Field Pussy Toes

Yep, I said Field Pussy Toes (Antennaria.)
Notice the pretty, silvery spot on the ground in the picture to the left? We have them in a couple of places around our yard and in the Spring they send up little flowers. I discovered their name online last year, but haven't been able to learn much else.

As bad as thepicture below is, hopefully it will at least illustrate why they got their name. I promise, I'll get a new camera one day...

Here's what I know:

They're considered either a wildflower or a weed depending on your point of view. I like them!

Some varieties are sold in nurseries. There's a pretty rosy variety; unfortunately ours isn't one of those.

They like full sun and well-drained, dry soil.

Is?/was? a medicinal herb. It looks like it was some kind of mood enhancer a long time ago and is now part of some herbal remedies.

Weeds-(written, but never posted from last Fall)

I have a fascination with weeds. Not so much known ones like pachysandra, liriope and the insiduous one from my front bed, but the unknow variety that could turn out to be something good. Of course, they rarely do, but I still can't keep myself from waiting a while to see what it will become. Of course, this Spring that meant a weed that threw seeds at me everytime I pulled it--you've got to admire the ingeniousness of it, don't you? The lesson there was o pull them BEFORE they set seed. There's one in my kitchen garden now that has pretty flowers and threatening leaves; I think you'll agree it's pretty amazing.

So much for organic

Remember these? The insiduous weed that develops huge thorns located in my front bed? What I failed to menti0n previously was that while trying to remove these roots and all, I discovered a huge trunk complete with roots that had been buried with an inch or two of soil right in the middle of the bed! The weeds are either suckers from this trunk or their roots are tucked under the trunk roots; I can't figure it out. I have cut them back several times and covered them with several inches of mulch and they keep re-growing. I could keep fighting this battle or pull out the bottle of Weed-B-Gone my father had given me. I chose the latter. Of course, this meant pulling back the mulch and the dirt to expose the stems as much as possible before cutting them back. I now have to leave them in the open for several days meaning I have several large "holes" in my garden. Wish me luck that the poison was worth it!

What I've done so far...the front bed

What was there: old hollies and boxwood, stereotypically overgrown, two very unhappy looking azaleas, some liriope, a crepe myrtle surrounded by bright green, perfectly mounding boxwoods and a yucca.

1. We trimmed down the hollies and boxwood so they weren't blocking the windows, and cut them back so they weren't crowding each other so much. This job has been repeated twice, most recently in the Spring; you can see how long that lasted!

2. We weeded the bed and add the thickest, ugliest, mulch I could find. It didn't work! Since then, this Spring I finished the 4th major weed in less than a year. This time I put down layers of newspapers and covered the area with a 4'' layer of mulch. Guess what? Liriope volunteers and a particularly heinous weed have returned despite my efforts! That's it to the left--anyone have any ideas? It gets 2-3'' long thorns and never flowers (last year I thought it might be a yet unidentified plant so I left it.) As dismaying as it is though, it's nothing compared to the way it was!

3. I moved the variegated liriope which, having been set 18''-24'' back from the sidewalk, allowed lots of crabgrass to grow in front, right up next to the walk. I'm looking forward to it cascading; it's almost there.

4. In between the liriope I've alternated Coreopsis 'Golden Showers' and Geranium 'New Hampshire.'

5. In front of the garage and some of the old boxwood and hollies I planted several Caryopteris x clandonensis 'Longwood Blue.'

6. At the end of the house, before the garage there is a "dry creek bed" except no water ever goes through it. The only thing that ever happens is that insiduous weeds get between the rocks. I've planted some succulents (some sedum, ice plant, hens and chicks) in between so the weeds have some competition. They seem happy, but it could use some more.

Future thoughts: Fill in bare spaces as much as possible! I'd like a yellow fall blooming plant for between the caryopteris and the lirope/coreopsis/geranium front. Move, okay compost, they yucca in the front and replace it with a boxwood like the ones around the crape myrtle that is inexplicably planted on the far back corner of the house. I suspect it was leftover.