Looks good, Zach! I like the way you curved the bed. What have you planted in there?

So far I've only planted some yellow (and a red/yellow) gaillardia, zauschnaria 'orange carpet', and blue grama 'blonde ambition' I have a couple more things to go in, including a couple Penstemon pinifolius & P. eatonii, and a wine cups/poppy mallow that I'm going build another raised platform for. AAAAND I'll probably be at the plant store today lol. Maybe it will make this cold I caught go away.

Get well, Zach! That's going to look great when it starts filling in. I'll look forward to updates over the next few years.

My north side shade garden got completely taken over by grass after the flood and I've spent hours this spring digging it out and salvaging hosta, anemone sylvestris, columbine, creeping jenny, sedum and a few things I haven't identified yet. I've added astilbe, heuchera (plum pudding), ostrich ferns and more hosta. I just couldn't make myself use round up on it when I knew there were good plants in there. I haven't looked at it in a week. I should probably go take a peak and see what's coming up. Probably grass I missed!

We do like our projects, don't we?

Barb

I have some winecup babies, Zach - let me know if you need some. Warning - they are bunny magnets! We actually fence ours until they get big enough for the rabbits to lose interest.

Barb, I think the plant store did the trick, I started getting better after that LOL!

Hopefully we still have this house over the next several years. Me and my wife are looking to move and mom won't want to live in a family sized house with just one person I imagine. But, I guess even so, I can do some black op's missions and come take pictures of my handywork haha!

I would love to be able to get my round up out, if it weren't for all this doggone rain! I have snow on the mountain already making it's way into that new bed. Projects? Hmmm... that makes it sound like work Barb, LOL! Let's call it "crafting with nature" or something haha!

Oh thanks Amy! I have a big one I picked up about a week ago (it's not planted yet) and it must be a size thing cuz the rabbits (and boy do we have rabbits around here) haven't touched that one. I don't know if I'll need more, but, I think I should go to your place before I go to the plant store again haha! In fact, I'll shoot you a PM today.

You just need to come with a trowel and a lot of pots and do a dig day. :) Probably be easiest on all of us!

I just sent you a message Amy! Hope we can get together soon!

It's hard to get a picture of the whole bed, and excuse it looking more like a construction site than a garden right now, and just pretend there's not all those weeds in there...

So, everything seems to be doing pretty good, in spite of all this rain. For a while there, I thought my gaillardias were going to be completely naked for all the leaves they kept dropping. It seems they have given up fighting the weather and decided to tough it out.

The only thing that hasn't seemed to put out much growth is the blue grama, I'm going to take off the mulch I put down tomorrow (I put it there BEFORE I knew that we were going to have the wettest spring/summer of my life in Colorado), though, the Zauschnaria that is sharing the little "raised bed" with it doesn't seem to mind, it's EXPLODED since I first put in.

"Zach! The Panicum virgatum 'Heavy Metal' mentioned in that thread is a grass I was planning to recommend to you on one of your threads where you said you had a Panicum and wondered about other varieties! I LOVE the 'Heavy Metal'! Steely blue foliage! And it "can" turn red/reddish in fall with (just) the right temp/water conditions! Sorry I didn't get back to your original thread about this, but I know you'll see it here!!!"

Skybird, I actually have TWO P. virgatums, though, to keep everything "copacetic" I opted for them to both be the same variety. I went with 'Shenandoah,' and so far, I am incredibly happy that you recommended switch grass to me a while back!! It's turning out to be one of my favorite ornamental grasses I have in my yard (I have quite a few, 7 kinds I think, though 1-2 might be dropped from the lineup and planted up in Thornton this fall). I might be getting a little excited, however, it's only been in the ground for about a week, lol!

Anyways...

It's more green, BUT I think that's okay because it will balance nicely with the fact that quite a bit of xeric stuff tends to have grey/blue foliage, such as the Oenothera fremontii in the top right of the second picture, the Salvia pachyphylla, of which there are 3 in different spots around the bed, and the A. rupestris which will be going in once they decide to put on some size. There's also a blue spruce sedum which gives me some blue/gray and Penstemon linarioides... I really do like the 'Heavy Metal' too, and in fact I almost went for it, but, I think the splash of green from 'Shenandoah' will be nice.

You can kind of see one in the top picture of my last post behind the rock, the other one hasn't been planted yet, hopefully it will go in tomorrow, depending on how wet we get tonight.

