I keep an eye on the monkeygrass (Liriope muscari) in our garden in late summer waiting for it to blossom. Despite its classification in parts of North America as an invasive species from East Asia — and underscored by the untold days I have spent ridding our landscape of other invasive species — I think the monkeygrass is gorgeous when in bloom, so each year give it a stay of extirpation from our yard. The photo here of our monkeygrass was made this week as Earth presented its late afternoon longitudes to the Sun.
Update August 18, 2025
On August 9, 2025, the Washington State Department of Agriculture began enforcing a ban on the sale in the state of the English and Boston varieties of ivy (Hedera helix and Hedera hibernica, respectively), as they are both now relegated by the state to the status of noxious plants and seeds. The ivy that once covered soil that is now among our flower beds we long ago ripped out by the roots, but there is some ivy left on our land covering a forested area behind a laurel hedge (Prunus laurocerasus, another non‐native plant that is presently on the Monitor List of the Washington State Noxious Weed Control Board), and I intend to eventually mark a week on the calendar to spend ridding us of that remainder. The state does not require my doing so; I do not care for the plant at all.
Meanwhile, our monkeygrass lives on under my protection, despite its problematic reputation. I have been expecting over the last several days to see its flowers beginning to form, and yesterday those debuts in the above picture called attention to themselves as I was pulling weeds. The flowers will multiply rapidly from now until late in September, becoming a radiant purple and courting one to stop and agree they are splendid.
The plants in our landscape are getting on in years. I removed azaleas and Japanese andromeda this spring that had submitted to time, and excising each dead member of the garden saddens me for the loss of what once had been a beautiful element of our surroundings, while energizing my resolve to tend and enjoy those that remain to endow our yard with their colors, shade, rustlings, and hidden life.