Spring hostas are in their broadleafed prime now mid-May, with some sending out buds and blooms.
Dancing Darling is of course a beast, overflowing the shade bed.
Monstrous Dancing Darling
Dancing Darling Bloom
Color Glory is a step down in size but no less robust.
Color Glory
Color Glory Budst
Island Breeze is a nice glowing addition to the shade bed.
Island Breeze
Hans is always an eye catcher, but the creamy white leaves will start frying from the occasional sun.
Creamy leaves margined with blue green
Hans showing some scorching
The only failed start this year is Fire and Ice, which appeared to be the breakfast of champions. Not sure if it was slugs or insects but it got eaten to the ground. Hoping it’ll come back stronger and sooner.
Fire and Ice delicate…
…and delicacy
The shade bed still receives a blast of morning sun which tends to dry the hostas. Still developing a solution to this
My plant wishlist for 2024 stayed surprisingly modest. I still had some plants from previous years that definitely stayed in my plant shopping consciousness early this spring.
I pulled the trigger on one of those wishlist items in March when I attended Rose Weekend at North Haven Gardens.
My Rock N Roll rose now sits in a spot vacated by previous rose tenants. It displayed some new leaf growth and as of today is tipped with rosebuds.
In a previous post, I lamented the lack of volunteer basils this year. So I added African blue basils to my wish, which I will likely have to shop for to obtain the sterile version.
My stock tank garden is sparsely populated with green onions. I got a heads up that there may be some heat tolerant romaine lettuces in the market that I can try to grow. However, I need to figure out what’s been grazing on the plants in one of my stock tanks. The green onions and chives that I planted in it have been razed to the ground. I may have to drop some marigolds in there just to deter pests.
This past weekend on May 11th, I attended the Denton County Master Gardener garden tour. It was an opportunity to see how Denton county gardeners beautified their outdoor spaces. I enjoyed walking through four yards and a community garden, got to talk to homeowners as well as docents who volunteered their time to manage this tour.
I got really excited when I spotted some must-haves for my wish list at the tour. Flame Thrower redbuds, purple coneflowers, Egyptian walking onions, and a variegated Turks cap won my attention.
As soon as I got home, I shopped Etsy and found variegated Turks caps for sale at a vendor in South Carolina. Sold!!!
A couple of homes heavily featured native plantings which made me appreciate more the Texas tough perennials and annuals that thrive in our climate.
Overall, it was a great tour and we enjoyed mild weather to walk through all the beautiful yardscapes.
Something that’s been glaringly missing from this year’s backyard garden are the volunteer basil plants that normally sprout about this time of year. I fondly remember the monstrous basil plants that drew in all all the pollinators.
I dug into my seed drawer several days ago to empty out some of the basil seeds that I ordered from previous years.
Sprinkled them into my stock tank beds and here they are aplenty, sprouting happily.
I’m looking forward to some colorful Purple Ball basil as well as Fino Verde and Amethyst Improved.
Of course I’ve always had rooted cuttings of the pesto perpetuo basil that I keep indoors. However, they don’t flower very well and they really can’t handle the Texas heat.
