Another Saturday

At least I realized that today was Saturday! That's a good start. I picked up the grocery order which was quite fun...good to get out. I can't remember the last time I actually bought gas for my car. Puttered around the house for a bit this morning and then helped husband build the new outdoors heater. I think that's going to be a terrific addition to our outdoor dining area! It works like a charm. Thank goodness I didn't have to build it - way too many parts and screws and bolts.

Spent the rest of the afternoon in the garden puttering around, tidying up, being fussy about little weeds and tracking down slugs. I know there's a few there since I see they've helped themselves to the dahlia leaves in the middle of the night! 

I love the leaves of Stachys byzantina - the species that is. But it's way to aggressive and very hard to eradicate if it finds a spot that it likes. This blip is of the cultivar 'Countess Helen von Stein' (aka 'Big Ears') which has HUGE leaves maybe 8" long. They are so soft and fuzzy - you really know where the name 'Lamb's Ears' comes from for the species.

I knew that this cultivar didn't often bloom, which is great since I don't find the flowers attractive. I also knew that it wasn't as agressive...I guess the key word here is "AS"....what started as one quart-sized perennial last year is now a patch oh at least six times that big. It threatens to take over that corner of the garden. I read today that it can be "mildly aggressive in rich soil". Since it's planted where the vegetable beds used to be....well, you can see the problem. So some rainy week it will be moved to a dry corner of the big perennial bed! 

Meanwhile it really does have gorgeous leaves and the texture is incredible!

Hope you're having a lovely weekend - a long one for some of us! Be safe, be well and be kind!