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Is anybody familiar with phlox ditomsur?

G.

 

Following on from my pitcher plant purchase last week.
Today we are in Lidl and they had 30% off the carnivorous plants....
So I now have a sundew plant (drosera)

Play nicely, now!

 

Received my Digitalis collection from Hayloft this morning..... Very happy only £1 per plant. Good selection as well including D. Obscura Dusky Maid, D. Ferruginea Gigantica, D. Grandiflora Carillon, Candy Mountain, Sugar Plum, Summer King, Polkadot Petra, Apricot Beauty, Cherry Brandy, Dalmation White, Dalmation Peach, Dalmation Purple.

 

The bees love my Veronicastrum fasination and others @Nikolaos , they like my eupatorium purple bush as well but not half as much as the butterfly's its a magnet for them. I don't recall seeing my bees on my aster monch though maybe I just haven't noticed them.

Thats quite a collection of foxgloves @KFF how many of each variety did you get ? I am growing some by seed the common biennial ones but two perennial ones Ferruginea Gigantea and another similar to FGigantea called Stewartii but it much bigger than FG.

 

Hi @Perki , it was one of each of the twelve different sorts for £12.

I've always done well with the Hayloft Collectons. Last year I had 24 Dianthus ( mixed Carnations and Pinks ) for £10.

 

After heroically walking past Morrison's £4.50 good sized Acers and other reduced plants I succumbed to the calls of this £2.50 orchid- probably a Cattleya

My Dendrobioums and Phalenopsis are just starting to open their buds so hopefully it gets encouragement.

Wilko's has their own brand seeds for 10p and Johnson's for 30p. Stocked up on the basics, radishes, cress, round baby carrots, early beetroots, Cosmos and as an impulse buy, white Foxgloves. I think I have a place for them.

Oh, and also bought the pot of paint that was the reason for my shopping trip Forgot the bread.

 

No, I'm mainly growing these for the butterflies @Perki, not the bees. Your aster should attract the butterflies too, from what I've read they're very keen on them. Some photos of butterflies on asters here...

Aster Frikartii ‘Monch’ | Butterflies and Gardens

Ha, that veronicastrum is all your fault Perki, after seeing how nice it looked growing in your garden I just had to have that 'Fascination', such a lovely colour and so imposing! This forum is very inspiring but bad for my bank balance, haha!

Nick

 

On today's visit to a garden centre I came home with a Rudbeckia (I somehow managed to pick up one without a label) and a couple of antirrhinum. I bought the antirrhinum to go near the swing but I need to dig out a bit of the mortar that's lining the concrete path. That will have to wait until the weather gets cooler. They weren't expensive so I can easily pick up some more when I'm ready.

G.

 

Psst, look what I bought @ARMANDII ...

 

I took delivery this morning of these four little pittosporum tenuifolium Tom Thumb:



One of my ebay bargains - a bit uneven at the moment but full of promise! I love the contrasting colours of the old and new foliage and gather they don't grow too large: Pittosporum tenuifolium 'Tom Thumb' | tawhiwhi 'Tom Thumb'/RHS Gardening. As they were dry and pot-bound I have put them straight into some rather larger plastic pots, to grow on for a bit before hopefully using them to replace the grotty lonicera nitida balls in the front garden:



Those have been there at least ten years now and are well past their sell-by date - they still grow insanely fast at the top, but the bottoms as you can see are becoming horribly bare. Maybe I will be able to save the two better dark green ones (Baggesen's Gold and the white-variegated one really have had it!) for somewhere in the back garden....

 

Tom Thumb is a charming pittosporum.....have half a dozen or so here Clare G.
Another thumbs up for eBay too

Size? They are slowish in growth to start with but soon make medium size shrubs so annual pruning is important....springtime is ideal. So, yes, they will make excellent balls in those pots.
The foliage is at it’s best in winter .....shiny, almost black foliage so nice contrast with your pots.
Foliage colour? New growth is pale green quickly turning to purple/black so attractive two tone effect in transition.

To encourage good bushy plants I would prune those long stems. Now is ideal time as new shoots will form quickly. These are plants best pruned from the start to achieve density

Won’t need too much maintenance either....low water and nutrient needs. Win, win Clare G

 

Thanks very much @Verdun - especially for the suggestion to prune them back now, to encourage bushy growth. I had beeen wondering about that already, and will proceed with more confidence now!

 

I've made my pittosporums into lollipops and they are doing well in the borders. I like what you've done with yours Clare - great shaped pots.