Tag: japanese maple

Strolling through the nursery

A visit to The Plant Market in Dallas, TX yielded a bounty of colorful pictures. Some of the most memorable sights are their azaleas and roses, which are fiercely blooming and scenting the air around the nursery. Also most of their japanese maples are in full leaf, a fiery display of reds and greens. Among some of the candidates I wanted to take home: I found a Harvest Lemon Chiffon Heuchera that I found attractive and about the right size to add to my purple planter box. However I’m still holding out for a variegated mondo grass.

4/1/2009 The Plant Market: Yellow Marigolds 4/1/2009 The Plant Market: What flowers are these 4/1/2009 The Plant Market: Rows of Azaleas 4/1/2009 The Plant Market: Peachy Lady Rose 4/1/2009 The Plant Market: More Marigolds 4/1/2009 The Plant Market: More Japanese Maples 4/1/2009 The Plant Market: Mellow Yellow Spirea 4/1/2009 The Plant Market: Japanese Maple 4/1/2009 The Plant Market: Harvest Lemon Chiffon Heuchera 4/1/2009 The Plant Market: Flaming Roses 4/1/2009 The Plant Market: Coralbark Japanese Maple 4/1/2009 The Plant Market: Azalea Closeup

Early spring on the patio

A pleasant discovery: there is a sprinkler head position in front of my patio. So it seems my salvia and maple are getting watered without any intervention from me. I’m not certain that the maple is getting its requirement, but since the weather has been cool, I’m not increasing the amount it is currently getting.

I visited Puckett’s Nursery in Allen and picked up a rosemary bush. I’ve decided to expand my aromatic herb selection and am currently shopping for a lavender bush to add to the patio garden. I’m considering a white-flowering cultivar, compact but preferably with a strong perfume. Ellagance Ice is one cultivar I currently have my eye on.

Meanwhile, I have decided to shelve the caladium idea and try my hand at heuchera and heucherella. They possess the fiery color which I believe will pair well with calla lilies. I also hope to finally get my mitts on a couple of Salsa Asian Jasmine. I just need to paint the new planter trough I purchased and start sating my spring gardening cravings.

The gardening bug hits again

Well, living in an apartment certainly has not quelled my fancy for gardening. I bought an Asahi Zuru acer palmatum 5-gallon specimen late October 2008 from Forestfarm. In the transport, it went into shock and dropped all its leaves. I potted it and left it in my shady patio, and all winter long I made sure to water it weekly. Of course now that it’s February, and the weather has become pleasant again, I’m filled with dread and anxiety that I am stuck with another skeleton of a Japanese Maple. This weekend I’ll be inspecting the tree for deadwood and will do some careful pruning to hopefully ease the burden on it. I found some very good cultivation and pruning guides at Davidsans and Oregonlive.

I’ve also been shopping around for Calla lilies to try on the patio. Both PacificCallas.com and ZCallas.com appear to possess a good selection of bulbs to try. I’m thinking I’d like to find some red and orange flowering varieties to go with my red salvias. But the blush, pink and white of the japanese maple begs for some calla coordination as well.

Also, another upside to my shady patio: I can now give caladiums a try!

Who would’ve thought I would be resurrecting the gardening section of this site?