Photinia update

We moved the RTP's (Red Tip Photinia's) that were near the foundation out near the front fence. (read here)

One of the plants died, but the rest survived and I am happy to report that they have been doing very well. I can see that they are forming the "red tips" i.e. the new growth and seem to be growing taller as well.

They are also sporting some pretty white flowers

 

Coleus

2009 was the year I discovered the Coleus and how easy it was to go about propagating it. I looked for broken leaves, stems when we went to the nurseries. You just put them in a small cup of water and then they start forming roots in a few days. We typically put them into nice potting soil and watered them with a dose of B1 and in a day or two they would be doing well.

I got a bunch of the rainbow blends of Coleus...a few different brands

They seemed to start off pretty well, until the squirrels started to mess with them by digging into the planters when we were in New Jersey.                  

There was extensive damage in two of the pots and some minimal digging in the others.

They are now doing really well. The disappointing thing is that they all look fairly similar (to me)

Hostsas 2010

They do look lovely...don't they? But it sometimes is a matter of perspective.

These were the Euryops that were a part of our front yard for 2 years. I am a tad sad to see them go, I liked the yellow flowers in front of the yellow house when we were seeing the place for the first time.
At the same time, I am mighty glad to start off with a clean slate.

The portion of the front yard, around the foundation was totally overgrown with these Euryops that were extreemly leggy/ woody. Nobody had ever pruned them or looked after them. And they were being constantly watered by the sprinklers !
This picture does not do much justice to the state they were in

This one probably shows how bad they looked from the front. They were so woddy, except on the top few inches which had blooms.

So here is what we did

We bought a whole bunch of hostas from Costco and planted them in the ground along the foundation. We popped in between, some purple Heucheras.

But then the front yard is so hard packed that even after a month in the ground the Hostas didnt sprout more than 3 leaves in all, and the gigantic Sum & Substance remained puny. So we dug them out during the memorial day weekend, loosened up the soil around them and re-planted the Hostas. 

You can see them lined up along the foundation brickwork

Here are all the Hostas we bought in 2010. We still have a few varieties in pots waiting to be planted in the backyard under the Oak