Every year, I impose a rule against planting anything other than succulents during the summer months. And pretty much, every year I break it. I'd already reinterpreted my own rule to include an exclusion for bromeliads as well as succulents but late last week, on a trip to my local garden center, I just ignored it entirely.
I went to the garden center to pick up additional mulch but I came home with more than just mulch. However, I'd like to note that one of the plants I brought home
is a succulent.
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| This is Aloe labworana, a stemless aloe that grows just 1-2 feet tall bearing yellow flowers in the fall. I've planted it on the west facing slope in the front garden. |
I also brought home three
Gomphrena. Now this particular
Gomphrena is an annual. When I think about it, my rule should have had a special proviso addressing annuals. They're not expected to last more than a season so, as long as the annual in question is heat tolerant, I should've had a summer-planting exception for that.
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| Gomphrena 'Pinball Snowtip Lavender' is heat and drought tolerant. I planted it in the bed fronting our garage. |
But my third purchase can't be justified as easily. In my defense, I've been looking for reasonably priced specimens of the plant in question for a year now. Last year, it was new to the local garden centers and pricey. I bought one and have looked for more ever since. They haven't been widely available here and, when I've found them, the price has made me choke. So, when I found one-gallon containers for what I considered a very reasonable price, I had to bring home three.
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| This is Lomandra 'Platinum Beauty'. The one I bought last year has done well in partial shade with very little water. They'll get a little more sun here but the soil should also hold moisture better. |
Of course, none of these justifications can be used to explain this:
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| This mail order delivery arrived yesterday afternoon |
Oh well. Rules are made to be broken, aren't they? I usually wait until September to blatantly ignore my self-imposed rule but I got an early start this year. Between winter's pitiful rainfall and July's nuclear heat blast, it's been a tough year for the garden and it's hard not to want to step in to "fix" it.
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| There are 3 Erigeron glaucus 'Wayne Roderick' in front. In the back row, left to right are: Epiphyllum 'Monastery Garden', Cordyline 'Design-a-Line Burgundy', and Plectranthus lanuginosa. I've got spots identified for all of them. The Erigeron and Epiphyllum were already on my fall planting list. The other 2 plants were spur-of-the-moment selections to round out the order. |
I'll be doing planting my new arrivals this weekend as well as potting up some
rampant seedlings, which is a fine way to spend my time. However you spend the extended holiday weekend, I hope you enjoy it!
All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
