Agastache and salvia revisited

August 6, 2007 epicureasian

So last week I decided to move three of the “purple” salvia to the corner beds. Two of them seem to be hanging in there, the third (and the biggest) suffered a bit…perhaps because I violently yanked it out of the ground with less of a rootball. I’ve been diligently watering them twice a day, which they seem to be responding too. Still crossing my fingers that they’ll pull through and flourish in their new locations.

I visited Home Depot and Lowes last Friday to see if I can dig up some of the elusive blue salvias. No such luck. I did manage to stumble upon a Salvia greggii Coral Star among some of the other Star series colors (red & white). I also picked up an Agastache Red Fortune…it’s not really red, but I wanted to see if Agastache will grow in my beds.

I relocated my three pots of Hot Lips Salvia in the new tree ring bed, and away from the dead/dying rosemary bush that suffered from the excess watering. Not sure if the rosemary bush will recuperate from all that water…

One final surprise that I overlooked during my salvia transplant: in the middle flower bed I discovered two salvia stems looking hale and happy despite the mother plant being forcibly removed from them. These surprise babies are going to find a new home once I decide on where to place them.

Ye Olde Garden

Another rain, another bloom

August 2, 2007 epicureasian

Wondering why it’s been muggy lately? That’s because we had another shower, and my flowers are loving it. Some time last week, I deadheaded the spent Cosmos and Dianthus blooms, and now they’re back for another show. I am loving these Cosmos! So much so, that I’ve ordered an ounce of the Psyche White from Wildseedfarms.com and 4 packets of the Ladybird Dwarf Red from Dianeseeds.com to try out. Let’s hope I can get them to grow even though it’s mid-summer already.

Those “purple blue” salvias that I planted in the middle bed last year didn’t bloom true. I found 3 of the 4 salvias showing off rose-colored flowers…so I transplanted them this morning to the corner beds. One of them even had volunteer rootlings which I quickly planted into different holes, with some good soil. I’ve been meaning to fill those corners with salvia anyway.

I was also happy to see one of the Flevo glads laden with blooms this morning. Not exactly the crimson red I expected, but more of a dark rose red color. Very rich and very vibrant. While this gladiolus was reported as a dwarf in Brent and Becky’s catalog, my specimens averaged three feet tall, and the flower spike needed some support. I noticed not all of the other glads were faring well…some pest is making a meal of the glad leaves.

I’ve become obsessed with finding some true blue salvias of the same habit as my greggiis; current candidates are Salvia azurea and Salvia reptans to fill the holes in my blue & white bed. Oh, and add Salvia chamaedryoides and coahuilensis to the wishlist….

Ye Olde Garden

Crazy about Cosmos

July 20, 2007 epicureasian

One of the two exciting flowering standouts of 2007 in my garden are the Cosmos Cosmic Mix seeds that I planted mid-spring. With regular rainfall we saw up until this month, the Cosmos took off in a brilliant display of yellows, orange, and reds. These came from the Park Seed order that arrived late winter which I just threw around the borders of the backyard flower beds. I love the fern-like growth and the semi-double blooms of the Cosmos sulphureus…and this has led to my interest in the Cosmos bipinnatus which sports even “fern-ier” foliage. I intend on ordering a bag of the Psyche White Cosmos at Wildseed Farms for next year. Too bad they aren’t perennials! Note to self: order more red and yellow Cosmos sulphureus. Or even give the Ladybird series a test drive.

Dining, Email Posts, Furkids, Technical, Ye Olde Garden

Lost and missing posts prompts reorganizing

July 18, 2007 epicureasian

After the February crash of my server box, I lost many posts written up to this time. I am considering redesigning the site and perhaps move it to a paid hosting solution. We’ll see how it goes. Meanwhile, I hope that the Internet Archive will soon have some copies of this site available for me to recapture some of the lost data.

Technical