The garden center's shelves are restocked

We may be woefully short of rain but at last the garden centers are busy restocking their shelves with plants.  I've wasted no time getting busy.  Although our daytime temperatures remain unseasonably warm and our extended forecast is showing no rain until the end of the month, nighttime temperatures remain cool so I'm making use of the time available to plant before summer really arrives.

The week started off with a mail order delivery.

I'd almost forgotten about this delivery.  At last June's Garden Bloggers' Fling in the DC area, I won a David Austin rose in a raffle.  Although I placed my order promptly upon my return, the grower informed me that the company would ship my selection bare root in February.  This box arrived Monday morning.

It was well-packed but one of the roots was broken in shipment nonetheless.  I've admired 'Lady Emma Hamilton' in many blog posts so I was thrilled to get one of my own.

It went into the ground the same day in a sunny spot in the front garden

At the same time, I discovered that my local Armstrong Garden Center, part of a chain of 32 California stores, had stocked up.  I wasted no time looking for plants to dress up the area surrounding the lath (shade) house my husband built for me as a Christmas present.  The newly planted area doesn't look like much yet but I have high hopes for it.

I concentrated my attention on the sunny strip along the south property line, which was opened up when the neighbors had the oleander hedge on their side removed

The first plant that went in on the south side of the structure wasn't actually a recent purchase.  It was another David Austin rose, 'Golden Celebration', which I purchased as a 4-inch plant from Annie's Annuals & Perennials last year.  I'd planted it in a large pot but it grew amazingly fast and I didn't think it would be happy in that pot much longer.

The rose earned pride of place at the southwest corner of our property, where I hope it'll get all the sun and space in needs

Sticking with the blue, white and yellow color scheme I'd started when I planted the window boxes attached to the lath house and transplanted divisions of Agapanthus and white Argyranthemum outside its exterior, my new plant selections followed the same scheme.

I planted 3 divisions of blue Agapanthus  and Argyrantemum 'Go Daisy Mega White' here in December and filled the green and yellow pot with a Plumbago and pansies.  I planted the yellow-flowered Euryops 'Sonnenchein' in this area years ago but it's getting a boost from the additional sun exposure created by removal of the oleander hedge.  I'm not certain what I'm going to do with the empty terracotta pot but I may pop in a cutting of the Brugmansia 'Charles Grimaldi' that originally occupied this pot.

Here's a closer look at the new plants I've added in this area.  Clockwise from the upper left, they include: one Abelia 'Radiance', 3 Convolvulus 'Compacta', 3 bearded Iris (1 'Magic Man' and 2 'Autumn Circus), 3 Lomandra 'Finescape', 1 Pelargonium cucullatum 'Flore Plenum' (a cutting from a plant I have growing in the backyard), 1 Salvia melissadora (purchased at the Huntington's fall plant sale in a 2-inch pot), 3 Salvia 'Mystic Spires', 2 flats of Thymus sephyllum 'Elfin', and, in the center, Rosa 'Golden Celebration' and 3 Lavandula stoechas 'Double Anouk'.

I also filled in some of the open space on the slope facing the lath house door.

I added 2 6-packs of Crassula radicans 'Small Red', 2 more Crassula falcata, and 1 Senecio fulgens

I haven't done much of anything elsewhere in the garden other than general clean-up.  However, the Freesia I'd found marked down 50% when I visited Roger's Gardens last week found space in the backyard border.

The coral pink Freesia provide a perfect accent to the Leucadendron 'Jester' and Grevillea 'Superb' I planted here from small pots 2 years ago.  Both the Leucadendron and the Grevillea are finally gaining some substance.

I've got a nursery trip to Ventura and Santa Barbara planned with a friend later this month and 2 more mail order deliveries should arrive within the next couple of weeks.  Now, if only Mother Nature would deliver some rain...


All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party