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Pam/Digging
Guest
April 16, 2020
Taking out the stock-tank pond opened up a partly sunny spot in my shady garden. You can bet I wasn’t going to let that go to waste! Inside a new circle of diminutive ‘Micron’ hollies, which echo the form of ‘Winter Gem’ boxwoods at the entryways, I planted pollinator-friendly flowering perennials and annuals.
Two months after planting, tall verbena (Verbena bonariensis) has shot up to 5 feet and towers over native Gulf Coast penstemon (Penstemon tenuis).
The pretty lavender flowers entice bees and butterflies.
I love the new flowers and am delighted to have a pollinator pit stop. In photos, unfortunately, the tall verbena looks weedy as it soars over a central potted Agave ovatifolia. In person I find it romantic. Walking past those giraffe-like verbena, I stretch out my hand to make the airy stems bob and wave, like Ruth Wilcox strolling her garden at Howards End. (Imagining myself in a long, white dress trailing across dewy grass…)
On Sunday my first iris opened, the one I call Shoshana’s iris. I haven’t been able to get an iris to bloom in this garden in years. It’s just too shady. But when I moved a few straggly plants over to the new Circle Garden, they immediately started growing, and now this!
I’m pretty happy about it.
Shoshana looks especially lovely next to Gulf Coast penstemon.
There’s columbine too.
Along the chimney wall of the house, I’ve planted Hesperaloe parviflora ‘Desert Dusk’, a new cultivar of our native red yucca, with wine-red instead of coral flowers. It’s also a little more compact than the standard hesperaloe. And bees love it.
I watched this busy bee adding to her pollen sacs…
…fertilizing the flowers as she goes. Keep up the good work, bees!
I welcome your comments; please scroll to the end of this post to leave one. If you’re reading this in a subscription email, click here to visit Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post.
_______________________
Digging Deeper: News and Upcoming Events
Join the mailing list for Garden Spark! Hungry to learn about garden design from the experts? I’m hosting a series of talks by inspiring garden designers, landscape architects, and authors a few times a year. Held in Austin, the talks are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance. Simply click this link and ask to be added.
All material © 2020 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
The post A little more room for pollinator plants appeared first on Digging.
Continue reading...
Taking out the stock-tank pond opened up a partly sunny spot in my shady garden. You can bet I wasn’t going to let that go to waste! Inside a new circle of diminutive ‘Micron’ hollies, which echo the form of ‘Winter Gem’ boxwoods at the entryways, I planted pollinator-friendly flowering perennials and annuals.
Two months after planting, tall verbena (Verbena bonariensis) has shot up to 5 feet and towers over native Gulf Coast penstemon (Penstemon tenuis).
The pretty lavender flowers entice bees and butterflies.
I love the new flowers and am delighted to have a pollinator pit stop. In photos, unfortunately, the tall verbena looks weedy as it soars over a central potted Agave ovatifolia. In person I find it romantic. Walking past those giraffe-like verbena, I stretch out my hand to make the airy stems bob and wave, like Ruth Wilcox strolling her garden at Howards End. (Imagining myself in a long, white dress trailing across dewy grass…)
On Sunday my first iris opened, the one I call Shoshana’s iris. I haven’t been able to get an iris to bloom in this garden in years. It’s just too shady. But when I moved a few straggly plants over to the new Circle Garden, they immediately started growing, and now this!
I’m pretty happy about it.
Shoshana looks especially lovely next to Gulf Coast penstemon.
There’s columbine too.
Along the chimney wall of the house, I’ve planted Hesperaloe parviflora ‘Desert Dusk’, a new cultivar of our native red yucca, with wine-red instead of coral flowers. It’s also a little more compact than the standard hesperaloe. And bees love it.
I watched this busy bee adding to her pollen sacs…
…fertilizing the flowers as she goes. Keep up the good work, bees!
I welcome your comments; please scroll to the end of this post to leave one. If you’re reading this in a subscription email, click here to visit Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post.
_______________________
Digging Deeper: News and Upcoming Events
Join the mailing list for Garden Spark! Hungry to learn about garden design from the experts? I’m hosting a series of talks by inspiring garden designers, landscape architects, and authors a few times a year. Held in Austin, the talks are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance. Simply click this link and ask to be added.
All material © 2020 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
The post A little more room for pollinator plants appeared first on Digging.
Continue reading...