Streptocarpus 'Purple Pepper' Flowering

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My favourite Streptocarpus is flowering for the first time since we got it.



Streptocarpus 'Purple Pepper'

Love love love the colour and patterning. And there are about 5 flowers per stalk, and three flower stalks coming up.

Lamiastrum galeobdolon 'Hermann's Pride' flowering

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My Lamiastrum galeobdolon is in full bloom now (On its way out at this point, Still looking fantastic though).



Lamiastrum galeobdolon

Closely related to Lamium (Deadnettle), Lamiastrum galeobdolon 'Hermann's Pride' will grow well in a range of conditions but is possibly best known for its suitability for dry shade. It is slower to spread that Lamium but still relatively quick (to the point that it can be divided and spread around constantly to help it spread faster). It grows to around a foot tall.

Also pictured is a Honey Bee who spent the day tucked into the bee sized caps of the colourful yellow flowers.

I have a particularly difficult area with dry shade in my front yard I'm going to try a division of this in once it finishes flowering.

New Plant: Echinocactus horizonthalonius

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Echinocactus horizonthalonius

I had been considering buying this same species of cactus (for 7x the price in a 6" pot) a few weeks back but am glad I waited because... Well, 7x cheaper is always a good thing!

It is tiny though, only a 2" pot but it does look a little healthier (It is almost June now though, rather than late March so that might have something to do with that) and space is limited so... Yay! New cactus, low price. May have to wait a few years to see flowers but that's alright.

New Plant: Bletilla striata

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I've just planted a Bletilla striata in a shady corner of my garden near my ferns.



Bletilla striata

The flowers are gorgeous, a really vibrant pink on a flower that is clearly an orchid. Less than half the price of my failed Cypripedium reginae which was eaten by a squirrel. (We've since gotten new Cypripedium reginae plants at work which are a larger size than last year (in bud actually) and cheaper, but I won't try it again for a few more years.)

I will be mulching this area with a deep layer of mulch after a thorough weeding. I may also provide additional winter protection from a rose hut of sorts (DIY style) - which is apparently good to have around to protect them from late frosts in spring.

Adiantum pedatum & Matteuccia struthiopteris

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Two of my ferns are Ontario Natives and both are pretty well at their peak right now.



Adiantum pedatum (Maidenhair Fern)


Adiantum pedatum


Matteuccia struthiopteris (Ostrich Fern)

Both are easy to grow and really brighten up a shady area of the garden with their bright green colour. The Adiantum pedatum especially provides fantastic texture and movement as well.

New Plants: Iris 'Gingerbread Man' & 'Sinister Desires'

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My mom picked up a few new Irises the other day. We don't really have anywhere to put them (so maybe you can see where I inherited this trait from? actually it's from both sides) but that's never been a problem before.

They are small, not in bloom, not likely to bloom until next year and while there were some at the sale she was at in bloom apparently those were just display plants. 'Gingerbread Man' didn't sound too exciting when she described it.



Iris 'Gingerbread Man' - I was so wrong.
Beautiful photo by Er.We used under Creative Commons license on Flickr.

Very attractive up close but I'm not sure how it will look from a distance. Maybe it'll live in the back yard where you can't get far enough away from anything to view it from a distance.

The second Iris sounded good starting right off with the name - 'Sinister Desire'. I need to pair this with Echinacea 'Fatal Attraction.'

Trillium recurvatum flowering

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Not very showy and now well and thoroughly hidden by its over-achieving neighbours my Trillium recurvatum is flowering.



Trillium recurvatum

New Plant: Musella lasiocarpa

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You may recall I tried a few things from seed a while back? Well never mind all that here's a plant.



Musella lasiocarpa

Imagine my surprise as I'm going through perennial availabilities to see this plant. Well I ordered some right away and bought one when they came off the truck in a 2 gallon pot that it was bursting out of. I've repotted it into a 5 gallon pot which it'll hopefully be happy with for a long time to come!

It's only hardy to zone 6 (with protection) or zone 7 so I'll be growing it in a pot and trying to winter it in my garage. That's where it'll spend the summer though, in an area of my garden that gets filtered sun with some direct sun in the late afternoon (enough that the rose and Iris both do well there).

Persicaria affinis flowering

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I've had my Persicaria affinis (Dwarf fleeceflower) for a few years now and it has to be one of the most carefree plants I have. Needs next to no work to keep it looking tidy and while it can spread it is so easy to control I've kept my clump about a foot wide for 5 or so years with no problems. I grow this fairly dry but being a Persicaria I'm sure it wouldn't mind a little bit of extra water either.



