FONA plants

One day at the end of April I took a few hours off work and headed over to the National Arboretum for the annual FONA plant sale.  I didn't go with a list, and just let myself impulse buy.  Dangerous, I know, but I didn't overdo it.

Here's what came home with me:

Abutilon - flowering maple

Dahlia 'Firepot'

White wood aster, Epimedium 'Orange Queen', Brunnera 'Jack Frost', and and Ajuga whose name I've forgotten

Showing restraint, I only took photos of the labels for some of the other plants I thought I wanted.  Maybe next time I'll get these:

Now here it is mid-May, and I don't have these plants in the ground yet.  I've put the abutilon in a pot on the front porch, but the others are still in their nursery pots.  I really wanted to get that done today, because I'll be coming home with more (free, this time) plants tomorrow.  But I was busy digging things up, not planting, as I prepared for tomorrow's plant swap.

New Blooms

This week I've spotted three never-before-seen blooms in my garden. Not that they are rare, they are just new to my yard. Very exciting (to me) all the same.

In the upper garden is Joe-Pye, which I installed last fall. I didn't expect it to bloom so early. I don't know whether this is normal or if it's being early like most everything else in my yard.



I'm very happy with it so far. It doesn't have much room to spread where I put it, but I have other places it can go when (if) it outgrows this space.

Also blooming for the first time is Rudbeckia 'Henry Eilers' in the front walkway bed:



It's not fully open yet, but you can see it has really skinny petals. Not at all like the other rudbeckia I have blooming:



And here's a coleus on the patio terrace. I've never had coleus before, but have admired the brightly colored foliage. I had no idea it would have pretty flowers, too!



It's been a floral week here at the Crest!