12 Comments
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Cathy's avatar

Lovely. Thanks for the smiles Amy. 😃

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Diana Studer's avatar

Mystery grondcover might be euphorbia ish? A sandmat? Or is it more succulent? A Tetragonia perhaps.

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LP P's avatar

You create such beauty in flowers, plants and containers. I'd never have thought of the plants as gold and silver and now I see it clearly. You are a magician in a very tall hat!!

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A. Christine Myers's avatar

I do love mixing and matching color in the garden... and vase! Hopefully it's a bit magical. ;-) I wish I had gotten a shot of the brittlebrush foliage as it is indubitably silver, at any rate when conditions are dry, which is normal. It actually greened out with all the rain in August!

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Susie's avatar

Amy, the wildflowers are transformed under your guidance into a stunning vase. The container is striking.

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A. Christine Myers's avatar

Thank you so much, Susie. I feel that Encelia farinosa is one of those wildflowers that should be incorporated happily into gardens in this climate. It's so showy and so well-adapted. And the flowers do well when cut. So glad you like the vase too. I'm looking forward to making more vases as soon as we get the studio set up and the kiln working here.

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Cathy Lyon-Green's avatar

When I first read the title I read it as 'bottlebrush', so these bright yellow daisies were a bit of a surprise! Your unidentified groundcover is proving useful and it must be exciting to see what comes up after it rains! How many unpacked boxes do you still have?

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A. Christine Myers's avatar

We still have lots of boxes, Cathy. Many are book boxes because our bookshelves were mangled by the movers. My sister has been figuring out places to stack books lately, so they are slowly making their way out into the house.

It's been fascinating to watch what grows naturally here. Much of it is different from my earlier experience in the low desert as this really is a different climate.

The yellow daisies must have been a shock as they are far from being a bottlebrush type! :)

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LP P's avatar

Amy, I'm wondering if you could grow bottlebrush there or if you'd want to?

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A. Christine Myers's avatar

I'm thinking about it, Lynda. I'm pretty sure I can at least grow the dwarf Callistemon "Little John". The go-to guide for western US gardening (Sunset) says I can't, but it grew in spite of them even in Phoenix, so I can't see why it wouldn't grow--probably better--here!

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Kris P's avatar

Your unidentified groundcover is very attractive, Amy. I can't place it either. You'll have to let us know what it is when you solve that mystery.

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A. Christine Myers's avatar

Still no success finding an ID on it, Kris. I suspect it evades notice because it's an annual without noticeable flowers. But the silver foliage is delightful AND it grows with no fuss with no additional water. It's a bit too sparse to make a fully weed-smothering mat, but I'd like to encourage it to colonize the garden somewhat. Desert-adapted groundcovers are hard to come by!

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