This is a partial picture of the garden palette we have to work with. We continue to propagate new plants in the greenhouse, tiny though it may be, and even direct sow seed for some perennials in the spring and fall (with varying degrees of success) but there are gaps. Gaps in the gardens, gaps in the variety of plants we have to propagate, and gaps in our attention to taking cuttings at the right time. Other than the monsterously large Shasta daisies, enormous clumps of agastache and the rampantly self-sowing anthemis (which we want less of) the gardens are still too young to do much propagation by division. What’s missing from this picture? Where would I begin with such a wish list? More delphiniums of every shade and hue, more hollyhocks (they grow like weeds everywhere else but not here), lavender and plenty of it, oriental poppies, lady’s mantle ( a truckload), dianthus  gratianopolitanus (pinks, not Sweet William), geranium psilostemon (we’ve killed three of these, effortlessly), more columbines, more anemones, hakonachloa macra ‘Aureum’, yucca filamentosa ‘Color Guard’, heucheras, hostas, foxfloves, myosotis sylvatica, more daffodils, more tulips,  eremerus (which seems not to work here, suspected hardiness issue) and a greater variety of siberian irises.

Perhaps its time to start planning a pot-luck plant party.