Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Bakker delivery


More flowers! I knew it would be a great day to garden as soon as I saw the UPS van turning into the entrance way. My order from Bakker arrived on schedule and I was surprised at how well they packed the young plants and rootstock. I took the following photos with intentions of documenting each plant's growth, so cross my fingers that these will all like the environment here in the chestnut forest. The top photo - Thalictrum rochebrunianum - is from another Flickr user. It arrived as rootstock so I didn't take pics. According to Bakker, this type of meadow rue has pink flowers that bloom from strong branching stems. Ideal alone or in groups, or at the base of shrubs and plants.

Zaluzianskya ovata - the flowers are bright red in bud form and turn white when they blossom. It releases a delicious perfume in the evening, reminiscent of sweet almonds. Protect from frost in winter. I planted this in a large pot to be transported when necessary.

Hanging geraniums - in the Alto Adige and Trentino regions, geraniums cascade in thick, showy color from home balconies. The ones here are a variety of three colors: pink, maroon, pink-variegated. We've always gone with the usual bush-type, but MotH (my husband) really likes flowers that drape and hang all over the place so I thought we'd give these a try.

Salvia Hotlips (Microphylla) - I'm a sucker for plants with weird names. And for plants that attract butterflies, birds and bees. Can't wait until they bloom, then I can tell my father-in-law that they are Hot Lips in italian - Labbra calde.

The rest of the order (rootstock and corms): Anemone hupehensis 'Praecox' (japanese anemone) and Anemone coronaria 'Lord Lieutenant'. The only thing left to do is to find an apricot tree, but we really want something that is from an old strain and non-GMO. MotH likes to recall the old apricot tree that his grandfather tended to years ago...it brings back such fond memories for him. I don't care if the fruit isn't developed to look perfect, only that it can withstand alpine weather.

Today's high: 15°C / 59°F

12 comments:

K and S said...

ooh! nice :) I'll keep my fingers and toes crossed that they'll be okay.

Rowena said...

Thanks Kat ^-^ - I just hope we have minimum hail, no heavy rainstorms, and lots of sun! This weekend we have to pick up 70 5-gallon buckets of dirt from a nursery to fill the last (and largest) of the wood terraced space. They can't deliver. I can already feel my aching arms and back. Owww...

K and S said...

eep! good luck!

our temps have gone down to the teens (C) and cloudy, brr...tomorrow rain then the rest of the weekend supposed to be sunny. freesia looks like it is ready to bloom, can't wait!

Fern Driscoll said...

lovely choices. An old friend always used to exclaim, when she saw red salvia, "That flower is RED" - 'red' shouted. Can only imagine hot lips will be RED!! Looking forward to a pic.

Fern Driscoll said...

Oops - see you have a pic of hot lips last month... not as RED as I expected... love the white trim.

Rowena said...

Fern - I just want to be able to joke with my father-in-law and tell him what they are. He will think me mad!

Anonymous said...

Glad the Customs didn't take your treasures this time!!! I also fell in love with salvia and planted plenty for this years garden. Last year it did so well in the Campanian soil. The garden centers around here tend not to offer flowers for the giardino after May. So I ordered seeds and planted them.
Stellina

Rowena said...

Stellina - this time around I wasn't too worried for customs since Bakker has a distribution center in Como. If I had ordered direct from the UK, it might have been a different story! In any case, so far I've had success with rootstock purchased from Bakker, but none of the bulbs (himalayan blue poppy, allium and some others) came up this year. Not sure if it was me (I did plant all of them in the fall) or the items themselves. I won't order any more bulbs from them again.

Anonymous said...

Bakker? Is this the same as Baker's Creek? Ordering from Italy seems alot easier. Do they have a website? I'm still waiting on seeds I ordered from California. It's been a month now. Going to have to start my banana peppers late this year I guess. Good luck with your seedlings!
Stellina

Rowena said...

Stellina - no, not the same. Bakker is a UK-based company (I think), but have a distribution base in Italy. http://bakker-it.com/

Earlier in the month we had driven over into Campania from Molise, via the Matese National Park. We went as far as Piedimonte Matese (and picked up a couple rounds of pecorino cheese along the way from a roadside vendor!).

Ian said...

I'd love to know if "Zalu" ovata is as beautiful as it appears in the photos, and if it produces seeds easily. I loved your album!

Happy gardening!

Rowena said...

Ian - unfortunately no flowers came out of the ovata, so I'm assuming that with it developing from such a small seedling, it needs another season before producing blossoms. The plant still has a few green leaves so the winter didn't completely finish it off. Maybe something more will come of it this spring.