More on my garden, 2020

Hi, all.  Before we look at the next set of things in the garden, I wanted to let you know that the "green fluffy thing" in Pot 3 is an Aruncus hybid "Fairy Hair," which I bought last summer in Connecticut.

Moving right along.  Pot 5 was mostly empty last year - it had been the home of the fig tree that died.  So in fall 2019, I moved the astilbes out of Pot1 into Pot 5.  As you can see, they like their new home.

These are supposed to be red astilbes, but according to my Garden Map, when they bloomed last year, they were not red.  What color were they?  I neglected to write that down - so we'll just have to wait until summer.

Here's Pot 5A:

The center shrub is a barberry, which I purchased last year from ForestFarm at Pacifica, my favorite tree and shrub people.  When I got it, it was shaped like an ordinary bush, but it immediately put out that enormous shoot going straight up.  Looking for sunlight, I imagine.  Good luck with that!  On the left is a Champagne Heuchera, also a 2019 purchase, from Bluestone Perennials.  Here's a closer look:

Also in the pot are the Rhino Hide hosta, not shown, and the Lady in Red fern, below.  Both of those are also from Bluestone in 2019.

Pot 5B is new this year, and contains another barberry, this one called the William Penn barberry, berberis gladwynensis.  It's just a baby.

Pot 6 contains the Taxus Helen Corbett, which is this little yew bush I purchased in 2017.  It's still doing just fine.  The light green on the branch tips is new growth.

However, I managed to lose two plants from this pot over the winter, which is not good at all.  One was the Apple Crisp heuchera, and the other one was the Redstone Falls heucherella.  Fortunately, I split the Redstone Falls a couple of years ago, so I still have one in another pot.

Pot 6A has three unidentified hostas, all of them purchased bare-root from Wal-Mart in 2018.  Buying hostas as bare roots is cost-effective, but I'm not always able to identify them by name when they come up.   Still, they're healthy and look nice in the garden, so I can't complain!

Pot 6B contains the Columnar Chinese Poplar, from ForestFarm in 2019; an enormous hosta that I bought in Connecticut last summer, and a new hosta for this year, Neptune.

I can probably find the name for the big hosta if I look hard enough.  It may need a pot of its own!

Neptune has thin leaves, and I'm not sure it's going to last in my garden.  Here's the plant upon arrival in April:

And here it is now, with two empty stems where the wind just blew the thin leaves off.  Of course, judging from the photos above, they may already have been broken in transit.

 Pot 7 has the American Hazelnut, purchased from ForestFarm in 2018, and thriving, though I doubt it'll ever give hazelnuts again.  (I got three in 2018.)

Also in Pot 7, two bare-root hostas from Walmart, 2018 (here's one):

... and a heuchera that I purchased in 2019 but am unable to identify.  I did not do a great job keeping up with my garden map last year!

Pot 8 is easy to identify.  Three Blue Mouse Ears hostas.

We'll continue the walk through the garden later in the week.

More Garden Map

This weekend, I told you about what's Surviving, Thriving, and Dead in the six pots closest to my back door.  Time to move a few feet to the next six pots!

Pot # 5 - This is easy.  Fig tree.  Dead.  I am officially out of the Fig Business.

Pot #6 - the Taxus Helen Corbet (a Yew).  Thriving, and beginning to put our new needles at the end of the branches, which will be a much lighter green than the current foliage.  Also in the pot: Redstone Falls Heucherella and Apple Crisp Heuchera.  Both surviving and putting out new leaves.  Apparently the secrets to success with heucheras are 1) mulch and 2) a mild winter.

Pot #6A - the new Barberry, the new Champagne Heuchera, the new Lady in Red Fern, and the new Rhino Hide hosta.  All doing fine, but they haven't had much chance for anything to go wrong let, so let's call them Thriving - For Now.

Pot #6B - similarly, the new Poplar hasn't had time to be anything but Thriving - For Now.  It has no companion plants yet.

Pot #6C - a white swamp oak that self-seeded in another pot in the fall of 2017; I transplanted it to this pot in June 2018.  No leaves yet but there are little buds, so it's possible that there will be leaves soon.  I'll reserve judgment for a while.  Also in the pot: three nameless bare-root hostas that came from Walmart in 2018, and that are coming up nicely.  Let's say "Probably Surviving" for the oak, and "Thriving" for the hostas.  And then there's a small cast-iron statue of a winged cat, but that's not its best side.

Pot #7 - an American Hazelnut that I got from ForestFarm at Pacifica in the spring of 2018.  Putting out lots of little leaves, so I'm going to be optimistic and call it Thriving, even if I don't know if it'll ever produce nuts again.  (I got a crop of three last year!).  Also in the pot: a Snow Queen Iris from 2017 (dead, dead, dead); and two nameless bare-root hostas from Walmart from 2018, thriving.

More New Plants

Greetings from my garden!  The "Oregon Fern" Fullmoon Japanese Maple is leafing up nicely.

 I've got some new leafy friends to introduce today

Beginning in 2016, I've purchased trees and shrubs every spring from ForestFarm at Pacifica.  They've sold me some lovely trees, including my Winterberry holly plants, both of my Japanese Maples, and the Upright Japanese Yew that I accidentally killed last year.  So I'm always excited when the ForestFarm box comes.

First out of the box - the replacement Upright Japanese Yew!

I put it in the same pot where the old Upright Japanese Yew lived.

That pot should look a whole lot better once the "Ghost Lady" fern comes up.  She's always a latecomer, so I'm not worried.

Next up, the Barberry.  Barberries are a native species to this area, which was why they first appealed to me, but this is actually a variety from Nepal known as Jaeschke's Barberry.  It's a thorny little critter, but I think it will make an attractive addition.

I added it to the pot with the new plants from last week.  Barberries come in numerous varieties and colors, so if this one works out, I can see myself adding more.

I'm not sure why I ordered the next one.  It's a maple - not a Japanese maple, but a real grown-up maple.  It doesn't seem completely fair to stick it in a pot.

And finally, the Columnar Chinese Poplar.  You may have noticed that I like tall skinny plants (the Upright Japanese Yew, the Sky Pencil holly).  Here's another one.

I've always liked poplar trees, and I think they do OK in windy conditions.  We'll see!

Next week, we'll take a look at what's coming up.  The short answer: almost everything!