So, does everybody have their wish lists compiled and perched on the launch paid, waiting for the countdown [in the form of lottery winnings] 'til blast off?
Miraculously, nothing new is added to my list yet. This is in part because of last year's mantra, all systems go, aka "buy with abandon." I went a little nuts. [Houston, send money.] I kept finding things to buy. And I kept adding things to look for. Improvements kept coming to mind. And if you know me, you know that I harbor no hesitations about planting my newest acquisitions in containers until inspiration strikes. TLC in the form of a bigger pot and regular watering seemed the humane thing to do. Especially since I was feeling guilty about the panic emanating from the edges of my lawn. Poor little blades were afraid of me and my long-handled murder weapon. They aren't ready to join their ancestors in the compost pile. Okay, fine.
I thought it would be fun to reveal a few of last summer's "pleasant surprises." My thinking on this is that if I can recall their many attributes, as well as size and water needs, maybe I can feed my need for color and blousy exuberance and not feel so compelled to buy more.
Miraculously, nothing new is added to my list yet. This is in part because of last year's mantra, all systems go, aka "buy with abandon." I went a little nuts. [Houston, send money.] I kept finding things to buy. And I kept adding things to look for. Improvements kept coming to mind. And if you know me, you know that I harbor no hesitations about planting my newest acquisitions in containers until inspiration strikes. TLC in the form of a bigger pot and regular watering seemed the humane thing to do. Especially since I was feeling guilty about the panic emanating from the edges of my lawn. Poor little blades were afraid of me and my long-handled murder weapon. They aren't ready to join their ancestors in the compost pile. Okay, fine.
I thought it would be fun to reveal a few of last summer's "pleasant surprises." My thinking on this is that if I can recall their many attributes, as well as size and water needs, maybe I can feed my need for color and blousy exuberance and not feel so compelled to buy more.
A few times now, I've written about dear fellow blogger Darla and her generosity. For those of you who don't know, Darla, who gardens in Florida offered me seed of this fabulous Celosia after I fainted and regained enough wherewithal to email her with my desperate inquiry into its identity. This plant isn't hardy in my climate and I wasn't able to collect a lot of seed so I'm hoping nature will provide me with abundant seedlings. Some of you wrote me with caveats about this plant and its progeny. Beware of abundant seedlings. It won't be the first time. [Read: Verbena bonariensis.]
Pictured above are four pleasant surprises. On the top, left is Eucomis 'Sparkling Burgundy' purchased from my favorite nursery in the whole wide world. [Logo on my sidebar. No royalties for advertising. The owners are really nice people.] On the right, Coreopsis verticillata 'Redshift.' I thought this was a new introduction until Frances alluded to its longevity and performance value. I'm not a huge fan of yellow but overlaid with cherry-red brush strokes raises the flowers up several notches. My fingers are crossed that it will winter-over without damage but it's still too early to tell. Ditto for C. rosea 'Heaven's Gate.' Bottom row left is my favorite daylily, Hemerocallis 'Final Touch.' Who'd a thunk daylilies came in pink? Now if we can just get a pink Crocosmia... And finally, Eupatorium cannabinium 'Flore Plenum.' This variant of the Joe Pye, [I can't bring myself to include "weed."] has been on my wish list for many years. Rather than the typical mauve panicles, this species blooms in soft pink clusters, that last from bloom time in August until mid fall. Yeah, I know. Cool, huh? It grows tall like its cousin and the foliage is similar.
I have to say that I've come full circle with rose bushes. I endured the customary bumpy rite-of-passage down the lane of futility as I attempted the impossible: make hybrid teas look good in the mixed border. Can't be done. By me anyway. Enter carefree shrub roses. Yeehaw! The top left is 'Citrus Splash.' I know. Yellow again but a yummy-yellow, don't you think? Beside it is a burgeoning seedling I purchased from a nearby grower. I love these flowers--tiny, hot pink single flowers in clusters all summer long. What's not to love? On the bottom left is 'Cinco de Mayo' by far my best rose performer last summer, fall and winter. Seriously. It bloomed nonstop and the foliage was perfection. December's arctic blast was Cinco's call to dormancy, otherwise it might still be blooming. And finally, 'Sophie's Rose.' The jury is still out on this one. The foliage suffered with a lot with powdery mildew. If this continues, out it will come. I've got plenty of other candidates for this space. Sometimes you've got to be ruthless. The lovely flowers are the reason I'm keeping it. For now.
I was fiddling with clip art recently.
Next time, I think I'll focus on foliage. For now, I can use the time to
narrow down my myriad choices.
Next time, I think I'll focus on foliage. For now, I can use the time to
narrow down my myriad choices.
