Why I Oughta...

The Babe had to go to a dinner recently and we both thought it would be a nice to bring an arrangement to adorn the table.  As I've done in the past, I cut a big collection of just one flower:  The Pooh Collarette Dahlia.  I massed them together in a jar and didn't add anything else.  No greens, no accents.  Just the flowers.  And a lot of them:

A little over a month ago, I planted a pair of small quart-sized containers of a dark-red coleus named Flame Thrower in a patio container .  I had not grown this variety previously, but I liked the the shape of the foliage and having planted some Inferno coleus in the corner patio bed, I thought this would help with a little bit of 'garden legibility' via repetition.  Of colors and plants.   This container sits on our back stoop and gets full afternoon sun.  Being close to the house, it isn't until about mid-day when the sun arrives, but it sticks around here for just about as long as anywhere else in our backyard.   How is the coleus doing?  Very well, I'd say.  Below is a photo showing the current state of the pot.  A lesson learned for me:  coleus as a monoculture works well in a container like this. See that bright green next to the coleus?  I'll post about that tomorrow. 

Last year, I planted a fountain grass in the big cast iron urn.  It was a Pennisetum - but named 'Fireworks '.  This year, I brought home another purple fountain grass and put it in a container.  Just...it was a different grass AND a different container.  The grass is Pennisetum setaceum 'Rubrum'.  See below for the nursery container.  And...importantly, you'll see that when it comes to hardiness, it goes down to *just* 30 degrees.  That means...for me (Zone 5b), this is an annual.   I decided to put this in - by itself - a white container that lives on our back stoop.  A full sun spot.  I planted it about three weeks ago. How is it doing?  Seems to be happy.  See below for a look at the first flower plume that has emerged from the crown.  Nice, gently arching stem that I hope more will follow.  

I bought a large cast iron urn planter off of Craigslist a few years back and have planted it with a combination of annuals and perennials the past few seasons.  I kept it right next to the driveway in front, but at least once a season, Nat would comment about how she thought it wasn't the right spot for the large, black urn.   For history, here are a few posts showing off the various different plantings that I've made in this urn. 2018:  I don't think I captured the planting. 2019:  A dark coral bell, a begonia and some tropical flair . 2020:  A foxtail fern, Blue Salvia and red petunias .   This year, I decided to move it to the backyard - in a bed - and to plant a monoculture.  For the planting, I went with (wait for it....) a couple of fountain grasses.  These are reddish in color and called Fireworks Fountain Grasses - Pennisetum alopecuroides.  These were $9.98 at Home Depot and I bought two of them. And, here's what they loo...