April Morning

We spent many hours yesterday doing spring cleaning throughout the labyrinth area.  Much of my time was spent digging out the zoysia grass that had had invaded the garden beds by putting rhizomes over the plastic edging.  

This ground orchid, Bletilla ochracea 'Chinese Butterfly,' had been living under the Japanese maple until last spring.  While it and several others looked great there, no one ever saw them other than me.  So I moved them under the Katsura tree in the center of the labyrinth, behind the bench.  They seem very happy, especially since they have not been ravaged by the deer.  Hopefully they will flourish and multiply.

The sun is especially intense this morning, maybe trying to make up for not coming out yesterday.  I noticed a nice contrast of color and textures that led to the next shot. In the center is a volunteer lamb's ear.  We have quite a few show up each spring, and next week a dozen or more will be dug up and potted to go to the church Mayfest for sale. 

Can you identify the rest of the plants?  There is Acanthus Spinosus on the left side, and two yellow leaved plants on the right and top.  On the ground with the round, almost circular leaves is Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea, or Golden Creeping Jenny.  The twiggy stems with the narrow oval shaped leaves is of Caryopteris Incana 'Sunshine Blue.'

 And right in front of the lambs ear there appears to be the top of a weed of unknown name or origin.  I didn't see that when I took the picture, or I would have removed it!

 

Christmas garden

The cold of the season is firmly established, even though there are murmurs of a thaw at the end of the week.  But even if it does get into the 50's in a few days, the plants have been dragged down by the sub-freezing temperatures and biting winds. 

The Winterberry holly, Winter Red, has stepped out of the background of pencil hollies and tall grass with the red fruits that glow from inside with any bit of sunshine.  This is the front bush of two, which fade into the background for most of the year.  But when the labyrinth is its most monochrome and bleak, these bushes grab everyone's attention. 

This is their second year in the garden.  When they were stripped of their berries the first year, it appeared the birds would maintain an upper hand.  But, so far, the berries are still here, playing a role.  Hopefully they will stay long enough for blue birds migrating in the Spring to have a meal.  They will need to fill in for the large holly tree behind the house that did not set many berries in the drought over the summer.

In the future, as these get larger, they will provide Christmas decorations for both us and the church wreath makers.

While the snow has melted away from these lambs ears, they play a different role.  While the color is not vibrant, this soft gray-green with its touchable texture contrasts with the boxwood and holly green. 

Since the zoysia grass turns a soft yellow brown, it becomes a neutral color for the browns and greens of the flower beds.  While many cannot imagine having a brown lawn in the winter, I find it quite satisfying to have such a bold new color against which other things can be planted. 

Finally, there is this little charmer.  I need to look up the invoice from the Plant Delights Nursery to determine its true name, because the only name to be recalled is some kind of unusual foxglove from South America with red flowers.  That is probably all wrong, but once it has been found, all will be revealed.  For now, it is enough to provide a four inch high plant that is holding its own in the snow.  But then, one of the reasons for starting this blog about the labyrinth garden is to keep learning about all of the plants, and practice their names in my growing-older brain.