Purple Heart in Flower: Photos for Leslie & Elaine

During their visit the other day, both Leslie and her aunt Elaine commented on the Purple Heart spilling out of my cobalt-blue pot in the driveway garden.  Elaine had asked about its flowers... and wouldn't you know, it was covered in buds that day, but none of them were open!

Today, the first few finally made their appearance:

The Purple Heart (setcreasea pallida, syn. setcreasea purpurea, syn. tradescantia pallida) blooms off and on throughout the year for me, both indoors and out.  It's pretty drought tolerant--although you can see that I had just finished watering it, by the droplets that remain on the leaves--but we get along best when it's placed in a mostly shady spot with just under 3 hours of afternoon sun in my garden.  (In full sun here, it wants more water--and I'm stingy.) 

Brought indoors for the winter, it usually lives on the shady end of my large plant table in front of the east-facing window.  I'm going to try to get a few of these cascading stems to root in the ground, however, and see if they make a comeback next spring.  A few different posters have reported on its Davesgarden listing that it comes back in zone 6a.  So maybe I'll get lucky here in 6b, too?  We'll see!


Side note to Elaine:  Multiple sites report that this plant is usually very deer-resistant.  Let me know if you want to try a division of mine next year!

No-Buffalo Consolation: A Lovely Visit & Garden Surprises

Count me among the garden bloggers who are NOT going to Buffalo, and wish they were... :(  My younger brother and sister-in-law (the middle child and his wife, known in previous posts as "The Apartment Dwellers") are making a big move:  In August, they are relocating to New Mexico!  In trying to arrange a "Sibs' Weekend" for all of us to enjoy before they leave, it turned out that this weekend was the best option for everyone... well, for everyone but me, who wanted to go to Buffalo instead.

So instead of a trip east, I'll be heading west to spend a weekend at "The River" with the fam--and I'm not really complaining, because I know that we'll have a great time, and I'll have numerous Buffalo posts to enjoy on other blogs when I return.  And as consolation, my garden has offered up a few special surprises for me to enjoy this week:

Yes, that's a future bloom hidden way down in the depths of my pineapple lily!  As I mentioned, I would grow this for the foliage alone... but I'm super-excited about seeing it in flower, too.  I'm not sure whether it will emerge at all before I head west on my trip, but it should be in bloom shortly after I return.

Second, the "Mexican thyme" (coleus amboinicus, syn. plectranthus amboinicus) that I purchased on clearance at the garden center as much for its felty, fleshy green leaves as for the fact that you can use it in cooking, has settled in and rebounded nicely.  It looked like crap, frankly, when I put it into the ground, but after some cutting back and some judicious watering, new growth is emerging:

Lastly, but most importantly, I got to have a wonderful (if brief) visit with Leslie, of Growing a Garden in Davis!  Leslie was visiting family in Cleveland before heading over to Buffalo, and we arranged for her to stop by and see my garden while she was here.

I admit that I was very a little nervous about the visit.  Working 70+ hours between two jobs from mid-April through the Fourth of July weekend does NOT reflect well in one's garden!  And I knew that another gardener couldn't help but notice all of the neglect, weeds, unfinished projects, etc.  But meeting Leslie was like meeting an old friend, and I felt like she understood what I was planning to accomplish with the space--and that her "Gardeners' Glasses" were keeping her from noticing and commenting on all of the weeds and mess that abounded, too!  :)

All in all, I had a lovely time showing Leslie and her Aunt Elaine around the garden.  (And although I was a little distracted at times while trying to keep an eye on my Gardening Assistant, who has been ornery all week due to the heat wave we're enduring, I need not have worried about Coco.  She was putty--yes, putty!--in Aunt Elaine's hands, and even looked a little disappointed when I returned to the house by myself later.)  Maybe some day I'll make it to California and get a great garden tour in return.  Now there's a lovely thought.

I hope that Leslie and all of the other garden bloggers who are making the trek to Buffalo enjoy themselves immensely, and have safe travels.  I wish I could join you... but since I can't, I look forward to reading all of your recaps next week--please post early and often!

Forecast: Hazy Sunshine

On summer days when I work later into the evening, it's doubly nice to arrive at home.  Not only do I look forward to dropping the cares of the day at my doorstep while I'm greeted by a joyfully wagging tail, but I get to see the front yard bathed in beautiful backlighting.  Here's what I see from the driver's seat as I open the door:

I sometimes stop and look a while, sometimes marveling at all of the colors and shadows, and sometimes reflecting that I really need to cut back the overzealous bronze fennel that extends into my walkway...

... and embraces the urn where the equally enthusiastic brugmansia is planted:

Looking slightly left, I reflect on the need for some larger-leaf plants, or something else with chunky texture, to finish off this newly replanted corner:

The sea kale, with its large leaves, can certainly hold its own...

... against the 'Red Rocks' penstemon and the trio of 'Acapulco' agastache...

... but maybe I need to nestle a few more large rocks amidst the sea of pebbles and cute little hens & chicks at their feet:

As I turn and l down the sidewalk, I'm almost to the front steps...

But I'm stopped in my tracks by the gorgeous sight of 'Sparkling Burgundy' eucomis:

Pineapple lilies aren't really supposed to be hardy here.  But one of Plant Delights' 2008 catalogs said that they had reports from customers that it was hardy to zone 6, so I decided to gamble.  I'm so glad that I did--I seriously can't get enough of the way this foliage complements the warm tones of the heuchera, and of the bronzey foxglove spires, too, when those are in flower:

Not to mention the way it picks up the bristly forms of the grass behind the heuchera, and the clumps of foxglove foliage on the right side of this photo:

I don't mean to gush, it's just that this is one gorgeous plant!  But enough of my self-distraction--there's no time for that.  One of my longtime favorite garden bloggers, Leslie from Growing a Garden in Davis, is going to stop by my tiny garden for a tour on Tuesday, before she heads up to Buffalo for the garden bloggers' meet-up.  And because of my many works in progress, my garden is NOT ready for its close-up, that's for sure.  (Eek--time to go weed!)

Have a safe and happy Fourth of July, everyone!