Time To Plant Perennials

Believe it or not, I still have plants from my trip to Well Sweep Herb Farm in August that haven't been planted. And an iris from the Master Gardener picnic plant swap, the clematis from my local nursery and now my Jack Frost brunnera are also waiting for new homes. From the Master Gardener picnic plant swap last year, a heuchera needs to be moved. With the exception of the iris, all of these plants were destined for the front of my house.

First order of business for my fall planting vacation: widen the front border. Thanks to the recent rain and the fact that I am not a lawn person, the sod came up easily. Here are the brunnera, a heuchera and a primrose settling in:


The heuchera I got at a plant swap last year was originally planted in my semi-shady garden but it was too close to the birdfeeder. When it tried to bloom this year, the squirrels munched the flower stalk. I've moved it to the other side of the mum in the above picture.


Around the side of the house, I planted the clematis to climb a hook for one of my hanging baskets.



There are asters and a rosebush to keep its roots nice and shady.

Then it was time to tackle this:



That's my border along the Ugly Green Fence. It got completely out of control this year. First the Canterbury Bells that wouldn't die and shaded out the annuals and then the Rudbeckia took over. I'm taking it a section at a time, weeding and trimming. The lawn is a mess because my mower died a few weeks ago. I didn't bother replacing it because I figured the weather would get cold and the grass would stop growing. Who knew we were going to have the warmest October on record and the grass would grow like it was spring?

In this border, I cleaned out a section, planted my new iris, moved my Baboon's Bottom iris to the same section where it will get more light and hopefully actually bloom. While I was at it, I moved an iris that was half in and half out of the Hyacinth Bean tepee. I don't know if I'm going to try another tepee, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to move it just in case.

By the way, does anyone know how to tell when hyacinth beans are ripe? I would like to save seed from the few vines that grew but I don't know when to harvest the pods.