Mystery Plants: Clearance Edition

These guys surprised me this spring. In the fall I went to Lowe's and found a handful of clearance plants with prices I couldn't resist.

The only problem is, I don't know what they are! If you know it would be SO helpful. 

Thanks so much.

Fertilizer Friday

 Today I am linking up with Tootise for Fertilizer Friday

I don't have a ton of new things blooming but here are a couple little pretties!

Dutch Iris, 'Purple Sensation' is new resident to the garden.

Too pretty, right?

Hydrangea Bloom

The new mystery hydrangea that we are waiting to see bloom. I can't wait!

Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip' just got transplanted. We planted this underneath our Magnolia tree 2 or 3 years ago and it didn't do much. Just moved it into the Cedar Garden and hoping it will do better back here.

Plantasia 2012

This weekend we went to the Mobile Botanical Gardens Spring Plant Sale, Plantasia. We had such a good time. I could have spent our life savings there but thankfully I only took the amount of money we were planning to spend. We got some nice plants and I got a chance to add more plants to my wish list. Here are the plants we purchased:

Blueberry 'Georgia Gem'

Aspidistra elatior 'Milky Way', Variegated Cast Iron Plant 

Heuchera villosa 'Caramel', Coral Bells

 

 

 

Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola', Japanese Forest Grass

 

 

And just because I can:

One of our containers by the front door. We re potted it and it is doing great!

 

Julia Child and May Night

Sounds important, right? In reality they are just two of my favorite new plants. You have already met Julia but plan to see her a lot. She is in full bloom right now and is totally gorgeous. 

Salvia nemorosa 'Mainnacht', or May Night Salvia is just coming into bloom. 

I love the purple and yellow combo! This pairing is in our soon-to-be expanded front bed. It's one of those you-buy-too-many-plants-and-steal-some-more-of-your-husband's-precious-yard-things...you know how it is, or maybe not.

View from the soon-to-be front of the bed. We are planning to put a sidewalk from the front door to the driveway and that will be the bed border. It's also what I am asking my hubby to get me for my birthday. Too bad my birthday isn't until August!

{mostly} Wordless Wednesday: What's growing?

Variegated Ginger Lily, Alpinia zerumbet, 'Variegata'

Mountain Snow Pieris, Pieris japonica 'Mountain Snow'

Mystery Hydrangea from a local flea market. We will see what it is once it blooms!

Bower Vine, Pandorea jasminoides (she lives in a pot and comes in the winter)

My precious new garden addition, the sweet 'Julia Child' rose. Older blooms lighten to a pale yellow

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Newly opened 'Julia Child' bloom. The fragrance is incredible.

Mystery Plant: Azalea Edition, Answered

So we never got an answer on the blog to the identity of our mystery Azaleas so I decided to email the Azalea Society of America. A very sweet lady emailed me with a few question and then sent me this email:

"It is an evergreen azalea, the leaf has flat hairs, So ANNA KEHR was one suggestion. But I know that how a plant grows in Oregon has little to do with Alabama and many years of abuse. These plants are not doing justice to the genus. I would cut them back to 10 inches after they finish blooming, fertilizer lightly and let nature take its course. If they have healthy roots they will be awesome plants in 2 years. If not bushed out by the end of the growing season you saved yourself having to look at them any longer. Trash them." 

Update March 24, 2012: I was at the Mobile Botanical Gardens and found my Azalea in bloom. Name: Amelia Rose. Hooray for me! 

So that is what I did. I cut down my precious azaleas, fertilized them and am hoping for the best. We will see if they survive. I sure hope so!

We also had a garden visitor the other day that just about scared me to death. I was looking out the window in my living room which looks out at my favorite part of the garden and all the sudden this squirrel jumped up on the table on the other side of the window and watched me for about ten minutes and then wandered off on his merry little way. I couldn't believe how fearless he was acting! Sorry it is a little fuzzy, the only thing separating us was my window screen!

Mystery Plant: Azalea Edition

Here is another post about the mystery azalea, hopefully someone will know what it is. I am always on the lookout at nurseries hoping to find one like it. The photo above is a bloom halfway open.

This is a fully open flower with my camera lens cap to give you an idea of the size. 

This is the bush. We have had it for a year and a half and are not sure how much bigger it will get. 