Here's another picture I took tonight (with my phone so quality is eh...)

Hi Zach,

I was looking up perennial pics to email a friend and ran
into some ‘Heavy Metal’ pics so here are some for you. The problem, like with color on so many
things, is that none of them are really the “true” color. ‘Heavy Metal’ doesn’t really have the
gray/white look of a lot of the xeric things, it really is more of a blue-green
color. But if you’ve found one you like,
that’s all that really matters!

Here are some of my “not really accurate colors” pics! The first one looks mostly green and doesn’t
show the “steel blue,” but it’s a pretty good shot of the overall plant. [BOY!
I sure do miss being able to post real pics!!!]

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/rXyeM0dNZoyf3EPOzZJsQwX9MxwOZmSrWFKwU5Jr3u8?feat=directlink

This one I was trying to get the seedheads—which is REALLY
hard to do against the lattice on the fence!—and this one is too “white”
looking, but you do get “some” of the “blue!”

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/eIov9ZBIJ5fdkVlNaGYE9BdSjuQv704GFYbu_rm7VB4?feat=directlink

And this is one of the oldest pics, and might be the closest
in color, but still looks a little too “white” (I think that must always be because
of the light reflecting off of it!) This
one does give you some idea of the “blue”—some idea!!!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/4TulOvTI-3zgjfwtH8gIO_gUcP2kjYyd5Da_HXpBd-k?feat=directlink

I looked and looked for one that looks like the real plant,
and I guess that’s not actually possible with a camera!

Besides the color, what I really like about ‘Heavy Metal’ is
that it stays very “stiffly” upright!
The grass blades are wide enough to stay upright, and the individual
stems have “body” to them and also stay standing pretty much by
themselves. In summer, rain doesn’t
phase it too much, and over winter, even when it gets weighted down by snow—all
the way down to the ground!—as the snow melts it stands up again all by
itself! Well, unless the stems actually
BREAK in the middle! When that happens
the Winter Interest is Kaput! This past
winter it got knocked down and stood up again several times, then in one of the
very last snows parts of it BENT and I went out and did a RIP over it!

By contrast! The
first Panicum I had was straight species, P. virgatum, and the best way I can
describe it is WIMPY! It flopped all
over the place, and even when I tried to keep it “tied up” I still couldn’t
keep it upright. Any rain at all had it
all flattened—and it DID NOT stand back up again! I really like the "wispy” seedheads, and I had seen ‘Heavy Metal” when I was at Paulino’s, so I
got one of those—and have loved it ever since, and “got rid of” the first one
the next year. Because it never looked
very good I never took any pics of just “it,” but here’s a pic with the
straight species in it! WIMPY! [It’s all tied up to the fence!]

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/lsXCwthYhbECyCwrpJnPQ_gUcP2kjYyd5Da_HXpBd-k?feat=directlink

If that’s your Panicum in the bottom pic, it looks like
yours is gonna be nice and upright too!
And you have even more sun than I do, so that should help too!

BUT! Looking at your
pics! Time will tell, but I believe you
are SO gonna regret putting in the Zauschneria!!! They are SO gonna EAT that nice little rocked
in area!

Wanna see what The Z-Word does???

I got a tiny start of it at one of the spring swaps! A couple months after I planted it,
“something” was growing out from between the top and bottom RR ties I have across
the back fence! I thought it was just
more Cottonwood suckers! I thought
WRONG! Just 6-7 weeks after planting a
“tiny” and virtually rootless plant, it was That Z Stuff coming out between the
ties! I think I got it—the tiny one—in
’09. This is ’11 when I took a lot of
pics ‘cause it was about to Meet It’s Maker!
I never did have it coming up from below the bottom RR tie, but when I
dug it out there were definitely roots going That Deep! I had always wanted one—and I HAD one! Never again!
Update us with your Reflections (or Nightmares!) over the next year or
two!!!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/yOYBb2K5NdY5iM5WGeatWwX9MxwOZmSrWFKwU5Jr3u8?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/XInU5lbnz8hRjQjK6z0wxwX9MxwOZmSrWFKwU5Jr3u8?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/abVYxStyOF2apT0yxSP-bAX9MxwOZmSrWFKwU5Jr3u8?feat=directlink

That Rare and Almost Extinct Callirhoe is going to look
fabulous hanging over the rocks! Love
it! [And glad there’s no Zauschneria in
there to eat your Endangered Plant!]

