Monday, November 10, 2008

Changing out some shrubs

Earlier I posted a photo and info about plants in my bird bath garden. It seems they were all drowning. So I elected to remove some of them and hopefully plant only water loving plants there. Trust me, this will be a slow process. But I did get my sweetspires moved.
I have six of them and moved them closed to my Keepsake garden. This is on a small slope so hopefully they won't drown here. I don't know how they have survived. When I dug them up puddles of water were left in their holes. Right now their foliage is turning a red color which is really pretty.(picture courtesy of the internet)

This is what they look like in bloom. Here's some more interesting facts.
Botanical- Itea virginica "Little Henry"
2-3' T
2-3' W
Prefer full sun-partial shade
Blooms in spring
Hardy in zones 5-9
Has a mounding growth habit



13 comments:

Connie said...

Those are pretty. I don't think I've even seen those before. Hope they grow better where you have them moved to. :)

Anonymous said...

These plants are very pretty. When we moved here, there were several planted and not until they bloomed did I realize what they were. I saw them at the Atlanta Farmer's Market (Forest Park, GA) and read up about them. Sometimes you have to do some shuffling of plants to find a place where they are happy. Good luck with the move.

marmee said...

good luck with the move of your plants. it does take some time to figure out where things do their best.

beckie said...

Susie, looks like you did a great job getting those plants moved. I'm sure they wiil be grateful. A water garden sounds like fun and you have all winter to decide what you want to plant there.

Unknown said...

Trial and error that's the name of my game. Hopefully your plants will thrive in their new home. Very cool looking. I couldn't enlarge the one in full bloom, I was trying to see if it looked like a bottle brush.

Susie said...

Daisy-This is the first time I have grown them. They are really pretty when in bloom.

Mildred-Do you get to the Atlanta Farmers Market much? The whole time I lived in GA I never went.

Marmee-Shuffling of plants is definitely part of gardening but to me is always fun.

Darla-I think they will do good in their new home. I just hope I like where I put them. They are kind of like a bottle brush bloom. Sorry you couldn't enlarge the picture.

Beckie-A water garden is fun. I just need to find the right plants. I ended up with two black elephant ears in it, some grassy sweet flag and something else that I don't know the name of. They were tossing these at work so I planted them really late in the season but they hung on.

Unknown said...

This is new to me, Susie. When six of them bloom together, that's going to be a very pretty sight!

Anonymous said...

What a lovely little shrub that has multiple seasons of interest. You should try some cardinal flower in your birdbath garden, they like moist to wet conditions.

flydragon said...

Well you've been busy. Since I don't transplant myself anymore I tend to transplant my poor plants, moving them here, then there. But I guess they like moving around, because they always take to the new spot.

Susie said...

Kanak-I planted them in a triangle shape so I think that will look nice when they bloom. Sounds like a future post to me.

Racquel-This little shrub does have great interest all season long. Maybe I will get some lobelia for that garden. We really haven't had that much rain lately so I was surprised as to how wet it was.

flydragon-Even though it is hard work it is fun to see how plants look in new areas.

Rose said...

This is an interesting shrub--it's new to me. I hope you have better luck with them once you've moved them.
Have you decided what you're going to plant there instead? I've always had trouble growing astilbe because they take lots of water. A friend suggested they be planted around a birdbath--maybe these would work here for you.

Susie said...

I haven't decided Rose. Right now I have a perennial hibiscus that I planted this year, a couple of black elephant ears, some grassy sweet flag,bee balm and butterfly weed(they both seem to be happy there) a gaura, and another water plant that I don't know the name of. These things were all planted haphazardly so I do need some reorganizing to happen. Hopefully I'll get that done soon. As far as Astilbe in our zone it needs shade and this is a full sun bed. But thanks for the suggestion.

Sandy said...

That is the coolest plant! It looks like it has dreadlocks, love it!