Good morning from the garden!

Do you remember back in spring 2025 after what I’m now calling ‘the bad winter’, I had a section of garden that just simply died out completely?

I’d had a gorgeous Sun King Aralia in that spot, here it is the summer before the ‘bad winter’ …

I also had several hostas and a white astilbe that didn’t make it through that year.

As I’ve mentioned, probably too many times, that winter was particularly hard on plants due to lack of snow cover.  Nonetheless, I’d never had a complete area die out like that before.  And why that spot?  It’s up close to the house, so that should have protected it.  Areas on either side of it were fine.  I guess I’ll never know.

Last summer I replanted the area with another Sun King Aralia (a.k.a. Japanese Spikenard).

I also added in a couple of Younique Ruby Red astilbe, some white fernleaf bleeding heart and a hosta that my neighbor nnK’s mom shared with me (thanks again for that Judy).  I also filled out the area with some Impatiens since the perennials take a couple of years to fill in.

Now here we are another year later …

Everything came back again just fine except for the bleeding heart.

The Sun King has absolutely flourished, as have those gorgeous astilbe.

They are the prettiest shade of pink.

I may have to move them a bit though because they are being taken over by the Sun King.

This year I decided to add in some white impatiens rather than the hot pink from last year.  White is more my style, although I realize that many of you may prefer the more vibrant colors.

This is also where I planted the Brunnera plugs that I purchased at Dragonfly Gardens this spring.

I absolutely love the way Brunnera looks when it’s in bloom in early spring …

Hint, it’s the blue flower in the lower right.

Plus, once the flowers are gone the foliage of the plant can be quite attractive for the rest of the summer too.

But I haven’t quite found the spot in my garden where it will really flourish.  According to the web it likes partial to full shade with protection from hot afternoon sun.  It also requires consistently moist, well-drained, and nutrient-rich soil.  The spot shown above is in full shade up until around 4 pm when the hot afternoon sun hits it hard.  In addition, this spot dries out really quickly … so not consistently moist.

That’s two strikes against it.  I have been able to keep the Brunnera alive there, but it’s not thriving.

This new spot is next to my fountain, which does splash quite a bit so the soil is definitely consistently moist (which is probably why the fernleaf bleeding heart died off).  It’s also on the east side of the house so it gets some early morning sun, but then is in full shade for the afternoon.

I’ve also planted some more Brunnera under the kitchen window.

This spot also faces east, getting morning sun but afternoon shade.  It’s not quite as moist though.

I’m looking forward to seeing whether or not either of these locations is more ideal for Brunnera.  Stay tuned on that.

In the meantime, I’m happy to say that the dead zone has come fully back to life.  It’s a good reminder that gardens are always changing and you just have to roll with the punches.