That's how I acquired this variegated St. Augustine grass.
Standard St. Augustine is no longer allowed for new turf grass installations in the city due to a city ordinance to reduce summer watering. Less thirsty turf grass options are still allowed in the city and this variegated version is sold as an ornamental plant. It might have been nostalgia for this twist on the familiar lawn of my childhood or the idea of having an outlawed plant which prompted me to pick this one up. Either way it's fun to have a bit of it in a container near the deck. And I don't expect DH to mow it since we haven't mowed anything for several years.
Shopping online doesn't stop me from making impulse purchases either. While ordering ornamental grasses from Santa Rosa Gardens last winter I spotted this Artemesia Silver Brocade and added it to the order. I'm happy I did. Since it arrived as a tiny plant I've kept it on the deck for a few months.
No buyer's remorse here. I love silvery plants and this one is a beauty.
To see more foliage from blogger's gardens head over to Digging and follow the links in the comments section.
That Artemesia is pretty, and I'm not a fan of silvery plants. But I like the shape of the foliage.
ReplyDeleteI've noticed folks in your area tend to avoid silver plants possibly due to cloudy skies.
DeleteYour Artemesia Silver Brocade is particularly nice! I too am a sucker for silvery foliage
ReplyDeleteMe too, I think it works well with so many of our native plants.
DeleteI`m also a fan of the silver stuff, that one is a new one on me.
ReplyDeleteFinding different plants is the fun of shopping online. Of course I buy most of my plants locally.
DeleteGreat selections! That Artemesia is lovely! We tend to buy it up here as an annual plant for our pots. It's a great companion to so many summer blooms or other plants with striking foliage.
ReplyDeleteIt is pretty and doesn't even die back here.
DeleteI have never tried that Artemesia but it looks gorgeous. Nice find. I may have to hunt one down now.
ReplyDeleteDavid/:0)
I do remember that you are an artemesia fan. Santa Rosa Gardens is a good resource for special plants.
DeleteYou are the only other person I have ever known aside from my husband to have bought variegated St. Augustine! This is great! We had a good patch of it growing in a flower bed in our garden in Florida. We loved it! Too funny!
ReplyDeleteThat is funny, I had never seen it before and had no idea it even existed before I saw it in the garden center that day. I simply find it amusing to have some around for a while.
DeleteLove the silvery plants, too. The shape of Artemesia is lovely! I'm going to a nursery shop and find it! Now, I've become an impulse shopper, ahaha...
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely a plant for your garden Keity, I hope you can find it.
DeleteBeautiful Artemesia, it looks like cineraria, that I grow as annual. I had in my garden Artemisia stellerana, that was very hardy in winter. Shirly, did you know that some plants do not grow near Artemesia?
ReplyDeleteThe Silver Brocade is a form of Artemesia stellerana so it might work for you.
DeleteI tend to keep artemesia in a different spot from the rest of the garden as it does seem to suppress other plants.
Hooray for impulse buys! These are a couple of good ones!
ReplyDeleteSomehow impulse buying for plants seems safer than something like furniture.
DeleteI love the variegated St. Augustine grass. I grow it in pots. It reminds me of spider plants. I've had it for maybe 4 years. Here in Ohio it has to be brought in for the winter.
ReplyDeleteMelanie
That must be interesting to have it in the house all winter. St. Augustine is definitely a southern grass and does freeze. In fact when we have late freezes some of my neighbors have to replace parts of their lawn when the St. A dies.
DeleteI've seen the variegated St. Augustine in Austin blogger Bob Beyer's garden, and it made me smile. Like you said, an outlaw plant, and surprisingly fun to see it planted up in a pot in the garden. The silver plant is lovely. Have you tried it in a garden bed yet?
ReplyDeleteIt's just getting big enough to transplant and, as you know, August is coming and we need to baby it along until fall when I will plant it out.
DeleteI love silver foliage plants, I have never heard about Artemesia Silver Brocade but it looks lovely! I just did a search here to see if I could find it for sale, I found a few other but not this one – as often is with plants I find on American blogs. I enjoyed your photos though :-)
ReplyDeleteI think it would look lovely with your roses and other beautiful garden flowers so I hope you find it soon.
DeleteI have the same problem with plants I see on California blogs, they have all the fun out there.
St Augustine as an ornamental grass...and variegated, too. Very nice, and makes sense, since I use blue and sideoats gramas as ornamental grasses, too!
ReplyDelete