And like most gardeners, I can't resist picking up an unplanned plant purchase or two while I'm there.
It makes me happy!
Last year, I purchased just one candytuft (iberis sempervirens). I had never grown this plant in my garden, and wasn't sure where I could plant it. My cart was already full, and my husband was patiently waiting for me to complete my selections and get to the ever-growing check-out line. (I know how he feels. When we go to the auto parts store, I patiently wait for him, and am oh-so-happy when we leave!)
I didn't have time right then to get more, because that would have required a decision of where they could be planted. But one plant can always be squeezed in somewhere! At least, that's how I rationalize it when I'm in my happy place.
So, I quickly put one in the cart. Looking at its beautiful white blooms made me happy, and finding a spot to squeeze it into my garden made me happy, too. But eventually the blooms faded away, and I forgot all about my candytuft.
Until this week.
This week, my candytuft has made my garden a very happy place. It is blooming at the same time as my early irises. They look so pretty together, and my garden almost glows as the white of the low candytuft plays off the white of the taller irises.
Candytuft grows in zones 3 or 4 through 9 in full sun to partial shade. It is great for rock gardens, and I think it has found its own happy place next to the sidewalk in my garden.
But this one little plant, blooming so beautifully, has made me realize that I need more. One is jut not enough! Several lining the walkway would look much, much better.
I guess you know what that means! I will just have to go to my happy place - the garden center - again! :)
I grew a lot of this at our last house, and loved it. It was quite tough, and put up with some very hot weather without looking ragged. I haven't tried growing it here, but I expect my gophers and deer would love it! ;)
ReplyDeleteI have read that it's supposed to be deer resistant, but I've also read where deer eat it, so I guess one never really knows about deer!
Deletemy happy place is Pete's Greenhouse...I cannot wait to go visit it soon!
ReplyDeleteI hope you go and get a truck load! :) Wahoo!
DeleteVery pretty. It's also evergreen I believe so double bonus.
ReplyDeleteCher Sunray Gardens
I love evergreen groundcovers. A lot of perennials I forget about in the spring, and end up planting things on top of each other!
DeleteA happy place? A nursery or garden centre here too! And love unplanned purchases :)
ReplyDeleteUnplanned purchases are so much fun - but I'm beginning to run out of room! Time to enlarge the garden! :)
DeleteOh how I love going to my nursery too! My husband worries when I'm headed there because he knows I can't make it out without something!!! Your candytuft is stunning! What a beautiful happy flower it is indeed!
ReplyDeleteThat's just like me! I know better than to buy just one little plant - the garden always needs more visually. But I feel like I need to just start grabbing plants when we begin to leave! :)
DeleteWoo hoo another plant shopping opportunity! Well done for finding a reason to return to the garden centre!
ReplyDeleteMy happy place is just about any plant nursery and since I must visit these places for work, I am exceedingly happy most of the time.
Sounds like a dream job! I want to be a garden center critic! ;)
DeleteThe Candytuft is so pretty, Holley. We have some in our yard and ours is also white. Don't know what other colors (if any) it comes in...
ReplyDeleteI do have a question.. Do you cut it back each year after it blooms? Mine is getting leggy--and I think it needs cutting (after it blooms). Thanks.
Hugs,
Betsy
Yes, Betsy, I've read that you're supposed to cut it back after blooming. As for whether I actually do that or not, I don't remember! Maybe I'll do that this year! :)
DeleteYes! You need more and you must go to your happy place as soon as possible!
ReplyDeleteWell, I went today, but they didn't have any candytuft. :( I'll have to keep looking! Or, buy more next year!
DeleteSame passion that we will receive from the fruitful day in the garden! Well done!!
ReplyDeleteYou're right - a fruitful day or a bloom - it's all good in the garden!
DeleteI have three of the candytufts as a group at one point of one of the triangles in the perennial beds. I wish they would bloom longer than they do. This spring I have to dig out the black eye susan that found it's way between them. Crocuses are blooming here but that's it for now.
ReplyDeleteMy crocuses never bloomed this year. Not sure if it was me, or them. :( Your candytufts sound wonderful. I bet that point of the triangle just glows in the spring!
DeleteI agree, you really MUST go to your happy place and get more Candytuft (and anything else that just happens to catch your eye.) My happy place (well, my happiest place because I love to be in all garden centers) is Bates Nursery. It is near Nashville and is fabulous. I even have a Bates T-shirt which I proudly wear. I think I'm feeling a "Bates" trip coming on.....even though I have shrubs waiting in the garage to be planted....one more little trip can't hurt!!! :-p
ReplyDeleteI have shrubs waiting to be planted, too. That doesn't stop a gardener, though! You just never know what you'll find that you absolutely NEED for the garden! :)
DeleteMore is always better! I love the garden center too. I put in some candytuft last year. I hope to get those pretty blooms.
