Garden: The Plant Merry-Go-Round

Is it Fall yet?  I don't know...it FEELS like Fall...it COULD be Fall...some of the plants are going into "Fall mode"...my brain is going into "Fall mode".  Although I designed my garden around plants that bloom together in late Summer and early Fall (and some of them are just now coming into bloom), the record-breaking heat and drought of Summer really took a toll on my enjoyment of that season and last week's unseasonal heavy rains and high winds seemed to close the door on it.  Recently, I've been taking the gardener's walk around the garden--thinking about what worked, what failed, and what could be improved next year.  And, as all gardeners know, this ends up being a plant merry-go-round--this goes here...but then, that moves there...and the other thing...I don't know, maybe I'll put it somewhere in the back...or in the green waste bin... 

Here are some of the plants currently riding the merry-go-round:

First up is the purple Actaea (Cimicifuga) seen in this picture taken during mid-Summer.  I like the Actaea very much when viewed from this position--its ferny foliage is interesting and (I think) blends with its neighbors in interesting ways.  But it lacks boldness and bulk when viewed from the street.  Earlier this Summer, I planted a second Actaea into a small gap behind the first in order to thicken it up and give it the density I feel it lacks.  But then...

Mid-Summer photo of the front garden showing Actaea, barberry, and C. brachytricha (among others).

...then I started thinking that, maybe, I just need to yank them out and replace them with these Ageratina altissima (used to be Eupatorium rugosum) "Chocolate" from the back yard.  

Back garden showing Ageratina altissima "Chocolate", Darmera (and others).

The A. altissima "Chocolate" might be a better match for the weight of the Eutrochium (Eupatorium) dubium "Phantom" that's on the other side of the corner (out front).  When I am standing on the sidewalk in front of our house, I always think I should make this change. I am sure of it.  But when I climb the stairs and view the garden up close, I think I will prefer to leave it as-is.    Enjoyment of the composition from far away, or enjoyment of detail when viewed closer-up--I am not sure there is a "right" answer.  I have the niggling suspicion that a better design would accommodate both.

Ageratina altissima "Chocolate" is also riding the plant merry-go-round.  Whether or not it is a better choice than the Actaea in the front garden, I'm also considering whether or not the back garden planting would be be improved by removing it and replacing with another Darmera.  I think so.  Readers are welcome to weigh-in on this and all other proposed plant swaps.

Back out front,   I plan to swap the small, mounded purple barberry with the grass planted just to the left of it.  The grass is a young Calamagrostis brachytricha.  That will be an easy swap and I'm pretty sure it is the right thing to do.

A pretty combo--Eutrochium (Eupatorium) "Phantom" and C. brachytricha.

While on the subject of grasses, I have a few others that might be riding the merry-go-round.  This time, I do not have to shoulder the blame for poor plant selection.  This photo (below) is taken from the street.  I just re-planted the foreground (rockery) portion--it used to be a monoculture of Sesleria caerulea.  The grasses in front are Pennisetum "Little Bunny".  The grasses in the main garden, behind, are Pennisetum "Hameln" that have been moved from place to place for about five or six years.  At least, I always THOUGHT that they were "Hameln" because that is how they were identified when I bought them.  However, this year, two of them became congested in the center and I chose to replace them with new plants.  The new plants quickly grew taller and more open than did the existing plants and the blooms stretched far above the mound of foliage.  Clearly, they perform differently than do my existing "Hameln" plants.  Then, I bought Pennisetum "Little Bunny" for the newly planted rockery.  I was looking for a plant similar to "Hameln" but smaller.  The new "Little Bunny" perform EXACTLY as do the existing "Hameln"--they are smaller than the new "Hameln" and the blooms stay lower and are buried in the foliage instead of growing tall above it.  It kinda makes me wonder if the original "Hameln" plants weren't "Little Bunny" all along.  And it makes me wonder if I need to yank out the new plants in the main garden and replace them with "Little Bunny".  "Little Bunny" fits the space I'd allowed based on my original plants' proven performance.   Hmmm.....

Front garden and rockery garden at the street.

View across the entry path to the main part of the front garden.  There are two taller "Hameln" in there as well as three of the more compact ones.  Also, two young Calamagrostis brachytricha and the nearly invisible Actaea.

And, in another case of mistaken identity...  Years ago, when I first bought Japanese anemones for the garden, I chose "Honorine Jobert" because I wanted single flowers and a slightly taller plant.  Lo and behold, when they flowered they proved to be "Whirlwind" instead.  As time has passed, I continued to buy "Whirlwind" because I wanted all the plants to match. 

Anemone "Whirlwind".

This year, I removed some plants from the garden bed to the right of the entry path and replaced them with more newly purchased "Whirlwind".  At least, that's what I thought.  When the new plants bloomed, they proved to be single-flowered "Honorine Jobert".  How frustrating (and ironic) is that?!

So, those are some of the plants currently riding the merry-go-round.  And I've got some wholesale garden redesigning on the calendar as well.  I'll finish this post with another view of some of the plants in the newly planted rockery area, in front, near the sidewalk.

The plant list includes Sedum "Purple Emperor", Sedum "Matrona", Geranium "Broookside", Melica, Pennisetum "Little Bunny", Allium "Summer Beauty", and Calamintha nepetoides.