Stella d'Oro - Maybe not so hateful afterall

So, I hate my day lilies. The Stella d'Oros. The ones that everyone and his brother has used at the entrance to anything. They are everywhere. I started off with about 4 nice sized plants 6 years ago and now I have about 25. I have discovered, however, that I don't find them quite so hateful when they are all out of focus and blurry in a picture. And I could lift them with success to cover up a lot of dirt in that new bed.

Oh yeah. Lavandula angustifolia is in bloom. Gotta love lavender.

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Tradescantia L. - Spiderwort Rocks

My Spiderwort is about to come into bloom.  I'm behind, as I noticed that others have been blooming for a week.  But I have it in a partially shady spot, so no complaints.  They are just too cool, and I tend to think that no woodland or woodland-ish garden is complete without them.

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Magnolia X soulangeana

I'm not sure just what it is about this picture, because the composition kind of bites, but there's something about the light that really does it for me. I took it on the kind of day where the sun is just about to go down and the sky is dark and gray, right when the clouds part and suddenly everything the light hits has an orange glow. Just about at the perfect time. Maybe it is because there's so much light going through the petals... it almost seems like there are two light sources.

I have always called these tulip trees, but now that it has leafed out I took a look at the leaves and they aren't the right shape, so I figured it must be a magnolia. Surprisingly, after looking it up it is commonly known as a tulip magnolia, so I guess I wasn't all that wrong.

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Alchemilla vulgaris

The Lady's Mantle is about to come into full bloom. If I were ranking plants, this one would be close to the top of the list. I'm not sure exactly why that is. It could have a lot to do with the color, which is just about the perfect foil to the Japanese Maples. The flowers themselves are unspectacular, almost bordering on ugly, but their chartreuse color combined with the soft, blue green tint of the foliage in the shadows makes me go mmmmmm. Equally mmmmmm inducing is the unparalleled way water droplets collect on the hairy leaves. AND!!! They are self-sowing. Finally. Six years = about freakin' time.

This, I think, is the beginning of the week or so when the garden is at its best, before the dreaded Stella d'Oros become my nemesis. Oh, how I hate those f*$%@#s. They have their virtues... the grassy foliage is among my favorite, but the color of the flowers is lame. Some day they will all end up on the compost heap. Or exiled across the bridge to the back backyard. Or with their stems cut off right before their fleshy, make-me-want-to-puke-orange, in need of daily deadheading flowers begin to open, turning my garden into something that resembles the entrance landscaping of a Shell station.

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