On the verge

What a difference from last year, when the front yard was recovering from the disruption of a sewer pipe replacement. The plants I dug up and replanted last year seem very happy. Many are either starting to bloom or are on the verge.

 Last year I had planted three Liatris spicata after the yard was put back together. Shortly after, I came out to find that all three had been beheaded by some miscreant animal just as they were starting to develop a bloom. This year I'm delighted to see that the plants, (the spiky group on the left side of the photo with the skinny lance-like leaves), have not only returned with vigor but have multiplied. Less delicate and tender than last year, I'm hoping they will be less appealing to munchers.

One loss this year was of my Columbine, which had maintained itself nicely for years in the front bed. This year only a very few of these showed up. Yesterday I planted two in the light shade of a boulder close to the driveway. Hopefully they will thrive and spread themselves around in coming years.

In my last blog post I talked about my "fern nursery" and how I like to transplant the early knobs of ferns into various parts of the yard. Yesterday I tried transplanting a couple of much larger ferns that I feared were becoming too abundant in the vicinity of my Trillium luteum. They seem perfectly happy in a spot just opposite the front door, an area that has been relatively bare.