Not a ton blooming now, but that is what happens with a new garden bed.  I have been buying a lot of small plants.  It’s hard having the patience to wait for the small perennials to get big, but I would rather buy 10 small plants for $30 than 1 big plant for $30.  It just takes time and patience.

We were at the old house mowing the other day and I ‘acquired’ more plants.  There are blooms over there.

Alium:

 

And the Amethyst in Snow Centaurea:

 

I took some rootlings of that one. I love it so much and if these don’t take, I will certainly be purchasing more – but crossing fingers for free 😀

On to Radiance Manor:

We do have a rhododendron in front.  Or rather I think there are 2 or 3. They are wild and half dead, but it looks like a few bases in there:

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I would like to keep these if I can. I have never had a rhody before, so I don’t know much about them. I was reading that for shrubs in this state, you are to do what is called a rejuvenation pruning, which is cutting it waaaay down and hope it comes back. Eeek!  So, if I lose the plants, no biggie, and if it works – great!

The slate that we got the other day will be used likely for a path from the driveway to the front walk – right along here:

We aren’t even worried about the lawn yet. It’s in terrible shape, but at least the weeds are green.

When we were digging out the bed here and in the back, we uncovered more slate tiles.  How convenient!  I laid some of them down in the big bed for a walking path:

Now I need to bury them a bit. I need to place other pieces here and there so I can walk into the garden bed without compressing the soil much.

I also got a butterfly bush.  Doesn’t look like much here:

This is going to be the jewel, though.  It’s the big boy – Black Knight.  This will get 6 to 8 feet tall. I have the room in this garden for it.  These grow pretty fast and this should be a nice size this year and produce flowers.

I also found a place for my broken pot.  A snow and ice slide this winter busted the bottom off this, but it still will stand on a flat surface, so I just plunked it on a rock in the bed with a sweet potato vine in it.

 

I am trying a new plant this year.  Lupines.  I have always wanted to give them a shot.

Lupines can be really finicky, but the nursery had these on sale for 5 plants for $10.  How could I resist? These are in a partial sun spot, so fingers crossed.

I also have one of my favorite flower combos started.  Globe thistle together with coneflowers:

A mixed of ‘acquired’ and purchased.  Also, note I chopped some iris rhizomes from the old house as well.  You can also see one of the stumps in the background there. We dug up 3 from this garden bed and there are 2 left, but they are not in an area imminent for planting, so I am leaving them for now. The walking path actually will go there.

Nothing like a bare baby garden bed.

 

It will be fun taking a picture in a few months and seeing how much these grow.