Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day June 2015: I Can't Grow That!

on
Camassias and tulips
A week ago today, I returned home from the Garden Bloggers' Fling 2015 in Toronto, reeling from the absolutely splendiferous array of blooms and foliage that I CAN'T GROW, DAMMIT!!!!!! Most of the Flingers are used to, and probably weary of, my mandatory whine upon seeing some beauteous botanical bibelot ... "I can't grow that."  I'd even started a Twitter hashtag #Ican'tgrowthat and posted a couple of pictures before Verizon notified me that I'd exceeded my data limit (so much for the data plan I thought I'd signed up for).  So I thought I'd use Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day to whine some more ... and I trust that y'all will recognize my tongue is very firmly in my cheek.  Should a Toronto gardener visit my corner of Katy, s/he'd probably have the same whine!
Rhododendron

Rhododendron

Allium

Conifer (I don't know what kind, I can't grow them!)

I have never ever ever seen this poppy in the Houston area.

I can't remember what this delightful little tree is. 

Weigela, one of the many cultivars in that genus which I can't grow!

Japanese Painted Fern. I've tried. Believe me, I've tried. OVER & OVER & OVER.

Lupine. Definitely not texensis. 

Luscious apricot and pink Peony

Weigela, ANOTHER one of the many cultivars in that genus which I can't grow!

Pink and white Double Clematis, misidentified as Columbine. I still think
it's too delicate by far for Katy. Maybe I should try it & see!

Bath's Pink Dianthus with The Head Gardener ... they rot here (the Dianthus,
not the HG ... although ...)


OK, this one I'm not so sure we can't grow: it's not that different from
the yellow Phlomis. 


Bearded Iris

The most incredible array of Bearded Iris I've ever seen

Viburnum plicatum 
Angelica, I think gigas?
Amorphophallus titanum ... one which I am definitely glad I can't grow!
Thanks to Carol of May Dreams Gardens, our Bloom day progenitor!

Comments

Carol Michel said…
And thanks for joining in!
June 16, 2015 at 9:01 PM
Gail said…
Beautiful flowers~so sorry you can't grow them! xo
June 16, 2015 at 9:07 PM
Janet, The Queen of Seaford said…
I like the idea of a hashtag for I can't grow that, dammit. Really felt that way in San Francisco.
Your golden tree is a Laburnum. (Golden Raintree) Not sure of the species...probably Laburnum anagyroides.
June 16, 2015 at 9:16 PM
Anonymous said…
It's so much fun to travel, but so sad that we can't grow so many things. Frustrating it is. Happy Bloom Day anyway. I've seen your garden, and it is beautiful~~Dee
June 16, 2015 at 9:44 PM
www.ravenscourtgardens. com said…
I am so in the same camp as you know! I did whine on my Garden Bloggers Bloom Day only to be reminded that there are things that we can grow that otherscan't grow too!
June 16, 2015 at 9:57 PM
www.ravenscourtgardens. com said…
I am so in the same camp as you know! I did whine on my Garden Bloggers Bloom Day only to be reminded that there are things that we can grow that otherscan't grow too!
June 16, 2015 at 9:57 PM
Alison said…
Aw! When I lived in Massachusetts I tried to grow bluebonnets. Nope. Wasn't happening.
June 16, 2015 at 11:31 PM
Linnae said…
Hey, if nothing else, your post reminded to be grateful for the flowers I can grow up here where it's cold. :) Happy Bloom Day!
June 17, 2015 at 12:02 AM
Elizabeth Barrow said…
I know! I just got back from a trip that included the Birmingham Botanical Garden and I wandered around the whole time saying "Asarum! I can't grow that! Spruce! I can't grow that! Hellebores! We SURE can't grow them! Daphne!

I have to say, though - I succumbed and brought home a little pot of asarum. Dammit, sometimes ya just gotta push the envelope (again!)
June 17, 2015 at 6:56 AM
mimi said…
Say that "Dogwood" is really a viburnum. Too late for dogwood anyway. I think it's V. plicatem. I have a couple here in VT. Mine are done blooming.
June 17, 2015 at 7:01 AM
Cindy, MCOK said…
I got all kinds of excited when I DID see something I could grow in the Toronto gardens! It's a good thing we couldn't bring plants home because heaven only knows what I'd have been tempted to buy.

Mimi, thanks for the ID on the Viburnum. I changed the caption to reflect that.
June 17, 2015 at 9:02 AM
Misti said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
June 17, 2015 at 9:04 AM
Misti said…
I'm in Magnolia/Tomball, not far from you and there are many things you listed that can grow in the area.

The yellow tree appears to be a golden rain tree---which you *don't* want to grow as it is an invasive. It does grow in Houston, though.

I've grown that poppy before, but you have to reseed it. I grow Lauren's grape poppy yearly. They work.

Alliums...they grow here too.

Instead of those beautiful rhodie's we can grow our awesome native azaleas!

There are lots of lupines that we can grow, too. Not just texensis.

I grow columbines really well, too. Native ones and a few hybrids. They die back a bit in the winter, but they do really well for me.

Dianthus----sometimes they rot, but most of the time they are the ones lasting all seasons!

Amorpha....they grow here, too but you have to dig them up in the winter or they will rot. We grew them and bloomed them in z10A in FL, but even there still dug them up for dormancy.

June 17, 2015 at 9:06 AM
Rock rose said…
I feel the same way when come back from England. But when I lived in Toronto I din't grow many of the flowers you posted about. What was I thinking! Mostly it was new house with no landscaping, kids in college. I do grow Bath's Pink but the pill bugs and snails always chew through the lower stems. Glad you had a fun time.
June 17, 2015 at 10:29 AM
Kathy said…
I don't know what it is, but that pink and white flower is not a columbine. Looks more like a vine to me.
June 21, 2015 at 8:17 PM
Rose said…
I had the same feeling when I went to Asheville a few years ago--we always want what we can't have:) I'm sorry I missed the Toronto Fling, but I can tell I would have come home with a trunk full of plants since most of these would grow in my garden. The field of irises is just amazing, though, and what a great photo of the Head Gardener!
June 26, 2015 at 8:06 AM
Cindy, MCOK said…
Misti, I am enough farther south of you that a lot of things you can grow in the Magnolia/Tomball area, I cannot. The golden rain tree that's invasive here is Koelreuteria, which I've seen in my neighborhood. The native azaleas just can't make it here, nor can the globe alliums. I do grow the native columbines but the hybrids have always sulked for me. The mat-forming Dianthus, like Bath's Pink or Firewitch, only need one torrential rain to make them unhappy in my garden. A friend gave me a Voodoo Lily a few months ago and I'm pretty sure it's gone to its fathers, as Madalene Hill used to say. You wouldn't think that 35 miles makes that much of a difference but it really does, both in climate and soil.


June 27, 2015 at 9:52 AM
Cindy, MCOK said…
Jenny, I've only seen pictures of English gardens but I can imagine how hard it is to come back to your rocky Austin garden after those verdant hills! You've done a splendid job of creating an Anglo-Texan garden, though.
June 27, 2015 at 9:54 AM
Cindy, MCOK said…
Kathy, dang it, how did I misidentify that? You're right, it's not columbine. I think it's a double-flowered clematis. We can grow some of them but I'll bet this one would sulk.
June 27, 2015 at 9:57 AM
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