Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Getting my plant therapy at Garden Fever…

Knowing I’d want plenty of time to get the garden in tip top shape for Saturday's tour I’d cleared my calendar (as much as possible, which amounted to the better part of 3 days) last week. Focus: stay at home, tend to the garden. Come Friday I was going a little stir crazy, rain was threatening, and I decided “to hell with it” and didn’t do any garden tasks. Out running errands I did however stop at my neighborhood nursery, Garden Fever. I needed a little plant therapy and there was a Fothergilla gardenii 'Blue Mist' I’d seen last time through that kept calling to me.

En route to the Fothergilla these ghostly gorgeous Rhododendrons stopped me in my tracks.

Sexy!

I stayed on task though and walked on by. Then I saw this display of cute little 4” Rhododendrons. What’s up with all the Rhody-lust!?

Rhododendron cinnabarinum Orange Flowering

With excellent blue-tinged foliage...

Rhododendron cinnabarinum Red Flowering

And Rhododendron sinogrande…

How impossibly cute are those little leaves!? (that are going to be big leaves someday)

Still, I walk on, I have a mission.

Damn – what’s that? Ficus afghanistanica 'Silver Lyre'…love it!

But (yay), I already have one, after all it is a Cistus introduction.

Oh…look at those blue needles! Cunninghamia lanceolata 'Glauca'…

Maybe I can finally rationalize buying one of these by using it as my Christmas tree this year???

What do you think?

Lagerstroemia 'Plum Magic', yum.

And those graphite containers call out to me every time I walk by them. Want! (so many temptations, and yes, I wouldn’t have it any other way)

Finally I grabbed the Fothergilla and then accidently walked back past those darling little 4” Rhodies. Looks like a pair of R. sinogrande jumped into my arms.

I left feeling much better thank you.

All material © 2009-2015 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

35 comments:

  1. Now you have me wanting more plants...

    That doesn't look like the photos of Ficus afghanistanica 'Silver Lyre' I see on Plant Lust.

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    1. So true, although I have seen deeply cut leaves on other 'Silver Lyre'...may that one was mislabeled (it's not from Cistus) and is actually a:
      http://plantlust.com/plants/ficus-afghanistanica-green-filigree/

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  2. I was tempted by that Cunninghamia too. But apparently it gets really huge. I suppose I could keep it in a pot. I don't remember seeing Rhodies there, but I was probably concentrating on the perennials. Where did you hide these new plants during the tour? Or had you already planted them? I was looking for signs of a pot ghetto, and saw nothing. Great choices.

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    1. You have room for huge Alison! And re: the pot ghetto...there was one, tiny and sort of hidden. I'm going to post a photo to your FB page.

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    2. Alison, I'm keeping mine in a large bun form by pruning it. So far so good. They seem to take to it quite well. Saw them like that in gardens back east.

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  3. Nice score! You're lucky to be so near to so many great nurseries!

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  4. Haha...I was at Garden Fever also this weekend and bought one of the little R. cinnabarinum orange form. You got some good plants and YES, get the Cunninghamia.

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    1. Spoken like a true enabler (and one who owns a beautiful Cunninghamia I should add).

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  5. I was going to say, "what a good way to spend the money you earned from the garden tour." But then I realized the tour was for a charitable cause :-).

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  6. I drove to Cistus the other day for the same reason . I wish I had remembered that Ficus . I did get Csesalpinia gilliesii Brazlian bird -of- paradise .

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    1. Good for you on the Caesalpinia, I have 3 now...but none of them are blooming.

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  7. You deserved a wee bit of plant shopping! Now I think I need to go to Garden Fever and have a look-see.

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    1. Go! It's never disappointing...although for you it's not quite as easy to just drop in.

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  8. Your nursery visits are always interesting! your rodhies are going to grow pretty much no? They will give an interesting look.

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    1. I hope so! I already have a larger one, it's doing fine but is a slow grower.

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  9. Garden center therapy - the best kind! I love the graphite pots too - and the plants (but that goes without saying).

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  10. You had me at Rhododendron pachysanthum. Zone 6? Must have. I have a little R. cinnabarinum. Barely survived the last two, beastly winters, so I potted it up and will give it some extra love and protection. You have a lot of self contol. I think I would have wound up with more plants and some graphite-colored containers! My hat's off to you!

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    1. Well...I do have a pretty stuffed to the gills garden, but I am still trying to rationalize one (or more) of those containers.

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  11. I really like that fig--any idea how hardy?

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    1. Well as Alan pointed out it's not looking terribly 'Silver Lyre'-ish...so if it's 'Green Filigree' then 7a, where as 'Silver Lyre' is 7b.

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  12. I NEED TO GO TO GARDEN FEVER!!! Funny, I've been thinking lately that my rhody-lust is waning in light of the last two summers, but your post just shattered my resolve. I LOVE the orange-flowered form of R. cinnabarinum! It's been on my wishlist for years! So many exclamation points! R. pachysanthum is on my wishlist, too, and I could afford to try a couple sinogrande in 4-inch pots.

    I've heard of people cutting Cunninghamia to the ground annually or every few years. It's one of the few conifers that resprouts, and it grows fast when happy. Mine is not. It looks sad this year. The moles tunneling under it aren't helping.

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    1. Go Evan go! Seriously, there's some really good stuff right now, you better get in there. And thanks for the Cunninghamia push...

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  13. WOW, congratulations on passing up those Rhododendron pachysanthums I felt my heart skip a beat when I saw that first photo!

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    1. I just don't know where I would put one...

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  14. I think you've found your Christmas tree. The orange flowered R.cinnabarinum would have jumped into my cart, maybe the red one too. Glad that you got sinogrande - oh those big leaves! It's been weeks since I visited a nursery and am having withdrawals. Tomorrow I'll go!

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    1. I hope you do (go)...and get yourself a "back to school" gift or three.

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  15. You are so good, no way i would have managed to walk past some of those. Is probably why I kill so many plants in pots while I figure out here they an go as nothing was ready for planting.

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    1. That is the eternal struggle isn't it? Buy it when you see it (because it might not be available later, when you need it), but then keep it alive in a container until you can plant it.

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  16. Some neat plants. The Cunninghamia is lovely.

    Thank goodness Rhododendrons won't grow here--else there would be even more plants to long for.

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  17. I was under the impression that a competition (of sorts, and friendly) to see how many pots one could accumulate was underway. Need I say more?

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