It is forecast to rain a lot tomorrow, heavy, solid rain for the entire day. The garden could certainly do with some of that, and I thought I'd take advantage of nature's predicted largesse and plant some more things out of the greenhouse in anticipation.
First off were half a dozen Eryngium planum 'Blue Hobbit' raised from seed, which I've a feeling came free with a magazine. I did have seven plants, but one collapsed in its pot, a victim of either over or under watering. Unless, of course, it was the dreaded root aphid, and now I've thought of that possibility I'd better check its roots, having previously cut off the wilted leaves and put the pot in a bright corner to dry out. I initially assumed it was a watering error because I remembered how assorted Eryngium collapsed and died over the years in the plant centre. They are tricky to keep going in pots. These were planted in the gravel outside the blue summerhouse where they should be very happy.
Then came seven Oenothera 'Apricot Delight', also destined for the patch of ground in front of the summerhouse. This variety is supposed to only grow a couple of feet tall, or three at most, and has narrow leaves, altogether a daintier specimen than the slightly thug like but cheerful descendants of the plants I grew from seed harvested on Dunwich beach several years ago. 'Apricot Delight' is allegedly perennial. I don't mind if they are fairly short lived, as long as they seed themselves a little, though I rather hope they will not be quite so generous in that respect as the bright yellow biennials.
Then came three low growing, purple leaved sedum whose name I am not entirely sure of, grown from fragments salvaged from my unsuccessful experiment in growing a green roof on the pot shed. It is slightly annoying not knowing what they're called, but not reason enough to waste them. They went into the railway gravel where I hope they will spread among the thyme. The stems were already starting to root where they touched the surface of their compost, so they should be good mat formers.
After those I planted four slightly straggly Agastache in the long bed, which were too weedy to plant out when I did the main planting. They were still not the best specimens, but I was in greenhouse clearance mode, and the light outside will probably do them good.
Finally I planted out the last of my seed raised Dierama, or angel's fishing rod, as it is popularly called. A couple were labelled as 'Blackbird', two as D. mossii, and the others weren't labelled at all. They have been rattling around the greenhouse for ages, which has not agreed with them. Dierama does not thrive long term in pots, I have decided. I ended up with rather a lot of plants because I bought two packets of seed, the 'Blackbird' and presumably D. mossii, and the seed company as a reward sent me some more packets of Dierama seed. They turn out to germinate reasonably easily, and I ended up with a lot of plants, some of which I gave away and some that have already been planted around the garden. Meanwhile my existing plants have been self seeding to the point where youngsters are starting to count as weeds, but 'Blackbird' is a very sumptuous dark shade I don't currently have, and I'm hoping the others will broaden out the gene pool and give me some different colours.
The Dierama were badly infested with root aphid, and I shook as much compost as I could off the worst affected plants, despite the fact that they don't like root disturbance. Some foxglove seedlings and sedum cuttings that I potted on were lightly infected as well. I treated them with Provado, and can see I'll need to go round the whole greenhouse again before winter. It is a nuisance, and it's just as well I'm not selling plants commercially, or it would be a catastrophe.
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