plants

I bought three blue salvias at the tony nursery down the street from where I work. When I gardened in Austin, salvias were a big provider of perennial planting, but up here in cold zone 5, I've been reluctant to find ones that are hardy enough. These stood out, they're spiky flowers (as opposed to mounds). I stopped in because the nursery is an authorized dealer of David Austin English roses (one of the few in the entire Midwest) and I wanted to see if their spring display had arrived.

No DAEs. Lots of knockout roses, which on first blush (pardon the pun) appear to be the rosy equivalent of stella d'ora day lilies, pseudo gardening for those who want constant color and no work. Cheap grace. I've said before that whatever Calvinist instincts that I have comes out when I garden. I am a snob about these things.

But they haven't given up their affiliation with DA. Seems that the roses were on the loading dock in California and then there was recall due to fears about an oak tree disease. They hope to get a shipment soon.

And at a big box store, I bought pink astilbes on sale for $3 each. These were good sized plants, looked healthy, and the soil was not dried out. They will make a good addition to my shade garden and the other astilbes already there. Astilbes, heuchras (coral bells) and hostas make up a triangle of planting clumps. There are other wonderful shade plants, but these are basic to a shade garden.

My bleeding hearts in the backyard shade garden have been early and prolific in their blooms. Overall, my last big blue hosta has stuck its tightly wound leaves up through the dirt. It should start unwinding soon. The only thing left are seedlings from the larkspur, and I think I've spotted a few of them, the perennial begonias (always the last out of the ground), and my three bare-rooted roses that look awfully pregnant with the little bulging red spikes ready to break out of the branches ... but not yet.