Friday, May 8, 2009

Plants I Bought Today

Despite my garden lacking any room whatsoever, I still somehow justified going to the garden center (not Home-depot or Lowes) and buying plants. It started simply enough. I saw an aquatic plant that looked beautiful! It was a Canna x Orange Aqua which is to be put in your pond. So that's fine, I don't have much in the pond right now besides lily pads. And assuming this plant is invasive it certainly isn't escaping captivity here. I bought a small pond kit at Lowes. So that's fine. Looks pretty, can't wait to see if anything pollinates it.

So then I realized I don't have anything that really blooms in May. And this got me looking around somemore. Mother's day is tomorrow, I already bought her two flats of impatiants to do whatever with. Despite the store filled with plants I said to myself "What could I possably buy here?" and especially with my standards, and love of native plants.

Well apparently I found a lot. Gardening is addictive. This particular gardencenter is awsome! Hereloom tomatoes, Assorted Viburnums, loads of tree, hanging plants all over the place, and it's all setup to be a sheer color overload! And in all this I was able to find a couple of native plants I don't have.

False Indigo, Baptisia australis, was the first one I came across. It hasn't started flowering yet but it's up and growing strong and has some flower buds on it too. I'm eagerly awaiting to see what pollinators like it.

Coreopsis x Jethro Tull, I have no idea what species this is, but the cultivar is "Jethro Tull." Coreopsis is something I commonly find in Wildflower mixes but beyond the first year I've never had them establish. I believe this is a perennial (lives for 3 years) and they even recommend to divide it. Should be flowering by June.

Tennessee Coneflower, specifically Echinacea 'Rocky Top Hybrid,' looked like fun. I have some Coneflowers already and love them. The label says Attracts Butterflies. To be honest though I have never seen a butterfly on one. Even bees are something of a rare site on them. They have their good and bad years I think. On years when the pollinators love them though the Gold Finches will love the seeds. Otherwise though they don't produce well. Won't flower until June/July.

Black-Eyed Susan, Rudbeckia speciosa var. sullivantii Goldstrum' is another native I already own. I bought this one so I could line our steps with them. They're loved by bees. It's a butterfly host plant to a couple of butterflies too, but I've never had them on my plants. Phyciodes tharos, Chlosyne nycteis and Synchlora aerata are some of the pretty ones mentioned in Doug Tallamy's book, "Bringing Nature Home." Which in my opinion is the book that is going to change how gardening is conducted over the next century.