May 2011 – Page 3 – variegatagal

A quick look at the May front yard

Now we have another Victoria Blue salvia blooming on the far end of the front flower bed. So that makes for two flowering salvia farinacea that have returned from last year. There are yet 2 more young Victoria Blues that have been slow to come up. I don’t mind their slow return, which saves me from purchasing more, but the man wants that extra pop right now.

Talk about slow…the gardenia has new leaf sets, despite that it has lost about 75% of its foliage. It survived the bitter winter frost, which is amazing in itself. I don’t want to prune it back because there is evidence of new life on it. It’s going to be a very slow recovery.

One of the Confetti lantana is putting on a set of buds. Its sibling about a foot away has been more interested in trailing rather than flowering. I also had some criticism for the man for planting the vinca seedlings so close to each other. They grew into monsters last year, and I don’t expect it to be any different this year.

The man trimmed back our centerpiece loropetalum in this front bed, just to give it some shape for the rest of the year. I am interested in seeing it grow higher, but I won’t begrudge it a little width to shade the tiny impatiens seedlings at its feet. The man also hacked down the Hot Lips salvia…that thing has grown into a monster in the front bed and is in constant need of pruning. We did finally get another Hot lips planted next to the Autumn Twist azalea and expect the same vigorous growth this year.

Notice the verbena colors? Maybe I don’t need Mosaic after all. The Dallas Star daylilies are heavily laden with scapes!

Finally, my newest heuchera seems a little lonely in its corner of the shade bed, but I hope it will be happy there. It has a caladium bulb for a neighbor…although I can’t say that I don’t want to plant another hosta next to it.

Flowers & cuttings, pups & kitties

I took about 10 lemon thyme cuttings earlier this week. Made some more cuttings today of rosemary (x2), yellow salvia (x1), and tricolor sage. I got too impatient and yanked out one of the sages from the jiffy pot. It had a nice root on it, less than half an inch long. I should learn to just let it do its thing and give it about a month.

Did I mention the lime basil seedlings I found? They’re taking up residence next to the Thai and Pesto Perpetuo basils in the planter.

May herbs and flowers

More photos of the herb and flower garden. Felicias, verbena, and potted yarrows! And take a gander at the variegated oregano in its new home next to the lemon thyme. My Coconut thyme still looks terribly scraggly.

I’m thinking about branching out into vegetable gardening after we spotted a reasonably priced cedar garden kit at Home Depot this weekend. I would love to pick up some bok choy, gai lan and giant green onions, along with traditional vegetables, like asparagus, lettuces, garlic, onions and broccoli. So starts my oriental veggie wishlist.

Some veggie and herb seed resources on the net:

Pondering the rosemary

There are currently 2 rosemary specimens thriving in our garden. Both are unknown cultivars. The first rosemary to succeed (after a failed attempt with a Tuscan Blue grown in the purple bed) established itself in the herb bed. Purchased from Home Depot, it had no specific cultivar tag that I noticed. It was simply Rosmarinus officinalis, plant code THDA4945, mentioned to grow up to 48″ tall and 24″ wide. The plant has nearly doubled in width since planting, though I have tried to keep it trimmed back to maintain a neat habit. It did survive our extremely icy winter this year, though it displayed some frost damage on its leaf tips. It also put on new top growth during this spring. Needle leaves are blue-green with a silvery gray underside and its aroma is characteristic of all rosemaries, with a faint touch of pine. I have not had an issue with tough needles; this rosemary yields to cutting and chopping, wonderfully flavoring any dish I’ve used it in.

The second rosemary was a Christmas tree topiary we purchased earlier this year. Despite losing nearly 3/4ths of the plant to die back during the winter freeze, much of it recovered by spring. We left it untouched, unpruned for much of the winter, hoping it would come back. Because it was carefully pruned into shape, its foliage is very short and fine. I consider the leaf color closer to a bright green with a hint of lime. I’ve found some references indicating that Tuscan Blue rosemary are ideal for topiaries, but this specimen doesn’t have the characteristic dark green leaves of that cultivar; nor has it ever flowered. I suspect that the very fine foliage is closer to that of Foresters Rosemary, another cultivar I’ve read about that is suited for topiaries. It may also be an Arp, well known to endure harsh winter conditions.

5/16/2011 Rosemary Topiary on the Rebound 2

5/16/2011 Rosemary Topiary on the Rebound 3

I would love to someday plant a rosemary hedge and be available to walk by it, while releasing its perfume into the air. However, our current planting conditions prohibit anything so large scale. I think having 2 rosemary plants should suffice; though if I ever spot one, I would like to snag for my wishlist a variegated rosemary, either Gold Dust or Silver Spires.

Another NHG run ends with Sunday plantings

I headed out to NHG today to pick up at least one coral bells and perhaps find my verbena. What I came home with were 1 Amber Waves heuchera, 1 Lemon verbena, 1 ginger mint, 2 jumbo White Dynasty caladium bulbs and 1 jumbo White Delight caladium bulb. Of the above, only the lemon verbena remains unplanted. The heuchera and the 2 White Dynasty caladiums found an immediate home in the shade bed. The White Delight went into a planter bowl along with the two Regatta lobelia and all of the Wave petunia seedlings. I split the ginger mint into half and planted it straight into the herb garden, along with the hot banana pepper and the habanero. I also decided to drop all 6 of the garlic chives pots into the herb garden as well, to see if they will fare better. During my efforts, I stumbled onto two lime basil seedlings, which I’ve repotted.

Meanwhile, the man got busy with the tree ring and front flower beds. He added 4 of the vinca seedlings, and 4 of the Lanai Purple Star verbena as border plants. He also dropped another Hot Lips salvia into the vacant space next to the Autumn Twist azalea. Hopefully this salvia will fare better in this spot. Taking 12 of the marigold seedlings, he started them in the outer ring. I resolved to start paring down the lemon thyme plant to take more cuttings and hopefully create more plants. I’m convinced that this herb will make a remarkable border plant. It will take no more than a year to create a solid circle of variegated lemon thyme, if I do this right.

I still have basil planters to create, but I’m waiting on the cuttings to take hold. It seems I may have some success with the Pesto Basil since I took a cutting right off the top. I’m also waiting on the tricolor sage to take hold as well. I kept some cuttings under glass on the Burpee mat. I have great hopes that they will endure.

Now I am just waiting for some basil and salvia seedlings to mature so that I can get them out into the garden.