I love what you’re doing there—with the shape and the rocks
and all! By next year when it all gets
going and starts to fill in, I think it’s gonna look great!

Skybird

Looking good, Zach! I think when I stopped by in April to pick up the seed potatoes you gave me you were just starting to outline the bed in the grass. Love the rocks you placed in your new bed, too. It already has a great design and I think it is going to be beautiful once you are done, the plants thrive and Mama Nature settles down a bit.

Unlike invasive lawn grass and other weed grasses, I really like ornamental clumping grasses. They have become much more popular than when I first starting using them in my garden but I still enjoy seeing them - even at shopping centers! - and seeing how people use them in their landscaping. It is probably overdone these days, but someday I would like to make an entire bed of such grasses - so many different colors, sizes and textures to use.....

Thank you for all of the photos, Zach and Skybird!

Holly

Skybird, I must say, the Heavy Metal is a beautiful plant! Lucky for me, I think I will be removing more grass in the near future and also some large feather reed grass that I have really never liked, but, they stuck around because I didn't know what else to do! Heavy metal may soon find a home in my landscape ;).

I had heard about the "flopiness" of switch grass, and supposedly hard rains are especially "bad". But, "the general consensus" that I got is that the newer-ish cultivars, such as HM, are much more upright, and stiff. I will let you know how Shenandoah holds up, so far it hasn't flopped after the thunderstorms it's been through, but, that may be because it's still pretty small.

Once again, had you not reccommended it this past winter, I would have probably never even considered it!

As for the "Z word" (you mean "Zach" isn't considered a four letter word yet?) what sad news! I was REALLY excited about that one, but, you may be right. Given how much it's grown in just a few weeks, it may not be 2 years before I'm telling you my own horror story! Maybe I can plant it amongst my aegepodium and they will cancel each other out LOL! I always have the whiskey barrel planter I could put them in, but, that's where I have my mint for making ice tea! I could move them to the abandoned house next door. I think it would be an improvement over the musk thistle and cheatgrass that I am constantly standing guard against! I Also planted some of the Max. sunflowers you brought to the swap. I put them straight into the heaviest clay I have, maybe that will hold them back a little bit (or kill them, but so far, they seem to be okay).

The Callirhoe is already starting to spread out over the rocks (and is COVERED in blooms)! It's also nice to know that I'm doing my part for conservation and helping to bring it back from the brink of extinction. To add to that bit of silliness, I've looked on three separate maps, and C. involucrata is supposedly not even native to Douglas County! For all these fussy plant folks know, this sacred shrubbery merely escaped from someones yard!

THE GOOD NEWS IS I GOT ALL THE WEEDS PULLED LAST WEEKEND!!! Now THAT'S something to be proud of (even though I will be out there again next weekend to get what has popped up this week)!

Yes Holly! I think you came out either right before or right after I had torn out the grass (can't remember which). I am sure hoping the plants thrive. I am almost certain the P. eatonii I bought isn't going to make it, It's down to about 3 leaves and 1 sad, droopy looking bloom stalk. But, if it does croak on me, I'll manage to survive. NOW! If the one I got from Skybird at the swap decides to take a dump then I will be upset (P.s., it's still in its little cup, and so far, so good, I may give it another week or so to fill out some more roots before I actually plant it.)

I LOVE ornamental grass! I do not like the overused miscanthus and feather reed's. But my dream is to someday have a place to plant a Sporobolus wrightii , now there's a plant you don't see everyday! You know, when the Russell Party first set up their tents on the banks of the S. Platte and Cherry Creek, even the ubiquitous cottonwood tree was a rare sight, and the banks of the river were sandy and bare rather than the forest corridors that line them today. Everything east of the hogback was shortgrass prairie, an ocean of grass as far as the eye could see! But, I digress...

Thank you for the kind words and encouragement, Holly and Skybird! Maybe you guys ought to come down to Littleton and tell me what I need to do to make it better haha! To be honest I keep freaking out that when it fills out it's going to look "rangy" or not well planned and thought out... I'm probably over thinking it...

ROFL! I absolutely
cracked up at the thought of putting the
Zauschneria in with the Aegopodium!!!
Battle ON!!! Please, please don’t
put it in the whiskey barrel and TERRORIZE your mint! I don’t plant mint in the ground, but I do
LIKE mint! Seems to me that decking out
the abandoned house would be a nice thing to do with it! When somebody eventually moves back in, just
deny knowing what it is—or how it got there!!!
[No, you’re not a 4-letter word—yet!]

