My feline-friendly planter is filling out. Catgrass germinates fast under the right conditions. In this bowl: lemongrass, lemon balm, Little Trudy catmint, variegated ginger mint, catgrass grown from seed.
A Truck Bed o’ Plants
A late post about my after-work trip to Strong’s Nursery last week. I’ve been back several times that the staff recognize me!
In the bed: Turkish speedwell, rosemary, cuphea, Nifty Thrifty variegated armeria and Mountain Flame delosperma.
I admit I overpaid for the shaped rosemary–sticker shock @ 19.99…I should have picked up a smaller, untrained specimen.
In memory of Drogo: My donation to SOCKFIP
I’m happy to report that my employer has finally resurrected charitable fund matching after a brief 6-month blackout period during my company separation. This is the first time I will have the opportunity to support SockFIP financially with a recurring payroll deduction that my company will match 100%.
“Save Our Cats and Kittens from Feline Infectious Peritonitis (SOCK FIP) is a volunteer non profit organization dedicated to eliminating Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP) through advocacy, community education and financial support for UC Davis-CCAH FIP Research.”
In memory of Drogo, born 5/9/2015, diagnosed with effusive FIP 1/20/2016, PTS 2/1/2016. He was eight months young, not enough time for his family to love this precious furbaby.
Yard crash progress as of 3/28
It was a back-breaking, sore-all-over labor to work the north-side shade bed and start the task of planting groundcovers and creepers in the stone pathway. But we accomplished a lot over the weekend, including our final tree selections @ Chambersville: a shantung maple and a Viridis japanese maple, both 30 gallon specimens. Due to the wet weather so far, Chambersville won’t be able to deliver our new trees until sometime mid-April.
Before pictures:
After pictures:
We mulled over the idea of adding blue glass to the marble rock river winding down to the path from the gutter. The man also wanted to add a marble rock feature to the front bed, but I’m not as open to the idea.
Plantings in the north bed: Carex Everillo, Hosta Fire and Ice, Astilbe (x5), Lime Marmalade heuchera, Foxtail fern, Cedar Sage, White Star caladiums (x3), White Splash geranium, green oxalis (white-flowered), Hort Couture Glitterati Ice Queen, wild red columbine, Sugar Plum heuchera, Japanese painted fern, Hort Couture Plum Crazy oxalis, Contessa Burgundy geranium, black mondo grass.
Plantings in the north path: Platt’s Black brass buttons, scotch moss, irish moss, variegated oregano, roman chamomile, Grace Ward lithiodora, Archer’s gold lemon thyme.
Yard Crash Progress Report
We accomplished a great deal over this weekend despite the cooling weather. I took advantage of an early release on Friday afternoon to check out North Haven Gardens for tree and shade plant prospects. Takeaways included Picasso calla lily and White Star caladium bulbs, cat grass seed and a variegated milkweed by Hout Couture. I came very close to picking up a variegated hellebore (Snow Fever), cool literally and figuratively speaking, but refrained due to lack of experience.
Saturday included trips to several area nurseries and feed stores looking for unusual or uncommon plants. Farm-and-feed stores differ in that they rarely carry ornamentals and focus on vegetable/crop seeds and of course farm operations. I did find it fascinating to find 3 healthy Moruga Scorpion specimens at Dennis’ Farm Store in Denton that I was half-tempted to snap up (found variegated oregano and a Golden Girl salvia instead). And who could resist the adorably cute farm babies at D&L Farm and Home Store in Aubrey? I did finally add to my cat-friendly herb planter, discovering lemon balm at Texas Seasons in Celina.
After hitting up Four Seasons and Laguna Madre for variegated sedum and a pot of lemongrass, it was off to work digging up more clay to add depth to the path nearest the fence. Then, Sunday and Monday we spent the day setting the flagstone, removing the builder-installed plants, and installing our bird-and-butterfly friendly (mostly) perennial garden.
The end of March is coming fast, and we have yet to finish our yard crash. It doesn’t help that we are coming up with new ideas along the way…