Romancing the black

The black plant in the garden always makes a statement. I purchased 5 bareroot Ophiopogon niger (black mondo grass) from Brent and Becky’s last year…and while they aren’t as robust as I’d like, they are still eyecatching. That black mondo grass incidentally has gone up in price at B&B, and I’ve since lost 2 of those plants.

Today I’m taking a very close look at sedums and ajuga. Of the sedums, the dark purple-leaved cultivars are particularly attractive. Both Black Jack and Postman’s Pride are border plant/specimen contenders for the S1 bed where their dark foliage will contrast nicely against the white/blue theme setting. Of the ajuga (bugleweed) I’m studying the Black Scallop and the Braunherz, 2 glossy-leaved groundcovers that may see use in the back beds.

Now another “colorful” plant that I’ve used, with some disappointng results two years ago, is the heuchera. The Texas heat proved too much for the Heuchera caramels that I trialed. But the S1 bed has a more controlled water schedule (and some shade protection) which may allow the heuchera to thrive. Some cultivars that drew my attention: Black Beauty, Midnight Rose, Obsidian, Plum Pudding, and the americana Chocolate Veil. The Sooner Plant Farm based in Oklahoma looks like a great place to purchase these plants.

But before I close, let’s not forget the fringe flower, or loropetalum. I’m thinking of filling the hole vacated by a dead nandina in S1 with a short, dark-leaf cultivar…the shortest I’ve found is a “dwarf” called Daruma, which still grows 3-4 feet high. My only concern are its bright pink blooms which might clash with the white and blue theme of S1.

Hostas in Texas? Maybe caladiums instead…

Is it possible that hostas can survive the harsh Texas climate of my backyard? The following report seems to suggest so. I’m thinking of experimenting with hostas in the S1 bed. The white-variegated hostas have particularly caught my eye. From the report, I’m looking at Francee, Albo-Marginata and Patriot…though it seems the Patriot has declined over the 2+ years of the trial. Patriot’s sport, Minuteman, might fare better. Based on the report, So Sweet is looking like a contender…if only it were a more verdant shade of green.

But then again, maybe caladiums are the safer, more reliable option. There are dozens of white-variegated cultivars, Jackie Suthers, White Wing, and Candidum for example, and because of its tropical background (like cannas and callas), stand a better chance of survival in the Texas heat.

Upgrade to 2.3.2

I’ve upgraded to WordPress 2.3.2. One of the first things I realized after going over the detailed upgrading instructions was that I had a sidebar widget login that disappeared after I upgraded WordPress. To get back to the old familiar WP login page, I had to type wp-login.php after my domain name in the browser url field to access the admin panel.

In cleaning up the plugins page, several plugins prompted me to upgrade them, which was a pleasant surprise for this version of WordPress. I will be test driving the site for a bit to clean up some problems (most notably Oceia bar) and figure out if anything broke due to the upgrade.

Of especial concern: my antivirus at work picked up a Downloader trojan in one of my browser caches. I don’t recall downloading any content today, (I’ve been browsing plant sites, WordPress, eBay, Wells Fargo, Texas Almanac and the Weather site) but it has me concerned enough to run an online virus scan of my server. Sadly Kaspersky no longer makes online scanning available: therefore, I’m using TrendMicro’s online scanner to check for bugs.

The bug 2008

Once again the seed and plant catalogs are piling high in the mailbox. I’m inevitably reminded by the mild weather and the bare flower beds that it will soon be time for spring sowing and gardening. I plan to take off a week from work either in February or March to devote to the yards. I’m trying to look up weather reports to help me with planning this week off. I did check out the Texas Almanac website to learn about the last freeze dates. Average last freeze dates for Dallas/Collin counties is March 16. I’ve also scanned the Weather.com site to retrieve average monthly temperatures for my area.