First Robin of spring
Scutellaria ovata. Heartleaf skullcap’s fuzzy, oily foliage. The lavender spires are forming but not open yet.
Around here, robins appear in the winter, scratching for berries and bugs in the cedar brakes. In the spring they fly north to cooler climates. So the first Robin in my title refers not to the north’s harbinger of spring but to the Austin garden-blogger get-together and garden tour I mentioned yesterday, dubbed Ground Robin.
Every tour fills my head with ideas for my own garden. Sunday’s visits to my fellow bloggers’ gardens was no different. At each place, different combinations caught my eye: billowy, English-style pastels in one; hot, Texas cottage style in another. Jill Nokes, author and sought-after garden designer, kindly opened her extraordinary garden to us during our tour as well, and my head was swiveling to take in all the gorgeousness she’d created.
Plants I must try, and where I fell in love with them: variegated American agave (Susan’s and MSS’s gardens), Mexican weeping bamboo and upright (tree-form!) lemon verbena (Jill’s garden), Engelmann’s daisy (MSS’s), lovely white iris from Annie’s garden (thanks, Annie), Montezuma cypress (R. Sorrell’s garden), orange globemallow (Susan’s), ‘Hot Lips’ salvia (Jill’s). Wow, how will I ever fit it all in?
The advantage of real garden visits versus virtual ones? Passalong plants! Annie shared white iris divisions with me, and MSS is sharing a variegated agave pup with me later this week. As for myself, I was happy to pass along several divisions of ‘Amethyst’ iris; a baby gaura, Mexican oregano, and flame acanthus; and heartleaf skullcap divisions (pictured at top).
It will be wonderful to have elements of their gardens growing in mine and to see a little bit of mine growing in theirs.
Pam… did I read somewhere that it is bad luck to NOT give someone a passalong plant when they visit your garden? Wait, no, I think what I read is that a passalong plant won’t grow if you say “thank you” for it!
Yes, I’ve heard that too, but I always forget and say thank you anyway. Luckily, I can debunk that old superstition because my passalongs have mostly thrived. —Pam
Pam — I’m pondering where to put the heartleaf skullcap (thanks). Do you remember the little bit of bed next to the porch, where the columbines were blooming? That gets morning sun for maybe four hours and is then in deep shade (from the building). Do you think the skullcap would work there? Also, how big will it get (sorry for all the questions but I couldn’t find the answers by Googling). Also, I went to the High Country Gardens site (from the link you had for the globe mallow) and I now think I’ll have to plant winecups next to the mallow. Whoa. Deep purple and orange! Thanks again for the plants.
And can I just say that I am feverishly trying to figure out where to put one of those lemon verbena trees?
My heartleaf skullcap gets some midday sun and does great. The important thing is afternoon shade, I believe. It gets about 2 to 2 1/2 feet tall in late spring as it blooms. It dies back in the summer and reappears in winter, staying small and filling out the bare winter bed nicely until it hits a growth spurt in spring. Once it’s established, you won’t have to coddle it. In fact, I regularly pull out handfuls of it each winter as it returns all through the perennial bed.
Yes, that orange and wine-purple combination would be awesome! —Pam
Thank you for all the links to those plants, Pam.
My lemon verbena [shrub form] was about 3-feet tall last summer, and the plant lived through the winter. The tops froze so it’s shorter, and the surviving branches have leafed out so I should be satisfied. Instead, Jill raised plant covetousness up to the next level and now I want a lemon verbena tree, too, like you & Susan, although I can’t imagine where it would go, or even that it would live.
You’re well represented in my garden already, Pam – Agapanthus, Amethyst iris, Heartleaf skullcap, Flame acanthus, and ‘Best of Friends’ daylily.
The custom of not saying ‘Thank you’ was prevalent in Illinois, too- leading to statements such as “I can’t say thank you for this plant, but I’ll think of you when it blooms!”
Annie
Yes, that visit to Jill’s garden may prove expensive for all of us the next time we hit the nursery. —Pam
You can dig up some of the Engelmann daisy, too, when you stop by for the agave. There are lots of little sprouts. And I have lots of new lavender plants, which I promised you last year. I rooted a bunch more because several people seemed interested in them. Last night’s rain should make it possible to ease things out of the ground without too much trouble.
Thanks! I was hoping you’d let me have a bit of it. I’d forgotten about the lavender, but I’d love to try some of that too. I only got 1/4″ of rain last night, despite the hype. How about you? —Pam