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32 COMMENTS, Click here to add yours:
Grace:
How is it possible that you have nothing on your Wishlist - I am afraid I am going to have to give you a failing grade...... please go directly to JAIL, do not pass go, do not collect the $200 that would help pay for said plants had you started a list in the first place. I'm just waiting for a handsome sugar daddy who may or might not be a God of Football to come along and sweep me up....... LOL!!
Cinco de Mayo is going on my rose list. Yours is so pretty and I know you recommended it. I love the shape of bloom on it. Here I thought it was a new rose for this year but you have it. It must have just been new to the catalog I was looking at. ;-)
Oh Grace...the Celosia is gorgeous, it performed outstanding for you..(glad I gave those tiny seeds that little chat before I sent them your way)uh, roses....geez, count me about finished with those...I am going to try ONE more time this year and then OUT they come! My wish list is ever changing as I see what other bloggers are buying. I have got to get some kind of grip on my gardens and the 'organizing' of them. I'll be happy to gather more celosia seeds for you 'if' I have any return...don't want to tell you how many I have given away or ripped out......you read that right..I got the original pack of seeds from the dollar store, ha!
Great post, Grace - those pinks have really warmed me up. Top of my wish list is No More Snow. Ever.
Yes I do have my wish list ready and 3 or 4 are from your blog. I also bought some Love-Lies-Bleeding seeds today because of you :)
I've got my list down and who's blog I saw it on. Maybe we can ask the person who's blog we saw it on for donations? :)
You had some very nice pleasant surprises, that daylily may be going on my wish list next! I love all of your pinks.
The wish list has not really got off the ground here yet Grace. All this cold weather has addled the brain. Your daylily might feature though:) Verbena bonariensis has been the scourge of my life this last couple of years. Picking seedlings out from all over the allotment and trying to discourage people who ask for plants :)
Grace beautiful and hot color! and Eucomis 'Sparkling Burgundy is one of my very favorites. I have it at the corner of the house just as you round the corner and this past summer we had 3 blossoms... must be time to divide and move some about.
Hope you're having a good weekend. We are fogged in for the 3rd day.
That's a lot of awesome pink, Grace. Sign me up for a pink crocosmia, although you can keep the coreopsis. The fancy ones won't cooperate with me, just the standard pink and yellow threadleaf types. Sigh. And yeah, there are lots of very nice pink daylilies now. Maybe even too many. Nah...
Pretty post, Grace! Yes, I have my wish list and it keeps growing and growing. I look at blogs and I keep adding to my list. Also, I have those temporary "I don't know where to put it" containers, too! :)
Grace, What a treat...and much needed by me. I've got cabin fever, etc, etc, whine, whine! Even chocolate hasn't helped...but seeing your lovely flowers has put a smile back on my face. Thank you, gail ps I am going to have to be Darla to send me the celosia seedlings, too. They are gorgeous.
Oh my gosh I love that pink daylily! I've just added it to my wish list! Those roses are lovely too.
What gorgeous pinks ... and the textures and forms all so beautiful. Surely you are the Goddess of Pinks Grace. I would start my wish list with your Eucomis 'Sparkling Burgundy' ... knock out flower... your Joe Pye tempts me greatly too. Just now it is too cold and winter stretches out for months so no rush here to complete a list. Alas!
Hi Grace,
I love, love, love your roses. I enjoy most surprises the garden has for me ;-)
Grace,
Fun post and again it shows your love for pinks! One of my favorites is Verbena bonariensis I can't get the seedlings to move along fast enough to keep up with the butterflies.
As to roses there is only one I'd want in the garden it is a heirloom thornless climber with incredible red flowers and a heavenly aroma. I had one at my last garden on the porch railings.
Hi Grace and thank you for this post! I pecked several grains of wisdom! I do have a wish list. Actually, several of them. But I tend to forget them at home when I go plant shopping. And when I am in a nursery, I forget that I have those lists. If my jaw drops while I'm looking at some plant, it's an indication that I need that plant in my garden. When I'm done with my garden budget, I usually check my wish list(s) and get very surprised to discover that very few of my new plants are from the wish list. It's not only with plants, Grace, it's with kids too: I planned to have one little sweet girl, but ended with two mean boys.
Anyway, all the plants from your post look great! I am with you when it comes to the yellow.
Oh, I love pink daylilies, there are so many wonderful ones! In a previous garden in another climate I had two of my all-time faves -- Barbara Mitchell and Strawberry Candy. I bet you would love them. Love that Celosia too -- I grew burgundy ones this year. There are some really pretty pictures here, thanks for posting them!
I have had Celosia in my garden for 18 years...only planted it the first year. Many years I pull and pull and still seem to have some. This year I gave up. Yours is a beautiful color.
My list is still planning for the new house....so whatever goes in the ground here will be for punch when we list the house.
My wish list is longish, but not yet filled in with specifics. Thank you for your suggestions on evergreen screening ideas: the myrica Californica looks interesting, and if I can get over my prejudice with it being a freeway planting shrub here in Portland, the cotoneaster lacteus is a contender. I do like those red berries.
