Catharanthus roseus (Thanks to Annie)
The school plant sale went by and many of the seeds and plugs we planted for the sale sold. Surprisingly there were many Laura Bush Petunias left but not many normal petunias. I personally like the Laura Bush Petunias more but that could be because I don't see them everyday at work. Last week for class the teacher let us take whatever left over plants were left that we grew. Well most of everything I had or would not do well on my balcony. Being the sucker I am for free stuff I grabbed a Catharanthus roseus. In my head I kept running threw the fact that Vinca does not like full sun. I thought, well there has to be a place where it will be okay maybe it does okay with part sun. I brought it home anyways knowing that it has a great chance of not surviving. I put it in the shade of the Cocktail Vodka Begonias. So far so good I can only hope it will like that spot because it's the only semi shaded spot there is. Then the wonderful Annie from the Transplantable Rose who lives in Austin kindly pointed out that it was not a vinca I had at all but instead a Catharanthus roseus (Madagascar Periwinkle) which likes full sun. Possibly my instincts knew that it would like full sun and that is why I took it home anyways. Well this makes me feel bad since at work I've been telling customers these do not do well in full sun but do great in shade. Shame on me.
Livewire Grass
I have been eying this little grass for a while. It gets about 8 to 10 inches tall and has this nice cascade to it. There was quite a bit left over but I just got myself one little 4" pot of it. At first I didn't like this grass but it's unique look has grown on me. I didn't take anything else because it was things I had and stuff that wouldn't survive with my conditions.
7 comments:
Priscilla, I'm a sucker for free plants too! My very first garden as an adult was made up entirely of free plants from my mom and from a very kind elderly neighbor who had a lovely garden. She gave me phlox, feverfew, johnnie jump ups, hostas, virginia bluebells, ajuga, and some other things I don't remember anymore. To this day, many of the plants she gave me remain my favorites, and remind me of her. If it wasn't for her and my mom, I wouldn't have been able to afford to have much more than a flat or two of annuals, and I'm not sure I would still be gardening today.
That live wird plant is cool. I too am a sucker for free plants.
Well heck, who DOESN'T like a free plant? It looks so interesting too! I wish I had gardening friends closeby to trade plants with. What fun!
Vanillalotus, I'm not positive, but your plant doesn't look like the shade-loving kind of Vinca minor I used to grow. I wonder if you have the sun-loving bedding plant sometimes called Vinca, which is actually Catharanthus. Please look at the photos on this site and see what you think.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose, [who can seldom pass up a free plant, either! ]
Thank you everyone for the comments. Looks like everyone is a sucker for free plants and has many of them in their garden.
Annie- Thank you so much for that clarification you were right is it Catharanthus roseus and not the Vinca Minor. I had questioned it myself but teacher kept on saying vinca and we sell this as vinca where I work. It's so strange how names of plants can get so easily messed up. If we all just sticked to the scientific names it would be far easier. This is good news because it takes full sun how great I won't have to shield it any more.
Hi. I've been looking for Laura Bush Petunias but cannot find any. Do you have any suggestions, as I missed your school sale. Do they make it through our Austin summer?
Wendy- you can purchase the laura bush petunias from retailers that sell the texas superstar plants. Here is a link to see the retailers near you
http://horticulture.tamu.edu/starteam/retailsearch.html
or you can easily buy seeds seed online for around $3 to $2.25
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