The Newbie Confessions

Every year I post a list of all the new plants I've added to the garden during my fall/spring transplant-a-thons and every winter I fess up to how many of them I've killed or tortured. It's humbling, to say the least. 

From fall 2012 to spring 2013, I added numerous perennials and a few small shrubs. Most are still in the garden. The rest have been buried in shallow graves.

The Casualties and Not Quite Deads

'Dream of Beauty' asters

I did my absolute best to kill these. I really did. Despite being excited to add them to the garden, I foolishly planted them in a "dry" section of my rain garden. News flash: there are no dry sections of my rain garden. That's why it's called a rain garden. Even when it's not raining, the soil is heavy and moist. I rescued the lone survivor mid-summer and planted it in a pot with excellent drainage. It's still alive but laughs when I pass.

'Ascot Rainbow' euphorbia

I added three 'Ascot Rainbow' to the garden last fall and they sailed through winter, their foliage growing more beautiful as the temps dropped. But while freezing weather didn't bother them, they couldn't survive the annual anemone invasion. They also didn't appreciate being planted under the shade of a crape myrtle. Oops! By mid-summer, I only had one euphorbia left. This fall, I found another on the sale table at our local nursery and as part of my shade garden redesign moved them both to a much brighter spot. I think they'll make it. At least that's what I'm telling myself.

'Wenlock Beauty' wallflowers

I killed these superdead. Planted in a pot near my back door so I could enjoy their fragrance, they never bloomed. Having read they thrived when neglected, I took my new knowledge to heart and ignored them. They repaid my efforts by dying a slow, miserable death. By the time I realized I had been duped, it was too late. They only want to be ignored if planted in full sun in moist, very well draining soil. Mostly sunny with dry soil isn't quite the same. However, my determination to figure how to grow these has led me to purchase a new victim off the sale table and try again. It's planted in full sun in well draining soil that I plan on keeping moist. Who knew?

'Dark Ponticum' monarda

This is 'Peter's Purple' instead of 'Dark Ponticum' but they look very similar.

Hello, I'm Tammy and I'm addicted to monarda. Maybe it's the Rastafarian flowers or their "Yes, my hair is supposed to look like this. Deal with it!" attitude, but I find them irresistible.  If they looked more normal, I would like them less. 'Dark Ponticum' needs less water than most but its reputed ability to grow in shade is pure baloney. It thrived in the garden until two months of rain created so much growth in my crape myrtles, they blocked the sun. I moved them to a sunnier spot and they immediately put out new growth.


The Survivors

'Star Dreamer' daylily

I completely forgot to take any pictures of this plant because I'm just amazing like that. They are a tall, fragrant, light yellow daylily. 

Since it's impossible to kill a daylily, I grow a lot of them. Every year I rip chunks of them out as my garden grows shadier and eagerly gift them to friends. But I added the 'Star Dreamer' daylily to a pot and it's thrilled. After telling myself to stop buying daylilies and just rearrange the ones I already have, I turned around and bought more dayliles. Why? Because they were purple. What color were the other ones? Not purple.

'Pink Octopus' campanula

These are so happy growing in well drained partial shade, I added more. Like most campanula, they spread quickly but I consider that a bonus since they are well behaved invaders. Of course, I spent all summer waiting for them to grow to 18" only to discover they only reach 8-10 inches. I consider this an indicator of either sleep deprivation or early dementia. Both are entirely plausible.

'Star Cluster' and 'Full Moon' coreopsis

'Full Moon' are yellow and 'Star Cluster' are white.

If you give coreopsis hot sun and well drained soil, they will love you long time. These bloomed all summer in my front butterfly garden and only needed to be watered during periods of drought.

'Caradonna' and 'Rose Queen' salvia 

'Rose Queen' with orange milkweed

'Caradonna' is in the background.

These grow alongside the coreopsis and are some of the toughest plants in my garden. I kept them pinched back to encourage more flowers and fuller growth. They were also some of the first perennials to bloom in spring, much to my surprise. But the pollinators must have been waiting since they were lined up like kids for
candy as soon as the flowers opened.

'Red Hot' lilies

These aren't actually red but I love the name, anyway.

The bulbs were planted in fall 2012 and the plants are still small. Next spring, I'm going to tie them to stakes to help them push their way through the bleeding heart foliage without growing crooked. The plantings around my Big Daddy rain barrel are a bit of a hodge podge.

Since I'm in confessional mode, I have to admit the name was part of the reason I bought these lilies. I like the idea of having a clump of red hot hussies strutting their stuff on the side of my house. But of course, I also think there should be a cultivar of banana tree known as Well Hung but that nugget of horticultural genius is continually ignored. I can't figure out why. My Red Hot ladies pushed and shoved their way through the massive bleeding heart to provide interest long after it had gone dormant. My gals need more support, though, and an artistic plant stake plan is underway.

'Shimmer' evening primrose (Oenathera fremontii)

This is a tough plant. It spent part of the summer fending of the advances of an aging parsley plant who was determined to have one last fling before calling it quits. They simply grew under the parsley like a rug until I yanked it out. Once their lanky growth was cut back, they flourished and required very little care.

'Venice' dwarf hydrangea

I wish they were more purple than pink, but the pink is pretty, too.

The hydrangea grows next to my mosaic pot. There is another one on the other side of the steps. 

I really shouldn't grow hydrangea since I don't have a good spot for them, but I missed them so much I bought these little dwarf cultivars and stuck them in pots on my front porch. As long as I remember to water them, they're very happy.

'Jelly Bean' and 'Peach Sorbet' blueberries

'Peach Sorbet' in early spring

I love blueberries but after losing my big shrubs in the Wheelbarrow Wars of 2005, I'd given up on ever growing them again. When I saw these at a trade show, I was hooked. I was hit with a serious case of plant lust and since a girl wants what she wants....I ended up with one of each. They have incredible fall and spring foliage and were bred to thrive in a container. They grow on my patio and I'm able to munch the berries before the birds find them. Score one for Tammy!