Big Bee, Little Bee

The heat wave has finally broke and we are back to more seasonal (but still nice and warm) weather. There was a job I'd wanted to tackle over the holiday weekend, but with the heat, it was just not going to happen.

I had to get the Foxglove and Delphinium out of their pots and into the ground, if I want them to have their roots established enough to survive the winter. They were destined for the Bee Garden, but it wasn't as simple as just digging a hole and getting them in there.

I know some of you think I'm just fabulous at this gardening thing, but really, I'm just really good  digging, watering, and buying good soil... not much else. I'm mostly just lucky. What I'm really, really bad at, is planning.

You know those little notes they put on plants and seed packages that tell you how big the plant will get and how much room they need... yeah.... I have a really bad habit of not paying attention to those little notes...

As evidenced by my tomato jungle...

Maybe I should have spaced these a little further apart....

While the tomatoes are the worst of it, the Bee Garden wasn't in much better shape... It all fit so nicely in Spring...

Hard to believe this was only a season ago

But by July...

Welcome to the Jungle

The Susans and Daisies were taking over... the poor Columbine was starved for sun. By August it was even worse. Then the Echincea started coming in.. the Poppies were hidden, and the Heath and Lavender might never see the light of day again, and lets not talk about the even smaller Baby's Breath... there was definitely no room for the Foxglove or Delphiniums.

So, after work, I set to work. Since I don't get home until 7, it meant working in the dark (well, in the patio light) but  I dug a proper garden around the roses at the corner of the patio...

...in it went the Lavender, Poppies, Heath, Alpine Asters (which got broken up into several clumps), Armeria, and the Creeping Baby's Breath. All the plants that don't grow too tall) and it will now be known as the Little Bee Garden.

And if you question why this was so important, here's the proof...

The Lavender under the right arrow had enough room and light... the one on the left lived in constant shadow of the Susans... a HUGE difference in size and health.

And with those plants out of the Big Bee Garden, I was able to rearrange things...

Now the poor columbine will get some sun. Hopefully next year we'll see some blooms. It just didn't have a chance this year.

The Foxglove got a nice tidy home where some Daisies use to be (It's mostly gone to seed, but it looks like I will get a few more blooms on it this year... I absolutely adore this plant!)

The Delphinium was actually two separate plants in one pot, so one piece went on the end where the Heath use to be, and the other went on the other end.

 It's a nice mix of Black-Eyed Susans, Daisies, Echinacea, Mexican Hat, Columbine, Bachelor Buttons, Delphium, Foxglove and pink Sedum.

I'm sure there will be more rearranging and expanding next year, but for now the Big Bee Garden looks much more balanced, healthier and happier now.