Conquering My Collecting Tendencies

Did you know that all you have to do to avoid wrecking designs by collecting plants is to buy all your plants in multiples? Three, five or six at a time and you're cured! Wink, wink. So that's what I've been doing this spring. It makes me feel virtuous by design standards but my frugal conscience is squirming. Apparently I can't please both parts of my gardening personality at once.



The no-name asiatic lilies pictured above were calling my name over at Home Depot, so I brought home three, then nine, then three more little four-inch pots and planted them in clumps throughout the front yard. In the right of this photo you can see a baby chrysanthemum - I ordered nine of these from Bluestone Perennials this spring. Supposedly they'll grow to full size by fall - stay tuned to see the rose-colored blooms. On the bottom left you can see one of the five 'Rozanne' geraniums I brought home from my local nursery. Soon it will be covered with light blue-violet flowers. Two types of dahlias were also planted - six of one and twelve of another type. A few more 'Walker's Low' nepeta were added. And the 'Emerald Cushion Blue' creeping phlox count is up to fourteen.



Here is one of the twenty-four (BIG gulp) 'Big Blue' liriope (lilyturf) that I planted this spring. Six came from the local nursery, some of which were divided and two of which went into pots on the front porch. Bluestone had a half-price sale, so eighteen more were ordered from them. They're making good edging along the new front beds. Nope, no plant collecting in my front yard, just solid design. Finally.



I added six more 'May Night' salvias to the six already planted in the west flagstone path bed. Soon the six golden 'Stella d'Oro' and six peach 'Apricot Sparkles' daylilies will be blooming in concert with the deep blue-violet spikes of salvia. Oh, my beating heart - those colors will be sumptuous together. Then the lavender catmint will start, and the bearded iris in gold and violet, and the pink penstemon . . .



In the backyard, there's still some collectitis going on. But I sprinkled seeds of deep blue-violet 'Melba Higgins' columbine (about to bloom above) throughout the hodge-podge beds. Hopefully they'll tie the collector's corner together a bit? I've also edited those beds to include a mostly consistent palette of iris (German, Japanese and Siberian), peonies, roses and delphinium. It's looking less like a holding are and more designed! More pictures will come later when blooming starts.



I only brought home one of these 'Fire and Ice' hostas from Lowe's. Like I have any more room for hostas with two dozen different types already . . . but this one was so full and pretty that it came home anyway and will go into a pot for a while. I'll admit that there is currently no design involved in my hosta museum, but eventually they'll be divided out into a coherent scheme.



In other garden news, the lady's mantle is leafing out and holding water drops gorgeously, just like it's supposed to. This tough little plant didn't even flinch when the temperature dropped down to 26 degrees F last week. Much of the newest growth on other plants succumbed to the hard freeze, but the plants themselves survived and will eventually outgrow the damage. Phew. Happy Spring!

My Shady Garden . . . OK, It's Really Just a Holding Area

"So is this just a random collection of plants?" asked my non-gardening friend.
". . . ummmm, well, I guess it is," I answered after a pause to conceal my astonishment at her frank comment. Despite numerous transplanting frenzies to try to organize my shady garden bed into a picturesque vignette, it was obviously still just a holding area for shade-loving plants. A fellow gardener would have found some euphemistic way to compliment my museum-like display, but then I'd still be fooling myself to think that there was some DESIGN involved in this area, when obviously there was not. Thank heaven for non-gardening friends who say it like it is.


Despite the lack of coherence and unity, this area is serving a useful purpose. While I'm waiting for my trees to grow and create numerous shady beds around the edges of my backyard, I have time to try out different shade plants and get to know them before organizing them into a design. For example, when I brought home 'Prince of Silver' and 'Plum Pudding' heucheras this spring, I thought that PofS was my favorite. Though its new foliage was lovely this spring, Plum Pudding (shown above with 'Jack Frost' brunnera and maidenhair fern), has become my new favorite because its leaves are still a gorgeous burgundy while PofS (not pictured) has turned into a boring grey.


When I posted about heucheras this spring, I stated that the leaves of 'Green Spice' would lose almost all their burgundy veining by summer. I swear they did last year, but this year the burgundy is still going strong in August.


Here 'Green Spice' is pictured with green lady's mantle, 'Plum Pudding' and 'Palace Purple' heucheras. Do you Gertrude Jekyll fans notice the color scheme? Gertrude loved to combine white with a hue and its pastel (ie white, red and pink). The pastel connected the two other colors together. I think the green-and-burgundy 'Green Spice' does the same for the burgundy heucheras and green lady's mantle. Nice. I'll have to use them together in the real design.


