It’s Good to be Planting Again

When my orange Asiatic lilies stopped blooming, even quit putting out green shoots (I was ever hopeful), I knew I had just the pot for a hydrangea. Unfortunately, my attempts at growing a plant from stem cuttings didn’t work—at all, so I determined that I would have to buy one. As I searched the garden centers this spring, I found huge, expensive ones—even topiaries. I don’t need all that, nor do I want to pay for all that. Then I saw a good deal on this small-potted one in the mid-range of colors—a mix of pink and blue and knew I couldn’t pass it up.


While its clay pot is too big for it now, it will quickly grow into it (Lord willing). Meanwhile I’ve added a Cherry Super Bells plant to keep it company. The pink petunia-like flowers (it turns out that they only resemble petunias) with yellow stars are new in our garden centers this year. It will add some pizzazz.

Though my current tastes in color and garden style are more tropical, I still have a fondness for English garden plants but I do have to make an effort to keep my combinations from being too “sweet”. There’s nothing at all wrong with soft colors; I just have to have bright color! I’ll be adding a bit of Creeping Jenny in a bit later and maybe something tall and spiky.

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Getting Rid of Excess

When Creeping Jenny creeps it can get leggy and leafless, so I cut out the excess at a node (place where leaves emerge) at each end—so it can either branch or sprout roots.


I pushed a pencil (we always seem to have plenty) into the soil to make a space for the cuttings to grow. I’m trying these cuttings in an indoor pot for the first time to see if they’ll grow inside. If not, I’ll take them outdoors. My friend G. often puts cuttings of this and that in her big pots along with the big plants—she would probably say that they keep each other company.


Creeping Jenny roots easily so these two cuttings should make a nice cascade down the side of the Hawaiian Ti plant’s home in no time.

Yesterday and today are the kinds of days, sunny and warm, when it’s a pleasure to do almost anything though it got to 82 degrees yesterday! And it’s only mid-March. But it’s good. ☺

Too Pretty to Eat

The flowering kale I bought from a large garden center at the beginning of winter turned out to be miniature—a good size for my container that already held snapdragons and Creeping Jenny. However, its color is reserved while the variety I’ve seen around town that has long, frilly leaves abounding with fuchsia. Next time that’s the kind I’ll get. Nevertheless, this little kale has a certain amount of charm with its yellow flowers emerging.

The first time I grew flowering kale at our last home, the neighbors were very excited since they had never seen such a wonderful thing—though they were in landscaping all over town!

Started from a cutting of a bedding plant last year, this Creeping Jenny (rounded yellow-green leaves) is already on its way; it won’t be long until it’s growing down the side of the pot. All I had to do is stick the cutting in the dirt and water it—the kind of propagation I like best.

I began growing Jenny for its color; the yellow-green gave a bit of relief from all the green-green leaves. I’ve also found that its cascading habit gives green on a new level and I like to vary the size and shapes of leaves among the plants. The picture shows Jenny’s rounded leaf shape contrasting with the more pointed leaves of Sweet William and Victoria Blue Salvia. Hmmm, I hadn’t thought of that before; we have Jenny, William and Victoria.