More new bloomers!
Ballerina white gaura in the purple bed (these have yet to be divided), standard purple oxalis, a surprise viola in the blue bed (returning from last year, another shot of the 3rd camellia, Thalia narcissus in full bloom and bud, azalea Autumn Embers (the newest shrub), green oxalis triangularis, and of course Bella purple lavender stoechas.
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.
I got a new t-shirt, seeds and digging gloves at North Haven Gardens yesterday.
Today’s yard projects consisted of: planting coreopsis, Thalia narcissus bulbs (I found only one from my last planting of daffodils), Snow-n-Summer Asiatic jasmine, garlic cloves, and larkspur seeds. I trimmed back the bicolor salvia in the blue bed before adding another bag of soil to level the bed.
While the man went to work on mulching the blue bed, I got to work cleaning my pruning tools. Naval Jelly worked wonders on these rusty shears. I made sure to spray them down with BP50 lubricant before covering them up and bagging them.
Had a little time after drilling holes into pots to smell the roses.
A quick rundown of the purchases I made yesterday:
Purchased 4 cinder blocks from Home Depot this weekend to complete some renovation work on our herb garden. We removed the original white brick border and replaced them with spare cinder blocks that we recovered from the back yard. Going by what we saw at NHG, the cinder block holes will be useful in isolating the pineapple mint which has grown rampant in the herb garden. I also plan on removing the oreganos and thymes to plant into the wall, then raise the soil a few more inches before we plant out our peppers and basils. In assessing the herb bed, I am concerned that the rosemary has displayed some winter leaf burn and hope that it is only that, and not a sign of die off from lack of water.
However, we do have a new rosemary topiary that we picked up from Walton’s Gardens. It is a 3 gallon specimen shaped as a Christmas tree that we got on sale, 30% off I believe. It is nearly 3 feet high and in good health. The man dug up the bed right next to the patio door to provide it a good home with lots of drainage. Here’s crossing my fingers that it will endure in its new place–such a lovely fragrance to walk out to!
Also purchased a green shamrock, oxalis regnellii or more commonly known as oxalis triangularis, this past weekend at Calloway’s Gardenfest. I planted it in the lily bed, but I should have thought about putting 2 in the front yard shade bed instead. I’ve been so impressed with the vigor of the purple shamrocks that I hope the green leafed version displays a similar tolerance for our Texas heat.
After attending a workshop hosted by Calloway’s on Bulb Hunter Cris Wiesinger’s picks for southern heirloom bulbs, I am eager to find more shade-loving bulbs that are native to this region for planting in the front yard shade garden. I have a keen interest in the oxblood lilies, crinum, roman hyacinths and fragrant narcissus (small flowered kind) for planting in the shade garden (added to wishlist), alongside the ferns, hostas, and loropetalum.
