March Mart Buys.

i went to march mart at mercer arboretum this morning -- wow. i've never seen so many different plants for sale.

i only allowed myself to buy as much as i could carry, which turned out to be 13 plants squeezed into a nursery flat.

• coreopsis grandiflora (big flower coreopsis) -- something to try in the border between our driveway and the neighbor's
  
• gladiolus byzantinus (byzantine gladiolus) -- this is one i've admired since reading about it in scott ogden's "garden bulbs for the south" and william welch / greg grant's "the southern heirloom garden". welch has this to say, "...unlike the fussy modern hybrids, G. byzantinus is a survivor, and a true perennial." i'm not sure whether mine are large enough to bloom this year; i may have to settle for admiring the foliage for a year or two.
  
• laurus nobilis (bay laurel) -- darin loves to cook and frequently uses bay leaves, so this counts as a 'practical' plant. it's also a fascinating heirloom shrub for the south. i'll probably keep it in a container so it can be moved inside if necessary during the winter.
  
• (2) penstemon tenuis (gulf coast / brazos penstemon) -- another candidate for the driveway border
  
• (2) phlox divaricata var. laphamii (louisiana phlox) -- front bed, i think
  
• (2) salvia greggii "coral" (coral sage) -- border
  
• salvia urtica (blue sage) -- border
  
• stipa tenuissima (nassella tenuissima) (mexican feather grass) -- possible replacement for the liriope along the front walk (but i'll need a lot more)
  
• thymus x citriodorus (golden lemon thyme) -- not entirely sure where to put this one, it could go into the raised bed, but it looked too neat to pass up. the linked photo doesn't do it justice, but the tiny green leaves are edged in yellow. and it does have a very lemony scent.
  
• thymus serphyllum (mother of thyme) -- groundcover for somewhere