Friday, February 20, 2009

What's that plant again??


I put out all those containers of seeds to hopefully sprout this spring and give me something to put in my new garden. They're all labelled so I'll know what they're called. I was concerned though about remembering what was what. Most of my seeds were sent to me from very kind people from the Rocky Mountain Gardening Forum on Gardenweb and are new plants I have never grown before.

Here's what I have out there: (I have one more crate full of 2 liter bottles not in the picture)

Agastache foeniculum
Agastache rupestris 'Apache Sunset'
Asclepias tuberose 'Gay Butterflies
Aquilegia chrysantha
Belamcanda chenisis
Crocosmia 'Lucifer'
Dianthus knappii
Echinacea purpurea
Gaillardia 'Burgundy'
Gaillardia 'Goblin'
Lavandula angustifolia
Linium perenne
Marigold, French Dwarf
Penstemon pinifolius
Rudbeckia fulgida 'Goldsturm'
Rudbeckia hirta 'Rustic Colors'
Scabiosa ochroleuca 'Moon Dance'
Shasta Daisy 'Alaska'

I also have some seeds we collected this fall from mixed Daylilies near my husband's work, Liatris, Goldenrod, Mountain Mahogany, Clematis and Sage from the yard, and some Rocky Mountain Penstemon, Seafoam Sage and Russian Sage from my neighbor's yard.

Most of these plants are new to me so I needed a way to keep track of what they look like and how they grow. Using photos of the flowers, information sent to me with the seeds and filling in with information from the web, I created a book of plant files. Here's a little sample of what I did. Each flower has it's own page.



I included on my pages the scientific name (the pronunciation key is good- I may actually learn these plant names properly...), how large it grows, bloom color and time, light requirements, sowing information and any other tidbits I thought could be useful.

When I was done, I thought of one more thing I missed. Since I am trying to plant a waterwise garden, I went back and wrote on the pages what the x-rating for each one is. The x-rating is a guide to xeriscape plants. More X's, less water needed. A pretty handy list if you ask me.
I have a few that I don't have marked, but most on my list are either XX or XXX rated so I should have a less thirsty garden, a huge plus in this dry land!

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