Plant Yourself

Thought I'd share some plants I like from recent catalogues* Enjoy!  

Flowering Almond  

Silk Tree  

Variegated Red Twig Dogwood  

Beauty of Moscow Lilac  

Black Knight Butterfly Bush  

In contrast to the Black Knight: Kaleidoscope Butterfly Bush

  

Beni Kaze Japanese Forest Grass  

Japanese Painted Fern  

Red Hens and Chicks  

Hardy Olive Tree 

How cool would it be to grow your own olives (outside of the Mediterranean, that is)?

  

Climbing Shell Plant  

Dazzler Candy Lily  

Egret Flower  

Ruby Cloud Astrantia  

Laced Romeo Carnation 

Sadly no mention of a scent.  

Isaac House Hybrid Scabiosa  

White Feather Hosta 

Really unusual!  

Burning Hearts Dicentra  

Striped Cobra Lily  

Deluxe Toad Lily Mix 

Really into the toad lilies lately. Going to have to look into planting a few. 

 

Raspberry Mousse Toad Lily  

Apple Blossom Everblooming Begonias

   

Bee Balm Blue Shades Mixture  

Purple Pillow Geranium  

Peruvian Lily Mona Lisa  

Switzerland Begonia  

Chocolate Cosmos 

Looks pretty and smells like chocolate? Where do I sign up? 

 

Landini Lily  

Anneke Calla Lily  

I'm a fan of Columbine aka Aquilegia. William Guiness Columbine

   

Double Red and White Winky Columbine

   

Butterfly Amaryllis  

I love dahlias but I don't grow them as they're a little high maintenance for me right now. I expect to eventually inherit my mom's collection, though.  

Rebecca's World  

Procyon  

Way of Life Dahlia  

Crazy Love Dahlia  

Rembrandt Dahlia Blue Star Dahlia  

Tree Dahlia  

Sherbet Cocktail(R) Phlox *Note: I'm not endorsing these companies. I just was intrigued by what I saw in their catalogues and thought you might be too :)

(Edited for formatting and to remove dead links. Follow me on my official site: AspasiaSBissas.com)

Lavender Fields For...now...

If you've been reading this blog you know I wasn't thrilled with the colour of my upstairs bathroom. From the beginning I'd been planning on re-painting it a deep plum colour. So why did I end up with a shade more closely resembling lavender? I have no idea. 

For the last month we've been living with paint chips taped to the bathroom wall (actually, there are chips in all the unpainted rooms now. It's not a look I'd recommend). The idea was to see how various hues looked in the room, and to help us decide which one we ultimately wanted to go with. On a whim I threw up a couple of neutral chips along with the plum ones. At some point I started realizing I didn't like any of the dark purple shades. Fine--we narrowed it down to two of the neutrals, and then finally to one: a mid-tone taupe-ish colour with subtle purple undertones ("Painted Rocks").  

 

 

Paint was picked up on Thursday, room was painted yesterday. But somehow the purple undertones seem to have morphed into overtones, and taupe-ish seems to have translated as grey-ish. Checking the chip against the wall it's definitely not the same colour (but as the small print says, results may vary). 

It's not horrible but it's not right, either. I don't love the way it looks with the lighter tiles and towels (although it looks okay with the dark tiles and great with the fixtures/trim). Had it not been a holiday yesterday, I would probably have gone back to the store for plum paint. As it is, it's staying this way at least until we get the rest of the house painted (in other words, since painting stops during gardening season, it'll be this colour for another year if not longer). 

In the meantime I guess I'll just have to console myself with new glass lamp shades (notice the bare bulb) and accessories! To see what the bathroom looked like before, click here

(Edited for clarity and to update link. Follow me on my official site: AspasiaSBissas.com)

Getting Busy Pt 2

Not having much luck with the seeds this year; so far only Hollyhock 'Creme de Cassis' and Poppy 'Fruit Punch' have sprouted. But since gardeners are eternal optimists I'm going ahead with the next batch of seeds. Fingers crossed.  

April's Seeds 

All these have been started indoors. On peat pellets:  

Basil, Cinnamon 

Basil, Greek Bush 

Basil, Sweet 

Started indoors in peat pots with Miracle Gro potting soil:  

Lupine, pink (from seeds saved by my mom)  

Nicotiana, 'Only the Lonely'  

Nicotiana, 'Sensation'  

How are your seeds and seedlings doing so far?    

(Edited for clarity and to remove dead links. Follow me on my official site: AspasiaSBissas.com)