Tag Archives: dianthus

Ye Olde Garden

Scenes From the February Garden

February is the start of mild spring weather in Texas while the rest of the north is still in the thrall of frosty winter. Comfortable temps means time to go plant shopping! A few of the purchase this month include: Catmint Walker’s Low (and Little Trudy again), Abelia Kaleidoscope, Nandina Blush Pink and Purple Pixie Loropetalum from Strong’s Nursery. From North Haven Gardens, a couple of Heuchera (Electra and Snow Angel), White Margin Snow Rose (serissa foetida), dianthus, herbs, and petunias…

North Haven Gardens was already awash with spring color!

Shade bed in the front yard, before (left) and after pics. I had to remember that I sank about 3 dozen daffodil bulbs late fall last year in this bed, so it was a bit tricky planting around them.

This Everillo carex nearly tripled in size in its little corner by the fence gate, staying evergreen through winter. In stark contrast is the salvia regla or Mountain Sage which is deciduous unlike the salvia greggii in our climate. But like many salvias, this one already knows spring is around the corner and is displaying new shoots off old growth.

Ye Olde Garden

Another weekend of plant purchases

Just a quick rundown of purchases and gardening activity that occurred this weekend.

While I was out and about food shopping on Friday, I did find it interesting to discover that Whole Foods Market in Plano sold organic herbs and plants. They are the only vendor in recent memory that seems to sell organic labeled plants.

20160401 Organic herbs at Whole Foods Market

I picked up a red-leafed celosia and a dracaena at Strong’s Nursery intended for another bowl planter. This meant of course that I had to purchase more planter boxes and bowls. 🙂

20160402 Celosia and Dracaena
On Saturday, I made my way back to Meador Nursery in search of herbs and sedum. I didn’t find the herbs I wanted, but I did buy a tray of succulents to add to the front yard stone path: Sedum makinoi ‘Ogon’, Sedum polytrichoides ‘Chocolate Ball’, and one that was “possibly” mismarked as Sunsparkler Lime Zinger.

20160402 Tray of Sedums 20160402 Golden Sage, Dianthus and Variegated sedum

I found my golden sage and one more sedum lineare variegata at Four Seasons Nursery.

On Sunday, we found our way out in Allen at Puckett’s Nursery, where we picked up the first golden oregano of the season and sedum Lemon Coral.

Due to an allergy that’s persisted since last weekend’s planting, I’ve refrained from outdoor work to give my body a chance to heal. I suspect that handling certain plants and being out in the sun too long has brought on a rash that’s covered the length of my outer arms.

Wishlist plant: Thymus praecox Highland Cream thyme

Ye Olde Garden

Yard plan and whirlwind weekend buys

We covered a lot of ground in the first weekend of March, literally speaking. From Chambersville Tree Farms to Covington’s Nursery, we amassed a truck-bed full of plants. So many in fact, that one resourceful canine thought we could do without one. I’ll tag them for now and call out some of our plant selections in future posts.

First Haul, Mostly Bedding and Container Plants Closeup - 2nd Haul 2nd Haul

After determining that he needed to set the flagstone differently, (in sand as I had originally argued) the man began the arduous task of digging up/destroying all the topsoil and weed mat we had already laid down the previous weekend, breaking a few of the stone in the process. A frustrating outcome to be sure as we had initially paid for the labor to remove the sod the first time around. To redo that work seems such a waste!

A Mudpit While It Rains - Flagstone Path 2nd Pass North Wall Bed

Unfortunately, all our plans were stymied by week-long rain. It’s evident that we probably won’t be able to return to the yard crash until the following Sunday or Monday at the earliest. This also disrupts any plans to visit more nurseries in search of our focal tree (Metro Maples in Ft Worth is at the top of our list).

I invested in a garden planning app to get my fix in the mean time. Garden Puzzle is a decent enough desktop application with a solid database of flora. I found it by way of Better Homes and Gardens’ online design app. Interestingly enough, I can also import plant designs that I worked over with Photoshop to fill out what is missing from the GP desktop database.

2016 Proposed Front Bed Summer Layout