Tag Archives: tulips
More March buds and plants
Wishlish plant of the day: Malvaviscus candida Variegata or Variegated Turk’s Cap (a shade plant for Texas)!
First stop is the planter box by the patio door. I dropped some cuttings of stonecrop (?) that I took while trimming my succulent planter. I didn’t have high hopes that these stray cuttings would flourish, but they look pretty alive in that dirt, don’t they?
The oxalis in the blue bed appear lush and full. Notice the remnants of the yarrow I pulled out a couple of weeks ago lying in wait to take over.
I am baffled by these rosettes in the blue bed. These are the surviving Blue Knoll Chrysanthemums, aka Heteropappus Meyendorfii. They are reportedly annual, but these two are starting their second year in this bed. They sat in mulch, tolerating dry-to-drought conditions, part sun and displayed no flowers last fall. They have not grown beyond the size they currently are. Is there a chance that these might provide some autumn color this year? I’m going to have to pull out the Days Aster–it spreads everywhere and has invaded the camellia bed on the other side of the fence.
The next camellia bud is about to burst. This particular bloom occurs very low on the plant and to the back. It requires some position to take it in full view.
Front flower bed: tulips bursting out of the mulch and the newly transplanted Valentine dianthus. Notice the white edging on the tulip leaves; this appears to be the Happy Generation tulip planted last fall. The other tulip sprouts are smaller and do not display edging; most likely they are Tubergen’s Gem.
Hot Lips salvia starting out with red blooms, but the bicolor blooms are coming on fast. I just love the variability of this salvia.
Daffodil buds have appeared. I expect to see them bloom in a matter of days.
This particular foxtail fern has new plumes. The foxtail ferns did not die back down into the ground this due to the mild winter weather. It was pleasant to see them provide some greenery and vertical shape to the shade bed. Check out the japanese painted fern behind the foxtails!
The lily bed would like to welcome our newest bloomer: origami red and white columbine. Beautiful spurred flowers are blooming on this one specimen. The other columbine is looking rather straggly but at least it endured summer and winter. The colors are synching with the red-and-white theme of the neighboring dianthuses and pansies. I hope in a future season, we will see some lush foliage and growth show off this bed. For example, the orange and white mums appear to be bulking up in anticipation. The Charmed Wine oxalis appear to be a little shy coming out of winter; they don’t show off as many blooms as the neighbors in the blue bed, and they are half the size.
I filled in the new garden bed this morning and tried to level the ground up to the bed at the same time. We’ll be requiring some good soil to fill in the rest and start arranging the cinder block edge. Now if it would stop raining/sprinkling long enough for us to get some garden work done!
Tyler Rose Gardens
Tyler’s Municipal Rose Gardens offered more flowers for our viewing pleasure. Especially noteworthy during our stroll was their Camellia garden, where nearly every giant camellia bush was drenched in enormous blooms. The park also displayed some seasonal color throughout the gardens, including daffodils, tulips, pansies, and hyacinths. Meanwhile, it appeared that most of the roses we saw had been recently pruned and mulched with pine needles.
Laboring over divisions and stumpless in color
I had some extra time this morning prior to a doctor’s appointment to putter around in the garden. I took some cuttings of yellow salvia greggii, tricolor sage, and variegated oregano to foster indoors. Meanwhile I discovered it was time to replant the lime thyme and the variegated oregano since there were clear signs of root congestion in their cinderblock homes. It wasn’t too difficult trimming down the roots and dividing both plants; I had desired more clones of these plants and now I have at least 2 of them out in the herb garden, with baby cuttings currently fostered in my patio planter boxes.
Still on my list for cuttings, divisions and replanting: coreopsis, catmint, dianthus, dusty miller, hakonechloa, gaura, white salvia greggii, Sierra San Antonio salvia greggii, basil, and possibly the variegated society garlic. Dividing the gauras will be tricky…the front yard gaura has grown into a monster, and the two flanking our rose look imposing.
Meanwhile, the ajuga cuttings I took recently have begun to bloom. The lily bed is afire with red/white dianthus and pansies. The Valentines look especially vigorous!
Purple flames arise from our purple loropetalum! Emerald Snow is blanketed in white fringes. Elsewhere, signs of life emerging from the tulips in the front bed. And those giant grape hyacinths are looking thick and healthy!
Taking a quick peek at the Jiffy seedlings, it appears most have already germinated. I expect to retain the dome for at least another week or two.
And then back to the stump-sized hole in the ground! Stump has been removed! The man decided he just couldn’t handle another day of sawing and digging and hired some professionals to grind down the remains.
Eggplant be mine!
I took a snapshot of the soon-to-be eggplant. It’s less than an inch long at this time, but I’m looking forward to seeing it. Aside from the Thai chili peppers, this may be the only other fruit of this year from my amateur caretaking efforts at a vegetable garden.
Afterwards, I went on a whirlwind tour of 4 garden centers: 2 Calloways, 1 Home Depot and Christina’s. It took half of my day and Dandy was a tired pup after the shopping trip. My list of purchases include: 1 bag of 10 Tulipa clusiana Tubergen’s Gem bulbs, 6 more bags of Scotts Garden Soil, 2 flats of violas, 2 flats of pansies, 2 4″ pots of dianthus and 1 4″ pot of red lantana. The following is a sneak peek of the new arrivals–really not much to see!
