The Perks of Pulling Weeds

One hidden blessing of the never-ending task of pulling weeds is the beauty you see more clearly when you’re on your knees. The beauty of this daylily is just one of many colorful examples in my garden today.

Speaking of pulling weeds…my battle with creeping bellflower continues and will likely never end. I found a colony lurking behind the bushes lining our northern most property boundary. This wicked bit of beauty stretched almost as tall as me in its quest to reach for the sun as it claimed yet another patch of my garden. The almost perfect circularity of this patch bears evidence that a 5-gallon bucket of previously pulled Campanula Rapunculoides was very likely dumped in this spot a season or two ago. [Note to self: get rid of invasives promptly and properly so that they aren’t mistakenly dumped or composted by other helpful gardeners who live here.]

I will never win this war, but I keep trying.

Nutsedge, quackgrass and sedge all persistently try to disguise themselves as daylily leaves in my flowerbeds. Pulling them is only a temporary fix, but as I knelt down to pull persistent grassy weeds from my deck-side flowerbed, I was reminded of another task on my garden to-do list. I keep meaning to divide this floriferous charmer so I can share splashes of its perfectly coral peachy-ness in other areas of our yard. Isn’t it a beauty?

I give full credit for this plant to my Milwaukee neighbor-lady, Adelle. She was an extraordinary gardener and watercolor artist whose eye for pairing perennials and annuals was nothing short of amazing. We had lots of over-the-fence chats as she puttered about in her fence-side flowerbeds. One day, she took her trowel and scooped out a little digging of a plant I often admired. Nestled in her garden-gloved hands, she transferred that plant into my own bare hands, and a baby gardener was born. When we moved from Milwaukee to Fitchburg, I took a digging of this plant along with me. It’s called purple loosestrife, and the Wisconsin DNR would prefer that I not grow it. It’s considered an invasive plant in our state. You see it along waterways, vying for nutrients, and has the potential for crowding out native plants. I just love it though–and so do the bees and butterflies. So, I continue to allow my one plant tucked away in my backyard to grow, but keep an eye on its purple spike-like flowers, snipping them off as they fade and before they go to seed. It is also known to send out plants via the roots, however, my plant has remained one plant for 23 years, so I’m not too worried about that.

I had hoped to transform the flowerbed that runs along the east side of our house into something truly special this summer. It has a crazy amount of ill-behaved Lamiastrum Galeobdolon, which goes by the common name of ‘Yellow Archangel’. While Wisconsin’s DNR does not classify it as invasive (yet), it has certainly set up a stronghold in two of my flowerbeds.

Let’s end this post on a happy little note. I added this sweet little Columbine to my new flowerbed. Standing just 10-12″ tall, it reminds me of a demure Aquilegia ‘Cardinal’ in its coloration. It didn’t have a tag when I picked it up in the nursery, but it was in glorious bloom, so it snuck into my cart. Whatever cultivar it is, I especially love the fact that it is now reblooming just as happily as it was when it came home with me earlier this summer. Weeds are ganging up on me now due to the almost 4″ of much-needed rain we received last week. My neighbors on both sides of me have super-weedy yards, so it didn’t take long before this little beauty was surrounded by wood sorrel, making it difficult to view. Thankfully, wood sorrel is easily recognizable and easily pulled, so I happily uncovered this little garden treasure.

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An inescapable truth–if we have beautiful flowers, we’re gonna have to deal with obnoxious weeds. I’m always delighted when someone stops by my garden for a little visit, so thanks for hanging out with me as I pulled weeds today. That’s my six for this virtual “Six on Saturday” peek at what’s happening in my Wisconsin garden. If you’d like to see more beautiful garden spaces, pop on over for a virtual visit with our host Jim at Garden Ruminations–where you’ll find his blog post and comment section to be a most pleasant pastime (I love his gorgeous pineapple lilies!).