Flower Shopping with the Fam

It's amazing the clarity that comes with psychotic jealousy.

~My Best Friend’s Wedding

Last weekend I went flower shopping with my mom and sister.  As we wandered around the garden section I got more and more jealous of the selection they had to choose from since both of them have plenty of sun in their gardens.  Although I’m getting quite an education about cool shade plants this year it is hard not to be jealous of all the beautiful sun-loving plants that other people get to plant.  I’ll admit I was pouting a bit, but then I found something to snap me out of my bad mood.

It’s a New Guinea Impatiens.  I was so excited when I saw a whole display of these.  I’ve already learned to make friends with impatiens since they do so well in the shade, but sometimes they seem a little plain for me.  I tend to gravitate towards the more exotic looking plants that almost always seem to need full sun.  This variety is the perfect combination of shade tolerant and flashy.  I love the really dark, almost black, foliage.

I was even more excited when I found coleus with similar shades of hot pink.  I’ve really come around on coleus.  I had always thought it was the kind of boring plant that everyone settles on when they need something to fill a shady area.  No matter how pretty, a bunch of leaves never seemed like an acceptable substitute for big, gorgeous flowers.  But now I realize how nice it is to be basically guaranteed color and texture in the garden all summer from the coleus leaves.  I don’t have to worry about how my plant will look once all the flowers have bloomed because coleus always looks nice.  It’s like I’ve been chasing the high school quarterback when really what I wanted was the class treasurer.  So now I’m “Team Coleus” all the way and I love how it looks with my new impatiens.