I Won The �Free Plants For The Garden� Lottery

My friend Joy sent me an email last week to inform me that I had won a lottery for some garden plants. She makes occasional mail orders from different nurseries, and one that she does business with sent her someone else�s package by mistake. When she called to report the error, she was told to keep the box of plants. Well, as a seasoned gardener who has just about everything she wants in her garden, she didn�t want the majority of the plants and offered them to me. I took a moment or two to dance with joy and wrote back to tell her that I would be more than happy to take these plants off her hands. I tell you, it�s the coolest thing in the world to have a friend like this. The coolest.

Anyway, so this is what I received from the �Free Plants For The Garden� lottery:

1) Dahlia imperialis


I was thrilled with this particular plant; it�s commonly known as the tree dahlia and it grows anywhere from 8 to 12 feet. Pinkish-purple flowers with an orange center are supposed to appear in the fall, which I really look forward to. Because this is not winter hardy where I live, I planted the clump in a very large container that I placed on my deck.


2) Papaver orientale


Despite having bought so many perennials for the garden, I didn�t buy any poppy plants, so this was a really welcome surprise. I planted this under the kitchen window and should be expecting enormous white blooms with orange edges early summer. There�s nothing to see because the plant hasn�t grown yet, but the area under the kitchen window looks like this:


3) Tradescantia


I had no idea that there was a Tradescantia that I could grow in the garden, but here it is. Actually, here they are since there were three of these plants in the bag. I don't know what these plants will look like but I�m told that there�ll be deep green leaves and pretty flowers in blue, lilac and white. It�ll be a surprise. All three plants were added to the flower bed on the right side of the yard.

4) Phlox paniculata


I received two of these and planted them both on the right side of the yard. The tag tells me that I�ll be seeing big flowers as white as fresh snow. Sounds nice, although the word �snow� is not something that appeals to me this time of year.

5) Monarda didyma


I�ve already picked up a few of these that I�ve added to the garden, and now I have a few more. Three, to be exact. Since they�re supposed to flower all summer long, they�re all welcome in my humble garden. These were also added to the right side of the yard.

6) Phlox paniculata (Tenor Phlox)


I�ve never grown phlox in the past but this year I seem to have hit the jackpot with a few different types around the house. This package had two of these lovely plants in it; both were added to the right side of the yard. I should be enjoying scented, dainty red florets all summer long. We�ll see.


That�s it for the plants I got from winning the garden lottery. There�s nothing to see right now since they haven�t emerged from the ground yet, but for those of you eager to see some type of photo, here is the right side of the backyard.


I told you there�s nothing to see yet. You just don�t listen.

Oh, wait! That�s not true. My friend Joy also gave me a couple of small plants from her garden. They�re both Viola sororia �Freckles�; I added them to the same area as all of the above. The little plants look like this:


The flowers really have freckles.

That�s it for now folks. Stay tuned for more in later posts...