Thursday, March 7, 2013

More new plants for Spring!

It's like gardening Christmas.  New plants are always fun and finding a box of new plants on the porch, as I did Wednesday afternoon, is even more fun.

With so many good native and adapted plants available locally it's easy to find plants I need so ordering plants online is rare for me.  When Santa Rosa Gardens had a pre-season sale in January I decided to give them a try.  I've had my eye on their white-blooming Gulf Muhly (Muhlenbergia capillaris 'White Cloud')  and haven't found it locally so ordering was the best way to go.  I easily found several other plants to try in my garden.  They even let me pick my ship date nearly six weeks ahead so I didn't have to hold the plants through the winter.


Each plant was wrapped in a little mesh sock and rolled in paper.  I unwrapped them one by one as little gifts and each was a bit of a surprise since it had been about six weeks and I didn't remember exactly what I ordered.


Three plants, including the Muhly, are backordered and will be shipped in April.

Here's what I received so far:

On the left (back to front) are Sempervivum arachonoideum 'Forest Frost' and Sempervivum arachnoideum 'Cobweb Buttons' succulents which get spidery webs as they mature.  They are hardy to -40F which is way colder than it gets here but I will have to keep them indoors during summer's heat.

Lavandula 'Silver Edge' (back center) and Artemesia 'Silver Brocade' (back right) to add to my collection of silvery plants in the garden.

Baptisia australis (front right) is a native plant with bright blue blooms that is very heat and drought tolerant.


All arrived in good shape and I am excited to get them out in the garden.  High temps here should remain in the 70's for a few weeks so they should transplant to the garden just fine and have time to get established before the heat comes.