Spike it!

Volleyball anyone! No, spiky love of course. I have zone envy when it comes to spiky plants like Agave, Aloe, Cacti, succulents etc. Especially the blue foliage varieties. But I also struggle where to place them in my never ending always changing design themes. Am I Cottage, Prairie, Xeric, Mediterranean, contemporary, Japanese, country, industrial, masculine, feminine, texan, californian, blue, white, silver, green, native, exotic, tropical or just plan plain cornfused? Or is it ok to be ADHD? Or is it Garden Attenion Disorder, GAD? I don't know but I love to spike it.

Yucca rigida at left with Nasella tenuissima. The blue yucca was planted last October having purchased it in west Texas during my sons wedding and has fulfilled my spiky lust.....some of it anyway.

The Agave(Manfreda) Collection-the two on the left (orange pots)came from a Dallas Nursery from my son for a fathers day present(Manfreda 'macho mocha ' and Agave-unknown. Plant three (center) is Agave parryi 'truncata', found last weekend on a clearance shelf in Wichita, Kansas(can I have an amen!) cold tolerant(zone 6) and I've been lusting after this one forever. Last agave I have no idea on ID? Anyone, I'll enlarge below.

Agave parryi 'truncata', look at the pups.

Agave ? My guess is straight species parryi? I know, the picture is lousy.

 This last Agave, no label on plant? Same as the one above?

Now the Yucca's: Yucca gloriosa 'variegata' and Yucca filamentosa 'Color Guard'(small plant) below in temporary positions.

And finally an image from this spring of Hesperaloe funifera, another plant purchased in West Texas during my son's wedding.

 Well how's that for spiky love? Two days ago I planted three of the agaves in the ground in the corner hell strip.

Foliage Followup May of 12

Following Garden Bloggers Bloom Day it always fun to travel to Texas and provide some cover up foliage from the garden. As y'all will see the foliage in these photos will show a propensity towards the bold foliage of Verbascum thapsus (common  Mullien) and the light airy foliage of Stipa tenuissima (Mexican Feather Grass).

Top/Top right:Panicum amarum 'Dewey Blue' (switchgrass) provides a background for the garden from the street and a background on the opposite side of the garden. This provides multiple views. The Panicum and Verbascum thapsus (common mullien)provide much needed structure in this garden.

The contrasting textures here provide a place to focus the eye in this mass of similar textures.

Detailed wiew of Verbascum thapsus. Warning: Mullein seedhead! As Jenny from Rock Rose can testify these seeds are very prolific. The day after these photos were taken all the seed heads were removed. According to Wikipedia this plant can produce up to 240,000 seeds. Woah. And the seeds can be viable after a century. Woah again. So I'm playing with fire here. However the seeds do better on disturbed soil and do not compete well with other plants when germinating. 

Wide angle view with Panicum and Calamagrostis.

My other stalwart in the garden: Stipa tenuissima(Mexican Feather grass). This is another plant which is a prolific seed producer. My mother says I'm crazy for growing it. Oh well. Stipa creates a counterpoint to the bold foliage of Mullien and spiky foliage I'm beginning to add to the garden.

And lets not forget the movement provided by Stipa.

Be sure a go see the Foliage Followup @ Digging and see what's growing in the foliage world.

Hazy and Lazy

As you can see from the photo the view is hazy, and I'm feeling lazy from all the humidity. The temperature is in the low 90's with humidity in the 70-80% range. Ouch..

Morning view: Front Hell Strip/Meadow Garden. Panicum amarum 'Dewey Blue'(tallest grass), Verbascum thapsus-Common Mullein(large leafed plant), Linum perenne-blue flax(mid border), Stipa tenuissima-mexican feather grass( on left of photo), Yucca rigida(front of border), and newly planted Dalea purpurea-purple prairie clover and Sporobolus heterolpis-northern dropseed(front of border). Also intertwined is Nepeta 'Walkers Low'-catmint, Asclepias incarnata-swamp milkweed, Calamagrostis, Echinacea purpurea, and Salvia farinacea-mealy blue sage.

So many things to do this weekend and all I want to do is chill. So chill it shall be.