The project of converting my front yard from turf grass with Asian shrubs to all native plants.

blazing star liatris and smooth oxeye

An oblong metal party ice bucket with soil and plants inside; tall blazing star liatris with purple budding heads, and short oxeye plants without blooms.

Just about when Sophie died, my order of new flowers came in. As you can guess, I was in no condition to cope with them. I dumped them into a party bucket and occasionally threw some rain water into them.

A head of purple buds; blazing star liatris.

Jagged green leaves; smooth oxeye.

Yesterday I finally got around to planting them. The oxeye was pretty crispy and the liatris a little brown, but I got them in and watered and covered the naked dirt back up with the dislocated vegetation. Although today it looks like the cover is gone, sigh.

Anyway, they are looking tons better today already.

Nondescript plants on disturbed earth; smooth oxeye.

Tall stems with clusters of purple bloom buds in front of a mailbox post: blazing star liatris.