the year's project part 2

Oh, those elfin thyme mounds are lovely. I may have to find out where to buy those. Hope my cistus looks as good as yours one of these days. Still haven't figured out where to plant it, though.

Thanks pajarito. High Country gardens carries the thyme, although by a different name. I got these from Mountain Valley Growers.

I hope these Cistus look as good next year.

Next up are some Oreganos - planted this Summer and in flower. :) First up is Origanum calcaratum. These have doubled in size and are now a whole 4 inches high. Two flowers on this one.

Oregano dictamnus. These guys had a harder time getting established, dealing with the heat of Summer. They are showing new growth now and flowering.

Oreganum libanoticum.

And Origanum margorana, aka Marjoram - the type you cook with. My edible varieties are growing but I took a picture of this one as it is flowering. The flowers are white, which will be a nice contrast and make it stand out from the others.

Here are some patches of the Oreganum vulgare humile. Most of them have doubled in size. Looking forward to a magenta flowered "lawn" next year. :)

Here is Sedum 'Ruby Glow' for which there is conflicting information on what was used to hybridize it. I don't think the plant cares.

Duplicate

This message was edited Aug 16, 2009 2:57 PM

Pics of a couple Veronicas that are showing new growth. Interestingly, the V. pectinata that is supposed to be the hardiest Veronica is having the toughest time. Here is V. rupestris 'Heavenly Blue.'

And V. umbrosa 'Georgia Blue.' Both of these Veronicas have doubled the amount of foliage since I planted them. I like the V. umbrosa and have high hopes. It turns a nice shade of purple over the Winter.

Last is the Salvia azurea. Here is one that is starting to flower with the yard showing behind it (ignore the weeds please). These have also doubled in size.

And a close up on the flower - complete with a bee (fly?). One of my better pictures - perhaps I'm learing the camera too.

Guess what I have Origanum calcaratum, too. It was sold to me as Dittany of Crete at the Denver Botanic Garden. It is another one I have been trying to find a place to plant -- where there is both sun and soil. It is a lovely plant. I should get more -- if it makes it through the winter. I have purchased ornamental oreganos before and had them fail to survive the winter. Denver Botanic Gardens is a bit experimental in its plant choices and I always take my purchases from them as sort of part of their research. Some make it others don't.

I like your Oreganum libanoticum. It is really lovely. Maybe I will try to get some of that next year.

Origanum margorana, aka Marjoram - the type you cook with -- that one is an annual, I am pretty sure. But it as an herb whose flavor I am quite fond of.

I have some sedums, too. I got some for free at Plants of the Southwest last year when she was trying to get rid of the plants that she didn't want to keep over the winter. Mine are Rosy Glow.

Found this on hardiness ( and other stuff) of oreganums of various times. Looks like you will be okay with yours, I may not be able to grow Ditany of Crete over the winter. But it is worth a try.


http://xeraplants.com/Xera_Plants_Inc/Peren_L-O.html

These are all such nice plants. I like your organized planting methods. You are obviously from another planet! l.o.l. I have been planting agastaches this year, here and there, a little at a time, as I move towards more xeric plants. I just have the New Mexican ones. Marjoram is one of my favorite herbs but it is a little too cold for it here. I've tried to winter it over a couple of times with no success.

That's because marjoram is an annual even in its native habitat. You won't win that one.

Love those thyme mounds! Everythiing is progressing beautifully!

Yes indeed. Another planet altogether. ;-) Nice progress, DWiD. Love all of it, love salvias of any description anyway, and thyme is splendid......

I think your bee-fly is probably a little wasp. I think I have seen those around here too. One of the many noid pollinators.

Your front garden is all coming along nicely! I found an Oreganum libanoticum for one dollar last week and hope I do okay with that one too. Haven't tried liriope yet, let alone research it. Do you think that will do well in dry shade? If so, I will give it a try. Veronicas and cistus are something that I should be trying out too.

Thanks all. Bummer about the Marjoram. If its gone next spring I'll have to decide on replanting or something else. Nice link on the xeric plants pajarito. The O. calcaratum and O. dictamnus leaves look very similar. I am convinced they are different plants by the way they responded to 95F not long after planting and the closeness of the leave on the calcaratum. The dictamnus are supposed to be more Winter hardy (z7 vs z8a, but I'm hoping both of them will be happy.

On being organized - when you have a large empty space you kinda have to be. If I had an established yard with defined beds and major features then I could go about squeezing something new into an emptyish spot and making small adjustments to what grew where as I saw fit. I still have things like a single Salvia dorii that I need a spot for, but am letting it sit. I have my neighbors down the street to remind me how ugly haphazard can be. They ripped out part of last years planting and started putting in some structure.

Likely it is a wasp Kyla. I've noticed a number of differnt bees, wasps, and things that might be either.

