Rhonda,

What great new plants and such a terrific price! Ten large plants for $36 - dare I do the average cost? Wow! Congratulations!

I received a rooted cutting of Oakleaf Hydrangea two years ago and planted it right away (March 2013). It didn't do much that year or the next, but this year, it has really taken off! It is has doubled in size just since awakening from winter. You know the old saying, "The first year it sleeps, the second year it creeps, the third year it leaps!" It really applies to this plant. I have heard that it is easy to root, but only from semi-hard wood (not the new, grey-green soft growth), so I will try later in the summer.

My Salvia Black & Blue all came back from the roots and is such a lovely plant. A good perennial.

How big are those red cedars? Where will you put them? I bet they will be magnificent.

Happy gardening!
Carol in Jacksonville

Carol,
The plant lady is an elderly woman who really has too much going to take care of, roots are growing through the pot holes and through the landscape cloth below, so you need to dig the roots out before carrying off a pot. She can't walk well, so she drives you around on a golf cart. it's not a pretty nursery, its her overgrown property, but the plants are big, cheap and always survive and she's a nice lady who enjoys the company.

The oakleafs are probably 3-4 feet tall and 2-3 feet wide, very loosely fored. They're ready to bloom now. The lacecaps are 2x2 and are also ready to bloom.

My black and blues are just starting to take off, so the new ones which are blooming will fill in until last years catch up.

The red cedars are very different in size and shape. One I bought from her last week is only 18" or so high but very full, a perfect little Christmas tree. The other one I bought last week plus these two are looser and 3-4" tall. I planted them 10 feet apart on one side of the property to block out my neighbors mess when they are full grown :) My yard is roughly 1 3/4 acres, mostly sand and trees and definitely not landscaped, but old pieces parts from who knows what and and ripped up rebel flags are not my cup of tea.

I have never heard that saying before...I can think of several plants that it fits :)

BY the way, has it rained at your place this weekend? It's been gray and windy most of the weekend here, 60% of storms, and we have received zilch!

Take care,
Rhonda

Rhonda,

I took another look at my oakleaf hydrangea on Friday and it has doubled in size, just since waking up this year! And it has bloom buds, too - I am going to have flowers this year! Boy, talk about sleep, creep, leap! I can't wait to root more of this and spread it around the yard. I will take a photo tomorrow.

Did you get your hydrangeas in the ground? I love hydrangeas and with my commitment to shade gardening over the past few years, I have more and more need and places for them. I have picked up one Mathilda Gutges for $5 from the Lowes clearance rack and two no-names off the Walmart clearance rack (Yay, Walmart, for finally realizing that you don't have to take a total loss on every plant that goes south. ) I am also trying to root one through air layering and a few more in water. Lastly, in early, early March, I took some extra-long cuttings, stripped off most of the leaves, and just stuck them in groups of four, directly into the ground where I want new the plants. I've been keeping the ground moist and so far, they all look alive - and could they be rooting? I had nothing to lose. In a few more months, I will know. It was a crazy notion but thought if it would work (as so many plants are easy to root if you start early enough in the growing season), I would be way ahead of the game.

Your neighbors sound like some interesting people. Good grief. Those cedars sound perfect!

I know you asked about rain several weeks ago and I missed answering, but yesterday we got 1.29 inches of rain. It was a deluge! I hope you got some too?

Here's my little oakleaf hydrangea when I received it in April 2013:

And here it is on April 12 of this year. I'll get an updated photo tomorrow - like I said before, it has doubled in size!

Carol

Carol,
I'm glad to hear that your oakleaf is leaping :) It appears to be very happy where you planted it.

I got mine planted and they are blooming. The lacecaps that I got are almost ready to bloom, they have had buds since I planted them that are plumping up. I like the colors and the impact of the mopheads but the creamy yellow-white of oakleaves and the pinkish-white of the lacecaps look so right and natural in the shade of the pines and oaks. I can't wait to see your new pics.

I wanted to take pics today but it was rainy and when not raining was very windy and looked like rain. I still should have taken them, cloudy days make the colors pop. Now I have to wait until next weekend.

I see you have polka dot plant growing beside the hydrangea. I love that little plant. I had it as a house plant in Ohio and was thrilled that it was hardy outside here. I find little babies popping up all around.

