June has faded into July and I will confess that I still have a small flowerbed where I haven't won round one with the weeds. It will only take an hour when I get there, but I still need to get there.

Usually June is my month, but this year I didn't get the whole way around. I don't know whether to blame the weed's enthusiasm, a stiff knee, or the repairs made necessary with the eight inches plus of rain we had in four days recently.

Although I stopped counting at around 20 beds, it certainly can't be that I have too many flowerbeds.

Several days ago I inspected the bed to see how the desired plants were faring. The bed rings a small clump of trees. One plant caused me to pause. It wasn't any of the ferns, perennial geraniums, astilbe, bleeding hearts or broadleaf evergreens that I planted there.

It was a blue-purple tradescantia that wasn't supposed to be there. It is a wow. I don't know how it got there, because this native is a plant I never seem to include on my planting list. If my weed pulling had occurred on a timely basis, it would have found itself on the weed pile. Now it gets to stay.

Tradescantia may be better known by its common name of spiderwort. As I think about spiderworts I am again reminded about the miracles that are being worked with our native plants by the plant selectors and the plant breeders.

Looking at the many plant catalogs I have, I found more than enough different tradescantias that I could have a different one in each of my beds and have enough left over that I could make even more beds.

Spiderworts have succulent, strap like foliage and will fall into a height range of one to two feet. My observation is that they do best in sites that are on the damp side of average.

It is a long bloomer that starts in June and continues into early fall. Colors range from shades of white to blue/purple with lots of reds and pinks in between. Flowers can be single or double. Until recently they all had green foliage. Recently I have seen one with a pale yellow leaf. As always, expect an off-green plant to be a bit smaller and slower growing. This one, as you would expect, needs almost full shade. The green ones will take morning sun or light to full shade.

With too much sun or too little moisture the foliage can get ragged in the hottest part of our summers. When that happens, cut it off. It will jump back and reward you with more blooms. I see the plant as vigorous, but not aggressive.

I guess I have just added a new plant to my list of favorites. I hope I won't need a thicker notebook to hold my list, just more flowerbeds so I can grow them all.