Some Vegetables, Ollas, and Flowers

 It has been a crazy busy spring around out house, so I haven't done much blogging. I have been busy in the gardens. 

 Once again the fresh food from the garden bug has got me and although my dream is to try once again to create a big beautiful kitchen garden, it is just going to have to wait. Summer is just around the corner and I try to wind down my projects and focus on relaxing and enjoying the fruits of my labors in the summer. I always have some vegetables growing here and there and the fruit trees just carry on all summer without too much attention so I can't complain too much. I got some onions in the ground finally, better late then never!

 Thanks to my sister I have quite a few tomato plants this year. I planted some in pots outside the kitchen, but about a dozen went into an empty raised bed. I added ollas to see how they worked. Ollas (pronounced “oy-yahs”) are unglazed clay/terra-cotta pots with a bottle or tapered shape that are buried in the ground with the top/neck exposed above ground that are filled with water for underground irrigation.

We couldn't find any large ones so we went with a bunch of smaller ones. Usually tomato plants require a lot of water, although with our gloomy weather I guess I should be more worried about mildew than wilting! The tomatoes are bred to handle the May Gray and June Gloom we typically get this type of year so we'll see how they do. So far so good.

 

 I also put in some squash mainly because the rabbits leave them alone. I think the trick to enjoying squash is to plant a number of plants and harvest them when they are small and tender. Anyone who has ever grown zucchini knows they can grow to scary proportions overnight! A bowl of tiny squash with grated cheese is a meal for me. I haven't tried frying the flowers, but who knows?

 The rest of the garden is looking especially nice this year (mostly) due to the rain that we have had. It's not enough to say the drought is over, but my garden is certainly basking in the bit of extra percipitation.

Finally!

 Finally! After some unexpected rain yesterday I got out and wandered through the gardens and to my delight, there is a collective sigh of relief from all the foliage! Even the drought tolerant plants were getting really tired of having to be so tolerant of years of no significant, deep soaking rain and were showing signs of stress and lethargy.
 

 But finally there is a bout of growth spurred by the weekly rain we have been having and upcoming spring weather that can't be denied. Even the groundcovers that were the first to give up due to the dry weather have started to reappear.

 Shrubs that I planted years ago that never showed much growth are starting to take off - finally!

 I have planted so many perennials that just kind of dwindled away even though they supposedly tolerated dry conditions that are now bursting with life. 

This is how I think of early spring, flush with new growth and lush, deep colors of green! Finally!

Late Winter Blooms

 It is hard to believe that spring is just a few days away. This winter has flown by with so many family happenings as well as personal events that took over much of my focus and time. 

 The big El Nino we were counting on to bring us relief from the long drought has been rather winpy to say the least, but there is still more rain in the forecast and the mountain tops are covered with snow, a good sign.

I haven't spent any time in the gardens up until this week, but they have been soaking up the rain and the record breaking heat in February and there are signs of growth everywhere. I am delighted that the abutilons I searched for all over last year have settled in and are blooming like crazy in all the shady gardens that were so bare. I absolutely love their charming blooms as do the hummingbirds. Their structure is a bit leggy and sparse still, but I am hoping they will fill in this spring. I learned the hard way not to prune them too hard because they are slow growers so I am just leaving them alone to allow them to spread out in their light and airy fashion. Because they prefer the shade, they don't seem too bothered by the lack of rain last year and are good sports almost everywhere I have planted them. I am going to figure out how to cut some branches and bring them in the house too.

Fall Bloomers

'Frequent Violet' Iris

 I have been meaning to write a post about all the plants that have disappeared over the past couple of drought ridden years in my gardens (these are not them!), but it was kind of sad so I decided to focus on a bit of color that is still enjoying the hot weather.

Duranta erecta 'Sapphire Showers'

 I've had to remove a bunch of photos from my computer so it will not punish me, so I have been reminiscing about plants that I had kind of forgotten about.

Hybiscus

 I have also been visiting nurseries this week to start thinking about the fall planting plans. I want to take advantage of this forecast El Nino year with the added rain it is supposed to bring.
 

Queen's Wreath

 It is too hot to do any planting yet, but October is our best month of the year for establishing new trees, shrubs and perennials.

Bird of Paradise

 I am much more disciplined and savvy about sticking to natives and drought tolerant plants after this long hot summer than I am in the spring when I just get carried away!

Rose 'Evelyn'

 It has been a rough year for some of my favorite plants (ahem - roses) and I am rethinking whether or not they are worth the work and anguish they put me through.

Salvia leucantha and Guara

I'm trying to make smart choices and add more of what already is working well. Of course that is the plan. We'll see how it plays out when I actually go to buy the plants!

Tales of Woe and One of Graditude

 This is what many plants look like when you plant them in the heat of the summer in a drought. I was deseperately trying to fill in bare spots with plants to prepare for a big party I was planning that would take place out in the SJC gardens. All the leaves died within the first month on this acanthus, but new ones have already started to grow.

 I know I wasn't the only one with sick looking dahlias, I heard many other gardeners complaining this year. Since they hate soggy soil you would think they would do better with limited water. This may be the result of a virus or disease, but that is what happens to stressed plants - they are more likely to fall to either of those maladies as well as insects, than when they are well watered (for their needs) and strong.

