General growing and maintenance guidelines. Your plants and how to care for them…
I’m glad I didn’t register the name of this hollyhock (Alcea rosea) variety, ‘Peaches ‘n Dreams,’ before I bought and planted it because… The Cheese. God knows I will buy and grow a plant specifically for The Cheese, but there is some cheese that is just too much Lifetime, made-for-TV-movie, Sunday afternoon drama for even me. It was probably the “‘n” that took it over the top. No, I retract. It was the wistful use of “dreams.”
Leave a commentThis soft and creamy version of the typically orange California native poppies are just starting to bloom in my Dry Garden Bed. Despite my love of orange I went with the cream flowers because there are too many other colours in that bed and it would have been chaos. I also love the unusual.
The highlights of this week are my breadbox poppies, which are treating me every day to a new colour and form, and the cold hardy opuntia that have made me so very, very happy to have chanced into the good fortune of exceptionally well-draining soil that is on the sandy side. This garden is an absolute pain in the butt to water, but the growing possibilities are mind-blowing for someone like me who has a longstanding fixation/fascination with dry land flora. It’s going to be unreal next year when all of the new opuntias I have added are abloom. I may pass out from the sheer joy of it.
The plants…
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I grew these annual flowers last year and saved their seed with the hope that they would be viable — and then spring rolled around and I forgot all about them amidst the millions of other seeds that needed to be started.
So when I happened upon ready-to-go transplants, 3 for $10 at a local garden shop, I decided to splurge. They were so gorgeous last year; I had to have them in the garden again.
I have grown other salpiglossis flowers from seed, and while they were lovely, like stained glass married to a soft watercolour painting, they do not compare with the velvety softness of ‘Chocolate Royale.’ These large blooms are so rich, dark and dreamy, I half expect them to smell like a steaming glass of hot cocoa.
They don’t. But they get me every time.
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This week’s herbaria is a little late as we had a few rain showers that prevented me from putting it together earlier. I try to avoid creating colour themes when I choose these, but it was inevitable as many of these plants were chosen because their current state is fleeting and probably won’t be around next week.
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