 | It's a brand-new dance/We're bringin' it back (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) ms_xeno) wrote,
@ 2008-04-12 10:20:00 |
Lungwort & Windflowers
No, it's not the name of a bemused and foot-tapping accountancy firm. Though it should be, since we just had to file for an extension. Now I'll never get my toy surprise from the bottom of Daddy Shrub's big cereal box. It's so unfair.
The spot-leafed, blue-flowered plant in the front is lungwort, otherwise known as Pulmonaria. This plant loves shade more than anything, and the lot which holds Chez Xeno-Varro is basically a giant revolving patch of partial to full shade. Ergo: I love this plant more than just about anything. Which is why I have squandered dollar after dollar on giant cans of cheap beer to keep the slugs off of it. (You can see one of my famous patented slug traps in the upper left corner of the photo.) More on the beer and on the containers which once held Nancy's [tm] yogurt* than on the original plants, probably. The leaves are furry besides being spotted, and they get quite large after the blooms (each a bit smaller around than a dime) wither and fall. Then the blooms return in mid or late summer and bring scores of bees, despite the plant having no detectable smell to us humans.
The white daisy-like flowers are Greek Windflowers, aka Anemone Blanda. They open and close in sync with the sun, which I didn't know when I bought them. The pink stuff in the background is "festival" hyacinth. You may disagree, but I don't know of anything in this world that smells better than hyacinth. Not roses nor lily-of-the-valley, not fresh hot coffee nor fresh hot bread. Nope. Nothing. I weeded the entire strip of perennials around the house last Sunday just so I'd have an excuse to be within nose-length of the hyacinths.
All told, the garden is doing an incredible job considering my utter neglect of it last year. I just counted four baby buds on the strongest of the peony plants. No bad deed goes unrewarded. Write that down.
*Not a paid endorsement
