Nightshades, Ferns, Bamboos and Ponytail Palms

The front yard beds are full of volunteer nightshades that are now blooming profusely. I don’t know how many of these I have pulled, but they keep on sprouting, so I sort of gave up trying to remove all of them for the time being. I am keeping them from smothering and crowding the plants that we are cultivating, but letting them grow elsewhere. Now that they are all full of blooms, I am starting to admire them.

We had a short respite from the hot, windy, dry weather last week. Temperatures dropped into the lower 90s, and we got over a half an inch of rain. It was definitely a welcome change, albeit short-lived. It is back to 100 degree days now with no relief in sight. With many more weeks of this type of weather to look forward to, we installed drip irrigation in all of the front courtyard beds. This definitely cuts down on the amount of time that I have to spend applying water, which inspired me to acquire some new plants.

I needed some plants to add to the Zen shade garden which would fit in with the oriental feeling that I am trying to establish so I used Google to look for ferns and bamboos that would work in that area. During my search I came across several bamboos and ferns that I liked at Stokes Tropicals ^[1]. I had never done business with them before, but they had what I wanted so I decided to purchase just a few plants to see how I liked the service and the quality and value of their products. I was completely satisfied with my purchase; on-line shopping experience was simple and secure, plants were shipped promptly and at a reasonable cost, prices were reasonable, and the plants were beautiful and healthy.

The plants I chose for the shade garden were Asparagus retrofractus ‘Ming Fern’, and Bambusa multiplex riviereorum ‘Chinese Goddess Bamboo’.

I also purchased some plants to place on the deck to provide more of a tropical feel to that space. The plants I chose for the deck included Bambusa multiplex ‘Alphonse Karr Bamboo’, Pleioblastus fortunei ‘Dwarf Whitestripe Bamboo’, and Beaucarnea recurvata ‘Ponytail Palm’. I also purchased a Bambusa multiplex ‘Fernleaf’ (Fernleaf Clumping Bamboo) from Barton Springs Nursery to add to the mix.

We are moving on to the next phase of the front courtyard project – stone pathways and patio area. We are using native stone set in granite sand, topped off with masonry sand. With any luck we will have this phase completed by the end of the weekend. Here is a preview of our progress on this phase.

Hope your summer is going well. I am looking forward to fall – I even have my vegetable beds prepped and ready for fall planting!