February Garden Blogger Bloom Day 2009

Part of today’s post is sent to Racquel at Perennial Garden Lover. She recently talked about Wallflowers, Erysimum cheiri or Cheiranthus cheiri. I told Racquel I had some and they were doing well. While the flowers usually are on a tall stock rising from the base, I seem to have a few that are a little confused because of the weather. There is no stem –just buds and a few blooms that have opened very early. My Wallflower reseeded last year and I have lots of new plants that will flower from spring (or now) until late into the fall. Mine are yellow, though researching them today I found there are many colors ranging from orange to pinks to reds to yellow.

For Valentine’s Day my loving husband took me to the garden center to buy me a plant. As we walked in, the first thing I saw was an Edgeworthia chrysantha, Paperbush Plant. Oh, I wanted one of those! After looking them over I chose the best looking one. He thought we were done but I said we should look around a little. One tree caught our eye. It is so stunning this time of year, Acer palmatum 'Sango Kaku', Japanese Coral Bark Maple. That will be for another day and another place.

While walking around the garden center we went into the area that usually holds the tender annuals. Imagine my surprise to find Daphne!! They had a huge one on display that was covered with blooms. Oh it was incredible. The plants they had around the large one were also of some size, and cost a bit more than I wanted to spend (I wasn’t going to put back the Edgeworthia). Lo and behold…they had some smaller ones and they were on sale!! So we came home with two small shrubs, both very fragrant and beautiful. For now they are sitting on my front porch where I can smell them as I walk by.

Also on the front porch are my two large pots. I have them filled with pansies, Heuchera “Key Lime” and a couple ivies. One of the ivies is Hedera helix “Pink ‘n’ Very Curly” – a find on the discount shelf of the garden center this fall. I really like the interest of this foliage.

So happy GBBD to everyone and be sure to visit May Dreams Gardens to see what others have shared.