Gardening Thoughts In Late February

My thoughts turn to gardening in late February. I know it’s way too early. But my heart lives in the garden.

So I’m thinking about it most of the year even if it’s too cold to be outdoors.

I begin wondering what will come back up from the past two years I’ve lived here. And what I might want to plant this spring.

Let’s see. What was a real success last year? I asked myself. So I jotted down a few notes.

The Mystery Plant:

There was the mystery plant I purchased in 2022, and promptly forgot what it was.

It only had foliage that first year. Many perennials take two to three years until they flower. So I should have guessed that it was a perennial.

It turned out to be a black-eyed Susan plant. And in 2023 it bloomed.

To me though, it not only bloomed. It smiled.

The colors of the petals are so vivid and beautiful.

I don’t have much sun, but this mystery plant/turned black-eyed Susan showed me its stuff.

The Canna Lily:

The canna lilies did quite well. So I’m hoping it will come back.

It turns out that canna lilies aren’t lilies at all. This plant is closely related to arrowroot, heliconias, birds of paradise, and bananas.

Cannas will bloom even in the hottest weeks of summer. My canna had vivid red blooms with variegated foliage.

Canna lilies are a great choice for budding gardeners because they are hardy and fast-growing. This plant will thrive wherever there is enough light and moisture.

I purchased it at Southwood Nursery. It wasn’t terribly big when I brought it home. But boy did she grow! Take a look at her as she progressed above.

Ron would be sitting on his patio, and oftentimes he’d say: “Brenda, did you see that new canna bloom?”

Sure enough, that plant proved to be a prolific grower.

It bloomed and it bloomed and it bloomed.

The Kangaroo Fern:

Then there was the Kangaroo Fern I found at Southwood Nursery as well. I placed it on the other side of the cypress tree because that space looked rather empty.

At first I had purple lobelia surrounding it. But the heat got to them and they faded away.

However the kangaroo fern really took off. And it ended up filling the pot all by itself!

It grew beautifully until last month’s cold snap did it in. It made me very sad to see that happen.

Morning Glories:

The morning glories I planted over by the light pole did well. I was kind of surprised because I didn’t know if they’d get enough sun.

But the morning glories put on quite a show. There were white and pink morning glories that I grew from seed.

Coneflowers:

I’ve never had much luck with the coneflower, though I do so love its perky petals. For some reason, I’ve never had a coneflower plant come back the next year. This may be because I planted them in containers instead of the ground.

Coneflowers are considered prairie plants. Normally they are hardy, drought-tolerant, and long-blooming.

It blooms best with at least 6 to 8 hours of full sun, but might tolerate light afternoon shade.

These deep pink flowers remind me of bubble gum.

I’d like to grow a purple coneflower plant. It never seems to be in the cards when I go to the nursery. But I could try planting seeds and see how they fare.

Bee Balm:

The Monarda bee balm came back from 2022, but didn’t get quite enough sun, I don’t think. But we’ll see how it does this year. Maybe it just needed more than a year to get a good start.

I have two bee balm plants in the ground near the black-eyed Susan plant.

The hummingbirds and butterflies love bee balm.

Bee balm does best in full sun, though it will grow in part shade. It tends to stretch and become leggy as the season wears on if it doesn’t get the right amount of sunlight.

Daisies:

Daisies, as I’ve told you before, have been my favorite flower since childhood.

I had to leave daisies behind at the old apartment because I moved at the end of January 2022. There was lots of sun on that patio. But there’s not much sun here.

But I will keep planting various types of daisies. Daisies are in my gardener’s blood.

I have to show off the male cardinal in the cypress tree in my backyard. He sure is a beauty. I took this photo in the summer of 2022.

There are so many birds and wildlife here to see!

So What Do I Want To Plant This Year?

I’ve looked for two summers for the Lamb’s Ear plant.

Lamb’s ear leaves make a pretty ground cover with soft and silvery foliage. Sadly, it’s been sold out by the time I get to the nursery.

It’s botanical name is Stachys Byzantina. I had a beautiful patch of it at my old apartment.

So the number one plant I’d like to find is Lamb’s Ear.

More Shade Bloomers:

Certainly I’d like to plant more shade bloomers. More online research is in the works.

I went from a lot of sun to a lot of shade when I moved here. It’s trickier to garden with the plants I was accustomed to planting because of the lack of sun.

So I’d love to find more shade bloomers.

I want to grow more plants from seeds, I think. I always say I want to do this, but I get impatient for the pretty blooms.

I’ll probably plant more morning glories seeds because I love having vines in my garden.

Zinnias:

I had zinnias in pots last year. Zinnias are probably the easiest flower to grow from seed that there is.

Zinnias don’t seem to mind whether they’re grown in containers or in the ground. I grew them in pots.

Zinnias need moist soil to grow their best. This is especially true of young plants.

I struggled getting enough water out to them where they were planted. I’ll have to rethink where I put them this year, which is much easier to do with containers.

To keep zinnias blooming, you should cut off the flowers regularly. Clip the stem just above a leaf or bud node and new branches will emerge.

You will soon have more flowers.

Pink In The Garden:

You were probably surprised that I grew so many pink flowers last year. I took my cue from Ron and Pat.

They had gorgeous pink flowers, so I joined in with their colors. Their pink hibiscus plants were beautiful.

Herbs:

You know how much I love planting herbs. There will always be herbs in my garden space.

The mint and lemon balm will probably come back up. I don’t know that the rosemary will, though.

If the rosemary plant doesn’t show any signs of life, I’ll get another one.

Even though I mostly have shade here, I want more herbs just off the patio. I like to step out onto the patio and snip herbs when I’m cooking. Especially chives. I’ve sure missed my baked potato with fresh chives!

I also will look for lemon verbena and pineapple sage. Some of you probably recall how my sweet Charlie always munched on pineapple sage to soothe his tummy.

Here are the live perennial plants I ordered online last year:

• 1 American Dream Tickseed
• 2 Purple Illusion Spike Speedwell plants
• 2 Berry Taffy Bee Balm 
• 1 Serendipity Allium
• 2 Lily Of The Valley

And I also ordered live herb plants from Grower’s Exchange last spring:

• Pineapple sage
• Italian oregano
• Genovese basil
• Rosemary
• Lemon balm
• Sorrel
• Vick’s plant
• Orange scented geranium
• Lemon verbena

I’ll visit these sites very soon to see what they have.

Is there a new plant you’d like to bring into your garden this year?