random thoughts – Day 1,148 – (Tuesday) – flower front

Surprise Columbine!

For several years I have gotten myself all torqued up over some Columbine plants my sister gave me that were planted in the yard near the lilac which also came from her. There were problems with flowers being eaten leaving empty stems, but last year, the flowers made it to bloom. It was great. There have been groundhogs in the space who were blamed (by me), and today, a black cat was walking through the area. Who know what else wanders through there.

After mowing the lawn and pulling weeds the other day, I noticed something growing against the house. It had familiar looking non-dandelion leaves, tall stems, and purple buds. Today, the buds are more defined and it's a Columbine! 

The random plant is bigger than any that were deliberately planted have ever grown, so maybe the sunlight is better or the animal traffic is lighter in that spot. How it got across the yard and over by the house is a big mystery. Now I’m wondering how many of these may have pulled out without realizing they were the same flower being agonized over in the planted area across the yard. there will also be some agonizing over how to transplant the flower against the foundation.

More lilac blooms than ever.

The lily of the valley plants are advancing from under the lilac and into the backyard lawn. Previously, the approach was to just move the flower bed edging out and expand the flower bed to accommodate. The lilac has more blooms than ever, so maybe the trim it was given last year helped. 

Out front, the purple violets are creeping under the fence to the narrow space of dirt with intermittent weeds along the driveway. The violets are preferable to the straggly stuff, so hopefully they win the land battle.

This could be fun to watch and tricky to avoid mowing by accident.