 I don't know what kind of tree this is on our neighbor's property behind us that looks like it is on its last leg, but it was once a full, lovely tree that added dimension to our garden. It is just over the fence in a part of their large property that doesn't get watered at all except from rain. I imagine that it may be reaching its roots out to get some from our garden, but if it is near its end of life span, it may not be getting enough to hold it over.

I am so grateful for our trees that are wonderful at cooling the yards and house with their shade. It is about 20 degrees cooler standing under them than walking out into the hot sun. One is a Brazilian pepper tree that was already here and the others are California pepper trees that we planted about six or seven years ago. Both kinds are very drought tolerant and I see them growing around here in terrible conditions looking like little oases of green in an ocean of brown. I would love to pull over every time I see someone in our neighbor hood installing synthetic lawns and advise them to plant a few drought tolerant trees (there are lots of them) and surround them with a crunchy gravel and a few distinctive but beautiful agaves or native perennials and they will be much happier as will the wildlife!

When Plants Get Stressed

 Different plants respond differently to stress (much like people). Many plants, like this brilliant 'Santa Barbara' bougainvillea, think it's best to send out as many flowers as possible to help spread seeds before it may expire. Although it is considered a tropical plant, and I think of tropical plants as ones coming from lush, rain forest-y places, many are extremely drought tolerant. This is probably why the most beautiful and prolific bougainvilleas are usually found in the most desolate places like abandoned buildings or deserted parking lots and yet we can't get them to bloom in our own backyards.

 Every year I have the queen palm trees at our SJC home trimmed in the fall when they put out their flowers and annoying seeds. They cover the ground with scrappy little flower petals then cherry-sized seeds that make a big mess when you have 100 of them. This year I have already had to bring my tree trimmers out once in the summer because they were uncharacteristically blooming and seeding all over the place in July, I'm assuming due to the lack of water. We removed the seed pods, flowers and any dying branches. As you can see here it is almost time to do it again.

 Although it is impossible to remove established acanthus, they do not like the drought at all. I have lost a whole bed of them in Laguna and the ones I have placed here and there in the shade in SJC are not fairing well. As you can see, this one has lost all it's leaves but is desperately trying to establish its legacy by expending every last bit of energy in putting out this lone flower stalk. I'm sure it will survive and I hate to say it, but I have never seen them sprout from seed in my gardens yet.

 The good news is that a bit of stress can force a stubborn non-bloomer to finally bloom like this little banana tree! I have grown bananas in Laguna for many years and planted a couple trees as soon as we moved into SJC, but they never bloomed. This week I was delighted to see the first flower on my little 'Ice Cream' plant. Hopefully by the time the holidays come I can show the grandkids how bananas grow.

Not all plants respond to stress with prolific blooms. My roses have been almost non-existent this year. They seem to pull in and reserve all their strength to withstand the cut back in water and when they do bloom they are small, sad flowers. I have fertilized same as usual, but they prefer to wait it out until more water is available. I have noticed that the vacant lot down the street where a gentleman grows dozens and dozens of rose bushes for his hobby of showing roses in contests is as prolific as usual. He does use synthetic fertilizers which stimulate the blooms no matter what is going on with Mother Nature. Of course along with that he has to use lots of sprays and lots of water, but he does have glorious flowers!

Getting Back To Business

 It's been a busy summer and I know I've been negligent in posting to my blog, but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy in the gardens. This summer we had a wedding in the family, a big birthday bash in the garden in SJC, started to design our new home in Laguna in addition to Grandparent's Week and lots of birthdays and visits from family and friends. I can hardly believe that summer is almost over although the signs are showing outside in spite of the 90 degree temperatures. 

 We have been asked to cut back our water consumption 26% to help alleviate stress from the drought. I put in new sprinkler boxes in Laguna to help regulate the water better, and our last bill showed that we cut our water use down 67%. Needless to say, the garden doesn't look good and we have lost a lot of plants that preferred the wetter conditions, but that may have been inevitable. 

 In SJC we switched out sprinkler heads to more efficient ones but did not adjust the watering times and everything suffered due to not enough water at all. Then one of our drip systems got shut off accidentally and wasn't noticed until it was too late for many plants. Our water bill at this house is down more than 50% too. I am happy to be so water efficient, but I didn't intend to hit the community goals for everyone all by myself! 

 Many of the older established plant hung in there and are bouncing back with a little added water. They are predicting a lot of rain from the El Nino coming this winter. I hope we get the rain without too much damage. We could sure use it!

 I was forced to do what I tell other people not to do in their gardens. I planted a lot of plants in the middle of summer to enhance the gardens for a big garden party I had for my DH's birthday. I bent over backward with a lot of hand watering to keep those new additions to the garden alive while they got established and was able to hold on to most of them while we got the sprinkler issues worked out. Take note: do not fool around with your automatic sprinkler system in the summer!

Although I'm sharing some pictures that look good that I took this beautiful summer morning before the day heats up, I'll try to share (it kills me) the not-so-pretty scenes too over the next few weeks and the lessons I learned!