Plutodrive, Liriope is one of those plants that does well in a number of situations. Its very hardy. The adversitising says it will grow in full shade, but I'm not sure about that. It does well in part shade or full sun. Mine get sun from noon until about 3. Wet or dry it just grows faster or slower. Only thing to be careful of is that the Liriope spicata tend to be invasive, spreding by underground runners. The Liriope muscari are not. They are clumping plants and will spread, but will also respect borders and are more easily tamed. Look them up on Classy Groundcovers:
http://classygroundcovers.com/
I like the 'royal purple' and would have bought them if I hadn't been given these. Variety of mine? They have purple/blue flowers says my reinstated xFIL. I have a few extra plant in a planter in the back if you are interested.

On the Cistus, they are Mediterranean plants. There are only a couple varities rated to zone 6, a number rated to zone 7, and the rest zone 8. Given that, I think part of this is people learning how to take care of them. There are species that grow on the hills at 40 degrees North around the Mediterranean. I keep finding reports of people experimenting with them, and some of them being successful. A friend of Kenton's has a C. laurifolius that is 20 years old (zone 7 I think). That I've picked up, the biggest factor in their Winter Survival is dry, very well drained, sandy, not rich, soil. They don't need much in nutrients or water, so lots of compost in the soil is not needed. A bit of mulch on top but away from the crown is good.

roybird and paj - the marjoram problem is interesting. Mine has been growing like crazy going on 2 full years now. And we hit -20º for a few days in March

Hmmm, Jude. Well, it is supposed to be an annual, but maybe it isn't as annual as all that. It definitely is an annual here.

A google search says a perennial grown as an annual in zones colder than 9.

maybe I have that herb misidentified.
*goes to dig through old plant tags*

Hmmm. both varieties listed in the plant files say it grows to zone 6b. where I have it planted, it is easily a zone 6 microclimate (sheltered and in front of a light colored south facing brick wall).
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/b/Lamiaceae/Origanum/majorana/cultivar/0/

Thanks for the inputs.

My conclusions are:
1) There is LOTS of misinformation on plants on the web, including DG. "Your results may vary." Perhaps it goes away in places where it not only freezes, but where it is wet too.
2) I will find out what it does in my particular spot in zone 7b.
3) I will certainly harvest some to find out how it tastes. Time to snip the flowers.

Well, Dave, your project is certainly coming along beautifully. I don't think I have a single place in my gardens that are as tidy as your entire yard!

I have to say that I am surprised to learn that
a) DG things marjoram is a perennial into zone 6
b) DenverJude has some growing in her yard.

I don't know what to believe, but I would love to hear whether the two of you still have any next summer and if so, I am going to beg for a root cutting.

This message was edited Aug 17, 2009 12:41 PM

I have seeds.

Did you grow it from seed?

Ha, all this time I thought I had the real marjorum growing in my garden. I thought it was Origanum vulgare subsp. hirtum http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/53646/ and was trying to figure out why it didn't taste right. I need to get the real thing too. Marjorum is amazing with green beans. It is worth growing even if annual.

I think we all have the responsibility to report errors found in the PlantFiles. I have hit that tab a number of times and Joan is very happy to correct it. I've made a few mistakes, but she doesn't seem to get upset with me.

I like your statement dparsons... "I will find out what it does in my particular spot in zone 7b." A lot of those plants sold at the DBG sale are actually propagated from CO gardens. There are some experimental things too I'm sure. The trick is to figure out how to get them to thrive in your spot. I had a lot of things die on me over the winter but I want to try them again because I think I can do it.

The marjoram I had would and did winter over in the cool, but not freezing, studio in the house. It didn't enjoy it, however. I was thinking Abuquerque might be warm enough for it if it is a perennial.

I agree that Joan is very open to correcting errors in Plant Files and kindly when we make errors of our own. On marjoram, I am not sure what I would tell her as far as zones is concerned. After looking at several websites, I am not sure what marjoram will grow in.
I lose lots of the stuff from the DBG sales as well, but it is worth it to me to try new plants and to find out what works in my climate -- which is very close to Denver's. What keeps me going is the DBG plant sale plants that grow very well here. New things that one generally doesn't see in gardens in our area.

On things like the zone for Marjoram, you can also add a comment on it growing over the Winter for you with some info on what specific conditions it had to survive in. That is useful information others can use.

The marjoram I have (I can't find the tag so don't know the variety) doesn't grow in the winter unless we have a warm spell that lasts more than a week. It goes dormant to the ground and then springs back (a wee bit late, but fast!). I do not give it much extra water. It grew like crazy this year. I don't know if it's because of the extra rain we've had or if it just goes nuts in the 2nd/3rd year.

Thanks for posting progress pics DWiD. WOWSER things are really coming on strong since the spring! Please keep the pics coming!

Will do Dahlianut, and thanks. How was your vacation?

Twas a wonderful vacation DwiD although way too short.

Glad it was good. I think all vactions are too short until you retire.