Just Enjoying The Flowers

Hydrangea

 I think every gardener has a critical eye when it comes to their own garden. I know I do. As I walk through the beds I focus on the bare spots, the plants that could be doing better, a bit of insect damage here and there and a number of other blemishes that mostly only we can see.

Duranta

 But it is important to learn to look past those imperfections and focus on the amazing beauty that the gardens offer up this time of year.

Bearded Iris

 Sometimes we are the only ones that see the pretty scenes in our gardens too. Visitors may take in the big picture or see only the plants that they are interested in personally.

Verbascum

 Allow me to indulge in some of the amazing blooms that are decorating my gardens this time of year. All of them are my favorites that are putting on a lovely show during our dreary weather.

Rose

Alstromeria

Clematis

Statice

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!

Attracting Butterflies.

 I've been focusing on adding more plants that attract butterflies. Luckily there was a Master Gardener class focusing on just that which I attended a couple months ago that introduced me to some new plants that will do the trick that I don't grow - yet.

 There was an abundance of cleome at the nurseries this summer and I bought a number of them. They add nice summer color and the butterflies love them.

 I have fennel that has self seeded throughout the gardens.

 I have never grown gomphrena before, but after planting it I have a new appreciation for it. It went totally wilted when the new sprinkler weren't working, but bounced right back bigger than ever.

Of course there are the standard butterfly attractions like milkweed and passion flowers. It all must be working because there are more butterflies around than ever this year in the garden - much to my delight! Of course along with butterflies comes caterpillars and some damage to the garden while they eat their way to cocoons, so it is important to eliminate sprays, even organic ones, if you want to make them comfortable sharing your garden.

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!

Primroses in June

A shady nook in the garden that rarely is seen by most viistors still has a few English primrose blooms left thanks to the cool, overcast weather we have been having. The hellebores were done blooming months ago. These primrose were in a basket I used for some dining room arrangements in March and were just kind of stuck in the ground when they stopped blooming, but I guess they had more buds to show!

The Overlooked Daylily

 Daylilies are another flowering plant that seems rather unfazed by the reduced water. Although I guess the blooms may be sparser than usual, they do seem to just do their own thing day-in, day-out without much care from me, or Mother Nature.

 I have them sprinkled throughout the gardens, here and there. Some in full sun, others in a bit of dappled shade, but lots of light.

 I have them in all colors, shapes and sizes.

 Some do better than others. I typically buy them from Oakes Daylilies, a catalog/website that I frequent. Although not all of the hybrids I have purchased work well in our climate, many that are beautiful do, and they rarely show up in the local nurseries. I guess they are really more of a landscaper's choice since they don't require much care and have a big impact when grouped.

 I know they are not everyone's' favorite flower because they only last and day and don't make great cut flowers, unless you are willing to groom your arrangements daily.

But there is something to be said for carefree, flowering plants that don't need much watering, any pruning, spraying, dividing, or fertilizing and yet bloom consistently for years. I do kind of love them!

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.

Distractions

 I have been crazy busy doing everything but getting ready for the big Master Gardener Tour I have coming up early next month in SJC. However things do go on without me and I was able to pull together some lovely bouquets from the gardens for a party we had for some friends visiting from Hawaii. Roses, alstroemeria, buddleia, clematis, heliotrope and scabiosa combined to make this shades of pink, rose and purple fragrant and pretty display.

We finally had some overcast skies that resulted in a little bit of rain, but not much. I had a sprinkler guy come and put on a new box in the Laguna garden a few weeks ago and he said he set it but I'm not sure for how often because when I went by there this week it was terribly dry. The roses were blooming like crazy, but the trees and everything else were showing signs of distress, so the clouds were a welcome relief. Watering on a hillside takes a certain finesse. A little water at a time and let it soak in, then a little more. I didn't have time to read the directions to re-adjust the settings, but I will get over there this week to figure it out. Drought or not, I can't just let everything die and turn into a fire hazard!

Admiring Clivia

There are few flowers more showy in the shade gardens this time of year than the clivia.I know I am always singing their praises every year, but they truly do deserve to be considered for their ability to thrive where almost no other plants will in deep shade with little water. To prove it, here is a picture of some that are planted at the base of a eucalyptus tree way down at the bottom of our Laguna garden. They are lived like this for years. 

 The only thing that these troopers do not like is direct sun. Their beautiful green strappy leaves that look good all year long will turn yellow and burn in the sun. The flowers last for weeks and if orange isn't your color, (it isn't mine either, but I make an exception for these bold beauties once a year) try the yellow ones. 

Winter Blooming Succulents

 I don't know where the time goes, but it looks like spring is upon us based on the roses starting to bud and the wisteria that is showing color. I have been wrapped up in various house projects that have kept me busy but I need to take a minute to reflect on some late winter blooming succulents that are unique to our climate. The long goose neck blooms like the one above are showing up all over the place in the winter in Southern California and to visitors they do look like quite a curiosity. They are the blooms of the Agave attenuata, a very common plant in our landscapes. It takes about five or more years for the plant to bloom like this and then it will die, but by then there are usually many pups formed at the base ready to take over. This one is in my street-side garden and is putting on quite the show. Originally from Mexico, you can see where they get their common name, Fox Tail Agave!

 Kalanchoe blossfeldiana is a plant that I usually buy in pots for the colorful blooms in the fall and I use for indoor decorating, but my garden helper loves to propagate them because they are so easy. As a result I have tons of them all over the gardens (often to my dismay)! They are not much to look when not in bloom, but this time of year they put on a big show of color. I just found out their common name is Flaming Katy! I kind of like them a little better now!

