Those of you who live in my neck of the woods (which includes most of Canada, for the present purpose) have experienced the worst spring in living memory, right? So, today’s weather feels absolutely glorious. Even the high winds couldn’t dampen my enjoyment of the warm sun on my back, the freedom of being out in jeans and a tee-shirt, the joy of pulling out weeds and planting my new babies in fresh soil.
As I mentioned in my last post, I went on a bit of a spree at Jasmin last week and today I planted wild bleeding heart and heuchera in the front yard, as well as my new yellow and purple primroses (not the doubles, they were too expensive!) in an east-facing (as instructed by Garden Making mag!) site in the back yard. Yesterday I potted my new yellow hibiscus (I think yellow may be taking over as my new favourite flower colour) and put together a planter with lavender and white pansies, oxalis, and an ornamental oregano, which I discovered for the first time. I need to fill out the bare spots in the pot, but the effect is still lovely. Okay, the photo I took is not that impressive, but I have high hopes for this arrangement.
I read about using oxalis in planters just recently (Garden Making mag again, I believe) and I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of it before. It’s one of my favourite house plants, although mine neither thrives nor dies. My sister, Nora, whom I’ve spoken about often as a wonderful gardener, was the inheritor of my mother’s green thumb for houseplants, too, and has a couple of oxalis in her indoor collection that are always abundant and blooming. Oxalis has several fine attributes; it comes with either green or purple foliage; it has triangular-shaped leaves that are very ornamental; it tolerates drought (it may shrivel temporarily but as soon as it’s watered it starts new shoots) and it’s a very generous bloomer with lovely little pinky white flowers. The only thing to be careful of is over-watering, which can cause a sort of stem-rot that I’ve noticed before. Since I’ve never tried growing them outside, I’ll be watching for that on rainy days.
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