Some surprises have shown up in the holding area, like this mixed color astilbe. Dare I run the risk of killing the plants by trying to separate the different colors? Probably, it sounds like fun (and do you see the boring grey 'Prince of Silver' heuchera to the right of the astilbes? I think it needs just the right companion plants to make it shine, but I haven't found them yet).


I'm gaining confidence with growing things like this maidenhair fern. My dad's ferns always struggled, so I have this weird idea that I can't grow ferns, either. But this one is putting on new growth! Its lacy leaves are a nice contrast to the bold leaves of heuchera, brunnera and hosta. And the black stems are cool.


Speaking of hostas, I've completely fallen in love with the steely blue leaves of this dwarf 'Blue Ice' hosta and the similarly colored though larger 'Halycon'. I love this blue with the burgundy heucheras, the silvery brunnera and all the shades of green.


This 'High Society' hosta is now out of its pot and growing next to 'Halycon' hosta. It sparkles in the shade, and I'm excited to see how the leaves change as the plant matures over the next few years.


Spurred on my friend's comment, I have been dividing and transplanting this week to try to create some coherence in this bed. It no longer looks like the pictures in this post. I'm moving some plants into a new bed that hubby has promised to dig out for me tonight, and I'm dividing other things and replanting to add repetition to the design. I'll post on the finished project after it gets settled in . . . and hopefully before future shopping trips turn it back into a plant museum with just one of this and one of that.

Shade Gardens at Seattle Temple

After planting so many trees in the past year, I realized that I had better study up on shade gardening for the future. While in Seattle last month, my husband and I visited the temple where we were married a decade previously. The extensive grounds include mostly shaded gardens. Pictured above are variegated solomon's seal, burgundy heuchera, fern-leaf bleeding heart, and blue and green hostas.


This shot of the same bed includes a fern and variegated hosta. I have noticed that the softer colors in my front yard are looking washed out lately in the harsh summer sun. Isn't it nice how these colors blend together in the shade?


A periwinkle clematis wound its way through a Japanese maple tree. I wonder if they ever prune it or just let it do its own thing.


I really love this gentle color of blue-violet. I'm using it as the connecting color that will appear in all the color schemes around my landscape. Campanula, lilac, wisteria, delphinium, columbine, big blue liriope, cranesbill geranium, nepeta, lavender, bearded and siberian iris all offer blooms of this color.


There were many different types of Japanese maple growing on the grounds. The leaves are pretty from afar and up close.


If you look closely, you'll see the pink on these variegated leaves. This tree was luminous in the shady bed.


I'll definitely be buying some of these trees when more shade is available in my yard. They're rather pricey, though, so we'll have to start with small ones. The owner of the nursery nearby my house had to dig up a 45 year old lace-leaf Japanese maple while rennovating his backyard this spring. He's selling it in a pot as big as a small swimming pool for the not-so-affordable price of $3,000. Thankfully smaller versions are much less expensive.


It was nice to see more mature hostas around the grounds. With hubby's encouragement (hostas are his favorite plant), I've been collecting various cultivars this year. We have somewhere around two dozen different types right now, but most of them are tiny.


This tri-color hosta was especially showy. Any guesses as to which one it is? 'Great Expectations', maybe?


Here is a closer view of the unnamed delight. I'd love to get one like this. Hosta leaves show more texture and pattern as they mature. Maybe one of the baby plants I'm growing will look like this in a few years.


There were dozens of this type of hosta planted around the grounds. I suspect they are 'Francee', a vigorous white-edged hosta that would be easy to divide and replant . . . again and again.


There weren't as many heucheras as hostas. Perhaps these are 'Crimson Curls' or 'Chocolate Ruffles'.


Here is a final shot of a mature (!) tree and hostas. I enjoyed the elegant colors and peaceful feeling in these shaded gardens and hope to create a similar feeling in my backyard through the coming years.

Spring 2009 Mail Order Experiences: Part II

I always enjoy the instant gratification of coming home from my local nursery with a large, healthy plant in tow. But the pleasure of anticipating a coming order of plants by mail is also delicious. Most nurseries ship early in the week so the plants can arrive for weekend planting. That makes Thursdays and Fridays exciting. What will show up this week? When will the UPS man finally ring the doorbell? The excitement is tempered by the realization that the plants will probably be dormant or smaller than at the nursery. But when my nursery doesn't have just the cultivar I'm after, I consider mail order plants a worthwhile investment and well worth the required patience.
In this post I will continue reviewing the last five mail order nurseries from whom I have ordered this spring. Click on the bold nursery name to get to their website. See my earlier post for reviews of David Austin Roses, Regan Nursery, Park Seed, Garden Crossings and Heronswood.


