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!


Comments

  1. That aloe is very pretty - so spiky! I love the variety of plants in your garden, and wish my luck with silver Leucadendron was as good as yours...

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    1. Well I've already killed a couple. Leucadendron are easiest right along the coast--I would think they are very difficult in inland heat. The silvery ones are especially sensitive to heat.

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  2. 'Spiney' is wonderful! I picked up a 2nd 'Angel Wings' yesterday as the price was reasonable and I couldn't resist, although I haven't decided where to put it - as you pointed out, it stands out and I'm still wary of exposing it in full sun as summer heats up. As to Geranium 'Orion', Phygelius 'Magenta', Lupinus albifons and Leucadendron 'Mostly Silver', I've killed them all. I hope they perform better for you!

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    1. The 'Angel Wings' is really, really lovely--I have a shade shelter for it but open on one side so I can admire it.

      The Lupine died already. I had it shaded also, but it was really, really, really tiny, maybe 2" including the root. One root, yes. I think they sent one too small. :(

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  3. Your new plants look pleased with their new home. Now ... add a little gentle rain ...

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  4. Aloe 'Spiney' is a good one! Boo on the rabbits, but congrats on the seed success until they screwed it all up.

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  5. How exciting. You have so much going on in your garden.

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    1. It was a really fun May garden-wise. The heat is about to hit, so the party will be over until late October. But it was a really fun May!

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  6. Why can't I find 'Angel Wings' up here ? Why ? I planted Zinnia seeds this year as well. All in very large pots. My version of a cutting garden. I have Tecoma 'Orange Jubilee'. Put it in between Lobelia tupa and Salvia 'Black and Blue' . I have Achellia 'Mooshine' and Penstemon 'Midnight' in that area too. I'm going for the jewel tones! I congratulate you on growing Nepeta tuberosa successfully. The second I plant it it gets spider mites., as with every other Nepeta.

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    1. Gerhard said he got an 'Angel Wings' at Lowe's for $8.95. (You may now scream.) Salvia 'Black and Blue' has the most gorgeous flowers, but it is an aggressive thug here. Yet I'm trying to grow it in another spot, because of those flowers. You will have a good cutting garden! 'Orange Jubilee' + 'Black and Blue' will be stunning together.

      The last time I grew Zinnia from seed I was six. Wow are they easy.

      Well, the Nepeta is a success right now. Who knows what will happen in two weeks? I've never grown Nepeta before--it's an experiment.

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  7. Great plant growing weather = great plant shopping weather! ;)

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    1. That's the downside of it. I need to stop the latter.

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  8. More material for the virtual pinboard of inspiration for your blue-silver sweep-to-be: Denise's Instagram (botanizeme) from a few days ago has a wonderful shot from her garden of a path that's a micro-Lotusland.

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    1. See what a fabulous combo it is? Yes, yes. Thanks for the link.

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  9. Awesome choices. The fact that I recently bought quite a few of the same plants shows how much we are on the same wavelength :-).

    Diascia integerrima 'Coral Canyon' from High Country Gardens: I got one, too!! And I ordered another Diascia integerrima from Digging Dog. Hopefully they'll do well.

    It was great seeing you at Roger's Gardens on Monday. My plants survived the trip home.

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