Stepping Stones

It seems to happen almost every time.  I have either a new plant or an existing one in need of a new home.  Nothing simpler, right?  Get out the garden fork, perhaps a shovel, and simply prepare a spot for it.

And that's when the adventure begins.

On a recent excavation for a transplanted White Margin Snow Rose (Serissa foetida 'Improved'), I quickly hit stone.  As usual, this led to the rock bar becoming involved.  In this case, I removed a nice triangular limestone flagstone measuring almost 3 foot on the long side.

Thank goodness I got that out of the way.  But what's this?  Yet another rock.  And it appears to be even larger.  After some sweating, a second, even larger, stepping stone was produced.

This one measured approximately three foot by three foot.

Well, at least it gives me an additional step (or two) for the path that I've been working on.

Planted in the Ground:

• Butterfly Iris (Iris 'nada'): The plant was on my investigate list, but when I discovered it on sale, I went ahead bought it.  Now I learn that it may want more water than I'm willing to supply.  Planted near my pond and time will tell.
• Bella Red Abutilon (Abutilon x hybridum 'Bella Red'): One of my Gotta Get listings; recommended by Central Texas Gardener; I'm a little worried about freeze tolerance.

• Reifler's Dwarf Viburnum (Viburnum obovatum 'Reifler Dwarf'): Decided I had it planted it too close to a path; presently its size was fine, but mature size was going to be too large; so moved further back in the garden.  Plus I wanted to make room for the next plant.
• Pale Pavonia (Pavonia hastata): Has been on my Gotta Get list since seeing several area blogs mention it; now I have two.  One went into the bed near the pond; the other went into the Viburnum's old location.

• Variegated Mondo Grass (Ophiopogon jaburan 'Vitattus'): Have three that are doing quite well at the base of some trees, but had three others near the pond that seemed to be struggling.  Transplanted the struggling ones over next to the happy ones (obviously they like something over there!).

• Milky Way Cast Iron Plant (Aspidistra lurida 'Milky Way'): Transplanted two towards the back of the bed into the locale vacated by the Variegated Mondo Grass.

Planted in Pots:

• Manfreda 'Chocolate Chips' (Manfreda undulata 'Chocolate Chips'): Transplanted from ground to pot; poor fellow has been struggling (being trampled and buried multiple times by some digging critter certainly didn't help it!).