I think I can assure you that heavy clay is NOT going to
kill the Helianthus maximilianii! That’s
what mine is growing in! I do think it
put a damper on it for the first couple years—and then it manned up and started
gobbling down the clay in big bites as it started going every-which-way! One thing about the H. m., tho, is that I
haven’t had too much trouble removing
large parts of it when I wanted to! The
roots (so far!) don’t seem to grow “unreasonably” deep!

Are you sure your Sacred Shrubbery isn’t a Doug County
native? It definitely IS native to
Colorado, but I’ve never taken the time to check out which counties—but since
one of its common names is Prairie Wine Cup, it just seems like it would be
down there!

I kind of hope your store bought P. eatonii makes it! That way you’ll be able to compare it to the
seedling I gave you when they both grow up, and maybe you’ll be able to tell me
if you agree that the one I have, that I got the seed for in south central
Utah, is the same thing! Some day, “when
I have time,” I’m gonna look for the pics I know I took of it along the road
and scan them into the computer and post them—so you can see how short it
really was growing out in natural (and totally inhospitable!) conditions!

Even tho we sold it at Paulino’s, I wasn’t familiar with a
“grown up” Sporobolus wrightii—and that’s pretty cool! I don’t have anywhere even approaching big
enough to put something like that in—but—one of my very most favoritest grasses is the BIG Miscanthus sinensis! (Are you sure you’re not thinking of the
hardy pampas grass being overused, Zach?
I don’t see many Miscanthuses—or however you pluralize that—around.) There are several different varieties that
get big, a favorite of mine is ‘Morning Light’, but there are others too. MANY years ago I saw a whole row of them blooming
at the entrance of DBG, and I fell in love with them and have wanted one ever
since. Since the pine tree in my front
yard died (RIP) last year, I’ve decided I’m gonna—at some point!—plant one of
them out there in that space! I love the
arching habit of (some of) them, and at least part of my love for them is the
“Egyptian look” of the seedheads—at least that’s what I think they look like! I’m
not sure yet which variety it’ll be. ‘Morning Light’ isn’t one of the tallest ones,
but it is definitely in the running! The
blades on ‘Morning Light” are thinner than most of the others, have a more
arching habit, and each blade has a fine white line/variegation running down
them. I’ve never found a pic that I
think REALLY shows it off, but here are a couple that are pretty good. (I’m not positive these are ‘Morning Light’,
but they do look like it!) (Actually, I
see the second link has “gracillimus” in it, which isn’t ‘M L’, but IS one of
the taller varieties!)

http://www.learn2grow.com/plantdatabase/plants/DisplayImage.ashx?ImageID=74916&width=560

http://shop.greentopllc.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/m/i/miscanthussinensisgracillimus_1.jpg

http://www.vanmeuwen.com/medias/sys_master/8817271963678.jpg

I LOVE ornamental grasses too, and I’m glad you decided to
try a Panicum. I definitely agree with
the “overuse” of ‘Karl Foerster’! That
one was just starting to get really popular the last couple years I was at
Paulino’s, and then it EXPLODED all over the place—along all the medians and in
all the shopping centers of the world!
Enough already! Probably doesn’t
help that it was never a favorite of mine to start with!

Definitely don’t Over Think your new garden! What you have there now looks like a really
good start—and just always remember that there’s no such thing as a “finished”
perennial garden! In a year or two you
take out a this and a that and put in a new this and that to see how they work
out! Wouldn’t it be boring if you ever
really Got Done with a perennial garden!
What would you do?????

Skybird

Well Zach, you could be like me and UNDER-design things. I really seldom have a plan, see a plant I like, buy it, come home and then figure out a place to plant it, or I see a place that needs a plant and figure out what will suit that particular micro-climate. Of course, I do put in new beds and usually know what I want to put in them beforehand, but more often it is pretty haphazard. It still looks good, though, so even a gardener that plants by impulse can make a success out of it! lol

It is probably wiser and better to plan and design your garden, but a garden is an ever-changing thing - you decide you don't like a plant so get rid of it; plants die and get replaced with something else, plants thrive and perhaps get too big for the space - despite your planning - and have to be moved or removed and replaced, etc., etc.. So, any plans need to be flexible, too

