Monday, May 24, 2010

Pretty pictures: Pink-Purple to Pink

I've been trying for the last couple weeks or so to sort through the ever-increasing stack of pictures I have, and I have to say, it hasn't actually been going terribly well. It's really time-consuming, and of course I keep taking new pictures as I'm sorting out the old ones, so there's an element of futility to the whole thing.

But, the up side is that I have a bunch of pictures to post now. So here are some. I've decided to go with "pink" as a theme, though the pinkness of some of these is open to debate.

Osteospermum 'Summertime Hot Pink.' Kind of more purple-looking, in this picture. I don't remember exactly if it was really this color.


Clematis 'Nelly Moser?' This is growing in someone's yard in town, so there was no actual ID on it, but I think, after seeing a picture of 'Nelly Moser' at Best in Bloom Today, that's probably what this is. The colors are right, at least, and lynn'sgarden says in the post that it's a popular variety. I wish I'd fiddled with the color a little bit longer; the color here seems a little dull, compared to reality. Oh well.


Catharanthus roseus 'Titan Rose.' One of the things that most pleases me about no longer working at the garden center is that I don't have to deal with the vinca (it's not Vinca, though) anymore. I had bad associations with them anyway, having been forced to plant them once in junior high, at school, for "P.E.," which is a long story and not really the point, but at work, they always had spider mites, and frequently tried to go chlorotic on us, and I just really kind of hate them.


Most everybody still calls this Dicentra spectabilis, but I have it on pretty good authority that the correct name is Lamprocapnos spectabilis. Everybody in town has like six of these, but they're cool plants regardless.


Gaura NOID (possibly G. lindheimeri 'Karalee Pink'). I like these okay, but never see any planted anywhere. I have no idea where they're all going or who they sell to.


Begonia NOID. These are sold as "nonstop begonias," but I don't know if that's an official cultivar name or not. Despite the name, if overwatered, they will stop just fine.


Brugmansia NOID. Every year since 2007, I see these, and my jaw drops and I think I must get a Brugmansia this year, and then every year, fear of spider mites keeps me from actually getting one. We saw this one, and a few others, within the last week, but this one was big and expensive, and the others were doubled varieties (purple/white and yellow). I do not like the doubled Brugmansias and find them unsettling in some difficult-to-explain way. Will this be the year I get one? Maybe. The pink ones are really beautiful.


4 comments:

Don said...

"Why not satisfy your brugmansia lust by keeping it in a pot outside over the summer, and forcing it into dormancy for winter storage in your basement? That's how many people handle that problem: use it as a patio plant. How can spider mites live on it when it has no leaves?"

(Says the Voice of Temptation)

"Oh, no thanks, I have enough plants already!"

(Says the Voice of one's Better Angel)

(This from a man who spent yesterday afternoon rescuing daylily seedlings a breeder was about to discard, planning on planting them in a neighbor's front yard, having already run out of room in his own.)

Don

Liza said...

Gaura grows everywhere down here. I want to hear that story about P.E. Why did you have to plant vinca in gym class????

Aaerelon said...

It's a bit of a pink fiesta. I love that last Brug. My yellow one survived the relocation an is branching at every leaf node. Hopefully I'll get some flowers this year but I don't expect any...

It might survive the winter here outdoors but I think I'll try the dormancy thing just in case.

Mae said...

Nonstop is an official series name for tuberous begonias. Benary developed them (sold a bunch as our bedding plant company when I worked there...) Benary says their botanical name is Begonia Tuberhybrid.

Nonstop is a green-leafed tuber begonia and it's counterpart, Nonstop Mocha, is the bronze leaf cultivar.

http://www.benary.com/index.cfm/addin/plants/startid/147/artnr/C7480.html

If you can't tell, part of my job was to look up cultivars from breeders websites so I could better help customers chose varieties.