Freedom from 'rattiness'

Happy 4th of July!

This morning I headed toward the rain garden with scissors in hand. I had two items on my lengthy To-Do List that I planned on knocking off. First to the Acquilegia canadensis (wild columbine) to trim the browning seed stalks, all that's left from this springs beautiful blooms. After cutting, I tucked them into a plastic grocery bag to take with me to The King's Daughters Inn so that I can sprinkle little brown seeds throughout their rain garden. The wild columbine is somewhat difficult to find but is well worth the search as it is a lovely plant, grows easily and puts up with very dry conditions.

My second chore was to 'liberate' the Tradescantia virginiana (spiderwort) from its ratty look. I'm being kind when I say it looked ratty. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed it during its glory days in April when it produced hundreds of royal purple blossoms that looked absolutely great beside the red of the wild columbine. Now, the first of July, it has declined in appearance to a point that makes me winch when I walk past the rain garden. I moved it last fall to a position farther back in the garden, anticipating this transition to the forlorn. I had intended to let it go until all the shoots had yellowed completely before cutting it back. There was still some green in the stems but I couldn't take it anymore. So the compost heap received an 'offering' today. The ratty spiderwort is adding greens to the pile. I'll dump the sweet corn husks on top of it later today when I start our 4th backyard cookout and then it will be forgotten until next spring when it again takes its place as the prettiest April flower in the rain garden.