Speaking of ever-changing gardens, this year my garden's micro-climates are a bit...off...due to all of the rain we have had. Once the soil has dried out, I imagine I will be replacing a few plants as I can afford to do. I have already lost a broom, at least one penstemon, some of my Phlomus (Jerusalem Sage,) and some xeric ground covers and such, to their May-June drowning experiences. I am sure other plants that now look a bit ill will die as well; some things look a bit chlorotic from having waterlogged roots. I am very much hoping that my oak trees and dwarf conifers will pull through. I will be very, very sad if I lose them and certainly can't afford to replace them, if I can even find them available anywhere. But, now I can plan ahead a bit because I know for darn sure where the low spots are in the garden and I won't be planting drought tolerant or xeric things there again - just in case. I am thinking that ornamental grasses, carexes and sedges may be just the plants to replace those that have died.

Holly

That’s how I do my Garden Design, OakIris! When I get something I just walk around
eyeballing things until the Right Spot reveals itself to me! Sometimes a year or two later the Right Spot
turns out to be the Wrong Spot, and then a Relocation Project is in the
works! Half the time when I get
something new I already know I have NOWHERE to plant it! But somehow the Right Spot always shows
up! A little bit afraid to admit it, but
sometimes I’m even half glad when something dies—‘cause then I know I have “another
place” to plant something! No real rhyme
or reason to it! It just keeps going,
and going, and…..

Skybird

P.S. I'll be thinking good thoughts for your oak trees and dwarf conifers!

Skybird, the owner the house has been contacted repeatedly, until she dies, no one is going to move into that house. I should post some pictures. Ivy and Virginia creeper have grown THROUGH the windows and INTO the house, the Russian olive literally ate the deck before it died, most of thw windows and the sliding glass door into the basement has been shattered, woodpeckers, squirrels, raccoon's and other city dwelling "wildlife" have moved in. She came back for about 3 days either last summer or the one before and tore down the gutters that were just hanging down, so every time it rains or snows it goes right in the house. I would say we ought to call it a "nature preserve" except everything growing there either is or should be on the noxious and invasive weeds list. So, like I said, the Zauschnaria would be a MAJOR improvement!

No, I don't grow mint in the ground either, but I love it too! Matter of fact, I may have to pick some this weekend for tea when the mercury hits that 95* mark!

If I do remove (or "relocate") it, what do you think would be a good replacement? I was thinking about it last night, maybe another wine cups/poppy mallow?

The H.m. seems to be pretty happy so far, I think it's mostly grateful that I finally got it out of it's little cup last weekend! It will probably be even happier once we chop down the elm tree that casts too much shade on the top part of that bed. It was supposed to come down last weekend, but, we discovered that a pair of wrens have set up shop and I now have to wait until the babies have fledged before I can do that. Oh well, I can wait. Good to know that it is easy to dig out, hopefully the squirrels don't take it upon themselves to prune it for me like they do my annual sunflowers every year.

According to one map I looked at, on the front range it is native to Boulder, Jefferson, and El Paso Counties, but somehow magically just jumped over Douglas County. On another map, it is native to Boulder and Jefferson County. Other than that, it is native to the S.E. corner of the state and some places bordering Kansas. All in all, I would say NO I am NOT sure it's not a native of Doug Co. The most reliable source I have is the USDA PLANTS database, and I would say they are wrong at least 25% of the time.

I hope the P. eatonii makes it, too, but, if not, I can always get another one. I THINK they still have some at the store but that place has me shaking my head every time I go there. They are out there watering in the pouring rain! If they didn't have such a good selection and were close, I would probably not shop there. But, most of the time, I can "resurrect" their sad, drowning plants, the only one I'm having trouble with is that one penstemon.

I don't have anywhere big enough to put that S. wrightii either, unless it replaces the piñon that grew all lopsided from being underneath a giant cottonwood for many years (cottonwood is now gone, but the figure of the pine remains). That is also coming down because A) it looks ridiculous B) it's always covered in sap and C) it stabs me in the face every time I have to mow around it. I was thinking of putting a dwarf blue spruce over there, but, the S.w. would look nice, too (not to mention affordability). I may very well be thinking of the Pampas grass, not miscanthus. Or maybe t's something else, who knows. I do know I agree with you about KF. I don't care for the way it looks, either, and the fact it's infested every commercial and public landscape in the known universe makes it even less appealing. What is even more frustrating is it's massive popularity makes it hard to find any grass OTHER than KF. Rows and rows and rows and rows of KF from 6" to 3 gallon pots lining the shelves of every ornamental grass section at every garden center in South Denver. BUT I DON"T WANT A GOD DANG KARL FOESTER! I WANT A ____!!!!! You should have seen me trying to find a second P.v. 'Shenandoah' it was a nightmare! But, I did, and now it's planted and looking good.

