Wednesday, August 1, 2012

English Lavender and a Color-crossed Snapdragon

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I bought a couple of urn style planters at Target on clearance and was planning on buying something to plant in them.  I'd kind of set my heart on doing a spiral topiary with an evergreen, in the classic Italian style, but wasn't able to find the right plant, so after much consideration, I finally settled for English Lavender, Lavendula angustifolia.  Now that they're in the pots, I think it was a good choice, as the blue-gray tone of the leaves are a nice counterpoint to the color of the urns and the upright nature of lavender will give me somewhat of the same profile I was looking for.  The blooms will be an added bonus that I wouldn't get from the evergreen, plus I'll be able to use lavender in cooking and baking.

I got a pleasant surprise from the snapdragons I planted from seeds saved from the ones I had planted in the tipsy planter this Spring; a cross pollination between a red and a yellow blooming snapdragon that resulted in a flower with a yellow center and red petals edged in yellow.  I'm hoping they will produce seeds and that the seeds will bloom true, with the ultimate goal being to produce enough seed that blooms true to develop a new cultivar, which I plan to call "Sunset".


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