Yesterday’s shopping trip yielded 3 Ideal Select White dianthus from Strong’s Nursery. The felicia from Home Depot now resides in a planter with an Ideal White dianthus, the last Picasso calla bulb, and a Silver Dragon Liriope which has begun to show some leafing.

I discovered to my dismay that my maple had begun to yellow…so back outdoors it went. I’ve plucked the yellow leaves off to stave off any further stress on the maple. I think the extra sun helped sustain the heavy foliage this year. I did notice one or two leaves displaying pink variegation…so I’m hoping the rest will follow suit.

The remaining 2 Ideal White dianthus have been planted in the courtyard fence bed, along with the Hot Lips. I’ve also decided to put Hosta Eternal Flame in the back corner behind the crepe myrtle, where I hope it gets enough shade during summer.

The front fence bed received the flat of Coleus wizard mix that I picked up from Christina’s this past week. They grew quickly in the flats and I feared they would dry out the longer they sat out of the ground…so into the bed they went!

Finally this morning I had the radical notion of pruning back my red salvia greggii. They had grown so gangly and woody during the 2 years in their pots that I felt it was time to cut them down to the ground and let them start from scratch. I’m hoping that they will shoot back from the crown and fill up in time for summer. (I left some softwood on the main trunks to allow for a new flush of growth.) The following blog entry gives me some hope that these salvia will rebound with even greater vigor than before.