Saturday Gardening

On Saturday morning I did yard work and some gardening at my mom's house. While the earth was still dewed I took photos.

Yellow bearded iris

Salvia greggii 'Raspberry' cheerfully greeting passing cars and walkers.

I've been on a big Salvia kick the past few years. Salvias are probably no longer fashionable in the horticulture world, though, as they were in the 90s and 00s.

Salvia greggii 'Raspberry'. I got this plant from Petals from the Past a few years ago and it has been very reliable and floriferous. I'm a little skeptical about the cultivar name, though. The one issue I have with Petals from the Past is their sometimes dubious or incomplete labeling.

I took cuttings from many different plants on Saturday. So far, so good; no sign of wilting or stress from any of the cuttings. Some plants, like spicebush (Lindera benzoin), I'm not sure about. I took softwood and hardwood cuttings just to see what would happen. I probably should have consulted my textbooks first. Here's what I took cuttings of:

• Double white Lady Banks rose. (a beautiful thornless climbing rose covered in small, fragrant double flowers in spring.)
• 'Fortuniana' rose. (Another climbing rose, with slightly larger double white flowers.)
• 'Altissimo' rose. (Another climbing rose, with vicious thorns and very large, single, vibrant red flowers.)
• 'Mutabilis' rose. (An antique China rose with flowers that change from pink/coral to yellow as they age.)
• Salvia 'Waverly'. (A tall salvia with spikes of pinkish-white flowers all summer and contrasting purple stems)
• Salvia 'Anthony Parker' (A salvia I haven't grown before this year. Supposed to get five feet tall and wide and loaded with spikes of indigo-purple flowers)
• Mountain mint. (Pycnanthemum muticum. A native relative of true mint with leaves that smell like peppermint and flowers that attract droves of pollinators.)
• Cigar plant. (A plant from Mexico that's loaded in summer and fall with orange tubular flowers that look like cigars - they even have what looks like rolled tobacco leaves, ashes, and smoke coming off one end.)
• 'Gorizia' rosemary
• Scented geraniums, 'Attar of Roses' and 'Old Fashioned Rose'
• Spicebush

That's about all.