Aloe 'Spiney' and Other Recent New Plants

 On arrival in a plastic bag left on the driveway,  Aloe 'Spiney'.  A garden buddy dropped it off.  'Spiney' is a David Verity hybrid:  A. humilis var. echinata x A. arborescens (known as A. x spinossissima) x A. marlothii.   


In the ground.  Quelle gorgeous!

 Our wonderful cool May made it difficult to resist buying some new plants.  In addition, those planted earlier this year have grown well in the cool weather.

I found silvery white Senecio cadicans 'Angel Wings' locally.   Behind it is the also silvery Centarea ragusina.  The Centaurea was purchased and planted in early April.  It's growing nicely. 

 'Angels Wings' planted in the ground. Such dramatic color makes a plant difficult to place, but...too bad.  Remember Stachys 'Bello Grigio'?  Killed three of those.  I saw it for sale recently and laughed.  I hope 'Angels Wings' and C. ragusina do better. 

  Two mail order orders this spring.  One from Annies, and one from High Country Gardens.  From Annies, four plants.  First, Abutilon 'Victor Reiter'.  The plan was to replace 'Souvenir de Bonn' with 'Victor'.  I'm now hesitating.  'Victor' went into a pot temporarily while I do my hesitating. 

The variegation on 'Souvenir de Bonn' lights up an afternoon-shady corner but it is a lanky plant, doesn't bloom much (too shaded?), and doesn't hold onto its foliage very long.  

Second Annies plant:  Geranium 'Orion'.  Purchased out of curiosity, it is supposed to be something like 'Rozanne'.  Geranium 'Azure Skies' which was another similar-to-'Rozanne' is having a good spring.  It's badly underperformed for years.  I finally hit it with fertilizer, and voila!:  growth and bloom.  Now I know.  I've never fertilized 'Rozanne'.  It never needed it.  

'Orion' got 'Tiny Monster's spot.  'Tiny', purported to be sterile, wasn't, and I was worried about lavish reseeding.  Perhaps 'Tiny' was self sterile.  It wasn't sterile.  Seedlings were appearing everywhere.  The baggage of memory--the first Geranium here was a dainty species that reseeded itself into the neighbor's garden and down by the street.  I did a lot of pulling.
Geranium 'Orion',  

Third "Annies" plant: Phygelius capensis 'Magenta'.  Phygelius a couple of years ago in a sunny spot with reflected heat quickly died.  Trying again in a different, cooler, moister spot, with late afternoon shade.  

Lastly, Lupinus albifrons.  I planted seeds from Danger Garden.  Some germinated (yay!), but rabbits ate them (boo!).  Trying again with a 4" Annies pot.  This plant is supposedly native to our local area.  
More silver!

Speaking of silver, Leucadendron 'Mostly Silver', planted back in November...

...now looks like this:  

The Fling gift certificate from High Country Gardens brought a trio of Diascia integerrima 'Coral Canyon'.  No clue how these will do.

First little flower stem:

 Local find, a white dwarf Gaura, because of white Gauras I've admired this spring both here and in Austin.  I never had problems with reseeding when I grew the species Gaura several years ago.  I did have problems with the general rattiness of the plant.  Trying again with a dwarf version.  
The Gaura is the spotted tuft at the bottom of the photo.  A volunteer seedling Sideritis cypria by the stick near the top of the photo.  

The dwarf Leucophytums (Calocephalus),

 the 'Cosmic Firestorm' Lantana, Galvinea Gerberas (1),  Erigeron (2), Lavender 'Silver Anook (3), the Echinops ritros, and all the Dahlias (4) planted earlier this spring are doing great.

 Echinops

 Dahlia 'Avignon'

 Dahlia 'Duet'

Last year's star Dahlia 'Funny Face', accidentally dug up just as it started to sprout a few weeks ago, is just fine and growing rapidly. While I was taking pictures a warbler was inside the Dahlia foliage somewhere, singing like an angel.  It popped out for the last photo.

 All the new plants by the pergola are growing well.  'Superb' Grevillea is somewhat chlorotic.  Soil sulfur and time will fix that. 

 I moved the Stephanotis that was doing very poorly elsewhere to a place down by the pergola, in the hopes it would be happier here.

Gully residents Nepeta tuberosa has a flower stem.  Behind it, Erigeron fasculata is about to flower as well. 

 Impulse buy Tecoma 'Bells of Fire'.  There may not be sufficient room here, but it's better off in the ground.

 Ditto for Leucospermum 'Blanche Ito'

I went so far as to plant Zinnia seeds.  They are up.   The Agave is a seedling of 'Blue Glow'

  Well established plants enjoyed the gray May just as much as new plants.  Oldie favorite, Clematis 'Perle d'Azur'

 New and old,  it was a wonderful May. 

Eustoma/Lisianthus.  Quelle gorgeous!

So pretty!