Interesting to see your picture of the coreopsis redshift. I considered it last summer but thought it would be much redder from the grower pics. I like it!
Seriously? Nothing on your wish list? Just strolling the blogosphere this morning doubled my greedy gotta have list. Now, I'm contemplating growing okra. And I don't even know what that is! Serious case of cabin fever at my place...
Wait a second here! NOTHING on your wishlist? Grace! Have you not been receiving the mountains of catalogues the season brings? Maybe you are just more strong willed than I. Or maybe you aren't facing as many holes in the garden from winters freezing temperatures? I love the Celosia and the Eucomis, both splendid!
This is a beautiful post. My wish list keeps expanding every time I check out new postings on blotanical. Your garden looks complete, so maybe you are truthful when you say you have no wish list, but I say to you - just wait! Come spring that gardener's blood will start boiling and new wishes will come bubbling up!
My wish list changes with the Seasons. I'm heading off to Gossler Farms Nursery this week to pick out some new, wonderful witchhazels. And I wish I had put in more Snow Drops. I think I rotted most of mine out with too much water last summer.
Get busy Grace. We want to see what's on your list.
Cindee
Yes, buying with abandon last year, that sounds familiar. I practiced restraint in the spring, and lost it all in the fall. A wish list this year? Yes, there's an unofficial one brewing. A Eucomis like yours here is on the list. And, well, one of everything I don't already have. Sigh. hopeless.
Hi Grace, I love your mantra and followed the same course this year. Thanks for the link love and I do hope that coreopsis lives up to expectations. Mine was a little sad last year since I divided it into several little ones. Bad gardener. I have the celosia seeds from sweet and generous Darla too, your success is encouraging! Let us both hope for way too many seedlings, better than not enough, right? Glad to hear about Hot Cocoa, just the name is enough to seperate the dollars from the fist. Here's to another year of plant consumerism! (Keep those nurseries afloat) :-)
Frances
No hand-held electronic devices for me...I still carry around a day runner with a whole section devoted to my wish list. Some items on it are several years old, but HPSO sales have proven gold mines for finding the most esoteric items. Fry Road Nursery (favorite referred to in this post?) looks like a good candidate for a field trip. Do they have a display garden?
I know this is hard to believe, but I've been throwing away every plant catalog I've received so far. I really don't NEED anything. But then again, I just added a lot in the fall and need to see how they'll do. I was happy to see your redshift coreopsis (and even happier that I awed at the pic before I read what it was) because I planted one in the fall. It's near my front door and is guarded with several broken pieces of fencing (aka barbedwire). More than a few people have been poked. Then again, that's what they get for otherwise trampling my garden.
I am adding a few of these flowers you share on my wish list for this year! Thank you for sharing... those images are AMAZING!!!!
I feel like I've died and gone to heaven this morning Grace! I also think pink is the most delicious color on the wheel but you've taken it a lot further than me with all these gorgeous blooms. I have a lot of pink but I think you hands down, have me beat!
Anyway, back to wishes and your photos. I can see why you very nearly fainted when you saw that Celosia. It's supreme. I would love it in my garden too. That Darla must be the most generous person ~ I've seen several other people say she's given them plants/seeds. So sweet.
Believe it or not, I haven't gotten my list completely compiled yet. I do have a couple things on it ~ a David Austin rose (or two), 'Bonne Esperance' and 'Apple Blossom' Dahlias, a few new Salvias, and a red bloom for my containers (Spigelia marilandica). I have had summers like you did last year where I went no holds barred but it doesn't pay here. It's like tossing money overboard with winters that are so cold. Fun for the moment tho. Now that Christmas is down, I can concentrate on seeds and plants and wish lists. Hopefully I can be realistic about my desires and the space I actually have to plant in ~ although I also agree that containers can be a girls best accessory. :-)
Quote away Grace! :-)
What beautiful flowers! I am envious of your garden..I have a mere balcony as we live in an APT. Seeing your pictures I feel "happier"...does that make sense??
Grace, you are definitely "in the pink!" I'm sure you'll find at least ONE item you'll need before Spring's arrival... however, I have to laugh. Some of the comments left here were a hoot! Like Kate deciding to plant Okra without even knowing what it is! ;-) I have not yet made a wish list... although I have one left from last year I should review. Most of what I'm thinking about are hardscape projects that were (barely) not started, much less finished last year. But, I'm just about ready to visit some of my favorite on-line nurseries. Happy planning!
Celosia flowers are really beautiful and vary in colors and sizes. We even have big flowers really up to the name 'cock's comb', actually much much bigger than the namesake. Maybe why it is called Celosia gigantea. They grow very well in our climate and produce lots of seeds. The disadvantage is they become weeds later on when the rain comes, because it is difficult to manage all those seedlings rising up! haha.
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