Plant Binge

We've obviously been on a plant binge this year. Sharon bought two more trays of clearance plants from Santa Rosa Gardens for the backyard. Sharon just couldn't resist the 50% coupon off clearance prices. When ordering, she did choose the least expensive varieties because we just wanted to bring in some color and ground cover in that drab unplanted area.

This order was composed of ten Ajuga Mahogany, six Heuchera Plum Crazy, six Heuchera Watermelon; all were only $2/ea for 3" pots. Plus ten Athyrium Metallicum, which were $2.50 each. These plants have been planted throughout the lower backyard around and under the red oak.

We also went out to One Green World to pick up two more kiwi plants for the pergola (and, of course, left with additional unplanned purchases).

The Ken's Red Hardy Kiwi we put in in spring 2016 didn't make it. It sort of limped along the first year without putting on any real growth, and then died by the second spring. The Anna Hardy Kiwi is doing well. We're going to have a few kiwis this year for the first time!

The Anna Hardy Kiwi has finally reached the pergola roof.

Anna Hardy Kiwi fruit

The Kiwi Male Hardy has made some good progress in covering the pergola.

This visit we chose two new varieties of kiwis:

• Hardy Red Kiwi and
• Rossana Italian Hardy Kiwi 

Those were both planted today in the two open corners of the pergola.

While we wandered around to the front entrance to check out with the kiwis, Sharon spied this beautiful little plant covered with red and yellow lantern-shaped flowers. With minimal research to make sure it could survive in part-shade, she brought one home. It is an Abutilon megapotamicum, called a flowering maple or Chinese lanterns. It will likely end up in the Hidden Garden.

We also decided to try two Pawpaw trees under the black walnut. After some research, we discovered they could withstand living under a black walnut and would tolerate shade. These are the varieties Jeff chose:

• Pennsylvania Golden Pawpaw
• Rappahannock Pawpaw

They aren't in the ground yet, it will be a few weeks yet. There's quite a lot of junk in the way of planting these. Planting these trees is probably an August project.