Blue Fescue, Dusty Miller and Euonymus

We all want happy plants. But sometimes I think it would be good if they were a little less enthusiastic.

By early September last year (above), the Fescue (‘Elijah’s Blue’), Dusty Miller and Euonymus (‘Moonshadow’ and ‘Emerald Surprise’) packed the bed in rows of blue, grey, yellow. The dry summer seemed to agree with them. The parched lawn wore its usual dormant brown.

Now it’s time to get ready for a new season. Last year’s growth of Dusty Miller was cut this week. New grey leaves grow from the base.

I will also need to divide some of the Fescue to fill the holes of the grasses that didn’t make it through the winter.

I got a good start on trimming the Euonymus. The shrubs put on a lot of growth last year. I guess I should be happy with their enthusiasm since they have been victims of voles and scale in the past.

I’m looking forward to a bed full of happy plants again this summer.

The Circle

(Picture from September 2009)

I worked on the circle garden this week. (It’s actually more like a half circle.) I started the idea 10 years ago and wrote about it in 2007.

It is edged with brick and a row of blue fescue (Festuca glauca 'Elijah Blue'). Although the fescue is supposed to be a sun plant, I think it would keep its color better with a little shade from the hot summer sun. Every spring I comb it with my fingers to remove the old dry growth. The deep blue/green color is great this spring.

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A fluffy row of silvery Dusty Miller (Senecio cineraria ‘Silver Dust’) makes up the second row. It is an annual that acts like a perennial in my garden - even after a cold, snowy winter. The new leaves are showing through last year’s growth. I don’t cut the old leaves off too early in the spring. The birds think they like the soft new growth for their nests and sometimes rip the entire plant out of the ground. They look a little ratty right now.

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The third row is the yellow/green of Euonymus (Fortunei ‘Moonshadow’). It hasn’t completely filled in since I lost one to scale several years ago. I wrote about the problems with scale in August last year. The yellow/green is bright this spring.

I’m not sure I’m satisfied with the look but I’m too lazy to start over. Ten years and it’s still a work in progress.

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