Changes is afoot

C'est dommage!  That's what I tell myself in May when what I planted in September is killed off by brutal winter weather - and what appears  to have been frost heaves, even though they didn't seem possible this winter.  The Gaura linaheimeri 'stratosphere white' that I placed as a focal point plant in my pastel bed did not disappoint the pessimist in me - it died.  I have had limited success with gaura in the past; they sometimes overwinter, but eventually, they give up the ghost.

My asters died too.  I keep hoping that they will be happy in my garden - but they seem to want no part of it.  The only asters that thrive are the plain Jane natives, tucked away in a dark corner. 

I've lost my windflowers Anemone 'September Charm'.  I may try one of these in the shady section of my border.  As I wrote in an earlier post, they get big.  I  hope this plant works out - it is good in the shade, has attractive flowers and leaves, and blooms late (especially good in the shade, as most of the common shade flowers peak in early summer.)

I am pretty sure that I lost my Yellow Waxbells Kirengeshoma palmata, although something is growing there - I am just not sure what. 

One of the reasons for my insouciance for all of this loss is that I have a consciously designed garden (unlike, say, a cottage garden).  Every spot has a purpose, which makes fixing last year's failures a little easier.  After the initial disappointment and shedding of a tear or two, I get to work filling in the empty space.

A few days ago I filled in all of the gaps created  by the recently departed gaura, aster, pincushion flower, and one or two delphinium..  From left to right in the front row I have the always hardy festuca, followed by three recently planted shasta daisies Leucanthemum 'White breeze', and three lavender plants (they are finally happy - be patient with them.)

In what may be called row 1-B, I have magenta cranesbill geranium.  These spread, but are easily kept in check.  They bloom profusely for about a month in early summer.  Cut them back aggressively after they bloom and you will get a second, albeit less impressive, flowering.
 
In the next row, left to right, three plants that I will have to wait on to determine what they are!.  Next are two chrysanthemum Ajania 'Silver and gold' (fall bloomers), and three Knautia macedonica 'Thunder and lightning (reddish purple flowers - should go well with the chrysanthemum.)

In the back row are scilla (a bulb, the most spectacular blue I have ever seen), poppies, delphinium and lady's mantle.  The poppies and scilla bloom early.  The lady's mantle has a chartreuse flower and spreads - which is why it is in the back.  I am happy that one of my delphinium survived the winter - they tend not to overwinter well in my garden.

Because we had a truly hard, long winter, everything appeared late.  If you have been following my blog since the beginning, you know that my favorite plant is asclepias tuberosa.  The flowers are the most gorgeous orange, they attract butterflies, and they thrive under my Japanese maple.  However, they appear really late, even in a normal Spring,  I am always careful when doing my first clean-up in March or April  not to disturb the area where these plants live.  I was getting worried, though, because as of May 1, I still had not seen any growth.

Voila!  (my last French word in this post, I promise), I recently spied two asclepias  tuberosa plants emerging through the dirt.  And here is a picture, in the event that you decide to treat yourself to this plant, and wonder where the heck it is, and what it looks like, next spring.