My Zanzibar Castor Bean (Ricinus ‘Zanzibar’) must have been reading our catalog: it was exactly 120″ tall. It was quite a bit wider and its leaves were 36″ across. This gigantic “tree” had to be cut down with a saw after the frost. That’s a whole lot of plant for $4.00!
This is ‘Zanzibar’ in late July: long before it was full size!
Mine are nine feet tall and have been blooming for several weeks, but I’m hearing reports that other Lion’s Ears (Leonotis nepetifolia) are not behaving as well under apparently identical conditions (full sun, well-watered, some fertilizer.) How are yours doing?
Here are a few photos of plants from the Plant Sale.
The vegetables in pots are mixed lettuce with bloodgrass (left) and Moskovich and Isis Candy Cherry tomatoes (right). I used the bloodgrass as an anchoring point; in the cool spring, colorful lettuce can be grown around it and harvested for eating. When the weather gets warmer and the lettuce starts to get unhappy and bitter (!) it can be replaced with annuals, or herbs (I used both). I think it’s a nice alternative to pansies.
Close up of the ripening Isis Candy Cherry tomatoes, with a green Moskovich visible on the left.
Japanese “Little Fingers” eggplant, also grown in a pot.
Bee Balm (Monarda ‘Raspberry Wine’)
Close up of Raspberry Wine. I really like it because the foliage has coloration like the bloom.
Rose glauca (Rosa rubrifolia) in hips.
Plant Sale shopper April sent in these photos of her cuke-nuts. Known by the obscure botanical name of Melothria scabra, cuke-nuts have been increasingly popular at the sale. From what April says, I can see why.
April wrote:
It’s a happy and busy little vine that loves to clamor all over my garden. It’s found a favorite spot twining itself around a nearby tomato plant.
I eat the fruits whole and they taste just like a cucumber, yet they are only an inch long. The only trick is to let them ripen or else the skin is bitter.
The harvest has been good for just one small plant and is a hit with my three-year-old daughter. Next year I plan to buy more and plant them at the base of all my tomato plants. Thanks for all the work you do at putting on the sale. I’m already making my list for next year. I’d love to see some lingonberry bushes there. (Wink, wink!)
We’ll be looking into the lingonberry idea. In the meantime, if you’ve got garden photos, send them to photos@friendsschoolplantsale.com. We love to see them!
Plant Sale shopper Shana has heard our call for photos, and responded with this photo of her Gallery Pink lupines, which are now in bloom. This plant is from the 2007 sale. Shana writes:
“This plant sits on the edge of a rain garden in the front of my house. I just expanded the garden and planted it with a bunch of plants from the sale (swamp milkweed, monkeyflower, turtlehead, blue vervain, side oats gramma, and more). If you’re interested, I can take pictures of this as they grow.”
Yes, Shana, please send more photos! And everyone else with plants from the sale — we’d love to see how they’re doing. Send them to photos@friendsschoolplantsale.com
Long-time Plant Sale volunteer Ceil wrote in to tell us about her proven method for protecting her newly planted bulbs from roaming garden critters:
“Henry saw these in my newest flower bed a few weeks ago and said I should take a picture and send it to you.
“I use whatever sticks I find on the ground (and over the years I have way more than I need) and poke them around and among freshly planted bulbs (and other flowers that rabbits and squirrels like to eat) to protect the bulbs from being dug up and eaten by said r’s and sq’s. It discourages them and the method works!”
I asked Ceil if she removes the sticks in spring, or what, and she sent in this picture in response — the sticks are still there, and the blooming tulips and daffodils outshine them.
Wouldn’t it be great to be able to see photos of more plants from the Plant Sale? You can help with this project! We would love to have photos of your plants and gardens to put on this website and into next year’s catalog. For 2009, we plan to have more color pages with photos in the catalog!
In fact, we really need them, because otherwise we are limited to using photos we take ourselves in our own gardens and photos from the websites we have permission to use. And this supply of photos is dwindling.
We need both photos of individual plants that you bought at the sale and photos showing how the plants look in your garden, window box, or container. In fact, it would be great if you made a point of taking photographs in your garden this summer of both previous purchases and new 2008 plants.
We are more interested in practical photos that show the plant or flower clearly than in “beauty shots,” but either would be welcome! It’s not required, but we would also be interested in hearing about your impressions of the plants, both positive and negative.
There are various ways you can share your photos with the Friends School Plant Sale community:
If you feel like sharing photos of what you got at the sale — either before planting it or after — please email them to us.
Here are photos of my haul. See if you can pick out the Anthole begonia. And I couldn’t resist the variegated Colorguard Yucca, which was a surprise addition at the sale (we had tried to order it, but the grower said it wouldn’t be available.. and then it just showed up!).
I also felt moved to bring home these two charming birds (vultures?) from Dick’s Designs. They’re keeping a careful watch over some gold-green hosta, Japanese Forest Grass, and a bunch of Rue Anemone. In the background are several Pink Spike Black Cohosh — man, those are going to be beautiful!