New Plants?

Although I haven't shown it to you this year, my driveway behind the house is where I keep all of the plants that I intend to plant or pot up. Sometimes these are propagated plants: seedlings, cuttings, divisions. Sometimes these are plants that I purchased that have been languishing in their tiny nursery pots for months, waiting to go into the ground or a container.

In any case, I have many of these plants this year -- a couple dozen at least -- even though I gave away quite a few plants to garden visitors. So why did I stop at Greenscape Gardens last Friday and buy new plants? It's an even mix of obsession and bargain hunting I think, and I got a couple of great deals! The first is shown above next to the dark-leaved Pennisetum 'Vertigo'.

***

It's a quite large specimen of ribbon bush (aka centipede plant or tapeworm plant) Homalocladium platycladum:

I love its long flattened stems...

...which really look great next to 'Vertigo'.

Even though this is cold-hardy to only 25ºF (-4ºC) or maybe a bit lower, it only cost me $12 -- all tropicals are 50% off at Greenscape right now. We'll find out how easy this is to overwinter indoors (or in my garage) this winter. It's about 4' (1.2m) tall already!


Another tropical score at only $12 is what should be a hummingbird magnet:

Although there is no visible tag, I believe this is Russelia equisetiformis (coral fountain, firecracker plant?), another one that I'll need to overwinter indoors.

So red! Haven't seen a hummingbird visit it yet though. I chose one that still had blooms on it (of course), and am happy to see that new growth is emerging, so this should keep flowering for a while. All summer maybe?


Now I'll move on to something that wasn't on sale but caught my eye for $6:

This is Bulbine frutescens, and the subtle orange flowers are quite nice.

This one will also need to overwinter indoors, hardy to only zone 8 it seems (I'm zone 6 here).


Next, a plant that I've seen in Loree's garden and have coveted:

Melianthus major, a fairly large shrub in a warmer climate, here it is sold as an annual. I never would have thought to look for it locally, but I recognized that beautiful foliage instantly!

I never knew that the foliage smells like peanut butter -- I don't remember Loree mentioning that. Yummy! (It really does too)

This will live in a pot for me, as I'll need to bring into the garage during the coldest parts of winter. I wonder how large it will get for me grown this way?


I didn't only buy tropical plants on this trip; I did show some focus and got another perennial for the shady bed under the maple that I've been sprucing up recently:

It's Epimedium 'Lilafee'. I've seen Epimedium (bishop's cap) plants at the Missouri Botanical Garden where I've admired their foliage: triangular leaves held on thin, wiry stems. I'm glad to have added it to this shady bed...

...which is starting to look quite nice! I just hope these plants all do well in this tough spot, as the maple wants all of the moisture and nutrients. I'll have to keep on top of it this summer to ensure they establish -- and maybe even thrive?


Last up is a native plant:

Manfreda virginica, the false aloe. I already have one of these growing, but when I saw the coloring of this one...

...I just had to have it! Plus I'm always worried when I have only one of a plant in the ground. Until it's been around for a few years at least I'm concerned that something bad could happen to it.

So those are my recent additions. See anything you like?


Now I just need to get the remaining dozens into the ground...

.