Persicaria affinis

It will now flower pretty well throughout the rest of the summer.

Happy Victoria Day long weekend!

Wish list addition: Dictamnus albus

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I've heard of this plant while reading about perennials but hadn't seen even so much as a picture until earlier this year. I was looking for more info about it when it came to me that maybe there was something on YouTube. Yup.

It gets points for being a stunning specimen plant and bonus points for the trick with the fire. It's also very hardy and seems to be low maintenance. This is on my "Will absolutely buy when I see it available even though I don't have anywhere to put it" list.

Exciting plant event: Clematis 'Rebecca' flowered

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Clematis 'Rebecca' flower, picture taken last summer.

I think this is in a tight race for my favourite plant ever (with what else I'm not sure - it's a top 5 list that has 10 or so plants in it that change order constantly) because (so far) it's a pretty low maintenance vine that puts on a gorgeous show for what I can only assume is a very long time. You may recall that this plant was still flowering for me at the start of December after only being planted that year in June. It sprung up out of the ground early in the year and has already reached a solid 4-5' (and is still going) and has just started to flower today.

Now based on where the Irises are this year compared to previous years maybe I should expect this to start flowering at the end of May rather than when it is this year but regardless everything this plant has done since I bought it a year ago (last Mother's day actually) has surprised and impressed me.

I'm also switching to the first of my new blog themes, based appropriately enough on this Clematis.

Lc. Love Knot 'Seto'

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Lc. Love Knot 'Seto'

I got this orchid as a Mother's Day present but have only just gotten to taking its picture. On top of the beautiful flowers is a strong fragrance that at the right time of day can hit you from across the room. Big fan of this one.

Moderately interesting plant event: Cryptanthus flowers

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These are likely the least exciting flowers of any Bromeliad.




The plant already had an offset when I bought it that I successfully removed and repotted that hasn't done much (including die, which I count as a plus). The mother plant is flowering and producing a new offset. Interesting, but that's about it. The markings on the leaves more than overshadow the flowers here.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, May 2010

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It's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day again and after an extremely dry April things are starting to flower outside.




Dwarf Irises are putting on a good show this year. The taller Irises are still only in bud, ahead of schedule by about 2 weeks (they normally open around the first of June) but still not quite open yet.

Otherwise outside it a whole lot of buds and any day things will burst into bloom but maybe because of the very late spring showers a lot of things are only just starting to get under way. There's one special plant that will get its own post very soon because I've been absolutely amazed by it since I bought it last summer.


Trillium erectum



Inside there's even more to look at. Many plants from even as far back as February are still going.

I'd like to issue an apology to Saintpaulia 'Ma's Crime Scene' for things said in April - it has figured out how to hold its flowers up above the leaves and has not stopped flowering since it opened in February. There are approximately 18 Saintpaulia plants flowering in the house right now.

My Ludisia discolor that opened in March has moved onto its second spike but is still going and has been joined by my 'alba.' The Phal.s are still going though my Paph. has finished after almost three months open.



Streptocarpus 'Royal Grape 7122' re-posted.

Streptocarpus 'Royal Grape 7122' has also continued to impress. It took a few days (less than a week) off in April but has started to flower again since then.

Thanks for stopping by, I'll just leave you with two plants that have only just started flowering this month.



Saintpaulia cv.


Streptocarpus 'Lemon Frills'

New Plant: Drosera adelae

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I got another carnivorous plant the other day, a small Drosera adelae in a 2.5" square pot. It's already proven to be a skilled catcher of small fruit flies, far surpassing my Nepenthes.



Drosera adelae

It can apparently grow moderately large in good conditions. It prefers low light and cool temperatures. I'll likely keep it on the bottom shelf of my mom's light stand and hopefully that'll be cool enough for it.

Heuchera & Heucherella pictures

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I took these pictures at work as well (It's May, it's busy, I'm at work 9+ hours a day/6 days a week and I still haven't replaced my monitor... so don't expect much else for a while!).

These were some really nice Heuchera & Heucherella I've seen this year.

I took the first of these pictures of Heuchera 'Plum Royal' on the growers tour I took late in April, the second at work.



Heuchera 'Plum Royal'


Heuchera 'Plum Royal'

I love this (fairly) new Heuchera. It really stands out on a bench of the usual blacks and browns and lime greens as being one of the few truly purple Coral Bells. The leaves are also lightly frosted with silver, large and glossy. My pictures do not do this plant justice.


