Monday, August 18, 2008

What's New

Last weekend, Houston played host to the annual Texas Nursery and Landscape Expo - a trade show for the nursery industry. I spent my time combing the miles and miles of displays for new plants and garden items - The trend for plants with low water needs continues to grow. - there were lots of Yuccas, succulents, grasses, and native trees. I did search for Pam's (Pam Penick of Digging fame) Whale's Tongue agave.

There were lots of grey-green Chisos Agaves, Agave havardiana - but no Whale's Tongue. Grasses of all kinds were another hot item. I'm thinking about trying some new ones in pots.





One thing I did notice that was new to me were these Henna Coleus - I'm a sucker for any lime colored leaves! But the serrated leaf edges were what originally caught my eye. I hope one of my local garden centers stocks some of these. This Henna Coleus is chartreuse and copper on top with dark burgundy undersides.


I did run across a new-to-me palm - a Teddy Bear Palm! Dypsis leptocheilos gets its name from the fuzzy feel of its crownshaft. Its hardy to zone 9a so should do fine in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.

Another item that I think could be pretty ingenious are these large wire and fabric pots. I love the handles and the fact that they are very light weight, When you plant something growing in it, you just cut and tear away the fabric cover, then lower the whole thing (wire cage and all) into the planting hole. No wrestling a huge rootball out of a plastic pot - or having to cut the pot in order to release the plant. And I always end up cutting myself when I have to cut a pot in half.

Well, I'll be interested to see if any of my favorites from the trade show make to my local stores any time soon.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's too bad that you couldn't find the 'Whale's Tongue', Mary Beth. But it looks like you did find several other cool plants. I like that coleus too. Thanks for letting us know about it.

Muddy Mary said...

I was at the Expo too. It was so vast, I didn't notice the neat things you highlighted. Did you see the watercatching patio at Pavestone and the nursery pots made out of corn, wheat, or rice hulls? Loved those.

Mary Beth said...

MARY - Those were two of my other favorites! We're getting ready to put in a new patio so the watercatching one caught my eye.

PAM - Guess I'll just have to keep searching for a Whale's Tongue

Anonymous said...

An Austin gardening acquaintance just told me that he found a couple of very small Whale's Tongues at Yucca Do this year. Otherwise, he said, they are hard to come by.