Category Archives: Ye Olde Garden

Ye Olde Garden

Made in the shade

I convinced the honey that the front flower bed does indeed receive 2-4 hours of sunlight every morning…I suspect we will be reviewing our bedding plans and determine what shrubs might be suitable for the location. So far I’m convinced that at least 2 Encore azaleas, 2 nandinas and at least one green-leaved fringeflower will be represented. I’ve found a good list of shade-loving shrubs that I’ll also be using as reference.

I’m still deliberating on the placement of the kalmia. I’m not convinced that Minuet won’t overgrow its position by the door, but being a dwarf mountain laurel means it won’t reach the normal size of the species, right?

I will also have to look at the hydrangea section again…it seems there may be a subgroup of the shrub whose leaves don’t offend me. I’m not fond of the giant oak-leaved hydrangeas…I’d prefer a finer texture and smaller form.

Ye Olde Garden

More plant orders and a weekend chill

My Forestfarm order came in, a very nicely packed Kalmia and sprouting Hosta. The dining room table is filling up with plants and bulbs. However a sudden freeze has stalled our landscaping efforts this weekend. By midday Saturday, temperatures plummeted, and we saw snow around 8pm. Truly bizarre Texas weather…even our city Farmer’s Market was delayed for another weekend. I’m banking that this will be the last freeze of the season; the coming week temps look to be in the 70s.

I’ve put in an order with Stokes Seeds for the Xtreme Hot! Impatiens mix (250 seeds), 1 packet of Super Parfait Red Peppermint, Thai Basil, Red Rubin Basil, and Garlic Chives. It took me a long time to whittle down the Impatiens varieties, but given the recent introduction and success of the Xtreme series, it seemed logical to choose it over the Super Elfins, Accents and New Guineas. Maybe later, I will go back and pick up more color blends as well as explore other varieties such as the Athena Doubles, Orange Flash and Red Flash, and the Super Elfin XP Stellar Mix Impatiens.

A word about the dianthus: I’ve been looking to see if a “hot” blend of colors are available in the Ideal mix. It appears that the 4 surviving specimens that I transplanted to the courtyard bed may have been Telstar varieties, likely scarlet or carmine reds, and possibly a white. I have my eye on Dianthus Valentine, but I’d like to find a supplier that offers it for reasonable prices.

Ye Olde Garden

First orders in-house

Awaiting me when I got home from work yesterday was my Brent & Becky’s order. As usual, I’m always pleased to find a well-packaged order of healthy, good-sized bulbs. If weather permits this weekend (a possibility of snow and freezing temperatures forecast on Saturday), I will be putting the new arrivals in the ground.

The honey and I went to Lowes to see about fabricating a light stand. However, we had a hard time finding any pieces for even a decent price. The wire/metal stand started at $40 which I decided not to purchase, and we found with a fluorescent grow light for about $15. I may just return the light and craft something simpler, as shown in the CFL grow light video. The honey had a good idea to re-purpose our unused 2nd bathroom as a seedling house and we may be trying PVC to craft a light stand.

While at Lowes we also picked up two bags of hosta: Gold Standard and Minuteman. These will join the Eternal Flame I ordered from Forestfarm, which should hopefully arrive today. I’d like to add a blue hosta to our collection and am surfing around for candidates.