Tag: lily

First plant purchases of the season!

I’ve caught the spring fever bug if you’ve sneaked a peek at my Instagram. Temperatures in the North Texas area are in the low 80s for the past week. It was time for my seasonal commute to North Haven Gardens and big box stores around town.

First, off to North Haven Gardens…herbs, colorful annuals and perennials snagged:

I wanted to start some lemongrass from seed, but haven’t found any local retailers selling seed. Calloway’s Nursery in Denton had this one specimen in stock, so I figured I’d pick it up…along with a bag of expanded shale. The kitties like inspecting grassy things.

I need to shop for some catgrass seed!

I finally found some Red Rubin basil seeds at Home Depot. Couldn’t resist picking up lily bulbs and more annual/perennial color. Weekend garden project, here we come!

 

Luscious Calla Purple and Cream Edition

One of my favorite purples in the colorful flower garden is the Picasso Calla lily (Zantedeschia) aka Purple Wizard, according to Daves Garden Plantfile. This clump is sitting in morning sun and gets afternoon shade in the lee of our Shantung maple, along with moderate watering.

What started out as a trio of calla lily bulbs purchased from North Haven Gardens in 2016 has grown into an impressive stand of speckled foliage and beautiful purple and cream blooms over 2′ high and wide.

As seen in the pictures, its foliage complements a variegated ginger nicely, and would certainly look good paired with other tropical plants.

My man plans to build a water feature in our backyard (as soon as he is done thinking about it), and I have in mind to add more of these Picassos to decorate it. However, it has been difficult sourcing this bulb variety at local nurseries and garden centers this year, and I see that Pacific Callas only offers this to wholesale operators, no longer the home gardener. I did spot these at Brent and Becky’s site, so I do have options.

Tango lilies

Found this gorgeous lily at Walmart yesterday. It was mis-marked as Crossover, but a visual perusal of the lily listings at All Things Plants (my new favorite plant database) suggests this might actually be Tango Push Off or Tango Black Eye.  The lily I purchased exhibits a very deep burgundy black eye and throat, and speckles slightly to the creamy tips. At time of purchase it is about 2 feet tall. I have it planted in the front yard bed where it will get morning sun and afternoon shade.20160403 Tango Lily

 

The pre-winter graveyard

It’s been a good two weeks since my last post. The climate has turned to rain to freezing temps back to chilly. Since we experienced a solid week of sub-freezing wind chills and temps, it’s natural that the annuals have succumbed to the frost. Where certain parts aren’t buried in leaves, my garden transformed into a graveyard in a matter of days. I hope to clear out the debris when the weather turns mild. Thankfully, the man started with pruning the Midnight Blue rose.

Goners: basils, vincas, marigolds, cosmos, ornamental peppers, salvia coccinea.

Dead top growth: caladiums, sweet potato ornamental vines (not sure if these Illusion potatoes will come back next year), callas, Sinaloa salvia, the purple oxalis in the blue bed, most of the asters.

Subject to change: foxtail ferns, Mexican heather.

Surprises: a few of the petunias are still green, all of the coreopsis have green foliage and appear to have grown, the larkspur seedlings appear unaffected by the freeze, one of the Autumn Embers azaleas actually had a (wilted) bloom on it, succulent planter looking pretty.

Annoyances: the yarrow continues to spread, weeds have invaded my lily bed!

Warning: images of dead plants ahead. On my Xmas wishlist: a compost bin from the city’s Park & Recreation dept.

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