I stopped by Lowe’s and Cristina’s again for lunch today. At Lowe’s, I finally caved in and purchased a $2 quart of Azalea Gumpo White. Interestingly, the red azaleas are all in fierce bloom at the moment. I also spotted some Salvia greggii purples among the Hot Lips salvia; I picked up 1 pot of the purple. (I saw a curious microphylla-looking salvia labeled Crimson Sundae with rose-pink flowers also, but haven’t had much luck finding it on the net.) It was a long line at the Lowe’s checkout stand, but I managed to walk out with 2 plants and 2 bags each of the following: landscape soil, compost and red mulch. At Cristina’s, I picked up an 18 count flat of Dianthus mixed, making sure to collect some scarlets, reds, and whites this time. They did have a somewhat bigger selection of Salvia greggiis in 2″ pots, but whites were absent from the mix. Looking forward to planting this weekend.
Tag: salvia
Early spring gardening
After our meal at New San Dor on Sunday, hubby was persuaded to do some lawn work. We stopped by Lowe’s to pick up a bag of weed-and-feed to treat the henbit weed infestation that has covered most of our front lawn. To my surprise, he fired up the lawn mower (which started on the first pull) and proceeded to scalp the lawn. Meanwhile, I busied myself on getting the plants that had been hardening off on the porch into the flower beds.
I am looking forward to purchasing another flat of dianthus; the 18-count flat that I got from Cristina’s are filling the front borders of B4 and B5. I had 2 or 3 leftovers that I proceeded to locate in B1 and B2…but there are still many more holes left to fill. I also grabbed the 3 Lowe’s ajuga and set them in B3, along with one of the Sooner ajugas. I’m concerned that the Chocolate Chip ajugas look dissimilar: the Lowe’s-purchased ajuga are darker and smaller-leafed, while the Sooner ajuga have longer, bronze leaves. Both were flowering blue however.
I situated the Oriental Limelight artemisia in B2 and B4, both centered in the bed…I noticed these specimens were busting out of their pots. I wonder how invasive they will be. Do they pose a threat to my lilies and daylilies? We’ll see as summer draws near.
Finally, I got the Hosta sunk into the ground next to the Hot Lips salvia in S1. I also planted the heuchera next to it. I’m hoping the newly pruned salvia will branch out and offer some shade to its new neighbors when the summer heat arrives.
Feels like spring
I spent my lunch hour today visiting Cristina’s and Lowe’s. I walked out with an 18-count flat of dianthus (Telstar mix) from Cristina’s. At Lowe’s, I scooped up a 6 pack of white tulips that were going for 50% off and bought 3 3.5″ pots of Chocolate Chip Ajuga. Dad told me I should’ve waited out the local chain home improvement stores for the plants I wanted. 🙁 But of course there weren’t any Salvia greggiis that caught my eye (was hoping for white greggii).
So…for homework, I’m looking to propagate the following plants over the weekend: rosemary, salvia, and gaura. Not sure how the Crimson Brandy gaura that’s thriving in B2 will take to a disturbance, but this plant has intrigued me to the point of experimentation. As for rosemary, I’m inclined to believe that our yard is ready for a hedge of them, if only to alleviate the dog smell wafting from our yard. Dad says that 5 days in water will persuade it to root, and I’m thinking that unruly specimen in B5 is in dire need of a whacking. As for the salvia, the one remaining white salvia in B4 looks to be resurrecting itself in the warm weather. I’ll be inspecting it regularly for cuttings. And I’m going to keep trying to propagate more of the Hot Lips for sharing–I’m amazed that the 3 cuttings I took last year and sank into the ground before winter are still there, if a tad bit to puny. Hopefully I can also harvest some cuttings of the new Salvia chamaedryoides in B3.
Scenes from the Late Winter garden
Here are some early evening (approx 7pm) shots of S1, B1 and B3 flowers. I suspect the plum colored iris in the photo is either histriodes George or reticulata JS Dijt. Incidentally, that’s the first Muscari botyroides album that I’ve caught sight of blooming in the gardens.
Late winter cleanup
I finally received the Liriope spicata Silver Dragons midweek…but weather didn’t permit planting until just yesterday. I had to run to Lowes to get some extra fencing and poultry netting. I did get the rear yards fenced off finally to deter any more canine intrusions. However the new fencing I erected for the sideyard still permitted the pups to go in and dig up more dirt. In fact I had to purchase some extra topsoil just to fill up all the previous holes. After spotting some early daffodil buds, I went ahead and stapled down more netting to keep the pups from digging up the sideyard.
The Hot Lips salvia met the garden shears yesterday and what a tough fight it was. I removed most of the old branches and debris around the base of the bush, but many branches have yet gone untrimmed. The neighboring ligustrum also needs trimming…I think I’ll have DH working on that.
I’ll prolly get to planting the liriope and the Sooner plants today.