ornamental kale – Page 2

October Bed Works

My shopping spree carried over into Sunday, but I didn’t spend as much time as I did Saturday. After all, plants don’t plant themselves (at least, not very often in my own garden).

I did head out to Lowes and Home Depot again, looking for bargains. I ended up with 4 pots, a 9 pack of ornamental kale, and a bag of tulip bulbs, Happy Generation. I know, I know…I just can’t resist those bulbs. And where did I end up putting them? In the front yard bed. That gets a fair amount of water, on and off season. Ah well, I will content myself with tulips being annual…but I’m hoping for a decent show next spring.

So it ended up being sore work Sunday afternoon. Fifty pansies, 36 violas, 30 giant grape hyacinths (Bellevalia pycnantha according to my American Meadows order), 18 tulip bulbs, 6 fall crocuses (Wild Saffron), 9 mixed ornamental kale all found a home. I relocated the 2 Stella de Oro daylilies in the front door landing strip, along with 2 struggling Silver Dust dusty millers. I also tore out the 2 Confetti lantanas flanking the Autumn Monarch azalea (which happens to be blooming quite profusely at the moment) and took cuttings in hopes of overwintering them. Did I mention one of those Confettis had a root as long as I was tall–we’re talking at least 5 feet long! Last, but not least, I also relocated the Seabreeze salvia into the front flower bed.

Next, I spent the rest of the afternoon re-potting pepper plants and hostas. I managed to dig up the struggling remains of the Wide Brim hostas from the shade bed. They were unsuccessful in the bed due to the constant slug onslaught and too much sun exposure. I also got my Francee hosta roots transplanted into their own pots. The Gold Standard and the Minuteman hostas also moved into larger homes. In addition, nine pepper plants also received new homes; unfortunately I’m at a loss at identifying them at the moment. I think the doubled up pepper plants are the Thai chilis. I should have the Jupiter bells, banana peppers, and Fresno peppers surviving from the July starts.

Back and backsides are sore…it comes out of hunching over on uncomfortable bags of sand, while carefully replanting things. I’m still sore just thinking of it. But I have some basil to take indoors with me during the winter time: Pesto Perpetuo, lime basil and classic Genovese basil.

Hey, at least I’m in the spirit of autumn now. I’m referring to the pumpkin display decorating my front porch.

Why is it I can’t seem to successfully photograph the Moonglow salvia greggii’s true yellow color blooms?

Wishlist plant of the day: tricyrtis “Imperial Banner”.

Enduring the heat 2011

Ten consecutive days of 100+ degree weather in the Dallas area. This is already the third hottest June on record here. It is also taking a toll on the garden. I can’t imagine what our water and electric bill will look like in the coming months.

Still, there are still a few plants still making a show…the scabiosa continue to bloom their heads off. The vinca and lantana truly enjoy this heat. I’m still waiting to see the marigold and salvia tree ring come to life; I’ve been catching sporadic blooms of the Durango marigolds, but have yet to observe the whole ring explode into color. The Dallas Star daylilies in the front beds still have a handful of buds waiting to burst open. And the Emerald Snow loropetalum in the front flower bed has surprised me with a smattering of white fringe flowers.

There were a few losses of course. The ornamental kale have reached the end of their life. I’m amazed they survived this long but they couldn’t take more of this weather, so I pulled them up. An old white dianthus mound gave up the ghost this weekend, which left an empty hole to fill in the lily bed. It also appears I will lose the raspberry salvia greggii in the salvia wall. The tricolor sage cutting appears to have lost the fight (I could try to rescue it by repotting it). And I’m down to the last Seabreeze salvia seedling. Those young plants that need the most protection (i.e. common chives), I’ve put into the ground or in the planters. Very few plants are surviving in pots, like the callas, petunias and sweet potato vines. Even the lobelia which I thought would endure are looking very dried and shriveled.

Heat bloomers

The first Lady in Red salvia has bloomed. It may be 100 degrees hot, but the summer bloomers love it. Don’t see how the kale are holding out…they are in part-to-full shade, but I expected them to wilt by now.