Another recommendation that I want to thank you for is sedum! I didn't get any tall ones, just the low growing ones but man, they are really cool (and the kiddo thought it was the neatest thing that we were growing something called "dragon blood").

Holly, here's a funny story:

Thats the PLAN I made for my garden back in January.

Virtually nothing went according to this drawing. I just kept finding plants that were too neat to pass up. Ice plant!? Woah! Thats cool! Mojave sage? How neat is that?! LOOK AT ALL THE DIFFERENT PENSTEMONS!!! And so, my prior planning was all for not. Well, it kept me busy in the winter months right?

I think you're right Holly, go the ornamental grass route, though, I may be biased. I am an unabashed lover of grasses and prairies and not much a fan of trees.

I guess you guys are right, it is ever changing (how long do I have to wait to change it? There's some stuff I put in that I'm thinking needs to be moved to somewhere else already). And it would be very boring if we just set it and forget, or we would all need very big yards to keep us busy enough.

Hi Zach,

I don’t know what you’ll think of this, but the first thing
that came to mind when you asked for something to replace the Zauschneria is
the perennial four O’clock, Mirabilis multiflora! Low and spreading, very similar to the way
Callirhoe is “viney” and covers a large area without actually rooting in as it
spreads. What’s the grass you have in
that little rocked in area? If it’s a
real short one the Mirabilis could possibly run it right over! If it’s taller, no problem I think!

Here’s a thread I started a looong time ago asking for info
and advice about it when I got one and found contradictory info! I still don’t have one (that lived!), but
it’s still on my Must Have One Day list!
As you can see on this thread, some people say it can spread up to 6’ or
more! Because of the nature of the
plant, I believe you could just trim the individual stems to shorten them if it
started going Too Far!

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2129011/information-on-perennial-four-oclock-mirabilis-multiflora?n=21

Some places say it can be invasive, but I haven’t found any
Colorado folks saying that! And I think
it’s pretty enough to want to try it anyway!
(Kind of like I did with the Z-Word!!!)
I do believe it reseeds some—but I don’t believe it’s enough to be a
nuisance! At the bottom of that thread
Jali posted a couple pics of hers while they were still pretty small.

Jali, if you see this, how are yours doing??? [Or did you move out of that house???]

If Kiddo likes ‘Dragon’s Blood’, how about some other sedums
for him? I can bring starts at the next
swap—cuttings he can start for himself, for a real sense of
accomplishment! Let me know which ones
you already have!

AND! How about some
semps??? There is SO much variety in the
size, shape, and color of these things that I am constantly amazed when I see
new ones! I have a small yard so I just
keep a “small patch” of all the different ones—I must have at least a couple
dozen different ones by now! Can also
bring “chicks” for some different varieties that he can start himself! [Instruction sheets for rooting sedums and
starting hen & chicks included when I bring unrooted ones!]

And then there’s the iceplants! Not sure if you have any of those yet or
not! Some of the older varieties can get
pretty straggly looking, and have a way of suddenly dying off big time, but the
newer ones, Delosperma basuticum ‘White Nugget’ and ‘Gold Nugget’ spread
slowly, stay nice and compact, and grow very densely. I give ‘White Nugget’ away at swaps—and will
be giving ‘Gold Nugget’ (under a different name!) away probably by next year.

Here are links to some olde threads where I posted real live
pics of these things!

Hen & chicks on this one! These are just a few of the first varieties I
started at this house!

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2135209/hen-and-chicks-addiction?n=14

A “groundcover” thread, so more than just sedums, but a lot
of sedum pics too—with ‘White Nugget’ right up on top! Don’t miss the sedum pics down near the
bottom of the thread! Show them to Kiddo
and see what he thinks of them! (When I
was a kid and found out there were ALL kinds of sedums, I got REALLY interested
in them!)

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2129058/need-help-selecting-a-groundcover-plant?n=16

And a few more sedum and iceplant pics—some of these could
be the same as on the first thread! I
love the way the sedums and the hen & chicks “change color” in winter and
spring! Also, since the semps and
iceplants, and almost all of the sedums are evergreen, it keeps “something” out
there to look at over winter when most of the perennials “go away!” Even with my one deciduous sedum, if I get it
cut back early enough it starts to grow the “rosettes” for the next year, and
they’re out there all winter too!