Please keep me updated on the layering, rootings and cuttings go. I would love to try that. Do you think it is too late for me to start? I have this picture in my head of hydrangeas randomly placed under the trees across the front of our property. Before I can fulfill that vision, I have to clear out a lot of scrub.

I'm trying to do more shade gardening too. I guess when I moved here from Ohio in 2008 I thought I had to try all the bright, tropical looking plants of Florida and I have tried and failed with many, mostly from putting the wrong plant in the wrong spot. I totally forgot about planting under the many trees surrounding the house. I put in a small shade sitting garden 2 years ago and it's starting to fill in. Now I'm starting to plant around the perimeter under the trees.

Yesterday, I planted 3 purple firespikes under the edge of some trees, I hope they bloom this year before the hummers leave. I also planted 3 agastache in the border herb garden across the back of the house. I love tea made with the leaves.

Don't you just love the clearance racks? There's a Lowes on 13th in Gainesville that has many great plants on clearance, I stop by almost every Thursday on my lunch LOL I see the same fellow gardeners there every week. We share info on the plants and our fails and successes with them as we dig through the racks. Great fun!

I feel bad talking about my neighbors. I live out in the boondocks and my yard is definitely not manicured. I just wish they would take some pride in their property. Thank goodness we have large lots so I can plant big trees.

Take care,
Rhonda
9a Williston

Rhonda,

I had to Google Map to find Williston, FL. I had never heard of it before. I bet we have very similar climates.

Yeah, I love pink polka dot plant (hypoestes). I'm going to do a separate post on it soon. Been working on it. In short, it is a terrific little plant!

No, I don't think it is too late. I think now is the perfect time to try simple layering of any of your hydrangeas if you have any good candidate branches. Here is a good tutorial - scroll down to "Ground Layering":

VARIOUS METHODS FOR ROOTING HYDRANGEAS

I have some purple firespike that finally bloomed for me this past winter. The purple variety blooms later than the red - they bloomed for me in January and February. Our first hard freeze in February wiped them out and down to the ground. They are already three feet tall again. They bounce back quickly.

Yes, I love Lowes Clearance rack. I'm so glad to see Walmart have a Clearance rack. Now if I could only convince them that they would make more money (or lose less money) overall if they would mark the bedraggled plants down 75% rather than their current floor of 50%.

Just took these photos of my oakleaf hydrangea. The previous photo (above) was taken on April 12. So these are only 15 days later and look at the growth! It's still small as far as oakleaf hydrangeas go, but it has grown an awful lot in a short amount of time. And this is the first I have ever seen the blooms - wasn't sure what variety I had, as this was a pass-along plant gifted to me.

Happy gardening!

Carol

Hey Carol,

Yep, unless you're from around here, you probably don't know Williston. Definitely more horses and cattle than people (2,800) LOL It's very rural with lots of good folk. Once you hit Williston from the northeast, you keep heading southeast towards the gulf for another 10 miles to find me.

Thanks for the info on layering, I'll try it this weekend. Your oakleaf's growth is amazing. You'll need to start documenting it daily :)

Is that Wendy's Wish salvia to the right of the oakleaf? I had 5 but 2 died after the 2 back-to-back nights of hard frost. I checked again this weekend and there was no sign of life so I ripped them out. The roots were black :(

Thanks for the info!
Rhonda

Yes, that is Wendy's Wish. It has been a great performer for me! I'm sorry you lost a few - I lost some in winter, too. Like the hydrangea, it is also easy to spread around the garden via simple layering (same technique as with the hydrangea, above). Use a long, low-growing branch and proceed carefully. If it doesn't want to go any lower and pressure is applied to press down into the ground, they will sometimes snap at the base. If that happens, go ahead and remove the whole long branch, strip off the bottom leaves and root in a bucket of water. (After a very hard rain and high winds last week, I found a long, snapped branch of salvia black & blue. I could see that it would not recover with the thread-of-stem left connecting it to the mother plant. I removed the branch and threw it into a bucket of water. It is already starting to root.)

I do not remove and replant the propagated plants. With Wendy's Wish, I just expand the WW planting/grouping.

Carol