1. Bloomin Designs
Ordered: Sagae, June, Great Expectations and Earth Angel hostas
I had to wait to write this post until my hosta order arrived from Bloomin Designs this week. Getting a few hosta divisions from a friend this month picqued my interest in the fantastic hosta cultivars available now, and hubby really likes hostas. That was enough encouragement for a trip to the local nursery to buy a few (High Society, Francee Williams, Orange Marmalade) and to place an order to Bloomin Designs for others that my local nursery didn't carry. The order, pictured above, arrived in good condition with moderately sized plant divisions (see 'Sagae' pictured at the top of the post). This is my third order from Bloomin Designs. I'm drawn by their large selection of daylilies and hostas and reasonable prices, and I've also been pleased with the service I received.

2. White Oak Nursery
Ordered: Smoky Mountain Autumn and Autumn Wood daylilies.
White Oak Nursery specializes in perennials, including a large selection of daylilies and hostas. I turned to this nursery because they carried 'Smoky Mountain Autumn', a daylily that I was convinced I needed thanks to the glowing description in the Oakes Daylily catalog. I wasn't ready to spent $40 for it, though, so I was pleased to find that White Oak carried the plant for just $8 each (I ordered two). I also ordered two Autumn Wood daylilies, also for $8 each. The plants that arrived for SMA were half the size (2-3 fans each) of the AW plants (5-7 fans). I wonder if SMA is a slow grower. Anyway, I planted my two SMA's together and made three decently-sized clumps out of the AW's. Hopefully I'll post pictures of the blooms later in the season. I have no complaints about my experience with White Oak, and I'm pleased that the $16 I paid for two SMA plants brought me a similar number of fans to what one $40 SMA from Oakes would have brought.


3. High Country Gardens
Ordered: Kingston Blue Strain agapantus, Cold Hardy white agapanthus, Penstemon tubaeflorus, Annie hardy verbena, Miss Manners obedient plant
I made two orders from High Country Gardens this spring. I was a little disappointed when the first order arrived. The white agapanthus and penstemon were moderately-sized for mail-order, but the blue agapanthus was puny. This was especially disappointing since I featured these two agapanthus in an earlier post. When I removed the blue agapanthus from its pot to plant, most of the soil fell away because the roots only occupied the top quarter (or less) of the 5" deep pot. I think all three plants were stunned by the transition from New Mexico temperatures to Spokane spring - probably a difference of 30 to 40 degrees. The white agapanthus and penstemon are finally putting on new growth, but the blue agapanthus has died back to the ground. I'm hoping it will resprout, but I'll contact the company to request a replacement if it doesn't. I don't often kill plants, and I think a larger version would have withstood the stress of transplanting better. My second order from HCG included two hardy (!) 'Annie' verbenas and a well-behaved 'Miss Manners' physostegia. All three plants (pictured above) were small on top but had great roots in their narrow but deep pots. They're doing well out in the garden now. Other than the blue agapanthus issue, I continue to think good things about High Country Gardens. They carry many unique plants that are especially suited to gardens in the western USA. Their packaging was great. I like their focus on sustainability and will probably order from them again (I'll post an update on the blue agapanthus later).
4. White Flower Farm
Ordered: Rosea Lavender and Snowdrift fern-leaf bleeding heart
I was hesitant to order from WFF after reading some complaints about them at GardenWatchdog.com. But I received a $25 off coupon for WFF after subscribing to Fine Gardening Magazine, so I went ahead and ordered the pink lavender and white bleeding heart that were calling to me from the catalog. I would have ordered a Bonanza clematis, but they were sold out (so I ordered it from Garden Crossings). My order arrived very quickly, as they were having a ships-the-day-after-ordering special. The 4" pot of lavender was moderately sized for mail order, and the bareroot clump of bleeding heart was large - probably four times as large as the bareroot plants I received from Park Seed. So I have no complaints, especially since my $25 coupon meant that I only had to pay for shipping.


5. Forest Farm
Ordered: Autumn Bride heuchera
Forest Farm is great, and their new website is beautiful. I've had Autumn Bride on my wish list for a while, and reading about it's charms in May's Fine Gardening magazine pushed me into ordering it. I couldn't find a nursery that carried AB and shipped to Washington state, other than Forestfarm. The one-gallon pot was reasonably priced at $9, but shipping was $12 for the heavy pot. The plant that arrived (pictured above) was nicely sized and healthy and is growing well out in the garden. I have to thank owner Ray for his quick response to my email after I couldn't find Autumn Bride on the website (though it was listed in the paper catalog). Forest Farm's GIGANTIC selection places it into a class of its own for mail order nurseries. Their plants are large for the price, though the drawback to large pots is more expensive shipping. I've learned a lot by poring over their paper catalog for hours on end and can highly recommend both the catalog and the plants.

Here ends my spring 2009 mail order reviews. I hope my words will encourage you to experience the delight of anticipating a mail delivery of that perfect, hard-to-find plant for your garden!