Friday, April 17, 2009

Just a teensy weensy bit of shopping...

Did I shop while I visited the display garden at a local garden centre over the past weekend? Yes, yes, I did. Not until the end, though! Can I possibly blame my friend for my weakness? I can try. She did tell me that the special items tend to go quickly and might not be there when I am ready to garden. Oh, and being Easter weekend and all, there was a great sale on Easter items! I would have been foolish to pass it by. I tell myself with stern conviction.

So of course I was very practical. I bought an Easter serving tray and bowls that were on sale for half price. Who could blame me at $12.50? It would have been foolish to walk by. Um, really.

And then: Three very adorable plants

I got this lovely hosta, ‘Touch of Class’. While we were there, I was describing to my friend a beautiful hosta that I had seen once and thought gorgeous. I think this is it. The centre is a soft lime green with blue and green margins that look like they were painted on by a water colourist. My great aunt was a water colourist, and one time she painted all the wild flowers of her home province in one painting. This hosta looks like something she would have painted.

Next was a lovely and finely drawn Adiantum pedatum ‘American Maidenhair Fern’.

I am smitten with this plant. I had one in my first garden and loved its shy beauty. If I were a fairy, I think I would make a long skirt of layers of maidenhair fern lace. It adds such texture to a garden and makes other plants around it shine. The kind of plant you want on your team.

Finally, I bought this Heuchera 'Plum Royale'. Quite frankly, it dazzled me as soon as I entered the garden centre. There was a guy leaving with a trolley that had the bottom shelf of it filled with these. I found myself saying “wooooo” as they wheeled by me. The silvery sheen laid over the plum colour is like an evening dress with silvery tissue over a plum satin. Every girl should have one once in her life.

So now I have to keep them all alive until it gets warmer. If the garden is going to be in upheaval this summer for any amount of time, (as I suspect it may well be) then I think I may put them in the ground right in their pots until things settle down and I can find them a permanent spot. I hope that will work.

But really, I must hold off on buying plants until the ground is ready for them. I must. Really.

Except for annuals. For the pots. I can’t ignore my pots. Now that would just be rude.

"There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments." -Janet Kilburn Phillips

7 comments:

Northern Shade said...

Adiantum pedatum is such a nice, airy plant in the garden. I like the way the fronds radiate out from the centre.
The Heuchera 'Plum Royale'. Silver foliage is very appealing. The plum colour underneath will show when the wind blows the leaves around. It's a nice combination.

Northern Beauty Seeker said...

NS: You just painted a beautiful picture in my mind - thank you!

I hope each of these plants will become a starting point to build up some vignettes in the garden with plants of complementary colours and textures.

Linda said...

I've enjoyed reading through your blog. Good luck transforming that gravel into gardens. Those are adorable little dishes and I would not of been able to resist them either. Today we visited the local garden center and I got a new flag for the garden. The plants are just beginning to appear so it won't be long before I'm moving plants and buying new ones.

Northern Beauty Seeker said...

Crafty Gardener: It is such an exciting time of year. It seems we cannot resist buying something new for our dear gardens :)

Jan said...

Hi MsS, thanks for your note...I've got you back on now in my sidebar and as a follower. I can see you've been having a little fun! I hope your ground gets warm enough for plants very soon! My ground is ready...but we have a project going on in the yard so I have to wait to put anything else in! I'll write a post on that soon. I'm really behind on posting! Have a great day! Jan

tlchang said...

Ah, the gardening thing is so addicting! (She says, as she has only been digging in the dirt, and not drawing at all - for days!)

Congrats on the undertaking and looking forward to seeing what you do!

Northern Beauty Seeker said...

tlc: So nice to see you here! Yes, *sigh* I am besotted with gardening. I can hardly read a book these days unless it's to do with plants :)