Heucherella 'Golden Zebra'

'Golden Zebra' does not look very much like the promotional pictures would lead you to expect. The "red" in the leaf is a lot more subdued, especially side by side with one like 'Stoplight.' Maybe this is a result of growing conditions?

Assorted pictures from work

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Euphorbia polychroma


Pyrus calleryana 'Aristocrat' - Other than their unpleasant fragrance these trees are great.


Petunia 'Potunia Cappuccino' - Playing off the pink and yellow seems to be the best way to bring out the best in this new Petunia.


Centaurea montana 'Gold Bullion' - Not that attractive a plant when in flower or not, but the buds are amazing yellow with black details. Doesn't make up for its problems in all other areas.

Viola sororia

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Viola sororia is a weed that I have given up against. It has won and I have lost.

It's pretty enough but it's aggressive and smothers smaller plants. I will have to keep pulling it away from my Trilliums because otherwise it will smother them too.

Dwarf Iris Flowering

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Dwarf Iris

No idea on a name for this one but I like it. We're getting a great show from it this year (other than the heavy rain anyway) then likely dividing the clump in half or smaller.

A significant part of my back yard is planted with Irises. This year we will sort them all out once they start flowering, divide them after and open up more space for other plants.

Off topic - Emma the Cat

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Emma, in front of a Lamiastrum galeobdolon 'Herman's Pride'.

The Lamiastrum will soon be covered in yellow flowers but in the meantime the variegated foliage matches Emma's eyes nicely.

She's an indoor cat who always wants to go outside. We've taught her that she's allowed to... When supervised, and if she tries to run she goes back in the house. It's been surprisingly effective though she can't be trusted without supervision.

Pretty Iberis picture

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I took this picture last year around this time but posting it now because it's flowering again.



Iberis sempervirens

Mostly though I'm posting because I've figured out what was wrong with my computer - the monitor was dead. I'm using a backup that's tiny with bad colour/brightness which I guess works well enough. But I'm not going to try to do anything with pictures in the meantime. There's a monitor I have my eye on that should be available on Thursday and I already have pictures taken and posts scheduled that'll take us past Thursday so if all goes as planned you won't even notice I was having problems, other than the fact I posted about them.

Also I posted pictures earlier today from the Toronto Zoo.

Pretty Plants at the Toronto Zoo

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I was at the Toronto Zoo on Tuesday April 27th. It was a little on the chilly side but there were few people around so on the whole it was a great day.


Some fantastic looking Tulips at their peak.


Vriesea splendens hit by the sun just right.


And interesting Orchid species.




Either a Flowering Quince or a Hawthorn... leaning towards Quince but could be wrong.


Is this an Alocasia?

New Plants: Sempervivum cvv. & Jovibarba sp.

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This is the biggest group of new purchases and possibly for me the most interesting.



Sempervivum cv. - No name but really nice colour on this cultivar.

My sister heard I was making a succulent container and mentioned she wanted one too. She is not a plant person, she basically knows one succulent, "Hens & Chicks," and that's what she asked for.



Sempervivum 'Ohio Burgundy' - Love the furry leaf on this one and the colour is fantastic as well.

"Well I like Hens & Chicks" I think to myself. I'll just find myself several different types that I really like and divide off some "Chicks" to keep.



Sempervivum arachnoideum 'Cobweb' - It's hard to make up a containers with around 7 different Hens and Chicks without getting into this type. Interesting but I may not keep any for myself long term...


Sempervivum cv. - This is a monster. That Sempervivum is in a gallon sized pot that it more than fills, bigger across than my hand.

So at the end of the day I get a fantastic excuse to buy myself several different interesting Sempervivum and everyone is happy.

But wait! There's more!

Then we got an order from one of our more specialist perennial growers and what's that? Jovibabra? Unexpected but so awesome. Only two different types but I'd already picked up both before I noticed they were not actually just really interesting Sempervivum cvv..



Jovibarba hirta 'Hedgehog'


Jovibarba sobolifera - My absolute favourite plant from this post. Love, love, love this plant.


Jovibarba sobolifera again for good measure.

We have some clay Strawberry Pots for only $10 (with an opening at the top that should fit a gallon pot and 6 openings around each more than able to hold a 4" pot) and I'll grab one for these for my sister (The big one at the top, the others + 'Oddity' around the sides when I can find it). I'll post a picture when I have it done. Maybe I'll get two of these containers and do the exact same mix up for myself.