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| Ugh . . . . |
Everything looks bad after too much rain but most things will recover.
The Chocolate Chip bugleweed at the corner of the front portal does not look like it will.
There is not a sign of greenery or any life at all. One lone tiny blue bloom was sticking up, but now it's gone.
These have struggled, and over the first years I moved them about, finally settling on having them all in a small arc right at this corner. I water and fertilize them.
They should show something by now, approaching mid May. In prior years they were lovely by this time, although the blooms did not last very long.
But they were eye catching at ground level.
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| In 2021 and 2023, the first and second weeks of May |
Over the years they have spread to form a dense mat, but after blooming briefly the foliage never turns the rich green they were originally. They are sort of just there.
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| Will it recover? |
Update: in summer much of the patch -- not all -- came back, greened up and even produced a few tiny stems of blue flowers.
It lives. They do have tough, hardy roots.I increasingly think it was lack of winter water. The patch next to it of Husker's Red penstemons came up and flowered, but looked so small and paltry. It too did not thrive, but lives.
In 2026 I'll need to keep both the ajuga and the nearby penstemons watered through winter, then wait to see what they look like when they come in.
Or . . maybe take them out if they aren't robust enough to survive well. I'll miss the ajuga, such a beautiful plant in earlier years.
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| In past years |
And another failure -- the pretty blueberry in the white pot by the kitchen door looks terrible. It is still early spring, but there is no leafing out at all.
In prior years it flowered in late April and was beautifully leafed out in May and June. It was becoming an elegantly structured, nicely green plant to fit that spot.
It looked nice in summer and even lovely in winter when it turned a frosty mahogany.
I think it is gone this year.