Cosmos, hostas, marigolds, petunias and more

My Stokes seeds order arrived. It had probably been sitting in the mailbox a few days before we finally got around to emptying it. Since something had been digging up the tree ring bed, L had to replant a few uprooted marigolds so proceeded to sow the cosmos anyway. The first wave of cosmos seedlings are of course up and growing, some faster than others. I’m hoping at 500 seeds a packet, the tree ring will now get full coverage on cosmos. Now if the Ladies in Red will start blooming already. I’m beginning to think that starting them from seed so late might have been a mistake; but impatience isn’t a good trait for a gardener. I’ll have to satisfy myself with the coral nymph blooms for now, although I’m worried they’ll overrun the other salvia. I’d also like to get that outer ring improved with the remainder of the marigold seedlings and thyme cuttings, but they’ve been slow to propagate. I might have to take some golden oregano cuttings to add to the tree ring.

The hostas getting afternoon sun are taking a beating. All three varieties has suffered some damage. Combined with the daily buffet assault, they are half their foliage since spring. Even the supposedly sun-tolerant Gold Standard hosta isn’t able to withstand that grueling afternoon sun. I am thinking about installing some sun-friendly perennials in that corner of the shade bed to see if it will provide some relief. But can a sun perennial survive there given the brief afternoon exposure?

What’s up with all these ornamental kale? They’re about 2 feet tall now; they seem to like the mostly shade front door bed. Our poor gardenia, still struggling all these months, is making the stand of kale look bad. Of course, the dried out pansies are doing a better job of making this bed look unkempt. I need perennials in this bed, getting weary of switching it out every season.

Check out the chili pepper–it’s loaded with blooms. I expect a good harvest of chilis from this thing. The cinderblock herb garden is filling out nicely, while the purple bed is starting to look overrun. I need some ornamental black peppers in there! I wish my seedlings weren’t so puny.

More of my petunia seedlings are blooming….but what’s the deal? Are the rest of them purple??? I was expecting to see at least one red seedling, but so far I’ve seen one white and nearly half a dozen purple buds. So much for my patriotic planter. At least the caladium is looking good, even if one of the leaves appears half eaten.

The thai basil is flowering. I really need to snip it down to size…they are making the other basil look puny. They look lovely with their red-purple stems and bud crowns, but they seem to outgrow the other basil. Very much suited to our hot Texas summers.

And here’s what’s left of the azaleas in the lily bed. I kept the dwarf gumpo white and the Hot Shot red azalea. The gumpo azalea didn’t produce any blooms this year, whereas Hot Shot produced a handful. Is this typical of $2 shrubs? The gumpo gets one more shot at impressing me next year; otherwise it’s out of there. I did like that Hot Shot came out of the winter with dark maroon foliage before it lightened up by the end of spring. I must remember to keep the neighboring Hot Lips salvia pruned back to give the azalea some more light.

The front yard embedded in winter ice

Two serious wintry blasts defined February; uncommon in Texas and burying much of the landscape in ice and snow.

It’s good to know that the gardenia is hanging on, still in good shape despite its tender tropical nature. The azaleas look somewhat bare this time of year, though the low-growing cultivars look fuller than the taller shrubs.

The Emerald Snow loropetalums are clothed in dark, very dark leaves. What damage they may have endured remains to be seen.

The nandina cultivars seem rather unaffected by the harsh weather; though the broadleaf types tend to show a little more leaf burn with their winter color.

The Hot Lips salvia definitely took a beating; I’m unsure at this point if it will recover. Where other salvia strains are putting up a good fight, this particular hybrid is sensitive to the ice and snow and all of its top growth appears dead. I made the mistake of leaving out my cuttings during the storm; I am hoping they will bounce back after bringing them indoors.

The foxtail ferns which had remained bright green up until this point finally displayed some winter burn. The spiky spears changed to yellow and brown…I am wondering if I will need to prune them back for spring.

Buried in leaves, most of the kale and violas appear to have been unharmed. I can’t say the same for the gaura plantings in the front bed. I’m even worried about the kangaroo paw returning in the spring. As for the hakonechloa, I reckon I will be moving them soon under the direct shade of the crape myrtle bed. After struggling most of last year, t his type of grass probably looks best in the cool spring months under full shade.

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