SHOW US YOUR PURCHASES - 2021

I remember buying one of those a few years ago, didn't know the name though, and because it was silvery I put it in a Christmas arrangement

 

Raided Morrisons, my hardy outdoors herbs are a bit woody and flowering (I like the flowers) so something was required for kitchen use. Reduced to clear 90p Oregano from the gardening section and Thyme from the kitchen one:


These should see us through until next spring when we get some new growth from the garden and when new seedlings start to produce. Fresh Thyme is really very nice with anything white (meat, fish, cheese, wine) and even though I usually use dried Oregano, fresh leaves look rather posh on a pasta dish

The Teenager wanted a Gojiberry plant as it apparently is trendy in their universe. I indulged her with a £2 healthy looking plant.



Also a double flowered Kalanchoe forced it's way to my basket even though I in principle oppose those supermarket "nice for a week, then bin it" kind of plants, but this is a good one. A testimonial to selective breeding when I compare it with the single flowered straggly ones of past years.

£6 well spent

Oh, and Wilko's half price seeds sale has begun Patio chillies, cucumber Venlo pickling and unspecified hardy Thyme came home with us.

 

I bought these today in the sale.
2 x Polemonium Kaleidoscope
2 x Purple Sage.

The Jacob's Ladder was a plant I was hoping to come across at some point. The exact variety being in stock, and reduced to half price, was a totally unexpected pleasure. I believe they like dappled shade so they should grow nicely besides my (planned) pergola walkway.

The sage plants were reduced due to smoke damage. I bought them because they looked pretty and they were a good price. I probably should have read the label first. I didn't realise they could potentially grow into a 3ft bush. The label also said they needed full sun and shelter from strong winds. In my garden you can have one or the other. You cant have both.

G.

 

I would pick the full sun.

I should not have, but I did, I ordered a rooted cutting of Hibiscus Syriacus Double Lila ...



... but I haven't told T'other Half yet.

 

Went to buy a new microwave and came home with these ...

Heuchera 'Blondie in Lime' :-



Weigela 'Monet' (grows 2 ft in 10 yrs) :-

 

Premier seeds direct caught me again!

Cosmos BIPINNATUS Casanova White - 25 X 2 = £1.98
Herb Basil Genovese - 14 Gram X 1 = £0.99
Herb - Oregano - 6000 X 1 = £0.99
Herbs Sage Broad Leaved - 250 X 1 = £0.99
Tarragon Russian Artemisia DracunculusSeed Count: 6000 X 1 = £0.99
Cosmos BIPINNATUS Casanova Pink - 25 X 1 = £0.99
Giant Hyssop - AGASTACHE Mexicana ANISATA - White - 1400 X 1 = £0.99
Giant Sunflower Mongolian Giant - 30 X 1 = £0.99
Sunflower Italian White - 0.5gm X 1 = £0.99
TOMATO - SWEET CASADAY new - 15 X 1 = £0.99
Herb Lemon Grass East Indian - 0.40 gm X 1 = £0.99
==========

Subtotal: £11.88
Shipping: £0.89 via Royal Mail 48 (5-6 weekdays)

I'm all sorted herb- and Cosmoswise. The Giant Mongolian Sunflower is a Christmas present for The Teenager who likes to grow odd things that can be fed to our Degus. I'm not entirely sure where this will go in our postage stamp size garden though.

 

Picked up to 'impulse buys' at a GC in Dorchester as they had a lot of unusual plants, most were tissue culture massed produced new cultivars but I succumbed nevertheless. In tiny thumb pots so I moved them into 7cm ones.
Two pot of Lillies with 3 bulbs in each caught my eye on a trolley outside Sainsburys, only £2 each, should bulk up next year.
Calathea roseopicta Surprise Star.


Alocasia Pink Dragon.

 

Picked up some allium 'purple sensation' today at Asda. Eight bulbs per £2 pack which I thought was a good price so I bought three.


 

I bought this, this morning.
There was 3 of them at the nursery, it had a big label saying Aloe aristata with a variety name I had not seen before.
I thought if that was the case it stood a reasonable chance of being hardy.

When I got it home I found a label very low in the side of the pot saying Gasteria tigra.
So probably not hardy at all, but a nice plant any way.

 

Went to a plant sale at RHS Rosemoor today, bought a couple of things. 4 Sempervivums, Viburnum taitoense, Buddleja officinalis and B myriantha?

Buddleja myriantha? or is it curviflora or a hybrid. The gentleman who sold it didn't know; he'd got it as B myriantha, somebody else has sauid they think it's curviflora and a third person said it's a hybrid. It is certainly different to the description of the two species that I have read.

 

FFS! It's the beginning of September! Even the French don't start talking about Le Grand Evenement Commercial until November. It used to be mid-December

 

Hmmmm....it's a cactus-y thing. Totally boring!

Errrr..it's a cactus-y thing. Nuff said. My Agave a. variegata have started to invade the lane in front of the house. They'll get theirs tomorrow! And the plain blue one, too. You can have too much of a good thing!

 

I'd have thought you had enough from previous years.
My Christmas decorations will be like the last 30+ years non existent.
The arrival of Christmas decorations is my cue to avoid garden centres until next spring.

 

Depending on the cactus; a good friend or close relative, a pair of pliers, tweezers or just a sterile needle. Supply of brandy or other strong spirit.

 

Absolutely it's Buddleja curviflora! And nothing like B. myriantha whatsoever. I don't know if you've ever seen the monograph of the genus Buddleja by Leeuwenberg? Anyway, this plant matches the botanical description pretty closely.

I think it's unlikely to be a hybrid. Before the 1979 revision of the genus, B. curviflora was divided into a number of separate species - B. curviflora, B. venenifera and B. formosana. This contributes to there being a number of different types still in cultivation.

I was able to cross the plant you have with B. japonica, a very closely related species. The hybrids are very similar to B. curviflora, but have distinctive angled and winged branchlets.