Also in the Kalanchoe family is this plant, whose name I'm not sure of, some big lanky cousin of the Kalanchoe blossfeldiana that is tucked back in a corner of the Moonlight Garden. Very charming little flowers I think!

A Few New Shrimp Plants

 It isn't very often I can say that I've bought a plant I've never had before, but last month I finally broke down and bought a justicia brandegeana or as it is commonly called, a Shrimp Plant. Although the salmon-colored ones are very common in our area, I have never been seduced by their cute little shrimp-like flowers or their easy cultivation. But I have a love of chartreuse flowers and I have been looking for shade-loving perennials for my "Palm Alley" that are easy to grow and will hopefully last more than a few months as many of the others have only been willing to stick around. I was combing the shade aisle of the nursery and there was this bright shining little green shrimp plant that caught my eye. I brought it home and planted it and the more I looked at it the more I liked it, so I went back and got a few more. I like the way it adds color, but in a subtle way. It is just a bright glow as opposed to an actual color.

 This area can be very tricky. Some plants thrive and others don't do well. The shrimp plant is supposed to be very easy and can grow to be about three feet high and wide, although I don't think I've every seen one in a garden that big, but maybe I've just never noticed. We'll just have to watch and see how they do, meanwhile I 'm very excited about them!

Persistence Pays Off

I do love an arch in the garden and I have lots of them. I add them all over to create height and add a vertical element as well as acting as a way to separate spaces. Most of them are wire ones that I purchase from catalogs or a nursery.  This also allows me to utilize a whole new group of plants that would otherwise be left to an occasional fence or wall - vines. This arch in the Moonlight Garden has had at least four different kinds of vines growing on it that I can think of off the top of my head. When I put it in about seven years ago I planted the very prolific and popular at the time 'Avalanche' clematis. Of course the more I thought about it the more I regretted the chance to put one of my favorite fragrant vines in,  Madagascar jasmine, so I added that too. Neither vine flourished the way I hoped they would. So I decided to just go for it and add a white passion flower vine and at least have butterflies all over. I probably added a star jasmine too. One thing about vines that should always be a warning is that they can be very aggressive. By nature they are meant to grow from the floor of the forest, and scale up tall trees to get the sunlight at the very top. All of the vines I planted on this arch had no intention of scaling much of anything and most barely made it over the arch but the most frustrating thing was they just weren't interested in blooming. Here and there would be a bloom but nothing like I was used to in my other gardens. It may have been too shady. I have a hard time realizing that this area doesn't get as much sun as it seems due to the tall queen palms. The hard ground isn't very fertile either because of years of chemicals used on the lawn that was here previously. Then finally I broke down a bought a white Mandevilla vine. I am not crazy about Mandevillas for some reason. A little too showy and tropical for me, so I have no idea why I bought two and put one on each side of the arch last spring, just desperate I guess. But just to keep me humble I suspect, those Mandevillas are just as happy as can be and are blooming for months now! Go figure!

Summer Show Offs

Last February I was complaining about these narrow little planters and how bare they looked in the winter along side of the weeping cedar. I think I vowed to plant something other than the 'Black and Blue ' salvia that has been there for the past few years and only looks good during the summer months. But as I look at it now, it really does look quite lovely, and since I never did get around to replacing it, I guess it will stay for another year! I do love the combination of the bright green foliage against the dark purple flowers and it is hard to get a color combination that doesn't clash with the house color when it is that close. I must remember my own advice that not everything looks great all the time and just let the tree take center stage in the winter months!

The Charm of Columbine

Every garden, not matter how well planned and thought out, should always have a bit of whimsey and surprise, especially for the gardener that tends that garden. Nothing is more charming than self-seeding plants like columbine, also know as  aquilegia. A drought resistant perennial that shows up in the spring and comes in a number of different colors like this purple one or pink, white, yellow or red, they have sweet, clover-like foliage and are actually considered a staple of rock gardens. Deadheading will keep them blooming until it starts getting too warm, then be sure to leave some of the flower heads on to go to seed so they will multiply and return in abundance next year after they disappear all summer and winter. Just when you have forgotten all about them they will pop up and soon you will be charmed by their nodding little flower heads all over again.

Cutting Camellias

This year I've started using the winter blooms of my many camellias as cut flowers indoors on a regular basis. I always tell people that camellias are to winter what roses are to summer, but I do know that they do not quite have the scent of roses and the long stems that lend themselves to beautiful indoor bouquets so I am not surprised when I am met with a bit of skepticism over my enthusiasm for these beautiful blooms as cut flowers. Although I do sometimes cut them with stems and they do fine in small vases, my favorite way to display them is floating in flat bowls of water. On my coffee table all winter I have a large glass bowl of water that holds five to seven blooms and they last at least a week and are a lovely change of pace from the usual bouquets that are gathered from the garden. Add a few of the lovely dark green leaves tucked in around the blooms for a full look. One single bloom and a few leaves in a pretty saucer is lovely on a nightstand or in the powder room too. I did plant a couple new varieties this year for the sole purpose of adding to my choices to bring inside. My sister has moved into a home that has some established bushes and she always calls them "those peony-like flowers". Maybe I am missing the mark when I compare compare them to roses!  

On a side note, camellias are shrubs that prefer shady locations and once established and well mulched, can survive with minimum additional watering during droughts. Do clean up spent flowers under them though to prevent fungal diseases.