Sunday, March 22, 2015

A Few New Faces

young Aquilegia desertorum foliage, GBFD
It has been a very busy weekend, so this will be a brief post.  But I didn't want to miss Garden Bloggers Foliage Day with Christina!  And this seems like the perfect opportunity to introduce some new plants.

One of my recent tasks has been setting out the new arrivals from High Country Gardens.  Five plants were on order, and all are now duly in the ground and settling in.  By the way, the packing from HCG was superb, and all arrived well-hydrated and ready to plant.

There were two varieties of Agastache.  First, "Ava", a tall grower with flowers of brilliant purple-pink.  Just now it is a wee little thing, but the leaves already give off their signature fragrance...
young Agastache foliage
...as does the foliage of hybrid "Apricot Sprite", whose leaves are a shade greyer, at least for the present, and whose flowers should be a bright apricot-yellow .  I look to these two additions to supply some late summer bloom, which should be fragrant and attractive to hummingbirds as well.
young Agastache foliage
One plant actually arrived with flowers on it: this was Phlox grayi "Shades of Pink", a small groundcover phlox native to northern Arizona.  I have no pictures of this one as it is a bit spindly.  I think the flowers took their toll; I have clipped them off and hope to coax this intriguing little perennial into enjoying my garden since most forms of Phlox will be impossible here.

Then there is Aquilegia desertorum, which photos show to have bright red and yellow spurred flowers with an arrowhead form.  Despite its Arizona provenance, this plant is not native to the low desert and is not expected to be particularly xeric,  but how could I resist a columbine with such a species name...?  It appears to be very vigourous, as it perked up immediately on being planted.  (This is also the subject of the opening photo.)
Young Aquilegia desertorum foliage
Lastly, there is a native sage: Salvia reptans, the West Texas grass sage, with its slender leaves, later (we hope!) to be adorned with true blue flowers.
young Salvia reptans foliage, GBFD
Not so new - though this is the first time I have featured them - are a couple of David Austin roses planted into the central bed some weeks ago.  They are thriving, healthily clad in new foliage; but the light was failing as I took pictures so I include only this one of "Wollerton Old Hall", just by the patio.  Full of promise!
New growth on Rose, GBFD

10 comments:

  1. Amy μου και στην ζωη στα μικρα πραγματα, και στην λεπτομερεια
    υπαρχει η ομορφια!!!!
    να εχεις εναν ομορφο υπνο!!!! και στο ξυπνημα σου, μια ομορφη ημερα!!!!
    και μια υπεροχη εβδομαδα!!!!! αγγελικη

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    1. There is so much beauty to be shared in the small things :) Happy new week, Angela - wishing you a bright day inside even if it is grey outside!!

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  2. Thank you for taking time from your busy schedule to join with GBFD this month. I look forward to seeing your lovely new purchases as they grow and hopefully thrive in your garden.

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    1. Thanks, Christina - I enjoy the whole idea of GBFD so it's always special when it comes around! Hopefully I will have some flowers to share from these plants later, but I thought it would be interesting to start looking at the foliage now :)

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  3. Super macro shots Amy. It's always an exciting time to get new plants and get them in the ground. Agastache are wonderful plants but with me they are just a tad on the tender side. I look forward to reading how all your newcomers do over the year.

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    1. Thank you, Angie! These newbies are quite tiny, but they look good thus far. This will be the first time I've grown Agastache; I'm sure some forms are better adapted here than others - I tried to choose wisely... :)

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  4. New plants are always exciting! I've been thinking of ordering some Agastache from HCG myself as I haven't found the orange variety I wanted locally - too bad I missed their weekend sale. I hope all the newbies do well and that you avoid the heatwave headed our way!

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    1. It's warming up here, but I'm sure it's not quite so bad as on the coast! I was favorably impressed with my HCG order, and their emphasis on xeric varieties is very useful. My only difficulty is the occasional question about a need for winter chill for some of the plants - always hard to gauge when confronted with only the USDA zones, and some of these plants aren't listed in the Sunset guide. I guess it gives room for experimentation!

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  5. The Agastaches are so full of promise! They do need a bit of winter chill but most varieties should survive up to USDA zone 9...as long as you get a week or so of temperatures dropping to about 20-25F you should be OK. I do admit, when only the lowest zone is included it makes it difficult to determine which plants are suited.

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    1. Last winter we didn't really get much chill, but I understand it was unusually warm for the area... So I'm hoping for the best with the Agastaches! Thanks for the information, Matt! Sorry I missed your comment so long; I'm not sure how it got lost in the mix...

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