If anyone can i.d. this I would extremely thankful!

Random Garden Tidbits {and Fertilizer Friday a day late}

The new container in the garden. It needs to be in a bigger pot but that will have to come another day. This is what I had and it ended up more cramped than I expected. White Dianthus, Primrose, and Creeping Jenny. Please ignore the watering can and the weeds we have been a little busy! :)

The Magnolia Bed. Everything is just starting to wake up there. Can't wait to see it in a month or so!

Can you help me identify this plant? I know it is an azalea of some kind but the blooms don't look like any I have ever seen. None of the blooms are fully open yet but I will update once they do.

The story about where it came from: My husband worked for two summers after we got married doing landscaping with a friend. At a historic home in Mobile they were ripping up all the fabulous old plants that had been there for who knew how long and putting in boring albeit easy to maintain shrubs. They were going to toss six old Azaleas out but my husband asked if he could take five and his friend took home the other one.

Matthew surprised me with five of these beauties and since I hadn't planned for them they just kind of got popped in wherever I could find a spot for them. They have gotten moved two or three times each and have never even blinked. One of them did get chewed on by our dog and we had to trim it down majorly this year but the rest are doing great. I would love it if you could help me I.D. this precious plant!

One of the mystery azalea buds.

I am linking up with Tootise!

 

Rainy Week

It has rained every day this week and is supposed to rain through Saturday so I have been darting into the garden in between (and sometimes during) the showers. Most of what is blooming is looking a little tattered and beat up from the rain but here is just a peek at a couple of the things blooming right now.

Daffodil 'Spring Cheer' with our grey sky

Same set of blooms just a different angle. I told you the other day that one of the things I don't like about this particular Daffodil is that it droops as soon as it gets more than a few blooms on it, here it is starting to get droopy on me! 

Mystery Plant: Revealed

Here is my new baby! 

Pieris japonica 'Mountain Snow'

I love it! I first saw this plant at the Mobile Botanical Gardens a while back and knew I had to have it. My hubby finally let me get one for our mostly shady bed. I can't wait to see it full of blooms in a week or so!!!

The blooms us close:

According to the information that came with the plant these are "pendulous panicles of white blooms." Great, right?

New Followers

Thank you to all the new visitors here at The Bama Gardener! It is so exciting to have all of you welcome me to blog-land! We have had busy couple days around here and I will be posting some photos soon of the new shrub that I convinced the hubby to bring home Saturday!! I can't wait. Do you want to guess?

 Evergreen, white blooms, gets about 4 feet tall, part sun/shade...

What's Blooming?

Well, I am glad you asked! Right now there isn't a ton blooming because most of what I have planted right now is either foliage, blooms in summer, or didn't come back this spring (curse you tulips). 

I do have some Daffodils that I am crazy about. They are called "Spring Cheer" and I have to say they might be one of the cheeriest parts of our Spring garden! They have the prettiest most delicate light yellow blooms.This particular plant will be even prettier in a couple days when the rest of the blooms open up. Unfortunately, at that point it will be so heavy it will start drooping. Oh well.

 This is the same plant just from a different angle. These guys live in the Magnolia Bed in the front yard. They are beautiful up close but because the blooms are so tiny they don't make much impact from far away.

In one of the containers right by my front door we have some bright primroses that greet us whenever we step out. This is the first time I have had primroses and I love them!

First Two Residents

 Foxtail Fern- Our first addition to the Cedar Bed in our backyard which is just getting started. It is the only shaded area in our yard and I can't wait explore the wide world of shade loving plants!

 Close up of the Foxtail Fern. I love the color and texture of this plant.

 Mystery Hydrangea that we bought at a nearby flea market this past weekend. I loved the price and can't wait to see what it looks like in bloom. Another new addition to the Cedar Bed

Close up of our Mystery Hydrangea.

Starting Seeds

I am starting seeds for the first time this year and so far it has been a success. I don't have any fancy grow lights or any expensive set ups for starting the seeds. They hang out on a chest in the dining room in front of a window. The main seeds I am trying to start are the herbs for the garden. 

We are starting; Flat Leaf Parsley, Thyme, Chives, and Sweet Basil. We planted the seeds February 11th and...

This is what I woke up to on the 17th and this...

Is what we woke up to this morning! I can't wait to see these growing in the garden soon!