New Acquisitions

 I have purchased several new plants this spring (and still have more birthday money to spend!). I'm doing this showcase as much for my recollection as anything. Roughly they fall into a few categories.

First we have plants I've never tried before.

This is Saxifraga x arendii 'Deep Red,' sometimes known as rockfoil. This is an experiment. It likes full sun, but may want a bit more water than most of the rock garden gets. We'll see. I made it a little microenvironment (I hope). The rock below it should catch water and make that spot slightly more damp, and I put it in a place that gets shadow until about 11 am, so it doesn't have blazing sun for 12 hours in the summer. It's such a great color, I hope it survives.

Here's another that looks simple, but I paid a little more for it. This is Carex oshimensis 'Evergold,' sometimes called Japanese Sedge. I have wanted some things with this texture other than more of the blue fescue (which is pretty but a pain to keep looking nice, and it spreads everywhere if you aren't vigilant). So now I have something that meets those requirements. We will also see how this does, but it should tolerate the rock garden all right. I hope it spreads enough to split, because I would like to have this in more places.

You saw this one yesterday with friends, but here it is again. I've thought about adding one or more of these to the rock garden. Down side is it will have to come in every winter. Up side is it's gorgeous. I saw this one that was brighter colors than all the others with it... and it was only $2.49. I couldn't pass it by. This is Setcreasea purpurea 'Variegata.' Wandering Jew or Dude as it's now being called.

I've seen this small evergreen being used more and more in rock gardens. It's very attractive! I didn't figure it would be in my budget, but this one was marked at half price. Ultimately there should be more than one for balance, but I'll see how one goes before making that leap (and read up on how this tolerates being split). This is Juniperus squamata 'Blue Star.' Supposedly deer don't like it. Another plus.

The next category is things I already have but wanted more of.

This is another of the Sedum takesimense 'Atlantis' that was one of my favorite purchases from 2023. The one I have is very healthy, but it grows slowly, so I decided to get another. This has been in a greenhouse and is very leggy, but it will be fine.

And here is what the first one I bought looks like right now. Here's the thing. These sedums that are hardy take a while to get filled out in the spring. So this almost doesn't look like the same plant, but it is.

Next up, we have Sempervivum 'Gold Nugget.' I found one of these at the end of the season last year. I'd been looking for it because it is more yellow than the 'Gold Rush' I had already purchased. This is my second one that I just bought. You can see that in the greenhouse, it was bright yellow and orange.

A lot of the rock garden plants change color significantly through the season depending on how much direct sun they get and the temperature. Here is the 'Gold Nugget' I bought last year. All of the rosettes it had then have survived. Now we will wait and see if they get brighter gold as the season warms.

I certainly wasn't looking for another one of the next plant on purpose because I bought my first one just last year, and I knew it was alive, but wasn't sure how healthy it was. But... this one was half price because most of the blooms had been broken off, so it came home with me. This is Armeria maritima, sea thrift. This one is 'Morning Star Deep Rose.' You can see it has two flowers yet for this year. This is a full size one, the stalks can get 10-12" tall, but I was looking for something about this height for this space, and the leaves are a texture that contrasts with other things near it. Why not?

The one I got last year is a miniature. It only gets about 6" tall. A week ago it was looking iffy, and I wasn't sure if it was just too early to look good, or if it wasn't happy." This one is variety 'Dusseldorf Pride.' But it's looking good now, and in fact I can see at least two flower stalks starting up (it also has pink balls). And this one was a much smaller pot, so even when it was new the plant was much smaller than the one I just bought.

I think this also goes in the category of "plants I've previously killed one of, but should be happy here." However, I can't find the plant record for the earlier one, so perhaps my track record is clear on this.

There are two more purchases this year, but they need a couple of days to look happier after being transplanted, so I'll wait to show you. Neither one will bloom until later anyway.

Busy day- all the usual things, plus a delivery (the big purchase- I'll show you another day), bell choir, laundry. I was hoping to walk, but the delivery messed up my timing.

See Spring Color Palette