More trade plants!

As if the arrival of warmer weather and the corresponding awakening of every plant in my garden isn't enough, I've recently received some more plants in the mail! This was another plant trade, and opening that box is always exciting! Although I had discussed which plants I wanted with this other gardener for the past few months, I hadn't been keeping a list -- so the contents of this particular box was somewhat of a mystery.

These are not typical small trade plants -- these things are huge! Plus they were packaged by somebody who really pays attention to detail. Let's take a look...

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These plants came from a California garden, and although some of them can be found locally, others are impossible to get. What may be a very common plant in one area of the country is unheard of and unavailable in others.

These are the nicest plant tags I've ever received! My usual pencil on plastic mini-blind slat tags are not going to measure up... I'll have to come up with something more special.

Since these are from a warmer climate, some of them won't overwinter here. That's no reason not to try them though -- some of my favorite plants are not cold-hardy here but thrive as annuals in our hot, humid summers. One example is cape honeysuckle:

Not sure how it will do here, but I'm going to try it!

A perennial vine that can be somewhat invasive with suckering roots in warmer climates, here it will be grown as an annual and I'll try overwintering it in different ways too -- but I'm definitely months away from even thinking about overwintering right now!

Another one that probably won't survive winter here is deer grass,  Muhlenbergia rigens:

Although this is obviously a potted specimen and not dug from the garden (cheating!), it is so common in California that it was bought on clearance for 50 cents or something like that. I'll probably put it in a big pot and see how it does, although it will probably do better in the ground. I'll have to find a spot for it though.

It grew a couple of inches during shipping!

Wire vine, which is probably available here, but offered as part of the trade:

Since I haven't grown it before, love the look, and am always looking out for new trailing plants for pots on my deck and hanging planters, I'll take it! I even got an official plant tag for it:

It's a little confusing in that its genus name (Muehlenbeckia) is quite similar to the genus name of deer grass (Muhlenbergia). There's no confusing the two plants though!

I also received two Canna 'tropicana' divisions:

I've thought about growing Cannas for years but never got around to it. I'm excited to give these a try, as the leaves are already showing some very intriguing colors.

The last plant in the group is another grass: Miscanthus sinensis 'Silberpfeil'. It will be a year or two before it starts showing its stuff, as it's just a small division. It will stay potted for this year so I have time to decide where I want to put it.

That's the little Miscanthis 'Silberpfeil' in the back.

So there are the new plants, potted up and ready to start growing in my garden.

I'm not sure what makes trading plants so much fun. Maybe it's not knowing exactly what you'll be getting.  Perhaps it's that you're getting them for free (or just the price of postage). Is it just that they're coming from somebody who's just as passionate about plants as I am?

It's probably a little bit of all of these, but mainly just the fact that they're new plants, and new plants are always exciting.

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