A Corner of Color

With the water regulations in play, most of the flowering perennials that would be in bloom now are laying low. It hasn't been terribly warm yet, so there are still some corners of the garden in the shade that hint at what the garden used to be during years when there was adequate rainfall. I'm surprised to see the baby tears since most of the other tiny groundcovers have disappeared, but this little corner near the front door sits in the shade and must get a good dose from the sprinkler nearby a couple times a week. Other plants a few feet away are shrinking and shriveling. Sometimes I am fooled by what hangs in there and which plants cannot handle the stress.

Blooming

Iochroma

 I have to admit that my garden is looking pretty pathetic right now. Even though most of the plants are rather drought tolerant and I don't think it is necessarily the water restrictions that are causing the havoc as much as the erratic summer weather combined with my lack of attention. It is cool and overcast for a few days, then hot and humid for a while, then dry and windy.

Asiatic lily

 I have very few things in bloom when this should be the peak season for things like roses and lilies. Most of my lilies have disappeared over the years and I still have the new bulbs waiting to be planted. 

Disneyland Rose

 The roses have been cut back hard due to looking very shabby from sawfly larve, an ongoing problem. I need to make a trip to the nursery for some organic treatments and keep up the spraying. There are a few blooms here and there.

Duranta

I am getting concerned because I have a big event coming up here at the house and only about six weeks to get everything in shape. But this week we have our four oldest grandchildren coming for their special week with us so everything is just going to have to hang in there a little longer - I have more important things to do right now!

Succulents Are Not Cactus, (But Cactus Are Succulents)!

 I use aeoniums as ground cover in a number of spots for the simple reason that they are so easy to propagate. Just take a rosette and stick it in the ground and you have a new plant.They do best in bright areas or filtered sun. But they are not fool proof in that they do need some regular water. They are not cactus! The picture above is a spot that they are quite happy in, a neglected corner with just the right amount of sun and water.

This picture is a spot they are not too happy with, along the curb in the front yard. My garden helper put them in on his own when the creeping thyme wasn't doing so well. Naturally they can't be walked on so maybe not a great choice next to where people park and get out of their cars. But the main problem is not enough water in this spot. There are sprinklers here, but the soil is so thin and sloped that it just won't seep into the ground and these guys are thirsty (but they are still creating offspring I notice). They ball up and turn red when not happy. I am planning on replacing them with dymondia in the fall or next spring. Not my favorite groundcover as far as looks go, but I guess you can't beat it for being tough and drought tolerant. Almost anything will be an improvement over this!

Lovely Ground Morning Glories

It seems like the groundcovers that are not succulent in nature have a really hard time doing well with limited water. I'm guessing it is because they usually have very shallow roots. Convolvulus sabatius (Ground Morning Glory) is an exception. It is really more like a very short shrub, growing about three feet wide, along the ground, and I'm assuming it has deeper roots because of this. You buy it in one gallon containers and it doesn't naturally root, reseed or send out runners (unlike crazy vine morning glories) so maybe it isn't really considered a ground cover, more like a ground hugger! I do love the color and the easy growing nature of this charming plant, blooms all year round and drought tolerant too! You couldn't ask for more!

Tough But Pretty

Another plant that seems unaffected by the drought are the agapanthus. They actually do better under stress, and bloom more! On our SJC property when we bought it were dozens of agapanthus that were tucked in everywhere. They obviously had been divided from what I'm guessing were large clumps somewhere and the characteristic leaves were throughout many of the flowerbeds at the feet of the palm trees and other established plants. Although they are considered a rather pedestrian plant in our area, I was delighted. I love agapanthus! But unfortunately they were too immature to bloom. We are just starting to get blooms now, eight years later. Pretty white and blue flowers are starting to show up here and there. I know they prefer crowded roots to bloom, but maybe the shortage of water has been enough of a stress to cause them to send up flowers too.

Loving Lantana in the Drought

 There are some plants that have really come into their own with the reduced watering cycles. I don't know if is because they are just finally mature after about seven years, whether they look good because some of the other plants typically that steal the show are suffering from the drought, or if they just truly thrive getting less water. (There is a fourth option and that is that my garden helper has been relegated to some new projects in Laguna and has not got near them with his pruners recently!)

 

One of these plants that I rarely think about planting is good old lantana. These are out in the curbside garden strip. I would not typically plant large yellow or orange flowering shrubs in any of my gardens, but the wall in the background is the same gold color as the house and I had to work with that. I have planted white lantana in the Moonlight Garden more times than I can remember and it never takes off at all. I find this common among plants, some colors are actually a more robust plant than other colored flower bloom colors of the exact same plant. Or maybe these guys are just situated perfectly. Lantana foliage is poisonous to animals and so the rabbits that are so profuse out here leave them alone. Another plus is that butterflies love them!

I honestly don't see this garden very often. When I drive out of the driveway I turn immediately left on the street and this garden is to the right, and to go out and walk by it I have to go through the front gates and leave my buddies behind (they are a bit too much off the leash to run around in the street) and nobody is happy about that.