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2130716/groundcover-advice?n=10

It seems to me that little patches of different
sedums/semps/iceplants would look really good here and there in your garden—and
Kiddo could have his very own things to take care of! [I LOVE to get kids interested in gardening!]

I don’t know if this makes any difference to you, but I
don’t like to “walk all over the soil” in my perennial beds, so as soon as I
started putting things in I “installed” some small pieces of flagstone for
“stepping stones.” I can reach almost
everything from one of the stepping stones, and that way I’m “standing in the
same place” whenever I’m working out there, and not trampling the soil down all
over the place. And since I have “rocks”
here, there, and everywhere (many of which—the smaller ones!—I’ve collected
when I was out trippin’!), the flagstone blends right in with the “overall
look” of it! Your bed is large enough
that you could kind of put a couple little “paths” through it—with the stepping
stones spaced fairly far apart!

If you go down to the “whole garden” pic near the bottom of
the second linked semp/sedum thread, between the “bonsai’d honeysuckle bush”
and the hydrangea, you can see the little pieces of flagstone here and there in
that bed! (No “small” rocks in that
pic! It was taken in ’08, the year I
started Trippin’ In Earnest! There are
LOTS of “rocks” out there now, and in the last couple years I’ve started working
on collecting Rocky Mountain Driftwood!)

I’m not sure about this, but I don’t think the squirrels
will do much damage to the Helianthus!
The stems, unlike annual sunflowers, are very thin, and I don’t think
they could climb up enough to get to the flowers! But if they do try, they just might “drag” the
whole top of the plant down! DUH!
Just thought of this! NO squirrel
problems! H. m. seed is small—closer to
Echinacea seed! Completely different
from the annual sunflowers!

Do you have a blue fescue?
The center of mine—‘Elijah’s Blue’, the “best” one IMO—has completely
died out and I’m gonna need to dig, divide, and replant it, and will very
possibly have some starts at one of the next couple swaps! Just don’t know when I’ll get it done!

Aren’t there “codes” in whatever city you live in that allow
you to get The House taken care of so it’s not a Public Nuisance? When you said it was empty I assumed it had
been foreclosed—like the Weed Lot Public Nuisance right behind me—which is
lived in again—but is STILL a WEED LOT Public Nuisance. I haven’t called Code Enforcement again since
the “new folks” moved in, but my whole lot is an insane maze, now, of every
kind of milkweed you can imagine—and a bunch more I never even knew
existed! If they let it get over the
limit (I think it was 8” high) next spring again, I AM gonna call Code
Enforcement back—even with them living there now! Broken windows, wildlife living in the
building, plants growing into the building!!!
That all sounds like stuff that would be prohibited by city codes—almost
anywhere! You should go to your city’s
site and check it out. I found the info
I needed pretty easily on the Thornton site!

Gotta go,

Skybird

P.S. I’ve
talked to Barb about the possibility of going to Rocky Mountain Arsenal for a
bird watching expedition with you some day (idea originally from the bird
thread!) and maybe if we do that we’ll just invite ourselves down to your house
for a weenie roast and garden tour after the bird watching!

I would LOVE a M. multiflora! in fact, it's been on my list of "things I would like to have" since I began really looking into xeric plants this past winter! Though, I have problems associated with it: first of all is finding them! I have never seen them at a garden center around here. Second problem is location! It may look big, but at it's widest point I think that bed is just around 5', a 6' wide plant in the little rock part would overtake my Mojave sage, a couple grasses, and my gaillardia! I WOULD like to put it up by the house where there's plenty of room for it spread... if I could only get rid of the snow on the mountain forest that's up there (I am having SOME luck weed whacking and covering it with clear plastic, especially on these 95* days).

Oh, the grass that's in the rocked area is 'Blonde Ambition' blue grama, supposed to get 3' tall/wide, though, so far it doesn't appear to have grown an inch since I planted it a month or so ago. I'm patient, though, as long as it survives I'm willing to wait.

I am a "succer" for succulents (corny pun definitely intended). I have 'dragon blood' and 'blue spruce' sedum, 'mesa verde' and 'firespinner' ice plant (my "mesa verde" just started blooming today, they remind me cactus flowers for some reason, and I love them!) and one unknown kind of hens and chicks. I will definitely be planting more of all of them especially once I get more of my lawn ripped up!

