Dumpster Dive Follow Up

You may remember that a couple of weeks ago, I had a dilemma about weather or not I should take plants from a dumpster outside of a nursery.  I was a little embarrassed to ask in person so I called instead, got permission, went back and pulled out some treasures.  It was getting dark, the freezing temperatures had settled in and there was a lot more on top of the plants I was seeking so I didn't pull the dumpster apart like I might have if it were light out to further explore.  I pulled out a couple of two gallon pots of variegated Hedera (yes, I know but this will be grown in deep summer shade,  will never be given the chance to climb, and will have to compete with bamboo.) and the pot containing a couple of carex varieties.  According to the tags still in the plants, the ivy was selling for $40.00 a pot, didn't check the carex pot closely enough.  The plants got thrown in the trunk of my car where they remained for about a week during our recent freeze and emerged looking lovely.   Anyway, here's what I did with the freebies.

Before - The pond looks a little bleak sans summer foliage covering the rocks.

After - a little blanket of ivy and a cascade of grass covers a multitude of sins and the price was certainly right!  I wonder if that dumpster is always so full of treasure?  It's not far from the Bonney Lassie's house so maybe I should go check out the progress on her big dig and visit the dumpster again...

Things to do:
1)Cut horsetail reed down to the pot now that it's decided to flop over. 
2) Prune Nandina domestica 'Filamentosa' (Thread-leaf Nandina) back a little so that it doesn't obscure so much of the pond's surface.
3) Move another pot of grass to the other side of the Buddha.

A Friday Quickie Raw and Uncensored

Busy, busy, busy time of the year for me so today here's a few uncensored pictures through my dirty kitchen window of  part of my neglected garden.  (Long boring story but the nice thing about gardens is that there's always another season to make it better.) 
The sweet perfume of Clerodendrum bungei (pink flowers) wafts beautifully over this part of the garden which causes me to forgive them for their rampant running habit;  after all, they're easy enough to pull up.  If left unchecked, these would take over the world. There's also a Clerodendrum trichotomum  (I think it's var. fargesii because its leaves are not as large and furry as  my other C. trichotomum, it hasn't taken on the tree-like proportions of the latter and it blooms later.) Anyway, it smells great around there right now!

You may remember this view from May.

It looks quite different now.  Floating plants on the pond and the foliage all around obscure a lot of what's visible at other times of the year. 

The potted agaves and other succulents belong back in the danger gardenette.  I pulled it apart to clean up the bamboo  that was encroaching and never put them back.  Oh well, it'll be time to pull them back inside for winter soon.

The pot sitting empty back there is for a hosta I recently bought which badly needs to be planted.  Oh well, it's raining out right now.  There's always tomorrow, right?

This lovely lady is disgusted that I didn't remove the bamboo litter from her hat before taking her picture.  She's looking directly at a slew of plants in pots that need to go into the ground.  She's so judgmental!

How has your garden season been this year?  Full of work, great projects, and efficiency or more of a time of maintaining and planning for the future?   Have a happy and productive weekend all!