After spending a little too much time with pruners in my hands, I took a break to replant two containers that had seen their best days. Replanting them provided an instant mood boost. One can only spend so much time chopping things back.
The barrel that contained Rudbeckia hirta from summer through fall needed to be changed out. Although the Rudbeckia might have sprung back into flower come late summer, I plant the barrels under the Magnolia tree specifically to provide a splash of year-round color. Admittedly, the garden centers don't have much variety in annuals at this time of year when they're still recovering from the holidays but I made do.
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| The primary element was labeled as Delphinium grandiflorum but it looked a lot like Consolida ajacis and I wondered it it was mislabeled. While both plants are called larkspurs, it seems that the plants native to Siberia and China are classified as Delphiniums. However, it has me wondering if botanists will be reclassifying them or Consolida ajacis one day. |
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| Clockwise from the upper left, the barrel includes: Delphinium grandiflorum 'Diamonds Blue', Nemesia 'Nessie Plus White', Viola 'Colossus Lemon', and V. 'Sorbet XP Neptune' |
The other container I replanted was the urn positioned in the bed in front of the garage that I walk by several times a day. The Ptilotus 'Joey' was pretty for several months and then it wasn't. It turned out to have a very shallow root system. The trailing Verbena I'd planted to complement it never did well even if the butterflies enjoyed it for a short time. This time, I decided to plant the urn with succulents, which should hold up longer.
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| I wanted a taller Mangave but decided to replant one a friend gave me years ago instead of buying a new one. It was very overcrowded in its relatively small pot and I ultimately had to break the pot to free it. I purchased 2 small Graptosedums to complement the Mangave and split them into smaller pieces, adding a few other cuttings from my garden. |
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| Closer view from the top |
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| Clockwise from the upper left, the urn contains: Crassula multicava, Graptosedum 'California Sunset', Mangave 'Kaleidoscope', and Portulacaria afra |
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| I removed 5 small pups from the larger Mangave, which I'll try to root. 'Kaleidoscope' is a prolific pupper. |
That's it for me this week. I'm off to the dentist this morning...
All material © 2012-2024 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
