Cute Pink Daisy

I am in LOVE with this new plant!  

 Two weeks ago I was at my amazing rose job in Pasadena(she has 300 or so roses and the garden is beautiful and park like) and I saw this plant!   Her other gardener had planted it in a big pot with a Citrus. It had no tag and I couldn't find him to ask.  So I took a pic and tried to figure it out.  I Googled what I thought it might be with no luck. I posted the pic on Instagram asking for an ID. No help.  I posted the pic on Annie's Annuals Facebook page with no answer!   I was at Green Thumb Nursery in Canoga Park last Saturday for our San Fernando Valley Iris Society Iris show for most of the day.  I showed the nursery people there the pic and got an answer. It's a Brachyscomb but they didn't have it!  Say Brak-EE-Comb.  It has quite different leaves and colored flowers from the common Brachyscomb I've seen.  Now I knew what to Google! A little search came up with Brachyscomb "Radient Magenta".  I asked for it at Lincoln Ave. Nursery in Pasadena and Armstrong in Glendale with no luck.   Struck out at 3 nurseries.  But I was on a mission!

     

So today was the members day of the annual Huntington Library & Botanic Gardens PLANT SALE!  It's a big deal and everyone goes!  I got there and looked around and picked up a blooming bulb. Then I found my friend Mitzi who was volunteering near the perennials. I showed her the pic. She said she would look for it. A minute later I spied some bright magenta on a table.  And THEY HAD IT!!  I was so happy that I bought 3 of them!   Yay for new plants!  

Happy Gardening!  

Miniature & Fairy Gardens

This post is for my friend Sarah who asked for photos about 2 weeks ago of some of my mini gardens. Well, they had to be trimmed and spruced up before I could share photos. Even mini gardens get overgrown if you don't watch them all the time!


This is the first one I made because I bought that tiny picket fence.  The large plants are Coprosma and Serissa.  There is a mini variegated Jade plant and some Dymondia groundcover in the back. On the left is some Muehlenbeckia axilaris nana.  When I bought the little table and chairs Kailay Yu from smallweeds.com(looks like her website just has links now).   added 2 little teacups stuck to it. SO CUTE!  There is also a mini birdbath.  I try to put water in but it evaporates from it so quickly!

This is my second mini garden. It has a different Coprosma, a mini variegated Gardenia, a mini Cuphea on the left and a dwarf variegated Liriope. Today I added the little Ajuga called Chocolate Chip.  There is a little bench and a bridge.   These 2 pots are on the north side and get part shade. 

 Last year I got this 20 year old(or longer) Boxwood plant from a friend of a friend.  I pruned it up to look like an old tree. There I also planted Hen & Chicks, Thyme, a variegated Armeria on the left and an Artemesia on the right.  This pot stays mostly well-behaved. I got that little umbrella table at Michaels!  They sometimes have mini garden accessories!  This post is so full with plants that there isn't a lot of space for accessories.  

I adore Ginko trees and was able to mail order about 8 years ago several dwarf varieties.  The leaves might be too big for a mini garden. But I don't care. That is one problem with mini gardens; scale. Sometimes the accessories aren't with the scale of the others. In this case it's the leaves that aren't in scale. Whatever!   I still like it. Planted with the Gingko is more Hen & Chicks, Thyme and 2 new gray plants I got today: Antennaria "McCintock's Variety" on the right and Raoulia australis with the tiniest almost succulent gray leaves in the front.  My Rick helped me make a little rope swing. But it needs to be replaced(wood falls apart).    

Here is a miniature Gingko tree that HAS mini leaves.   I finally got a mini house. It took me forever because I didn't want to pay $30, $40 or more for one!  I think I paid $16(on eBay) for this one. It is resin, hollow and can take weather! And the door opens!  The plant on the right is Parahebe linifilia.  It gets little white flowers.  Today I planted a tiny Erodium on the left and some more of that gray Raoulis in front and I stuff a tiny but into that little pot. It is difficult to keep watered.  But I try :-)   Rock, small pieces of flagstone or slate or brick make good additions.   

 This is another mini Gingko tree.  I am still working on it.  But I've got a little pagoda, some metal Chinese lanterns and a tiki(from a fish store).  I planted the other half of the Antennaria with them.

Arlena Scott from gardenwiseliving.com is big into fairy gardens and just created some impressive gardens at the Chicago Garden show.     

Here is a place to get miniature garden plants and the most adorable tiny furniture and accessories you could imagine!  twogreenthumbs.com  And Janit Calvo wrote a fab book on Mini gardening which you can get at amazon.

Happy Gardening!