Plant Sale Plantings

Centaurea macrocephala

Finally got all the plants I bought at the plant sale in the ground.

Here are some pictures.

First up - Centaurea macrocephala otherwise known as bigheaded knapweed, Armenian basket flower, globe centaurea and yellow hardhat.  It was labeled "yellow fleabane" on the tag at the plant sale, and wasn't in bloom yet, but had the weirdest bud - a hard, scratchy thing that opened a week or so later into this yellow thistle-like bloom. I had no luck ID'ing it - to get the scientific name - using various combinations of fleabane, yellow, hard bud etc.  After it bloomed, I tried "yellow thistle-like bloom", and there it was.  The literature says it's relatively easy to start from seeds, so I'm sure to give it a try next year.  According to the Missouri Botanical Society, it has no serious problems, and is:

Very effective when planted as specimen plants or in clumps in the perennial border due to the somewhat coarse and stiff growth pattern. May also be massed in the border or meadow.

Also used as a fresh cut flower, and in dried arrangements.  According to one of the MG's I was talking to, "Guys love it".  This one does, at any rate.

Steve Gray inspired Log Planting

Steve Gray's log arrangement, won at auction by Kathy Engle inspired me to create this planting.  While making room in my shade garden for some of my new acquisitions, a fringed bleeding heart, a hosta 'strip tease' a Pulmonaria seedling, and some sweet woodruff were repurposed for this planting. 

I also bought one of Steve's donated yellow perennial foxgloves, Digitalis grandifolia.  I had never seen them before.  The foxgove I have are the biennial ones that pop up in all sorts of places (I collect and scatter their seeds, so that's hardly surprising), but there's an advantage in placing a perennial, without having to rely on serendipity that prompted the purchase.


Hosta Acquisition - 'Orange Marmalade'







I got the 'Orange Marmalade' hosta at my church plant sale the week before the MG one. 

Miniature Hostas at Garden Edge

I had to make room for the 'Orange Marmalade', moving several of my miniature hostas, including 'Blue Mouse Ears' and 'Stiletto' along the edge.

Other acquistions (not pictured) include some more Monkshood, lilac colored day lilies, and dwarf irises I had noticed in the Perennial Demonstration Garden a couple of years ago, and saw they had been divided last Fall and placed in the holding area (one advantage to helping to dig holes).

I'm pleased.