Containers – Page 4 – Ellis Hollow

Sloggers: A-OK

Hank’s recentÂ gushing Slogger Report reminded me that I haven’t come clean on my promise to review the free pair I received as a consequence of being one of the most verbose commenter over at GardenRant.

Best feature: Rugged construction should last forever.

Biggest drawback: I had to drill my own drainage holes. And they didn’t come with any hanging hardware.

They’re really A-OK. It’s just that I have a high arch and sweaty feet and the combination of not being able to feel my toes in a puddle of sweat convince me to return to my favorite garden footwear.

Seriously, they’re a fine product. I’ll just have to go back to the Slogger website and see if I can find a style that fits my foot better than the ones I ordered.

sloggers planted
‘Jaggies’ in the image courtesy of PaintShopPro.

Plant rescue

Dear Matthew:

Our plan worked. Perfectly.

I’ll admit that I was scared when you left me by the door to the conservatory when you were packing up after graduation. Did you know that’s where the woman who runs the conservatory often leaves plants that are ‘up for grabs’?

When I saw Craig (he’s known as a plant scrounge) coming, he looked confused. What was a plant doing there at 7:30 a.m. on the Tuesday after a holiday weekend? There wasn’t anything there Friday when he left work. (He checks there a lot.)

Then he spotted your note:

Please take me and love me.

I’m a good plant, but was too big for the car.

Thank you.

Matthew

Geez Matthew. You made him all teary. He scooped me up and took me to his office. The ride home after work in the back of the pickup was a little scary, laying there alongside that big spiky cactus.

But he pulled some cannas he’d planted in his biggest pot over the weekend and nestled me in with some fresh soil and trimmed off my dead leaves. He was wondering what he was going to put in the empty space in his container garden along with the dahlias, elephant ears and brugmansia. It looks pretty ugly now. But by July this will be the most photogenic area of his garden. (Or at least the least weedy.)

It doesn’t much matter that I don’t look my best yet. With Craig, it’s all about the growing — seeing the potential and then helping it happen. I’m in good hands. (Even though he’s not positive if I’m a banana tree or some other tropical. He doesn’t really care.)

And if you didn’t notice, I’ve got a little offset coming. Craig says that once you get settled, he’d gladly split it off and ship it to you. Just let him know. It would be a good reminder of your days in Ithaca. It’s a special place, and you should carry a little bit of it with you wherever your travels take you.

Miss you all ready.

Thanks Charles!

Believe me, a gift certificate goes at lot farther at the Ithaca Agway than it does in Boston — or even Springfield, for that matter. The colors in this image aren’t great. The large pots are a very subtle lavender. (Nana would approve.) I may even get them planted today if the rain winds down. Will post more pix when they’re planted.

Remembering 2006 (Part 2)

More pix from last year …

Heuchera and Lysmachia. Renegade Gardener in recent post: Pay attention to leaf and form. Sydney Eddison when I told her I had a lousy eye for color: Here’s a good way to start: If you plant something dark, why don’t you plant something light nearby?

Scotch thistles and bottle tree. (Note to self: Write post praising biennials.)

I used to know the species name of this Euphorbia. This is in September, and the red stems keep it looking good even after the most of the orangish blossoms have faded.

Ironweed and cleome by the driveway.

I often give smallish perennials a year in a container and then transplant them in the fall.

I think I really like Sanguisorba. Didn’t even give it the time of day until reading Oudolf. I think I’ll like it better once I get a decent drift of it going. (I think I’d like the picture better if it were in focus.)

Some of the better performers in what amounts to a bog garden in wet years: Eupatorium, Veronicastrum, turtlehead. The Monarda and Tradescantia is pretty rank in there, but it’s faded away here in September.

Remembering summer 2006 (Part 1)

I rediscovered a bunch of images I’d taken and prepared for blogging last September, but never had time to put them online. The scenes came as quite a shock, now that I’ve gotten used to the snowy landscape. Will try to get the rest of the images — mostly vignettes of favorite plants and combos — over the next few weeks as we countdown to spring.

Click on pix for larger images.

View from the bathroom window, now under that curvy drift in the winter images.

Border and containers.

The container cluster, which is now the container stack in the winter images. Brugmansia, cannas, elephant ears, dahlias.

Expanded water garden, which finally froze over about 3 weeks ago. Hope the fishies are doing OK.