My Favorite New Perennial Plants of 2010

 

Where did this year go to? Time sure flies
when you are having fun in the garden and then
the Holidays just are flying by.
It is hard to believe that I have been blogging since
October 2007.
I want you all to know I have enjoyed so much your
visits, giving hearts, well of knowledge and friendship.
I am looking forward to a new year of reading your
wonderful postings and enjoying your fabulous pictures
of your gardens and plants.
As I looked back on this year in the flower garden some
plants old and new were favorites in my garden.
This will be  a recap of my favorites of the  “New”
perennial flowers and plants that were grown or had
their first blooms in 2010.

Achillea comes in so many wonderful colors now
that there is one that will complement any garden.
This new ‘Apricot Delight’ preformed so well for its
first year and I loved its pastel color against the
green leaves.

  Achillea ‘Cerise’ a shocking pink was grown from
seed the year before but it had its first blooms this summer
and it goes well beside the new ‘Summer Wine’  Achillea.

This Fall the ‘Chocolate’ Snakeroot Eupatorium  rugosum and ‘Margarette’ Anemone combination was such a stand out. They both bloomed over a very long period and the
dark foliage of the Eupatorium was lovely even before
it bloomed. They became my Fall favorites.

Bleeding Heart Dicentra spectabilis pink and Alba were
new blooms last Spring and I loved their long blooming
time and heart shaped blooms.

 Dicentra Alba

Coreopsis  ‘Limerock Ruby’ bloomed over a long period
with some deadheading and I loved the deep red blooms.
I am not sure whether it will make it over the winter after
finding out that the advertised for zone 5 plant that I had bought was later upgraded to zone 6, so it is iffy for a return
this Summer. I did mulch it in good so we will see.

Campanula poscharskyana ‘Blue Waterfall’ was a new
groundcover and it spread so well its first year. Some of its
seeds were sent to some gardening friends so I hope they
will enjoy its tiny blue spreading blooms as much as I did.

Columbine aquilegia ‘Alpina’ had beautiful blue blooms
in early summer. I do have a thing for blue blooms.
Several gardening friends received seeds from this one also.

Gaillardia grandiflora ‘Mesa Yellow’ was just such
a great flower for its first year. With deadheading it was
in constant bloom until the frosts took it.
This was an attempt to add more yellow to the garden
which is not one of my favorite colors but this yellow
was such a cheery one in the garden.

Hibiscus ‘ April’s Pink’ was named for  the wonderful
lady (Bilbo’s Momma) who gave me the seeds since I did not know what its real name was.
I got four bushes from the seeds to grow last Summer and I am hopeful they will come back even better this Summer.

Coral Bells, Heuchera ‘Amethyst Mist’  far out preformed
  its rival ‘ Purple Palace’ for growth and blooms in their
first year in the shade bed.

New Irises to the woodland bed were the ‘Oreo’ above…

and ‘Out of the Blue’ were a lovely addition with their
new blooms. Out of the Blue is suppose to be a reblooming
iris but it never bloomed again in the Fall, but maybe next year. Many more irises joined them this fall for new blooms
in the woodland bed next Summer. I can hardly wait!

Hydrangea ‘Harlequin’ had its first blooms in the Summer
and its colors did tend to grow on me over the summer.

Hydrangea ‘Blueberry Parfait’ was a winner with its
white blossoms that turned blue as the blossoms aged.

Since I rave about Phlox all summer long for
their fragrance and attracting all those small critters,
this tall ‘Bright Eyes’ was just lovely and another
reason to love it was that when most of my tall phlox
plants were mildewing Bright Eyes did not.

Blue Mist caryopteris shrub ‘First Choice’  bloomed
so beautifully for its first year and I loved its blue blooms
and so did the bees.

Pulmonaria ‘Diana Clare’ bloomed for the first time in the
spring. I love this flower period. I would grow it for its large
silvery leaves even without its wonderful blooms of blue
and pink to purple. Diana Clare’s leaves are slender and larger than other pulmonaria plants and it had a long blooming period. I recommend it for any shade garden.

Amongst the new roses that were added to the rose garden
in Summer I fell in love with three of them.
This white ‘Iceberg’ Floribunda bloomed its heart out in its first summer right up until the frosts took it.

And ‘Gertrude Jekyll’ a climbing rose did a beautiful
job of blooming and should be even bigger in the coming
summer…

but ‘Easy Does It’  had it all. Disease free, continuous blooms
and with a color palette  running from apricot, peach and pinks was my favorite of them all.
The new Rosa Radsunny yellow knockout rose was a
disappointment of all of the knockout roses that are in the
garden because of its lack of blooming power, but maybe next year. Also the Morden ‘Blush’ may do better with some
growing years added to it.
This ends my favorite perennials of 2010.
What were some of the winners in your garden in 2010?

 

I want to wish everyone a Wonderful and Blessed
New Year to come and I am looking forward to
a new gardening year with everyone.

