Trough Gratitude

I asked my neighbor Ray last spring how I could pay him for all of the wonderful alpines from Oliver's that find their way into my troughs each year.  I offered to let him have any of the new, empty troughs for sale in my driveway.

He had something grander in mind, and told me which planters he REALLY wanted. We busted a couple of my older molds out of storage, and in July made the planters pictured above and below.  He paid for the materials, and we spent a humid Saturday afternoon casting them together.

I'll post more photos (I hope) once he plants them.

New Trough this Year

I cast this rectangular trough last summer in a heat wave.  I had plans to sell it, then plans to use it at my garden at work, and finally admitted that, yes, I DID in fact need another planted trough in my driveway.  We gardeners all know how that goes.

L-R  back row: thuja occidentalis 'Teddy', phyteuma scheuchzeri (horned rampion), tsuga canadensis 'Jervis'.  Front row: dianthus gratianopolitanus 'Tiny Rubies', daphne cneorum 'Blackthorn Triumph', androsace sarmentosa, and globularia cordifolia 'Julian Alps'

I planted them in a mix of roughly 25% topsoil, 50% granite grit, with sand and Turface making up the last 25%.  It's mulched with a small gravel.  The trough gets good sun until midday, then is mostly shaded by the slatted fence and my neighbor's house.

I have high hopes for this group.  These are good plants.