Here’s an old tulip making a comeback this year. It came as a pleasant surprise to see several tulip patches coming up this year, and this one seems to be perfectly situated in my blue-and-white garden. Photo was taken mid-morning before a follow-up furry tornado whipped through the S1 bed and trampled some of the hapless daffodils. Sometimes being a dog owner and gardener makes for a disastrous combination.
Author: variadm
More spring gardening buys
I stopped by Lowe’s and Cristina’s again for lunch today. At Lowe’s, I finally caved in and purchased a $2 quart of Azalea Gumpo White. Interestingly, the red azaleas are all in fierce bloom at the moment. I also spotted some Salvia greggii purples among the Hot Lips salvia; I picked up 1 pot of the purple. (I saw a curious microphylla-looking salvia labeled Crimson Sundae with rose-pink flowers also, but haven’t had much luck finding it on the net.) It was a long line at the Lowe’s checkout stand, but I managed to walk out with 2 plants and 2 bags each of the following: landscape soil, compost and red mulch. At Cristina’s, I picked up an 18 count flat of Dianthus mixed, making sure to collect some scarlets, reds, and whites this time. They did have a somewhat bigger selection of Salvia greggiis in 2″ pots, but whites were absent from the mix. Looking forward to planting this weekend.
Dog-gone part 2
So, I get home yesterday evening and Dash greets me at the door. He’s happy-go-lucky, trembling-with-joy, all-sorts-of-enthusiastic fur-kid exuberance. Then I step into the backyard and beheld the carnage in S1. All my tulips were uprooted and a puppy-sized hole lay at the feet of my myrtle. And the Heuchera Obsidian? Obliterated from the face of the earth. I’m understandably upset…so I placed an irate call with the DH and reminded him how many times I requested that the rampaging-garden destroyers be crated while we’re away at work. The tulips are back in their settings…but the tulip show is done for this year. And maybe it’s for the best that the heuchera is gone…I worry that the exposed location would challenge any shade lover at the moment.
A surprise return
I spotted a rare sight in my garden this weekend, low growing and looking a bit scraggly. A single Tulipa Bakeri Lilac Wonder made its return showing in my S1 garden. Totally unexpected, but it does suggest the longevity of these species tulips in the Texas garden. Now if could only get the Tulipa humilis to perform just as well.Dianthus love
I have to express my affection for dianthus, those hardy china pinks that have thrived in my garden through frosty winters and fiery summers while producing a non-stop show. This year the survivors have grown to lofty heights of 8-10 inches tall and are still bursting with color. Typically the china pinks (dianthus chinensis) are listed as annuals/biennials, but here in my Texas garden, they have suffered months and years of neglect and abuse and still put on a show. Nailing down particular species and cultivars have been challenging though. It appears most of my nursery purchases have been of dianthus chinensis, dianthus hybrida, dianthus x Telstar, or dianthus chinensis x barbatus. No single publication tends to agree what the formal scientific names are, but at least pictures and descriptions have been somewhat helpful. I found a good resource on a local Texas wholesaler’s site (Creation Colors) supplying good descriptions of some of the cultivars available in the nursery trade.