Civilization Garden/Nursery Run

Today we dodged downpours and went to all kinds of cool plant-related things. Made our traditional pilgrimage to "It's a Jungle" for their out of bloom orchid sale first. I found a cute button fern and a fabulous small-leafed begonia there first (will have to add pics). But almost walked out when I read her sign on the counter with the out of bloom Paph's pointing out the ones for $15---they were sick: chlorotic and with seriously disabled roots (probably overwet and rotted) . I asked the lady's husband if those were the only ones in the sale Really, and that I was not about to pay even $15 for a plant that was likely to die. He went and got the missus who said yes, many of the rest of the counter were included in the sale, but seriously bridled when I pointed out the ones she had in that special section (I'm assuming this is her regular sale site, or dump, for dying orchids--someone who knew orchids reeeeeally well and had an ideal situation for them might keep them alive long enough to grow new roots, but they would have died immediately for the average person, and probably for an expert too). She got seriously defensive, and we almost walked out then and there, but I had come for an orchid, and if I could pick through the rest I would. So's I did, and came away with what is sure to be a very dark purple one: (Magic Flame X Onyx) x Mad Maud. We'll see--at least this one is green with healthy roots.

ANYWAY. On we went on the annual pilgrimage to Pots'n Plants which is known for, well, besides its fabulous collection of pots and plants, putting out dozens of pink flamingos on its property half the year and plastic penguins the rest of the year; this year I really wanted to get pics of the flamingos since I already had ones of the penguins. And yaaaaayyy, they were out!
Oh, and I, uh, got some plants too:

• Calliandra haematocephala or Red Powderpuff, check it out--so cute!
  
• Variegated Hibiscus 'Snow Queen', which has beautiful white and green foliage and red flowers

These are both tropical and the flowers are the same color so I want to plant them together--now if I can just figure out which pot (I have some serious re-potting coming up)....

Next we went to the Natural Gardener, and I honestly can't say enough good things about this place. They had soooo many plants and all very healthy, everything from vines to shrubs to herbs to roses, as well as annuals and perennials. And to top that, they had beautiful plantings all around and fountains and garden statuary. I went totally nuts photographing butterflies on their bee-balm (on left is a Pipevine Swallowtail), echinacea, and mist-flowers. Here I only got some Spicy Italian and Cuban oregano, but I wish I had a whole new place to landscape so I could come down with a truck. Oh, and as the name suggest, they have all kinds of organic soil amendments, fertilizers and insect/disease sprays. If you ever go to a nutty-crunchy organic nursery and see "Ladybug" brand products, that is made here. Got a big ol' bag of "greensand" to add iron to our chlorotic lawn (all the rain), and an organic fertilizer concentrate.

Next we drove down to Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center--through quite a spot of rain I might add, it was still sprinkling when we started walking around but stopped shortly. A lot of things were past their peak bloom, except for "Big Red" sage (which is very tall, but in fact purple), echinacea, and partridge pea, which I was unfamiliar with, but it has very pretty yellow flowers, and is a native self-seeding annual that will attract hummingbirds and butterflies (see left). We'll be heading back down there in the fall for the native plant sale.

A good time was had by all, especially after Himself got to stock up on gourmet beers and cheese, plus dinner at Whole Foods....then the long drive back to Hell's Half Acre. Sigh.

July Expansion Plans

Well it may be the dog-days of summer, but I still have garden plans! One is expanding one of the little beds off of the patio we made out in the yard last summer. I picked up a couple of great hostas at a Big Box store. One is an unknown with wide cream margins (on the right, A, can you identify?), which I planted in a current bed, and I have 'Guacamole' in a pot awaiting transplantation to the expansion. Both have big-ass flower stalks right now--lavender for unknown and white for 'Guac'. I may also move one or two hostas from another bed that are being overrun by 'Chocolate Chip' ajuga. I currently have a couple of aloes out there which may get moved out into the expansion to have more room, but I also want to put one of the three promotional 'Early Amethyst' Beautyberries back there (the birds love 'em).
In bed: (background) Texas Persimmon, (right) Beautyberry, (front) Guacamole Hosta
In pots: (left) Oxalis 'rubra' & aloe, (front) juniper bonsai, (left) cactus & aloe, (back) birdbath made from saucer of stones on top of pot

The other thing I'm planning is actually a new bed, but it has to wait until AFTER the construction of the new room on the back of the house is done, 'cause I want to put it on the corner. Basically it'll be a small bed anchored by a purple, fragrant, purple climbing rose, 'Night Owl,' which will be trellised against the wall, plus I have a really pretty peachy daylily, 'Razzmatazz' Echinacea (coneflower; pictured below left), and little baby apricot dahlias. (the rest are in pot above left--there's also a purple African daisy in there but it's not blooming now).
Right now most of this is in a pot awaiting the lonnnnng-awaited room, but I need to repot the coneflower (probably in one of the pots I empty doing the other expansion). I must say, Lowe's has had some pretty nice coneflowers lately; which is bad for me, 'cause I can't stop buying them. Not only did they have 'Razzmatazz' (which is too cute), but also 'Primadonna White', which I planted in front at the base of the white climbing rose. They also had one of those orange series, like 'Sunset' that I like so much and had bought already online--for much more money. Oh well, who knew??