March Madness
Yesterday I went to my favorite nursery with my friend. But before I get into that, I have to tell y’all a story about a Toothless Wonder sighting I had last fall outside of the nursery. I was filling my car up with gas, when guess who I see coming out of the TigerMart? Yep! The Toothless Wonder! She was carrying a 12 pack of Bud Lite! Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it WAS 10:30 in the morning. Cracked me up!
Anyway, as I was saying…I went plant shopping yesterday. I made a list and proceeded to pretty much ignore everything that I had written down. Oh, I got the usual stuff like marigolds and begonias. I also picked up a few pentas, impatiens, and salvia. I bought some Mina Lobata “Spanish Flag” seeds. I didn’t realize it was a vine which I have been trying to stay away from, but since my ficus tree died (this is a different one), I am recycling it and will have the vine climb up the dead branches. If it even grows, that is.
I also bought some balsam , basil, coleus, and schizanthus seeds. I’ve never heard of balsam and schizanthus. Balsam is supposed to be heat resistant and have gardenia like flowers that are quick growing. (Yes, I copied that off of the seed packet). Schizanthus (Gesundheit!) is shade tolerant but can also be grown in the sun and have butterfly shaped flowers. The seeds were so tiny that I just threw them down anywhere. Hopefully, they’ll grow and I won’t regret planting them.
I was looking for another jatropha, but TW said they haven’t gotten them in yet and shared some jatropha love with me. I was telling her that I think mine died, but she said it still may come back. I think I’m gonna have to disagree with you on this one, TW!
I’m very excited about the fushia plants I bought. They are not heat tolerant at all, but TW said they will bloom indoors. I have a south facing window so I hope she’s telling the tooth…er truth. (okay…that was bad).
And finally, I bought a meyer lemon and a Mexican lime tree. Only I bought those at Home depot because they were half the price than what they were selling for at the nursery. The lemon tree is blooming and OH. MY. GOD. does it smell wonderful! The lime tree doesn’t have any blossoms yet and it has thorns! I thought that was weird.
So that’s it for now. I plan on going back in a few weeks to get more stuff and another jatropha or two. We’re supposed to get a bunch of rain later on today so my plants should be off to a good start. If they don’t wash away.
Here are some pictures.
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I took some others, but I got tired of resizing them. I’ll post some before and afters at a later date.

March 6th, 2005 at 9:43 am
i think i would’ve bought the schizanthus just for the name. and then referred to it as ’schizzo’. hope you have more luck with the spanish flag than you did with your mexican plants…
March 6th, 2005 at 9:57 am
lol-I will call it that and maybe I’ll remember the name!
I know I vowed to stay away from any ‘Mexican’ plants, and I just realized that I bought a Mexican lime tree! I don’t think I’ll end up hating that, though.
March 17th, 2005 at 1:19 pm
Thanks for the pictures! I have no idea about all these different named flowers, but I know pretty things when I see them!
March 17th, 2005 at 10:19 pm
Erika,
When you move to Florida, you’ll be able to grow a lot of what I do. How exciting!
May 20th, 2006 at 5:41 pm
we bought a lime tree at lowes in san antonio..any tips on fertilizing/care? ours had some blossoms when we bought it, but they have disappeared. It is growing rapidly & appears healthy.
March 1st, 2007 at 3:05 pm
I live in Austin and bought a Mexican lime tree. It did not do too well this winter with the cold weather (even though I had it on the southern side of the house) and most of its’ leaves dropped off. I cut off the ends of the branches that turned brown, but I’m not sure if it will come back. Any suggestions??