Tuesday, February 7, 2012

PLANTS THAT WEAVE TEXTURE INTO TROPICAL TEXANA

This is one of my favorite topics. If I had to list the top reason that keeps me fascinated with botany and gardening, it would have to be my fascination with leaf textures. I'll bet I'm not alone. Are there any other foliage fanatics out there? Do you have to touch the leaves of plants as you walk down a sidewalk or when walking in the woods? And of course, in a botanical garden we all go crazy touching everything.  It's probably a common trait we all share, but no one ever talks about it.  :0)
Dwarf catmint (Nepeta faassenii 'Walker's Low Catmint' )
This one has a soft feel and pleasant scent.

Mexican feathergrass
You can run your fingers through this one like it's green hair.

Oregeno 'Dittany of Crete'
Needless to say, I'm not keeping this one on my desk or I'll probably pet it to death.

Licorice plant (Helichrysum petiolare) and Korean grass (Zoysia tenuifolia)
Both are soft as...as...well actually they're softer than anything I can think of.

Time to put these plants to work!
The front bed ~ Phase 3 with the new plants shown above.
I'll be adding the gravel this weekend so it will look a lot better.
The little sticks are for soil erosion while the ground cover plants get established. They'll decompose with time.
(the sticks, not the ground cover)

Native dichondra and yellow wood sorrel will fill in as ground cover plants.

A tiny native wire sedge. It's very soft though it appears bristly.

One of our little native hair sedges

A native hair sedge in a sea of native dichondra

Korean grass textured with dichondra

Native panic grass. This is one of my VERY favorite native grasses.

Thanks for stopping by. David/:0)

13 comments:

  1. Love the Oregeno, another one for my wish list. The catmint looks nice too, but I think it would attract too many cats into my garden.

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  2. Oh David! I loved this post. I can say with utmost certainty that I am a plant petter. I think the noun petter is made up, by me of course. I find myself petting plants all the time. I do it without even realizing it. I did find an adjective of the word pet and it’s pettable. I would have to say all of these plants look pretty pettable. Thanks for the great post!

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  3. It's so nice to see those little native plants like Dichondra growing in your garden. I need to look up that panic grass, I have something similar and wondered what is was.

    Nepeta is quickly becoming a favorite here in my garden because it didn't fade in the heat of summer.

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  4. My husband teases me about having to touch every leaf. He's not much of a gardener. Otherwise, he'd understand....it's just something we HAVE to do.
    Love all those leaves you have. That new bed is looking good.

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  5. I love to feel different plants, too. Thank you for the identification of panic grass. I have been seeing these in my garden, and wondered what it was.

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  6. I love the Korean grass. SOOOO soft. I agree. Down by the park here they have a few areas of Mexican Feather Grass that are fairly old/well established and large. I always laugh when I go down there and people have braided them into long green braids. I always say I am going to take a picture and I never have my phone. Laughed- the oregano not left at your desk or you would pet it to death hahaha. funny. I do like the texture of leaves and the catmint is one of my favorites. Fun you spotlighted that one. It is so dainty to me I just love it. (and our neighborhood kitty tippie toes loves it too- I thought it was just the name but she likes to roll in it).

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  7. Beautiful close ups! I must look for the Dittany of Crete, what a funny name :-)

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  8. Oh Yea, I have to touch each plant. But, I have to say that the shape of trees mesmerize me - each one of them so unique and different.

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  9. Love your closeups......looks like I could feel the fuzz if I touched the computer screen.

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  10. Touchy feely plants are a must in our garden, especially grasses. I'll bet you don't go stroking the agave though..

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  11. I like touching my tillandsias, especially the T. tectorum. The rest of my plants I don't really touch. Mostly because they have spines. *grin*

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  12. We seem to favour a lot of the same plants David! I love all your choices above, although I have not yet planted catmint in my garden. I think I have to give it a go. The way you descibe it sounds like I'm missing out.

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  13. Nice pictures! I have started getting into tropical plants and different, unique plants. You have given me some good ideas!

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I always appreciate your comments & questions! Happy Gardening from David/ Tropical Texana