Almost, almost done with rose pruning...early this year. Last year I think I dragged it out until almost March. But I am very weary of looking at bare sticks, so I decided for fun to think about my very favorite plants. Not the ones that thrive, or the ones that are easy, or the ones that are appropriate for this area--no not those. My favorites. The ones I buy another of, even when I already have several.
Calocephalus brownii, which is like a roll of silver wire that's been unspooled and scruched into a big ball.
Geranium 'Jolly Bee' or 'Rozanne'--they are hard to tell apart, but no matter. Something that blooms like crazy for months and months, has leaves like green snowflakes, doesn't spread, and doesn't reseed at all. But first of all, the flowers are really, really pretty, and the foliage green is always the fresh sweet green of spring:
Any Echeveria, 'After Glow' especially. Pink and blue and lavender foliage. What more need be said?
Agave 'Blue Glow'. It's symetrical! It's blue! It's perfect!
Rosa 'Firefighter'--for the perfume alone. That it is prolific and nearly Rust proof only makes it better.
Coprosma 'Evening Glow'---another plant with "glow" in the name--hmm. It's all about the amazing foliage with a gloss that looks like 100 coats of laquer:
Agonis flexuosa 'After Dark'. Because a tree with black foliage is just plain cool. That it has low water requirements (once established) and a well-behaved root system is completely beside the point.
Well, so much for a brief mental plant-rapture. I just had a glorious vision of an 'After Dark' Agonis growing in a swath of silver Calocephalus brownii. Or an orderly brigade of 'Blue Glow' accented with Echeveria 'After Glow'. Oh, my! Odd how I have so many roses, but my first thoughts of beloved plants are mostly plants with their beauty in the foliage. What's up with that? Have I just been pruning to long?
Back to bare sticks. Almost there; stay on target.
Calocephalus brownii, which is like a roll of silver wire that's been unspooled and scruched into a big ball.
Geranium 'Jolly Bee' or 'Rozanne'--they are hard to tell apart, but no matter. Something that blooms like crazy for months and months, has leaves like green snowflakes, doesn't spread, and doesn't reseed at all. But first of all, the flowers are really, really pretty, and the foliage green is always the fresh sweet green of spring:
Any Echeveria, 'After Glow' especially. Pink and blue and lavender foliage. What more need be said?
Agave 'Blue Glow'. It's symetrical! It's blue! It's perfect!
Rosa 'Firefighter'--for the perfume alone. That it is prolific and nearly Rust proof only makes it better.
Coprosma 'Evening Glow'---another plant with "glow" in the name--hmm. It's all about the amazing foliage with a gloss that looks like 100 coats of laquer:
Agonis flexuosa 'After Dark'. Because a tree with black foliage is just plain cool. That it has low water requirements (once established) and a well-behaved root system is completely beside the point.
Well, so much for a brief mental plant-rapture. I just had a glorious vision of an 'After Dark' Agonis growing in a swath of silver Calocephalus brownii. Or an orderly brigade of 'Blue Glow' accented with Echeveria 'After Glow'. Oh, my! Odd how I have so many roses, but my first thoughts of beloved plants are mostly plants with their beauty in the foliage. What's up with that? Have I just been pruning to long?
Back to bare sticks. Almost there; stay on target.
I love the color and form on the echevaria--Really, is this a PLANT? Beautiful! I'll have to admit, though, that I do love a few plants that seem to be all sticks and no leaves, with the Baja Galvezia juncea 'Gran Cañon' being a current fav. But roses, definitely, they're not something you grow for their stems.
ReplyDeleteGalvezia juncea is way cool--do the rabbits eat it? A constant question here.
ReplyDelete