Some fun new plants at Annie's Annuals
- Subject: Some fun new plants at Annie's Annuals
- From: d* f*
- Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2001 15:10:06 -0700 (PDT)
For locals here in the Bay Area, Annia Hayes of
Annie's Annuals is having another nursery sale/open
house this weekend, (Oct 20/21) if anyone is in need
of a quick shot of color or something new. She has a
great web site with lots of photos and descriptions of
plants/local growing conditions at her web site,
www.anniesannual.com, and is most probably even
growing some things passed on to her by some of the
medit-plants group.
This July, I was very pleased to find some
Melanoselinum decipiens from Madeira, Azorina vidalii
from the Azores and a Senecio glastifolius from South
Africa, all mediterannean perennials/herbaceous
shrubs new to me, and which are doing very well in my
cool mostly shaded garden. Hopefully all may bloom
next year, (some I suspect may need 2 full years to
bloom). She was also raising a crop of Ferula
communis, which I had seen last summer blooming in
Crete, and wanted ever since. I saw it again in
Seattle, where it was used as an accent plant in the
herbaceous borders of several of the gardens seen on
my Seattle tour. I'd like to be able to use it as a
mass planting as seen growing wild in Crete, combined
with Eryngiums, and the 8 to 10 foot tall golden
yellow flowering spikes backlit by the evening sun.
An annual which was new to me and quite showy if
ephemeral in the midsummer garden, is Asperula
orientalis-Blue Woodruff, a cloud of blue puffs with
the typical woodruff foliage, I really hope it does
reseed and return, but my conditions tend to favor
things like Francoas and Impatiens due to the shade.
Some other things bought at Annie's which have
continued to look good all summer and fall include
Lagurus ovatus-Bunny's Tail Grass. The white fluffy
seed heads do not shatter, and contrast nicely
against green foliage. The Impatiens species she is
growing were also quite interesting, but I only tried
the larger growing I. glandulifera, which is now 4
feet tall and across, and just starting(after 2 months
in the ground!), to bloom with large purple flowers.
I'm hoping this one might be a tender perennial in my
garden, as it shows no sign of fall decline similar to
the vigorous annual I. balfourii, which only remains
evergreen in the most sheltered parts of the garden,
and even then will finally fade out by January.
I've not had much success with the beautiful blooming
Lewisia hybrids I also brought home from Annie's, I
can't seem to get them to keep blooming in my
conditions. Maybe I've tempted some of you local
people with the variety to be found, and it is well
worth checking out, as there are undoubtedly a ton of
things there perfect to fill a blank spot. No need to
let the garden wind down here in the bay area!
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