Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
New Plants
What a great day! The first really warm weather + the arrival of the first plant order. And the daffodils are almost all in bloom, Virginia bluebells are opening up, and Anemone apennina opened a few flowers yesterday.
I placed my first order with Niche Gardens this year. They were offering a few native plants I wanted to try: Euonymus americana, Erythronium americanum, and Passiflora incarnata. (Forgot to order the paw-paws. Maybe next year. I wanted these because they're a host plant for the Zebra Swallowtail.) And while I was browsing the catalog, I also decided to try: Abelia chinensis, Agarista populifolia, and Eupatorium coelestinum. The Agarista (aka Leucothoe) will go back in the woods somewhere (hope it won't be too dry for it). The Abelia and Eupatorium are going into my big project for this year - a late summer purple/blue/white mixed shrub and perennial border. More on this later.
And we're celebrating the weather by grilling burgers tonight. First grilling of the season.
3 Comments:
In FL we had a lot of Zebra swallotails, and I have seen some here as well.
I tried transplanting paw paws from constructions site, but the tap roots were so long I never had much success.
I'm going to check out the catalog you mention. Sounds interesting.
BTW, we also grew alot of passion vines in FL for zebra longwings and Fritallaries. I didn't know it could grow this far north. I'll be interested to see how yours does.
I've had Zebra Swallowtails visit the yard in the last 2 years. The first time I saw one, I thought it was way too tropical-looking to belong here.
I think now and then about trying to rescue plants from bulldozers, but never quite get around to doing it.
The passionflower I'm trying is supposed to be native to Virginia, but maybe not quite this far north? This year I'm going to push the hardiness envelope and try some plants that I suspect won't survive the winter.
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