Happy Gardening Everyone,
Lona

After The Gift Wrap Is All Cleaned Up

 

Hello Everyone!
Was Santa good to everyone?
Or if not Santa did you  all have a wonderful
Christmas with family and friends?

We had such a nice Christmas.
We usually go out for supper Christmas Eve
and then come back to my home for the opening
of gifts.

Chocolate Chip cookies, Pecan Pie Bars and Chocolate
Peanut Butter Fudge were made last week and filled the
Snowman boxes to give to everyone.
I think I gained ten pounds just making them.
Well I had to make certain they were good enough to
eat before giving them away didn’t I? LOL!

The Snow Blower that I had won from Kylee’s giveaway
over at Our Little Acre arrived by truck this week.
It is still in the crate yet awaiting my sons next days off.

A garden related gift from my daughter was some
solar color changing cattails garden stakes with
Butterflies on them to put in the garden this Spring.
Now that Christmas is over my mind will be on Spring
and garden planning. Pouring over the seed
and plant catalogs to see what new plants they are
offering. I will do this several times before I make up
my mind on what to order. Does anyone else do this
or am I just a girl that cannot make up her mind ? LOL!

This is one of the gifts I made up for my daughter
to put in her Laundry Room. I did not post it until
now so it wouldn’t ruin the surprise.
An antique Band Box filled with an old mini glass washboard, a small antique sad iron, some scented lye
soaps and scented clothespins in a small basket are all tucked into the box.
I was tempted to keep it for myself. LOL!

 African Violets & Amaryllis

With Christmas over it is back to the subject of gardening once again.
The Amaryllis bulbs from last year are sending
up leaves but no buds so it is back to the drawing board
for next year since I see no blooms  coming on.
Kathleen @ Kasey’s Korner who has such beautiful Amaryllis
blooms every year from her bulbs has given me some helpful
tips after my cry for help, which I was so grateful for, so there is always next year and another try at them.

The new little Madison Begonia start is starting to grow
some new leaves so it shows promise.

The Kolache plants were brought in this Fall and
are doing well. I am hoping for some much needed
blooms from them.

This African violet is still putting on blooms and
they are welcome since I have no Amaryllis blooms to brighten up the winter.

Some of the variegated African Violet leaves that were
started last winter are growing and I am hoping they will
soon give me some blooms for the first time.

The Cyclamen’s blooms are starting to slow down
now but maybe the pretty foliage will stay around
for a while yet before it goes dormant.

The predicted snow storm went just below us over
Christmas giving us only another inch of snow.
We still had our white Christmas with help of some
of the previous five inches we had gotten and the
one inch of fresh snow on top of it Christmas day to
freshen up the old snow layer.
Did you get some  gardening gifts for Christmas?

 Happy Gardening,
Lona

Merry Christmas Everyone !!

This slideshow design made with Smilebox

Fertilizer Friday 12/17/2010

Hello everyone!
Today is “Fertilizer Friday” with our hostess
Tootsie and you do not have to look around
here for very long to see that there nothing
practically in bloom at my home this time
of the year.

 

The color of the day outside is white on white
after another five inches of new snow yesterday
but the Upper Falls at Old Mans Cave was
freezing on our walk this week and was starting
to look lovely.
By the time the Winter Hike is held the
last of January  the waterfalls at the local parks
in the Hocking Hills Park system will be spectacular
with giant ice formations if the weather stays as
cold as it has been. Last winter was the biggest
attendance for the hike with over 5,000 hikers.
           We have been having January temperatures
here in Ohio.
With more snow moving in the first of the week
it appears a white Christmas will be a guaranteed.

In fact the only blooms I have here now besides
my African Violet is this new red Cyclamen
that I picked up at the Conservatory on our visit.

The Amaryllis are growing but whether or not
there will be blooms is still to be seen.

 

The Poinsettia that was brought up from
the dark of the basement is hanging in there
but my or may not grow and bloom.

I am ready for Christmas for the most part.
Some chocolate peanut butter fudge  is to be made
yet and some cookies have to be baked next week.

So for Fertilizer Friday I am falling back on some more
blooms from Franklin Park Conservatory.
This lovely white Cyclamen was in bloom at the Conservatory. There are so many Cyclamens this
time of the year but I loved these white ones growing
with white poinsettias under their Fir trees that were
lighted with blue mini lights. These little violas looked like the cold was getting to
them out on the patio. They had their petals all closed up.

Even the Kale though still very pretty was drooping a little.
I have to try to grow some of this next Summer for the pots
for Fall color.

The dried Hydrangea heads added to the winter
landscape for some texture in the gardens.

This plant was tagged as a Threadleaf Sundew
Drosera filiformis and was still growing outdoors
in a courtyard. I had to look this one up but the
ones I found online looked nothing like this one.
This one reminded me of a Jack in the Pulpit.
Maybe the marker was meant for a plant that
had already died out.
Anyone know what this plant is?

Thanks Everyone for the ID of this

Sarracenia Pitcher Plant !!!!

For those of you who will be busy next week or
traveling I wish you all safe journeys and
have a Wonderful Christmas!

Lona