Impressionist colors fill the yard. During June, when the garden is at its peak, waves of purple, magenta, yellow, lavender, mauve, and indigo greet me every time I venture out into the heat. My favorite colors are yellow and lavender. In years past, the catmint began the lavender wave in spring, and by summer, the pincushions took over. Lavender verbena entered the mix a few years ago, but it never seems to do well. It grew and was resilient, but didn’t tend to spread. Then, last year, a variegated lavender-and-white cultivar appeared on the vendor’s shelves, and I planted a few.
This past winter, the purple and raspberry verbena died as expected, but the variegated lavender and white held out longer than usual. When cleaning the yard for spring planting this year, I removed the dead remnants of the other verbena. However, when I came to the variegated, a few still had one or two tiny green leaves, so I left them alone to see what would happen. As spring progressed, to my surprise, those scraggly plants revived and began to spread, doing so well that I had to plant their intended replacements near the hostas. Now, there is a vibrant swath of lavender and white, showing off and holding its own against the sun. They are definitely my favorites!
