Garden Refresh: Impatiens, Veronica, and Russian Sage

It’s that time of year where the garden can easily go through a lull of blooms. I let some carrot go to flower (the big fluffy white umbrellas to the right), and these have reduced my need to pluck off the green caterpillars munching on my collards and kale. Umbels like carrots, flowering parsley, and coriander/cilantro (also tucked in there) attract predatory wasps that eat the wormie dudes.

Years ago, I ordered a “60 Days of Lilies” package to carry me through this time, and tickseed offers yellow stars that would take over any area if I let them.

Still, I’ve noticed some garden holes that would have become more apparent once I harvest garlic and once the magenta yarrow and white daisies die down. What’s a CPL to do?! (CPL=Crazy Plant Lady.)

The answer, of course, is to walk to the nearest garden center and see what’s blooming. Momma Jane always grew shade-loving impatiens on her porch or balcony, and she helped me pick out some pink ones in the clearance section. I clearly heard her in my head, advising which eight-pack looked hardy enough to continue blooming in my shady spots:

Since I was already there, I picked up some additional Stella Oro daylilies to add to a pot of chives next to the garden sage gone wild. The new ones aren’t blooming yet, but they will eventually look like this pot of yellow next to the lavender:

One of the larger beds up front needed a new anchor plant since I removed the “Blue Kazoo spirea,” which seemed very unhappy next to chives. I planted the whole bed with garlic, which I will soon remove. I didn’t know what to add there, but it turned out to be Russian sage:

It looks tiny and delicate now, but if all goes well, the Russian sage will grow 36-48″ tall and two feet wide, making it a focal point in front of the holly and also a nice window view from inside the house. That “reblooming iris” in the ground behind the sage needs to be moved by the mailbox where it will get all day sun. It’s supposed to bloom twice per season, and I’ve only gotten one bloom from it in five years in that location. The Russian sage won’t love this spot either, but I hope that keeps it manageable. In a full sun spot, it could easily take over the entire bed.

Now, we move onto to one of my favorite flowers: Veronica! I love the name but also the spiky form. Yesterday’s selection matches the impatiens:

You can see it here next to a volunteer borage (left), some Red Russian kale (which actually has purple stems), a newly transplanted basil, and the edge of a dwarf tomato plant. I’ve grown purple and white Veronica before, but somewhere along the way, those perennials stopped coming back. Also called “speedwell,” Veronica adds such fun texture and form to a cottage garden.

And this is, indeed, a cottage garden with lots of veggies and herbs tucked among the flowers. In the right conditions, eggplant makes a lovely ornamental!

It’s still a very low key garden this year, but I love the recent upgrades and the wabi sabi ordered chaos:

Out back, the red hot pokers (actually orange) and orange daylilies honor my half-Dutch hubby’s favorite color and the Netherlands:

That little bed in the center has a borage seedling and (hopefully) some okra and nasturtiums to come. If not, I’ll just let the neighboring plants camouflage the empy bed. The back garden is extra carefree this year.

Happy Friday! How grows your garden?