Hello everyone! I hope this post finds you well. We had more rain during the night… Last Monday I went to the Green Street Market in Clinton (Missouri) to get a few garden seed. Well, it didn’t stop there… I browsed their plants and my feet took me to there selection of Hosta. Last year I moved the Hosta and Heuchera to the bed along the north side of the house because of the mole issue in the former shade bed. I had lost several so I needed to replace them. Well, maybe I didn’t need to but I just wanted to. Green Street always has great plants and their Hosta are always great.
I was glad I ran across this Hosta ‘Dancing Queen’ to bring home to replace the one I lost in 2022. The deer ate it to a point it never recovered in 2021 and onle one sprout came up in 2022 and then it just fizzled out. I brought it home in 2017 and it was always a big hit. Hosta ‘Dancing Queen’ is so bright cheerful you can see it from quite a distance. This hosta was introduced by Kent Terpening and Alttara Scheer in 2005.
I just had to bring home another Hosta ‘Guacamole’ to replace the one that didn’t return in 2023. I brought home the first one in 2014 and we never had any problems until the moles started messing with its roots in 2018. GEEZ! We had our issues after that and I even moved part of it to another location in the shade bed, then back again… It came back great then barely any sprouts came up in 2022. It didn’t return in 2023. Hosta ‘Guacamole’ is a multiple-award winner introduced by Bob Solberg in 1994. I am so glad to have another one!
I decided to bring this Hosta ‘Patriot’ home to see what it would be like. I don’t know much about it yet, so we shall see what it does. I went to the Hoata Helper website to check it out, but unfortunately, the site wasn’t cooperating… Hmmm… Anyway, I will give it a shot.
From Green Street Market, I needed to go to Walmart for a few things and somehow wound up in the garden center…
I have brought home quite a few cactus and succulents from Walmart over the years and have had mixed results. I still have a few of them, but you know how plants are. Some do well and others don’t. The ridiculous thing is the labeling not being accurate or just saying “succulent” or “cactus”. DUH! Then I have to figure out what species. I keep telling myself not to bring home plants without a proper label, but when I find one I really like that rule doesn’t seem to apply… The rack of smaller pots of cactus and succulents looked fairly pitiful but there was a rack of bigger plants that looked pretty good. So good most of them had a shocking price of $24.95! Well, that price was out of the question! I looked around and found 3 plants I hadn’t grown before that were reasonable enough…
Hmmm… The tag on this pot says it is an Aloe. GEEZ! Here we go AGAIN! I took photos and put them on the Facebook group called Succulent Infatuation like I have before with great results. This time it wasn’t so favorable but one suggestion was Aloe x spinosissima (Spider Aloe). So, I did some research and decided to go with it for now…
The plant seemed in great shape and who could resist a thorny Aloe?
Then there was this interesting plant that was correctly labeled Euphorbia ferox. Well, I like Euphorbia and they always do well so I put it in my cart.
The common names include Thorn Noors (iNaturalist) and Pincushion Euphorbia (Llifle) which seems to be the most common of common names… I like its thorns and small leaves that have just started growing. Ummm… Its stems seem to have a waxy sheen that I’m not sure was added or if it’s a normal thing. If it was added, why only this pot? I guess I’ll have to see what happens to its glow… Maybe it will fade like a car eventually does after a good wax job…
Then there was this gem of a cactus I had to put in the cart. Ummm… It did have a label that says Hamatocactus hamatacanthus. Well, folks that was a new name for me and apparently for Plants of the World Online and Llifle… Doesn’t exist! Of course, it is online from websites selling it, but apparently, the grower made it up (thanks Altman Plants!). The genus Hamatocactus is a real genus but is now a synonym of Ferocactus. The closest species name I could find is Ferocactus hamatacanthus with the common name Turk’s Head.
This cactus seems to be in good shape besides a few scars and missing spines. It is good-sized at 3 1/2″ tall x 3 1/2″ wide (without the thorns) and has several buds…
The largest bud has looked like this for several days. The anticipation for it to fully open is exhausting! Its fully open flower could be a clue to what the species name really is (unless it’s a hybrid)…
Then on May 9, I had to go to Sedalia so I stopped by Lowe’s. I debated stopping and passed the first entrance and drove in the second… My higher self said it would be OK. GEEZ!
I walked through the garden center and then inside because I had to go to the restroom. Then I walked back to the inside garden center to check out the cactus and succulents. Well, it was very disappointing and they were mostly in a pitiful state. Then I went to the outside garden center and walked around quite a bit. Their plants were great and I found a few perennials I thought about bringing home, but then put them down. I left with only two plants…
I found this Aloe x ‘Amethyst’ one of the racks inside I decided to rescue. It looked pretty good although somewhat pale from being in low light. We’ll see how this one does… At least it had a correct label to go with it…
I found this one with four buds, one almost open, that I decided to grab. The label said Notocactus elegans which, of course, was not correct. I’ve gone through that before with Notocactus… The genus is a synonym of Parodia and there is no such species name as Notocactus or Parodia elegans. So, it gets labeled Parodia sp…
This one is interesting because it is one of those cacti that is, umm, concave at its apex. Kind of like someone sat on it. While it is only 1 1/8″ (ish) tall, it is 3 1/8″ wide.
The flower didn’t fully open until 5-12-24…
I lost my two Parodia lenninghausii to mealy bugs after I had them for several years. Information online said it would take 10 years for them to flower, and maybe not even then. It makes me wonder how old this cactus is, or any of them in my collection for that matter.
Then, on May 10 I went to the three local greenhouses…
I went to Wagler’s first because I needed to check out their tomato plants. They sold out of ‘Celebrity’. They had a lot of tomato plants but I just brought home 4 ‘Pineapple’ and this Aloe x ‘Pink Blush’. I brought one home in 2014 that I murdered, so I’ll give another one a shot.
I was very happy to find a replacement for the Hosta ‘Krossa Regal’. I bought my first one in 2009 while I was in Mississippi and brought here in 2013. It always did very well until the deer kept eating all three clumps in 2021. Only one came up in 2022 and didn’t do well. When I moved the Hosta to the new bed in 2023, there was only one very small plant that I put in a pot. It didn’t do well and didn’t return this spring. I am very glad to have a new one. What would a Hosta bed be like without ‘Krossa Regal’?
Then I went to Mast’s Greenhouse on the other side of town…
Last year Mr. Mast’s daughter gave me a cutting of her Peperomia graveolens (Ruby Peperomia/Ruby Glow) but didn’t have any luck with it. She had three good-sized plants, but she was saving them to take cuttings of. Luckily, she had better luck and Mast’s had several available for sale. I’m not sure how many kids Mr. Mast has, but this daughter is maybe 14… She had her own private collection…
I also bought four ‘Celebrity’ and four ‘Red Duce’ tomato plants while I was there…
Well, I had to go to Muddy Creek Greenhouse since it was right down the road. This is one greenhouse you have to go to early because they seem to sell out sooner than the others. Well, Wagler’s buys more plants throughout the season so they never run out until the end. Muddy Creek only had a few plants left, but…
I found this Geranium pratense ‘Boom Chocolatta’ I decided to bring home. I really like its dark leaves and I will put it next to the steps on the north side of the house.
I haven’t found anything to put on the east side of the steps yet, and didn’t plant any Colocasia (yet). I may bring home more plants at some point, but maybe not… Last year’s drought has made me rethink how many beds to try to maintain. So far this year we have had enough rain to last about all summer! GEEZ! The garden isn’t even tilled yet. 🙂
Well, that’s it for this post. Until next time, be safe, stay positive, always be thankful, and GET DIRTY!