Saving Susans

Black-eyed Susans that is. 3 or 4 years ago, I started some Black-eyed Susans/Rudbeckia from seed. They make great companion plants for daylilies because the form is a nice contrast and around here they bloom for about 2 months, so you get a lot of bang for the buck. And they are yellow orange which is always a bonus in my book. I took this shot in August 2004 which was the second year for the first part of the front garden. See how nicely behaved that Rudbeckia is? All nice and neat and keeping itself right where I planted it. [I took this photo with my first digital camera – a Sony Mavica 1.3 mega-pixel that used floppy disks. It was roughly the size of a 1967 VW bug]Not anymore. I have rudbeckia coming out my ears and because we have had so much rain this summer, it is not only growing like crazy, it is crowding everything and cutting back on air circulation which is not good for a garden.So, while it goes against my flower loving and cheap soul to pull up free plants, they have got to go. And if you are a gardener, you might recognize the other invasive bully in the above photo – Japanese anemone. It too must be thinned out. But I decided that just throwing these plants away was not something I could do. Our entire property sits lower than the road, which means we have a short but steep bank that is the bane of my existence. I will dig up these unruly plant children of mine and see if they can out-invade the weeds that insist on growing on the bank.The plants are all intermingled with grass that has crept into the edge of that bed though.I commandeered the front birdbath to give them a soak, so the grass would separate out more easily. I went inside for a turkey and black bean burrito and a glass of iced tea and after lunch, the grass pulled right out. I just don’t have a lot of time to devote to the planting portion of this project. I yanked out most of the weeds and gave each plant a good dose of our compost plus some Miracle Grow to help with transplant shock. [What could be more shocking that being gouged from the earth, plunged into a icy bath, mangled about to be separated from the buddies you have been growing so nicely alongside and then plunked into an inhospitable location? I think I better go give them some more] It is a sink or swim proposition for them though, because I have done all I can for them. Come back next summer to see if they won the battle. See? All nice and neat. The daylilies breathed a huge sigh of relief.And I washed out the bird bath. I don’t need dirty birds – my neighbors have enough to talk about.I didn’t dig them all out of course – there are still plenty of them left to brighten up the rest of my summer!
Don’t forget to check out the Flower of the Day up on the left. Have a great Friday!