New Additions

 Here at Chickadee Gardens, we have been busy planting away to fill the gaping holes left by winter's fury. Let's take a look at these new guys to see if they are fitting in to the master plan (or not).  A few of these we have seen recently, but it's always good for me to check their progress to determine if they stay or go.

 First up is my score from Home Depot. The tag read Yucca filamentosa, but I see no filamentos-ing on this lovely plant. I ended up buying eight of these, I liked them so much, plus the price was right. This particular one has the most pink blush on it, the rest seem glaucous-toned and more on the creamy side.

 Here are three of the eight that replace a couple NOID Yuccas that came with the house. They now live with another gardening friend and I think we're all happier for it.

Here are the old Yuccas, pictured from last fall. Although the overall color in this part of the garden is yellow, they just never felt right.

 Here's my Cotula hispida field, filling in after the cold took my old patch. I know it could happen again but some plants are worth it. In addition to the Cotula,  I also had a Manfreda 'Spot' that lived here, it didn't make it either. The Cotula has a much better chance of overall survival, so I will continue to nurture these yellow UFO's (as my husband calls them), they get yellow bobbing balls in late spring) and let them fill in.

 Here's a little native Iris purchased from Xera Plants, along with a couple Polypodium scouleri ferns in the foreground, a Vaccinium ovatum to the right, Salal somewhere in the background and just peeking through on the right Aruncus dioicus or goatsbeard.  All great native selections for the shady garden. The fern, huckleberry and iris are the new plantings of this area; they replaced an area dominated by Pittosporum NOID from Cistus tough-love sale a couple of years ago.

 Here in front the Astelia 'Red Gem' is looking fine so far. A bunch of Sedums are filling in nicely, and in the corner on the right side behind the rose is a Lonicera ciliosa, our native honeysuckle with orange blooms. I am hopeful it will eventually grow so I may intertwine it along the rail above (not seen in this photo).

Now for a few yet-to-be-planted newbies:

 This past weekend we took a quick trip to the Canby spring gardening fair hosted by the Master Gardeners of Clackamas County, a plant sale not to be missed. I came upon Secret Garden Grower's booth and found a couple of lovely little gems.

 Sinningia sellovii, hardy red gloxina. I have never grown this but am looking forward to seeing how it performs.

 Also on the gloxina or Sinningia list is Sinningia Tubiflora, hardy white gloxina. I have tried this twice without success but am willing to give it another go, especially with advice from the kind people at the nursery who say to mound up some gravel and place it on top....in other words, very sharp drainage and it should be totally hardy in my zone. With a flower that smells like Fruit Loops, who wouldn't say the third time's a charm??

 Here it is, fuzzy leaves and all.

 This lovely little native, Lewisia tweedyi, comes from the Mt. Rainier area of the Cascades and has pale luminescent blooms. I found this one at Buggy Gardens native nursery at the fair. He had a great selection.

Now for the find of the month. How about this Agave 'Blue Glow', a one-gallon container for $12. OH my. I would have purchased all three but I came without a little red wagon (you need one here, I did not dare bring one or I would have done a lot of damage to the checkbook), so everything I bought we had to carry. So one is all I took home, but I am thrilled with this one. Which nursery did it come from? I have no idea, I am sorry to say. In my excitement, I did not pay attention. It was so inexpensive because they need to be planted right away and the gentleman said they needed to move some inventory.

 Oooh, I am so excited! Can't wait to get it planted.

 Moving on from new, unplanted purchases to planted newbies, this is an area once dominated by peonies and looked like this last year. I do really like peonies, but they just did not fit within my overall vision of what the garden could look like, so out they went to better homes. Now I have a few gems - some Sedum 'Matrona', Aquilegia 'Black Barlow', Cordyline and Rumex sanguineus, sorrell.

 Here is an Echeveria agavoides 'Rubra' from Xera and one of the eight Yuccas from Home Depot. 

 One of about three Aqueligia 'Black Barlow' in the garden, this one is a year old and did really well over the winter. 

 One of three Hosta 'Fire and Ice' purchased at the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon's fall plant sale. These replaced three NOID hostas which came with the house and had yellow coloration. These are in the shady white garden, so out with the yellow, in with the white. Here's what it used to look like.

 My sweet little Hosta 'Mouse Ears', I blogged about them a few weeks ago (here), but have to share their sweetness again. They did well, all three.

Lastly, a very cool Sempervivum from Xera Plants, 'Pacific Zofic' is what the tag read and it is hardy. Looks kind of alien as well as being fuzzy; I like it! It seems to like its hot, dry and well-drained location. This replaced a not hardy Echeveria (I knew that, but hey...a girl can dream), the rule for me now is if it's not hardy, it goes in a container so that  I may baby it. I have one container that fits that description,  it's all I want to manage right now.

So there is the report from Chickadee Gardens. What changes have you made that have made a difference in your garden scheme? Share with us! Until next week, thank you for reading and happy gardening!