High humidity and building heat sent us into the shade this morning seeking a somewhat comfortable place to work. Gathering moss covered stones from the wildly overgrown border area seemed like a good idea. Rain forest like moisture dripped from plant leaves making the uneven ground slippery. Caution prevailed and a load of stones was gathered without incident.
Planting this area will be a totally new experience for us. A trip to the back woods in search of natural soil will provide some of the raw materials for the soil that will fill this island. If we complete that task ahead of winter's arrival, we will have a clear area ready to receive native plants next spring. Usually our habit is to frantically prepare a planting spot for the generous load of new purchases bought with little idea of just where they will set out.
This Ruby Spice Summer Sweet may be given a home in the foreground narrow tip seen in the first photo. Calling it a native plant might be viewed as questionable since pure white flowers cover the wild form of Summer Sweet. Both carry the overwhelmingly pleasant aroma that caused this plant to appear here now in several different locations. The real drawback to placing Summer Sweet on Moss Island is its size. A vigorously spreading bush that grows to five feet high will in time overrun this relatively small planting bed. Individual stalks can be pruned without harm to the plant to control its spread but so far we have been unable to cut away parts of such a beautiful plant. One of the entrances to our stone square has been totally closed by this pink beauty and still it remains uncut.
Last night's rain pulled this growth up out of the mulch path just beyond the right distant tip of the bed in the first picture. As fragile as they look, these will be broken and torn by lunch time. Pure luck allowed us to see this short lived beauty today.
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