Arkansas Blue Star and Strawberries

Today I planted 3 bareroot Arkansas Blue Star (Amsonia Hubrichtii) and 6 Sweet Kiss strawberry (Fragaria) plants. The Amsonia arrived from Bluestone Perennials last week on Thursday or Friday, but since I didn't have time to plant them right away, I moistened them a little and kept them in the  plastic cling wrap which protected them from drying out during transit. I saw them at the Van Vleck gardens in Montclair this summer and thought that their graceful and airy form would screen the cars in the driveway.

After I thought I had my hands full with the Arkansas Blue Star and was wondering when I would have time to plant them, the Sweet Kiss strawberry plants arrived this week from Park Seeds. I'm looking forward to trying these. "Fire-engine Red & Candy Sweet" is how these were advertised on Park's website. I don't normally like fruits because they usually do not appeal to me, but the Alpine strawberries, although not plentiful, were sweet enough that I actually enjoyed eating them. I'm hoping that these won't disappoint! I planted these near the backdoor next to the Alpine strawberry plants. Hopefully they will be OK there since it's not the sunniest spot in the garden. I'm thinking of adding a raised bed in the front where I can grow Nice Things to Eat. Once that is done, I suppose I can move the plants there where they can get more sun.

I also removed the Lily-of-the-Valley plants I managed to grow in a pot from bareroot this spring. It seems that for some people they grow like weeds, but I seem to have the most difficult time getting them to grow - probably because I want to them grow so badly, lol! Maybe I'll have better luck this time since they have some leaves and their roots have also filled out.

The yellow orange daylilies are going strong since it hasn't been too cold in the evenings.

No pictures today since I was busy trying to plant everything before the shipment of tulip and daffodil bulbs arrive from Colorblends. Although they have sent me catalogs in the past, this is my first year ordering from them. I feel like a kid looking through a toy catalog when I look at their selections. So many colors and forms and such beautiful color combinations! Which one(s) to pick?! Good Lord, do I even have enough time to plant them all!

It's not easy trying to keep on top of everything so that I don't have an overwhelming pile of plants that I need to get into the ground before it gets too cold. Over the years, I've learned to pace myself better during the planting season. I don't buy as many varieties for the season anymore, but I now try to order at least 3 plants where it makes sense to do so.

I think next year, I'll concentrate on bed in the front of the house. We had the porch newly painted earlier this month and that bed has been neglected while I concentrated on the back entrance, which is the entrance we use most often.

Brussels Sprout: Hestia Hybrid

Started some Hestia Hybrid Brussels sprouts today in my Jiffy setup. Not sure if it too late, but with our current state of global warming, there may still be time to grow them.

Some facts about this brussels sprouts:

• Germination in 8-10 days
• 3-4 weeks before planting outdoors
• 100 days from setting out transplants until harvest 
• up to 3 feet high and 2 feet wide
• can take some frost (which should sweeten flavor)

I've usually not had much success with the Jiffy peat pellet system, but since it is convenient, I'm giving it another try and will just take care to watch for new signs of growth before removing the cover to let the seedlings air out.

Hellebore Pink Frost - Part 2

I finally got around to taking the picture of the two new Pink Frost hellebores...

I circled the three so that they are easy to see. They are surrounded by a badly eaten hosta, some Polemonium reptans (Jacob's ladder) and new pachysandra terminalis that was planted about two months ago this year. The Polemoniums (Polemonii?) seems to do well for me and seems to spring up in different places. 

Hellebore Pink Frost - Part 1

Received my shipment of 2 Pink Frost hellebores from White Flower Farms today. Not wanting to keep them around hanging around too long, I decided to plant them right away since I have more plants coming my way. The larger of the two seemed to be a bit root bound. It was a bit difficult to get out of the container and I had to pry some of the roots away from the center of the root ball in an attempt to have the plant extend its roots outwards once in the soil. The smaller one was loosely packed in the pot and was easy to extract. Hopefully they will do as well as the one that is already established in the yard. I did not have my phone with me, so unfortunately no pictures to post tonight, but I'm hoping that I'l have time to document them tomorrow.

Groundcovers Galore

Last week a shipment of 50 bare root Pachysandra terminalis (Japanese Spurge) and 50 bare root Liriope spicata (Creeping Lily Turf) from Classy Groundcovers arrived. They arrived in a box and were well packed with moist newspaper and moss inside a black plastic bag. Knowing how important it is to get bare root plants in the ground as soon as possible and since it was a warm day, I overcame my feelings of laziness and planted them right away. Some of the pachysandra looked slightly limp and sad, but after a few cloudy days, they began to look much better. These were planted near the doorway, where I've been having problems finding something that will grow there. It's partly sunny there and usually there is no supplemental water. Since it is also under a tree, it can be a bit dry as well. Hopefully these will take off. I've also just order two Pink Frost Hellebores to add to the one that is already there.

A new planting of Japanese Spurge (Pachysandra terminalis)

I planted the Creeping Lily Turf near the mailbox where the ground seems to be much drier and it is difficult to get much of anything to grow which might be due to the nearby pine tree. They are also looking good so far. I was thinking of maybe adding a rose bush there. I imagine that holly would look nice there - especially with its branches loaded with bright red berries in the winter, but I'm worried that it won't do well due to lack of moisture, but I suppose maybe I can give it a try. 

Creeping Lily Turf - Lirope spicata

Helleborus - Gold Collection Pink Frost

For a couple of weeks now, I've been searching through my e-mail to find the name of the Helleborus that I planted some time ago. I must have brought it locally because I can't seem to find an e-mail receipt. I also thought that I listed it in this blog somewhere, but could not find it here either.

It seems to grow well enough in my garden that I'm feeling comfortable about buying a few more. Since it seems that they can cross breed, I wanted to make sure that I buy the same one in order to maintain the look of the current one I have.

I finally spotted the one I think I have in the White Flower Farm catalog. It is called Pink Frost and and I am notating it here for reference. The name seems very familiar, so judging from that and the picture in the catalog, I'm pretty sure that this is the one I have. Unfortunately, they are sold out for this year, so maybe next year I'll plan for some more.

Here's a picture taken at the end of February 2017 of my Helleborus Gold Collection Pink Frost:

It's about mid April now and there are still some flowers despite the weather warming up. During the summer it looks like a nice enough ground cover and is one of the few plants that seem to do OK for me.

Tequila Sunrise, Lily-of-the-Valley, Liatris Spicata

Quickly threw some Renee's Garden Heirloom California Poppies, Tequila Sunrise (packed for 2016) seeds on the ground yesterday and potted up some Lily-of-the-Valley and Liatris Spicata bareroot plants from Walmart today.

Hopefully the poppies will take, even though they were packed last year. Supposedly  they will take about 7-14 days to germinate, so by April 14th, I should see some signs of life if they are going to do their thing.

Planning on adding some snowdrops around the hellebore in the fall. It was an idea I got from this Garden Design article about hellebores with comments by Jerry Fritz of Linden Hill Gardens. I should probably add more hellebores too!