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Although this could very well be a picture of me finding a new treasure at a favorite nursery, it's actually an illustration by David Catrow for a children's book called Plantzilla.

Friday, August 28, 2015

Retail Therapy is the Best Medicine

Between dealing with some health issues that sapped quite a bit of my energy, keeping the garden/greenhouse watered, and garden touring, I realized that it had been weeks since I'd visited a nursery.  The plant mobile was more than happy to take me to Watson's for some retail therapy.

A little light shopping to make up for lost time. Feeling better already!

Really, those were carts of summer stock that had been taken off the shelves to make room for the warm colors of autumn.

Outside there were quite a few varieties of hardy hibiscus.  H. 'Summer Storm'

That gorgeous dark foliage was certainly tempting.  Maybe I should go back and get one of these.

Forgot the name of this one.

H. 'Party Favor'

H. 'Tie Dye'

H. 'Plum Fantasy'

H. 'Cranberry Crush'

What, no chartreuse?  What color(s) would you choose?  The purple/blue combination is nice and orange, red, and yellow might look swell too.

Say it's not so. There was kale too.  Valerie Easton once wrote that after the last lily blooms are faded, the inexorable glide into autumn happens quickly but I'm not ready for September 23 quite yet!

Fortunately, these look good year round!


Swimming up a river of hosta.

A great color combination! Though I'm not a huge fan of beige/cram colored pots, these work well here.


The "room"  that changes several times each year seems to have been taken over by drought-tolerant plants for the summer.

Canna Tropicana Black has attractive dark foliage and these great orange blooms. 

Heucheras always look so good at the nursery and in other people's gardens.

Sexy rex begonias.



The little-known marshmallow agave.


Swell sansevieria.

So, what came home with me?  Podophyllum 'Spotty Dotty.' One can never have too many Podophyllum!

 Daphne 'Briggs Moonlight' which I've killed a couple of times but am determined to keep alive this time as it's just so gorgeous.

Last but not least is Begonia grandis, which is quite hardy. 
The begonia and podophyllum are in the ground already.  I'm afraid to take the daphne out of it's pot. If you've been successful with 'Briggs Moonlight,' what's the secret to making it happy?  There are other daphnes in my garden that are thriving.

Happy weekend! We're supposed to get heavy rain again.  Hooray!

17 comments:

  1. Hope this made you feel better, Peter. I can offer no advice on Briggs Moonlight - mine perished too. I think I had it in too much shade. Was it you who told me it takes surprisingly much sun?

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  2. Nothing like a little retail therapy! That Briggs Moonlight is gorgeous, but, alas! I have no advice, having being too chicken to grow such a delicate plant when I lived down South. (And I don't think it's hardy where I live now.) I do have Hibiscus 'Cranberry Crush' though - that's one gorgeous plant when it blooms! Hope you are feeling better! After a dearth of plant shopping for a while, I, too, am now looking to hit up some late summer plant sales...

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  3. Yes, retail therapy is the best. I've never seen Agaves that big at Watson's before. They have those same ones at Windmill too (A. parryi and 'Mr Ripple'), and Spotty Dotty was at Molbak's last week. I was tempted but it didn't look particularly "spotty," so I resisted. I'm so surprised to see those big Hibiscus at both Windmill and Watson's too. I tried finding them when I first moved here, and couldn't find them at any nursery.

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  4. Retail therapy is always good. Hope you are feeling better soon Peter.

    Marshmallow agave! Around here they assume it's your own dang fault if you get stuck Tropicana black is a beauty.

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  5. That first picture with the loaded carts made me pause for a moment. Retail therapy is one thing, but those carts are so loaded...
    I remember that "room" that changes with the seasons: it once had the most elegant display of black and orange. Those would be my choice color of adirondack chairs, if I was bold enough. After losing two Daphen odora, I'm in no position to give advice but hope you are successful on your third try. Briggs Moonlight is beautiful. I love the name too.

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  6. Gorgeous photos!
    I so agree with you about shopping in a nursery.
    Have a lovely weekend!

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  7. Hmmm, I just bought a Daphne 'Briggs Moonlight' on Wednesday, hopefully I'll be able to keep it alive! I'll be watching this space to see if anyone has helpful hints.

    (hope you are continuing to feel better!)

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  8. Retail is definitely the best type of therapy

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  9. The overhead suggestion of a "room" is brilliant. Somehow, I don't think "marshmallow" Agaves will ever catch on. I failed to pick up a 'Briggs Moonlight' at Dancing Oaks and have been kicking myself ever since. From other comments, looks like I just spared myself another kind of failure. Do l;et us know if you figure out how to keep it alive.

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  10. Who knew you could child-proof agaves? I hope you return to your regular nursery shopping ways in fulsome good health soon.

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  11. Oh I love that Daphne! Just stunning. Fingers crossed I haven't killed any Daphne relatives yet, so I'll have to keep an eye out! I hope the retail therapy made you feel better :-)

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  12. It's always fun to see what's going on at Watson"s!

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  13. Hi Peter, I hope the retail therapy helped to perk you up and sent you on the road of healing! Moonlight sure would be tempting if I came across it, but I might wait now until you come across the magic trick to keep it going :)

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  14. Those are some nice plants! I could easily have filled a cart or two :-).

    I hope you're on the mend. No good to be sick!

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  15. Sorry to hear you've been feeling unwell. Hope the retail therapy helped! I've been indulging in that myself, recently.

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  16. I love shopping therapy as well Peter. I saw in white pots blue tall flowers, are they delphiniums? I'd buy any begonia too!

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Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! I love to hear your thoughts.