Nothing cheers up a gloomy rainy day like a shipment of new plants. I ordered some new mini plants from MiniForest and they arrived in great shape. MiniForest is always kind and friendly in addition to having great plants. They sent me an email about lowering my shipping cost and the box arrived exactly when they said it would.

First I ordered more dwarf golden Japanese sweet flag (I’ll be listing all the correct Latin names in a later post). This is the plant I have killed many times, I think  because I try to divide it too much. This time I will be more careful. It is just the right size for the look of a tropical grass.

Next, I bought two kinds of “Brass Button” mini-ferns, green and black. I am not sure there is enough contrast between them to have them grow side-by-side but maybe as they get bushier the contrast of the green against the black might work. One of the plants had some seed heads on it and I wonder if I can get them to grow.

I love heathers but have had no luck trying to get cuttings to root, even though every propagation book I have says it is the easiest thing on earth. Not on my earth! So I bought a small heather but it doesn’t look very tropical to me. Still, it has beautiful color and texture so it may be useful.

Finally, I ordered something I had never seen before: a bright green, flat surface plant with the ominous name of “Astro Turf.”  I think its quite ugly but I will try to pull off some individual rosettes and see if I can get them to grow.