A Little Summer

Since I whined about the weather all summer, I feel I owe it to Mother Nature to praise this lovely fall weather we have been having. It was a bit hot for a day or two, but now it is just balmy! The skies have been filled with glorious cloud formations and there was event a bit of a sprinkle from a random cloud yesterday. The leaves on the native sycamores are starting to turn brown and fall off and the hydrangea flowers are drying out on the bush, but it could be a late summer for those of us that are willing to suspend belief just a little!

Hot

I've been waiting patiently for the "autumn-urge-to-garden" feelings to overcome me after a too brief summer. I used to burn-out in the summer and worry that I would never have those feelings of the need to plant, prune and plan for gardens to come, would return, but they always did. Last week I was thinking about pumpkins and mums and I had on my to-do list for this week, a trip or two to the nursery. Well, it was 107 degrees here yesterday. Record breaking heat, no doubt. Nothing like heat stroke to dash those ambitions of grandeur in the garden! At least I didn't go out and buy all those fall annuals that would be shriveling in this heat. I can only imagine the panic at the nurseries that are packed with pansies this time of year. At least pumpkins don't wilt!

Big

This ligularia is so happy in this dappled shade that they have grown so large that they are crowding out the other plants that share this area. Time to rescue the others and relocate them because I don't want to interfere with a happy plant!

Waiting for the Colors

I try to plant a lot of plants that turn colors in the fall in my gardens. I like the signal from nature that it is time to slow down and get ready for the winter months. Our warm temperatures that are typical for this time of year have yet to produce too many turning leaves, but bougainvillea is putting on a colorful display throughout Southern California this month. This can be a too common plant in some people's opinion because it is so content that it grows to an enormous size and is almost impossible to get rid if you try . It also has some nasty thorns! Oddly enough it can be difficult to get started due to it's overly sensitive root system that is quite delicate and falls apart when transplanting. It is not uncommon to have a young bougainvillea sulk for a couple years before taking off and becoming a beautiful specimen, which is one of the few extremely colorful, yet very drought tolerant plants available. I want more!

Lions Spitting Water

My DH and I have a running joke about "lions spitting water". When we were first married and house hunting it seemed like we had very different tastes when it came to real estate. I liked quaint, funky places and he liked stately, dignified homes. To clarify my point one frustrating day I told him that I would never live in a house with lions spitting water. What is the first thing you see when you pull in the driveway of our SJC home? Well it used to be a lion spitting water. Now it is a lion overlooking a funky basin of succulents spilling into a basin of "splashing" liriope. A fitting compromise I would say!

Harvest Moon Blooms

What's blooming brightly in the Moonlight Garden just in time to capture the moonbeams from the magnification Harvest Moon?

Hibiscus, Shasta daisies, daylilies and roses, just to show a few.
The first days of fall are being welcomed with a flush of flowers throughout all the gardens.

The warm days ahead that are somewhat typical of our fall weather will be much welcomed by the plants that were waiting for a summer that never happened along the coast in Southern California.

Cutting Back the Grasses

Many of the tall ornamental grasses in my gardens have been looking a little tattered and floppy for some time now, but I have been waiting for signs of new growth to show in the center before cutting them back. As you can see on this variegated miscanthus sinensis, the new shoots are coming up which is a good indicator that the plant will withstand a sever cut back, look tidy all winter and be ready to bounce back in the spring. Finally!

A Love/Hate Relationship

This bright grass in the front SJC garden is Japanese Forest Grass (hakonechloa 'Aureola') and I love it in the spring, fall and winter months when it gets mostly shade in this spot and turns a bright chartreuse color. The texture is beautiful and it brightens the garden of greens and purples wonderfully. However...
...for a few months in the summer it gets full sun here and turns pale and scraggly looking. I'm inclined to dig it up and move it to full shade year round, but it just goes so well in this bed. We'll see.

More Than Just a Pretty Face

Look at the tall, sturdy stems on this 'Ahoy Matey' dahlia. No staking needed here. Look for characteristics in the description that indicate strong stems when buying tubers, such as "sturdy" or "good cut flowers" and there is a good chance you won't need to do much staking. I also tend to keep to the mid-size blooms since the sheer weight of the flower can cause the stem to bend. I'm pretty laid back when it comes to staking plants and would rather just invest in plants that don't need the extra support to make a good show in the garden.

While I'm On The Subject

Planting "en masse" isn't just for garden beds. This old wooden container that sits by my front walkway in SJC is usually filled with annuals. When the spring annuals were spent, only the dirt remained, I'm embarrassed to say, all summer. I was walking by the other day and on the spur of the moment decided to do something about it. With a few minutes I had broken off about a dozen young aeonium off shoots and filled in the container. No tools were needed and it has been over a month and they are doing quite well. I will probebly rotate the container 180 degrees every once in a while so they grow evenly since the light is to the left. Now why didn't I do this earlier?