More Cold Hardy Planting

Bamboo Multiplex 'fernleaf' was planted against the neighbor's chainlink fence last fall.  This was with the view of giving privacy to the backyard.  The bamboo is cold hardy and made it through the January freeze just fine.  It is a clumping variety that is also referred to as hedge bamboo.  This spring it should thicken up some and by its third year in the ground it should reach its full potential.  This weekend I added to this bed:  1 pineapple guava (feijoa selowiana), 4 loropetalum, and 11 flax lilies that were divided into 35 for a border.

Can you see the little loropetalum with it's pink blooms to the forefront and just behind the flax lily border?  It tends to blend right into the mulch but the hope is that as it gets larger it will contrast nicely against the bright green bamboo.  There are four of them in the bed, two on each side of the pineapple guava.  The pineapple guava is the small bush to the back of the photo almost to the shadowed area. 

Here, you can see the loropetalum better.  It is the little bit of pink you see in the lower right corner.  I hope they grow fast!

A closer view of the pineapple guava.  This should add some interest to the front of this bed.  All of these plants are cold hardy and so should keep the privacy desired all year long.  I like my neighbors very much but there is a road just the other side of their property that anyone travelling on  can see straight through to my yard.  That is too much exposure for me.  I have no further plans for this area.  I'm just going to water, fertilize, weed and watch it grow.

I Pretty Much Stuck to the List (Sort of)

I am in full bore reconstruction mode.  I really am trying to focus on one area at a time, but I'm not being very successful at that.  I have taken out two huge 20 years+ old hibiscus bushes and am planning to replace with some Old Garden Roses.  I usually plant zinnias, cosmos, blanket flowers from seed in the area in front of the hibiscus.  I still plan to do that this year as well.  But the roses will be my backbone for this area.  Since they are cold hardy I will have something beautiful to look at even when the full effect of all the other flowers is gone.  I haven't purchased the roses yet.....

Still digging up the stump for the largest of the hibiscus bushes.

I have a very shady corner which is  planted with gingers, caladiums, alocasias, a red shrimp plant, forsythia sage and persian shield.  All but the red shrimp has gone dormant from the cold weather.  These plants always have come back but until about April that corner looks very bare.  It is under my twin grandfather oak  so oakleaf mulch is all you see from January until Aprilish.

Purchases for this area include: 2 Chamaedorea Cataractarum and  2 Shefflera Arboricola.  Also purchased were some Flax Lily I found on the half-price rack at Lowe's and a beautiful Camellia Sasanqua that I plan to put under my bedroom window which is dappled shade.  The Cat Palms will take the place of the Microspadix in my wishlist. They are not as cold hardy but are good to 20 degrees. And they were only $10 each. If I ever find a Microspadix I can still buy one. One.  Here's some info on my beautiful camellia.  Camellia Sasanqua Shishi Gashira


See how my one at a time plan is disintegrating?


A third area I have been working on is against my neighbors chainlink fence.  I planted some Bamboo last spring that is filling in nicely  and held up during the cold snap.  My banana trees however are toast.  I think they will come back from the corms but until then there is a gaping hole.  So, I bought a (Feijoa sellowiana) to put in that space.  Also purchased 2 Bulbine and 2 more Lorapetalum to plant in front of the sunny fence area.

I really got some good plant deals at my local nursery.  Really.  I did.

As I plant each area I will post updates.  My goal is to provide some more cold hardy "bones" for my garden while still keeping all the tropical and more cold sensitive perennials for spring and summer color.  That's the plan!