Tuesday, November 7, 2017

New dish planters for the season's change

My September "end of month favorites" feature was on the dish planters I designed earlier in the summer...

At the time I mentioned their days in the sun were numbered, and indeed they've now been moved inside (something else in the already cramped basement). But I couldn't just let those posts/bases spend all winter empty now could I? (remember, plant void = bad)...nope, had to fill them up...

Thinking ahead I'd I picked up three more "dishes" at Linnton Feed & Seed and started brainstorming what I could plant in them. Many ideas made their way through my brain but I kept coming back to the lush, green, Selaginella kraussiana 'Aurea'  spotted at Garden Fever.

And of course, because I couldn't be happy with just a single plant, I walked around the garden looking for things to add in. A bit of black mondo (Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens') and Saxifraga x urbium 'Aureopunctata' seemed to round out the plantings nicely.

The spikemoss is still the star though.

(as a side-note...why is black mondo still so damn expensive!?!??)

The finished dishes in their place.

I do hope they'll fill out a bit over winter.

And darn it I need to get out there and lift the non-hardy Agaves that made their way into the ground this year...!

Weather Diary, Nov 6: Hi 49, Low 39/ Precip trace

All material © 2009-2017 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

27 comments:

  1. What can I say that I haven't said before: simply brilliant.

    Indeed, why is black mondo grass so expensive? I've been waiting for years for prices to come down. Maybe it's because it's such a slow grower?

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    1. Is it though, really? It doesn't seem that slow...
      (and thank you!)

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  2. That bright green should give you joy all winter long. I'm with you on the price of black mondo (or bamboo for that matter). This fall I went a little "black mondo crazy". I chose pots that had at least 4 or 5 sections to divide; rather affordable that way...
    "Lift the non-hardy Agaves"?

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    1. That's the way to do it! You can get a lot of plants out of one pot if you chose well.

      Lift the non-hardy Agaves = literally pull them out of the ground. Every year a few sneak in, there's an empty spot in the garden where spikes would look nice...I have a couple of pups...bam! They're in the ground.They grow faster that way too.

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  3. Beautiful. I heard once from a nursery person that mondo grass is so expensive because it can be. Because everyone charges a high amount and people pay it. Not satisfactory to me, but perhaps there is a grain of truth in it? Like the art world, whatever someone is willing to pay is what it's ultimately worth.

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    1. Well as much as I don't like I suppose there is something there. ugh.

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    2. I know...ugh is right. The nursery that told me is a wholesaler, so it starts there. When we buy in for Joy Creek Nursery, the ultimate price of a plant depends on what we are charged, so mondo grass is always expensive :(

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  4. I hope your spike moss remains visible and flourishes. Mine is planted in the ground and is hard to see during the winter months in Seattle.

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    1. Because it gets covered up? Or because it dies back?

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  5. Nicely done! So glad that there's no plant void in your dish planters. I've been wondering the same thing about the price of black mondo grass as it seems to spread fairly quickly and takes all sorts of abuse. Tamara's probably right, it's what the market will bear.

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    1. Ya I don't really think of it as a slow grower...maybe we're just lucky?

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  6. Love that spike moss, but I can't seem to find a good spot where it thrives. Last winter it just melted away. Maybe I should try a spot where real moss seems to be thriving? I ask myself that question about black mondo grass every year as whenever I plant it, it bulks up relatively quickly.

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    1. Your "real moss" idea seems like a good one. I lost some of mine last winter, but not all.

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  7. That green is so lush. Good luck as it would be so nice to see all winter.

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    1. It will brighten up a grey day that's for sure.

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  8. Choice! I've always loved Selaginella but it wasn't even happy in my former cooler, shadier, better-irrigated garden so I shan't be trying it here. I laughed at your comment on the black mondo grass as I ask myself that very same thing every time I look at it. The only explanation I've found on-line is that it's very slow-growing relative to the green forms.

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    1. I don't buy the slow growing explanation. It doesn't seem that slow to me!

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  9. That bright green will look great over the winter. We have bough a little black mondo to use in a terrarium. IT's too expensive to use as a mass planting. I wish it wasn't, because it looks so good.

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    1. There's a garden I know of here in Portland where it has been mass planted, and it looks amazing!

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  10. Love the new dishes! Will you bring them in somewhere if we get a really hard freeze? Seems like containers that size could freeze solid easily. On a total tangent, one of your photos that shows your Lomatia tinctoria reminded me that yesterday I noticed new growth on the little one I got from Ian Barclay. Pretty much everything else is going to sleep and that thing is putting on new growth! Since it's in a 3" pot I stuck it in the greenhouse last night. Still not sure where I'll plant it, but I have until spring to figure that out.

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    1. Yes, if temps plummet I will pull them and put them somewhere protected, you're right there's not a lot of soil there.

      Congrats on the Lomatia growth! What an odd time to start growing though. I love that plant...

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  11. That seems like the perfect way to display spike moss. As others have commented, it seems to disappear in the garden.

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  12. The first thing that came to mind when I saw the black mondo is the ridiculous price they charge for it! and I guess you agree. I really want to know why that is...
    My friend and I have a guess that it is because it is so slow growing, like japanese forest grass, but then you see stuff like brunnera Jack Frost and it makes no sense: expensive yet grows like weeds!

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    1. Wow, Hakonechloa is slow growing for you? I feel like it bulks up pretty fast for me, then again I lose track of how long it's been in the ground! Anyway, your slow growing theory seems to be a popular one.

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    2. You know I follow a gardener on Instagram that lives in a wet climate, she has a fantastic potted hakonechloa, she told me that she has divided it many times. Here in our desert mine grow in bulk by maybe 25% a year if I am lucky . They divided the ones at the botanical garden a few years ago and it still looks sparse...

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  13. Always love your dish planters! I'm getting ready to try making some of my own. Now that the season is winding down, I hope to find the time to have some fun in my own yard. I might even try my hands at making some of those too. They are such great cramscaping tools! :)
    ~Anna K

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