Why I Oughta...

The little colony of Epimedium - which I have hoped would take off, but never have....is once again flowering with their little yellow "jester hat" flowers.  They are pretty neat.  They flowered like this in 2024 (and maybe last year?).   Below are a couple photos showing this groundcover in bloom in the shade.   I was hoping they'd fill-in some of this space, but they mostly just persist, in their existing footprint.  Maybe I haven't planted them close-enough together?  Nothing a little "stream" of sedges can't fix, right? 

Planted in our backyard, in the new pizza oven bed is a dahlia that is new (to me):  Mystery Fox .  It is a Ball Dahlia and it is moving ahead of most of the other dahlias in our garden with the first few blooms opened up and more on their way.   Below is a look at the blooms in stages - closer to being cut vs just opening up.   The bottom photo shows the full plant - staked and filled with yellow-ish buds.  These were part of the Winter order this past off-season and this is the first time I'm growing them.  I've planted two sets of tubers - one in front and one in back.   The 'early blooming' is a (nice) surprise to me, but it shouldn't have been. The description of these dahlias lays it out : Each plant produces blossoms in a range of hues, from terracotta to coral and dusky rose. The 3 to 4" ball-style flowers are incredibly long lasting on the plant as well as in a vase. Zundert Mystery Fox starts blooming early in the season and ...