Purple Coneflowers

We have a big crop of purple coneflowers near the church driveway. I tried to get a photo with the bees or butterflies, but they always moved. Click on any photo in this blog to see a larger image.

Club Luke Stepping Stones

When you look around the St. Luke gardens, you will find there are some things other than plants. The kids in Club Luke made a series of stepping stones. This was the first.



Each year the kids of Club Luke used different decorative items in their stones.



I particularly like the little hearts that edge this stone. Look for it on a garden path.

Easter Lillies Now

I think of these as Easter lillies, but they are blooming in our church garden now. The trumpets are quite big. Look for them near the redbud tree.

Yuccas in the Church Garden

Hi. I've been out of town. When I got back to the St. Luke gardens, I found that our yuccas had bloomed. Tall stacks are literally loaded with white blossoms. Our three clumps of yuccas make a spectacular display.

Helianthus Perennial

Yellow is one of my favorite colors for a flower. We have lots of it in our church gardens, including these perennial sunflowers. Eleven years ago we started with three or four of these. Now we have to thin them out because they grow like weeds. They are good for back rows of beds or circles in a big garden. They are also very drought tolerant.

Oenothera Tetragona

Barb and Katy call these flowers Ozark sundrops. They have brilliant yellow blossoms in early summer and require little care. They will spread, perhaps more than you like, but I have not minded. I think the leaves turn reddish in fall. They also seem to be very drought tolerant.

The Garden That Grows and Grows and Grows

There has been an explosion of growth in the garden. What you see above is one of the paths in the garden, which is currently impassable. People only think plants are stationary. A clump of iris has blocked the middle of the path. Will I move them or blaze a new path to the left? Come see in a couple of days.


Over the weekend I was able to clear the way to the stone bench in the shade garden.



The jungle has nearly reclaimed this ancient seat. A crew with machetes is being deployed as soon as they get their malaria pills.

Rabbit Attack

I planted these vincas near the lawn, but the bunnies have trimmed them down to mostly stems. They still seem to be living, so I will water and see if they recover - maybe to be eaten again.

Shrub Rose in the Garden

The pink shrub rose near the drive in the main garden has started blooming. This huge bush started as a small plant back in 1995 and was the only rose from the original rose garden to survive. It has been one of our anchors in the garden. It was attacked by June bugs a couple of summers ago but survived and looks good again. Look but do not get too close. There are more thorns than blossoms.

Buttered Popcorn

With the summer movie season upon us, here is a plant with an appropriate name, buttered popcorn. It is also known as creeping buttercup, and can be found in textbooks and garden centers as Ranunculus repens. We have the plant with the bright little yellow flowers in several spots in the garden. Katie and Barb warned me in their notes about the garden that it is invasive. I have had to scale it back in a spot or two. It grows well and seems very drought tolerant. Look for it in our main garden and in the garden near the southeast door.