Well, it’s not all about the weekend haul. I took some pics from the past week’s garden and Valentine’s Day present. Yes, we adopted an orchid! His and hers lucky bamboo too!
Tag: dianthus
2013 Gardening Notes
January and February has seen waves of warm weather alternating with cold. With temperatures rising into the 70s at times, winter landscape was tricked into showing some green. Even our weed lawn sprang into verdant purple bloom this month. However, there was also enough rainfall to entice some of the herbaceous plants to put out new growth, as seen in the pot of Oriental Limelight artemisia growing on our doorstep. I expect to see one or two more cold snaps before we permanently warm up for March and outdoor planting. As of this morning, I rescued a cutting from my old succulent planter to place into a tiny sake cup for planting. If it takes root, I’ll be able to resurrect one of the winter-killed plants.
Leeks are so robust! These are three roots I saved from the kitchen scraps and dunked in some water.
Spring is coming…the evidence in photos below.
Wishlist plants: Golden Japanese Stone Crop (Sedum makinoi Ogon) and Bleeding Heart ‘Golden Heart (Dicentra spectabilis).
End of May Flowers
And yet more March buds and blooms
A few new sights to find in the garden. Can you tell which ones are the newest?
Easy Wave White petunia (excuse the night-time camera settings), red lantana, more Origami Red and White Columbine, Iris Mariposa Skies, yet a 3rd camellia (Mabel Bryan, and Thalia Narcissus.
More March buds and plants
Wishlish plant of the day: Malvaviscus candida Variegata or Variegated Turk’s Cap (a shade plant for Texas)!
First stop is the planter box by the patio door. I dropped some cuttings of stonecrop (?) that I took while trimming my succulent planter. I didn’t have high hopes that these stray cuttings would flourish, but they look pretty alive in that dirt, don’t they?
The oxalis in the blue bed appear lush and full. Notice the remnants of the yarrow I pulled out a couple of weeks ago lying in wait to take over.
I am baffled by these rosettes in the blue bed. These are the surviving Blue Knoll Chrysanthemums, aka Heteropappus Meyendorfii. They are reportedly annual, but these two are starting their second year in this bed. They sat in mulch, tolerating dry-to-drought conditions, part sun and displayed no flowers last fall. They have not grown beyond the size they currently are. Is there a chance that these might provide some autumn color this year? I’m going to have to pull out the Days Aster–it spreads everywhere and has invaded the camellia bed on the other side of the fence.
The next camellia bud is about to burst. This particular bloom occurs very low on the plant and to the back. It requires some position to take it in full view.
Front flower bed: tulips bursting out of the mulch and the newly transplanted Valentine dianthus. Notice the white edging on the tulip leaves; this appears to be the Happy Generation tulip planted last fall. The other tulip sprouts are smaller and do not display edging; most likely they are Tubergen’s Gem.
Hot Lips salvia starting out with red blooms, but the bicolor blooms are coming on fast. I just love the variability of this salvia.
Daffodil buds have appeared. I expect to see them bloom in a matter of days.
This particular foxtail fern has new plumes. The foxtail ferns did not die back down into the ground this due to the mild winter weather. It was pleasant to see them provide some greenery and vertical shape to the shade bed. Check out the japanese painted fern behind the foxtails!
The lily bed would like to welcome our newest bloomer: origami red and white columbine. Beautiful spurred flowers are blooming on this one specimen. The other columbine is looking rather straggly but at least it endured summer and winter. The colors are synching with the red-and-white theme of the neighboring dianthuses and pansies. I hope in a future season, we will see some lush foliage and growth show off this bed. For example, the orange and white mums appear to be bulking up in anticipation. The Charmed Wine oxalis appear to be a little shy coming out of winter; they don’t show off as many blooms as the neighbors in the blue bed, and they are half the size.
I filled in the new garden bed this morning and tried to level the ground up to the bed at the same time. We’ll be requiring some good soil to fill in the rest and start arranging the cinder block edge. Now if it would stop raining/sprinkling long enough for us to get some garden work done!
