just about forgotten about this thread
Hi Arturo! How are things coming along in your rock gardens? Yes, I do think you ought to post your progress in the RG forum but no need to move anything from this one.

As far as an update, we have another blanket of the white stuff again as of this morning, so, alas, there will be no fresh pics for a while--
The biggest take away from that whole disaster is certainly the acquisition of the animated orange accent

and his brother

here is another bad lighting pic of them as rock ornaments in a new rocked out area that I was working on last year


anyway, what happened next? I don't remember exactly...something along the lines of ripping out a bunch of pink stuff and putting in some other stuff...
like this fiery semp and Eremurus

still need to keep working on it though--that verbena is insidious along with a running strawberry, and lotsa volunteer salvia cropping up where the shorties are supposed to bask in the sun...

I did end up killing that penstemon upon extraction and had to get another one for the hummers--I hope I made a good enough space for it in another garden by a big blue rock we shall see, so far it seems alive and well--unlike some others I planted last year (we had a brutal hot summer last year and I had some major fail, both with under-watering and over-watering and a lot of stuff didn't even make it to the snowiest winter challenge).

Everything kinda went off the rails for me last year being overly ambitions with new projects plus the unexpected--I've been away from home for the last seven months caring for my mother, who was terminally ill. Only just now back home to pick up the pieces. Can't seem to find many pics of that area from last year, but here's a few

Ah, Dirt, end of life care is difficult. But so important. I hope your mom had a peaceful passing. And here comes spring! New life, new cats, it's all good. Take care.

Very sorry to hear about your mother.

Dirt. Wishing you a good recovery of your gardens and dealing with your loss. It's especially hard when it's a parent.

@dirtdorphins You have my deepest sympathy. Losing a parent is difficult. (BIG HUG)

awe, Thank you all so much it is hard and I'm kinda overwhelmed at this point--so enough about that
yay spring "incremental progress" and "next year" are my mantras--going with that eat the elephant one bite at a time thing and trying to find the joy wherever it is...in small things mostly



NOID tulips
not what I ordered, but dang they are cute aren't they?

The tulips look like Tulip Humilis Violacea!

Welcome back dirt. Your RG looks beautiful.
Love the cats.

Wise words and a great attitude Dirt. Those garden shots made me gasp, absolutely gorgous! I'm so loving your red-violet combos!

thank you! it'll probably never look like that again, alas

so yeah, I think it is a humilis--just from the look, the yellow base, and the bloomtime, but it's much more red than the violacea that I have.
It was supposed to be a later blooming little one, red-red, black base w/crinkly leaves--wilsoniana--I love that one but it's apparently hard to get it right. I'm 1/3 on that one so far

Dirt, sorry to hear about your mother. Of all people that we lose, I think mothers are the most difficult.
Digging in the dirt will be good therapy

Cinta said:@dirtdorphins You have my deepest sympathy. Losing a parent is difficult. (BIG HUG)

Lots of hugs and sympathy!

ge1836 said:Frillylilly. I had tried to get an ID for the early yellow lily years ago. No one had a clue but all believed it wasnt Stella. I guess I am back where I started.
These buds have purple on the backs of the petals as they open. I havnt checked them later in the bloom period.
Here is a pix from today
The dark petal back stays thru the bloom period

Hi JoAnn @ge1836
The dark red sepal backs and tightly clustered buds of this daylily suggest it falls within the general description of Hemerocallis dumortieri, a wild type. Pretty far removed from Stella de Oro. 😄

The Plants Database has a few images. These flower earlier than
most hybrid daylilies and most do not rebloom. I find them graceful and charming. Most are at least mildly fragrant.
Pat