On Saturday my honey and I finally made it to the Taste of Addison. We got to sample some tasty food but then the day grew too hot and humid to withstand. So we decided to cool off in the car before heading out to take in the sights of the Farmer’s Branch Rose Gardens. And what beautiful gardens they were! Daylilies were definitely the showcase flowers on display! Check out the crinums in the historical garden park too.
I have a hankerin to grow some veggies. Of course, being late in the season means very few direct-sow options left. Here’s a short wishlist of ideas:
According to Burpee, these veggies can be direct sown into the garden this time of year. More regional-specific reading can be found at the Aggie Horticulture site.
Question of the day: what’s eating my Lobelia erinus Regatta Midnight Blue?
For this current flush of blooms our rose bush produced 13 roses, all rich dark purple with exposed golden eyes. Sadly these flowers were small compared to what the Midnight Blue normally produces. The previous flush were few and more of a rose-violet color, but with inwardly curled petals. I suspect our flip-flopping weather has been wreaking havoc with the blooms. Since we’ve planted it, we’ve experienced highs of 90 and lows of 40s, Texas weather being what it is.
Situated perfectly among the compact white Ballerina gaura and the purple salvia greggii, the Midnight Blue provides punch to the color echoes of the purple bed.
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.
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.
