Here’s what’s going on out in the garden these days:

The hydrangea is nice and all.

But isn’t it that much better when viewed through the Andropogon (Big Bluestem) ‘Red October’?

Speaking of the oh so wonderful ornamental grass, ‘Karl Foerster’ is in full bloom and is a solid vertical accent in numerous spots throughout my garden.

True story, two years ago in a fit of rage, I heaved my three “dead” Spirea ‘Anthony Waterer’ into my woods after they seemed to have bitten it over the winter. Not one of my absolute faves, but a solid performer that was always ignored by the deer. Three more damn holes to fill in.

Flash forward to this spring and I spotted one of the “dead” Spirea looking all awesome in the middle of my woods. I could see pink flowers blooming amongst the brush.

Typical. Show it disinterest and it thrives.

Not one to dismiss a shrub that appears to be competent, I jumped into the tick infested woods and gave this guy another chance. If at first you don’t succeed …

So far so good.

And I swear to you, another alive and well Spirea has been spotted and I’ll be grabbing that one too. Maybe I have some sort of magical forest with healing powers? Maybe the ticks brought it back to life and we can now understand their real purpose. Time to chuck some other under performers in there and test it out.

What a difference even a week or two makes.

I was on top of removing the spent flowers on the Lady’s Mantle, Amsonia ‘Blue Ice’ and Penstemon ‘Husker’s Red’ in hopes of keeping up their appearance as we jump into summer. A definite lesson from seasons past.

The Astilbes are all in bloom.

First Bee Balm bloom of the year

With oodles to follow.

Seriously, there is no bigger bloomer in my garden than Monarda. It has spread everywhere and I friggin love it. Just wait until I show you in the next few weeks.

First Coneflower bloom.

Meh.

Some Veronica I got on the cheap from Lowe’s and have no idea if I like it or not.

Achillea ‘Pink Grapefruit’ has arrived.

A Bellflower (I think) that is EVERYWHERE and I don’t have the energy to remove it. Although with the thick carpet, it is suppressing the weeds beautifully.

And I’ll leave you with yet another TV show idea that I’ll regret not having pursued.

Have you ever watched Chopped on Food Network? Contestants are given various ingredients with which to pull together and create some semblance of a meal. I’m talking like watermelon, salmon and crushed peppermint. A real challenge to present something edible but the amateur chefs always manage to pull it off.

What if we tried the same with plants that weren’t the least bit compatible? It could work, right?

The idea came to me when I attempted to put together the container below.

I had a collection of annuals given to me by an uncle and I tried to make the best of it. We’ll see how it turns out, I’m not exactly a container gardening expert.

Are you with me? Would you watch that show?