Pavement Gardening 3

Last Spring I did 2 posts about plants that grow between the limestone rocks that pave the paths in the garden. These are mostly rock garden plants or some slightly bigger plants used to edge the paths. The following are new rock garden plants that are blooming for the first time this year, or that were not included last year.  The first one is perhaps the prettiest, the Mount Atlas daisy (Anacyclus pyrethrum). The inside of the petals is white but the back is red. I grew it from seed and it is supposed to be hardy to zone 6 but seems quite happy in this zone 5 garden. Apparently it is not long-lived but self seeds.

Mount Atlas daisy

Pavement Gardening (2)

As I explained in a previous post, the paths in the garden are my version of a rock garden. Tucked in between the stones are small plants, some that survives foot traffic, and others that keep to the edges not to be trampled on. Mazus reptans is one of the tough plants that has been spreading nicely over the years.  I end the post with a mystery plant you can perhaps help me identify.

Mazus reptans spreading

Mazus reptans close-up

Large Mulleins

The larger cultivated mulleins are rather close to their wild cousins, and I suppose that is why they are not particularly popular. They look too much like what most people think of as a weed. In a way, they have to be treated as weeds to be successful. That is to say, they do not look good when they are too regimented.

Our Very Own Weeds

It is only when you have had more than one garden and have looked more closely at your friends’s gardens that you realize how specific to each garden weeds are. Of course there are weeds we all share, such as dandelions, but each garden has some weeds of its own. I have had two gardens, and the weeds were quite different in each of them.