ReplyDeleteI feel foolish for only putting in one plant of these, but if I hadn't gotten this one, I wouldn't have known how beautiful they are blooming with the irises! I hope your candytuft blooms with a favorite plants of yours, too!
DeleteThat looks like a happy purchase! You could do with the whole row with these, especially since they are evergreen. I have never heard of candytuft, had to look it up, looks like it would do well in my garden too and it doesn’t grow too big either.
ReplyDeleteI would love to have a whole row of these. Not sure what I was thinking with just one! Guess I wasn't really thinking! I bet you would love it. And as you say, it's not very big, so it would fit well in your garden. :)
DeleteIt roots easily and lasts forever. The Iberis that I have was tiny cuttings from a neighbor's garden in 1974. Just take 3"-4" cuttings and put them in some light soil or even vermiculite. I'm rooting more now.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip! I'm going to do this! :)
DeleteI have a favorite happy place--also a local garden center. I blogged about it last May, and I can't wait to get back there again! :) I also have a favorite florist, and I went there the other day just to breathe in the freshness. Enjoy the Candytuft!
ReplyDeleteI hope you get to your local garden center soon! Spring is right around the corner!
DeleteI was put on the wrong leg, when I read "Happy Place". I thought yes now is Holley let out her most happy place in her garden, but no, it was the gardencenter. I could not help laughing, but you are so right, sometimes when I just want to have a break from all daily chores, I am off to the gardencenter. The variety of plants, the air and fragrance of all kind of flowers, strolling around for too long for I have lots of work to do, and than buying something new. Yes, that makes us really happy!
ReplyDeleteWell, my garden is also my "happy place", so you were right! Anywhere that plants are, really, are happy places for a gardener!
DeleteI agree. When I need cheered up I don't buy shoes or clothes, I head to the plant store. And as a mother of 3 teenage girls, I have escaped many times into the garden to soothe my nerves!
ReplyDeleteI definitely understand your need to get out in the garden for some solitude! :)
DeleteI think my happy place is the garden...fixing areas that are not working out,moving plants that are not happy and noting changes for the fall...but the real joy is just wandering like I am in a garden center looking at the plants...maybe I should do that more this year and note the plants that need dividing and sharing around the garden.
ReplyDeleteI've been working in the garden re-arranging, and it really is quite therapeutic. I should move plants around more often! :)
DeleteVery pretty - and you definitely need more, it looks lonely...
ReplyDeleteYes, :) it's very lonely! Sometimes, I have no idea why I think I just grab one plant. Sometimes those impulses are not very reliable!
DeleteYes, visiting a garden center is a fool proof mood improver. Fool proof, but not free, but in general cheaper than therapy.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely not free! And I've noticed that the price of some plants are high enough to make me put them back!
DeleteI just passed some Candytuft by this week so now am going back to get it. Our community has just gone through a devastating overpopulation of deer during the last 7 years. I put a 10' barbed wire fence around my gardens (we now call it Auschwitz) to keep the deer out. Believe me when I say the only plants deer do not eat are silk and plastic.
ReplyDeleteAnn
thejardinencantado.blogspot.com
I can imagine that when they're hungry, they would eat just about anything. And ornamental garden plants with a bloom are probably much more tasty to them than some of the other things they forage. Sounds like you may need to become a venison eater!
DeleteI have never heard of that- Candytuft! A new one and it is so pretty!!
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize it would bloom with the irises. Its timing was just perfect!
DeleteI am exactly the same---it makes me so happy to get an unplanned plant only mine tend to be a new witch hazel in a 10 gallon pot--not something you just pop in some where.
ReplyDeleteYes, if I want a large purchase like that, I am forced to think about where I will put it. It sometimes puts a damper on spontaneity!
DeleteTried some Candytuff in my garden last year - it didn't cope well with my too heavy pruning!! I'm just no good a giving wee plants a 'tidy up'.
ReplyDeleteThat is really lovely and yes, I've got the same kind of happy place too!
I'm just the opposite - I don't tidy up my plants enough!
DeleteThis is such a great plant, glad you found it. Although I might wait on buying more of it. It likes to spread - at least in my garden it does. I have an ever expanding patch that is only held back by the weeds.
ReplyDeleteI would love it if mine decided to spread some! But, thanks for the warning! I'll keep my eye on it! :)
DeleteI love love candytuft. A friend of mine gave me some for a birthday almost five years ago and it's still going strong. It's one of the first things to bloom in my garden. Hooray for impulse purchases.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful present - a herald of spring! :)
DeleteAwesome candytuft
ReplyDeleteI like things that will return every year. I'm not much into annuals, so since this one passed the test of our winters, and our hot summers, it's been given the go-ahead for me to have more in my garden.
Delete