Dustin (AKA "the kiddo") does get excited about gardening, BUT his excitement wanes after about 15 minutes. He's a four year old boy, what I mean to say is that hes a sonic boom with hair that has the attention span of a goldfish.

I have one blue fescue is my "moderate" water bed, and I have two "multi" fescues in starter pots that I grew from seed this year. By "multi" I mean they have patches of blue and green in them because some seeds germinated as blue, others as green, so the clump is "multicolored." I think you warned me about that when I told you I was going to start the seeds haha!

As for codes, well, we don't live in a "city" we are in unincorporated Jefferson County so the codes are much more relaxed. Believe me, there a couple folks on the street who have been on the phone with the county for several years (fast approaching the "decades" category actually) over that house, and all they do is shrug their shoulders. "She pays the property taxes, theres nothing we can do." That's the price you pay for living in county, though the "relaxed" attitude works both ways. I can get away with a myriad of things that would land me numerous citations in an actual municipality. Having a 12'x24' vegetable garden in the front yard is probably one of them, being able to grow whatever I want in my landscaping is another. When I lived in Centennial they sent out a list of "approved" garden plants for residents front yards, and a "friendly" reminder that anything else is considered a "weed" and failure to pull your "weeds" is a cite-able offence. As was having grass that was too dead or not cut to precisely 1/4" or whatever arbitrary measurement they came up with was AND if you didn't clear the sidewalk in front of your house when it snowed.... the list of rules went on and on and on and on and on and on..... So, if living next door to the "life after people" house is the trade off for a municipal code the size of Encyclopedia Britannica, I'll take it.

P.s. birding expedition followed by hot dogs at my place is a GO! I've wanted to get out to RMA this summer anyways, I've never been!

I got the "Z-word" moved to a spot in the back yard that it is free to roam as it pleases. though, in hindsight, doing it at noon when it's 80 degrees probably wasn't the smartest decision I have ever made, it's looking pretty rough right now.

I covered it with weed fabric to give it some shade. I would still LIKE to have it, even though it may be a "thug."

If you would like some of the Mirabilis multiflora, Zach, I have quite a few "babies" that came up this spring and you are more than welcome to come up here to dig up one or two. For a drought tolerant plant, apparently the seeds found the very wet spring just the thing to encourage them to germinate! I must have at least 8-10 of them that germinated.

This is the first year that has happened, and for a while I thought the "mama" plant had died because there was no sign of it and thus though maybe this scattering of "young" had been it's last hurrah! The plant "disappears" over the winter and doesn't reappear until late spring. I found it at a local nursery many years ago, and when the plant "disappeared" the first year, I thought it had died. I planted something else there and then a couple of years later, the Four O'clock suddenly showed up in my upper garden area where I must have dumped some soil from the old bed it was in - soil that apparently contained either the dormant plant itself or some seeds. It has been getting happier and happier there ever since. I placed a small tripod of bamboo over where the main plant is located so I don't dig it up or disturb it before it emerges in the Spring. Anyway, it has finally emerged and is going to be quite vigorous and healthy this year!

My plant gets about 1 1/2-2 feet tall and spreads out about 3 ft. or so around and is just covered in lovely magenta blooms for a very long period of time, mid-summer on into fall. The bees love it, which is another plus. Last year it did the best it ever had, and if the way all of the seeds germinated is any indication of the plant's response to added moisture, it may really take off this year. If it gets as big as some folks say - a 6 foot spread - it will be competing with a squash plant that is in the vicinity; they will probably look rather nice together if they bloom at the same time....

Anyway, probably more than you wanted to know about my Colorado 4-O'Clock saga, but I highly recommend the plant. Skybird mentioned that some people consider it invasive. I guess it could be, seeing all the seeds that germinated this year, but, again, this is the first year I have seen such a thing and I have been growing it for probably 10-15 years so I certainly don't consider it invasive! The seedlings are quite distinctive in color - certainly can tell them apart from bindweed seedlings - and very easy to pull up if you want to get rid of them.

Holly

Holly! I love the story of you four o'clock! I would have been disappointed if all you had said was "if you want a couple, I have some you can dig."

It sounds great! I still have your email somewhere, so, I will get in touch with you (course, I have been telling that to Amy for weeks now...).