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Ageratum, probably self-seeded from 'Dondo Blue'.
Grows to about 24" high. |
I pretty much threw a temper tantrum this year when my tall cutting ageratum seedlings all got damping off and croaked. I maintained my funk for two months, and then all of a sudden, little baby ageratums starting sprouting in the garden! One, two, ten, two hundred! The freakin' things were everywhere, having (apparently) seeded themselves quite successfully the year before. They waited to germinate until July, and I feared they wouldn't mature before frost. But they took off gangbusters and made a pillowy blue-and-purple late summer display.
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| Ageratum, probably seeded from 'Red Sea' |
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| This honeybee passed away on a blue powderpuff, in the night. |
During my extended conniption over not having tall ageratum, I searched
at local nurseries. This caused much cussing and stomping of feet. Five
inches may be a fashionable height for spike heels, but it is an
abominably dumpy height for ageratum, if you ask me.
Instead of ageratum, I found something I'd never grown:
Lavandula multifida. It's the lavender that smells like a skunk! Who wouldn't want one? It has soft, ferny, blue green foliage, and rather unobtrusive flowers that go on blooming forever. I really like it.
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| Lavandula multifida |
Also during my ageratum anxiety period, I dug up little
Verbena bonariensis
volunteers with their clods of soil and poked them in the garden
hither and thither, like a mad squirrel-woman caching her snacks. I
am at a point in my life when I have to have tall, skinny purple
flowers everywhere. Or else my garden is all for naught.
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Verbena bonariensis blooms, bobbing high above
a patch of purple sage and dark purple nicotiana. |
5 comments:
Your Ageratums are pretty! I'm glad they managed to bloom before frost. Poor bee, caught out in the night air, but if you're a bee, doomed to a long sleep, it looks like she chose perfect spot.
I have so many comments I don't know where to start:
1) the bee died on the flower?! I've never seen that.
2) I'm not familiar w/L. multifida but will seek it out. A plant that smells like skunk will certainly be deer proof (you've probably gathered this is a primary concern of mine).
3) Love the high heel reference
4) "I am at the point in my life when I have to have tall, skinny purple flowers everywhere." I'm not sure why this amuses me so much but it does. I wonder what stage of garden/life I'm at.
CVF and Ellen, yes, that poor bee was there in the evening, and I thought it was just tired and cold and sleeping. But after the sun hit it in the morning and it still didn't move, I gave it a poke. Dead, with wings all a'tattered.
He he... maybe next summer I'll be at a different point in my life. I hope so, or I'll have become a boring old broken record. Ellen, maybe you're at the "I love plants that are wonderful and pretty AND make deer spit and sputter and run the other direction" point?
You write and beautifully illustrate two of my favorite annuals . . . well for my garden anyway. I love Ageratums and what a great gift for you all those seedlings were. It would never happen here. I have seen little bees in eternal sleep like that before too. What a way to die. It could have been just their time. I am happy to have found you here at Blotanical. Lovely post and blog! ;>)
I love ageratum, I plant them every year. I didn't realize they reseeded themselves so well, I have lots of them showing up this fall :)
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