Places To Go.....

... and people to see.

Later!

The Flop

The unseasonable amount of rain we have been having is good for almost everything, except for weak stemmed perennials that should be staked. These mums are flopped for good now unless I get out and get some round supports and there is a good chance that isn't going to happen anytime soon. Oh well, they're still pretty!

Almost Missed These Firsts!

I've been quite busy lately. We're getting ready to attend our son's wedding in New York as well as coordinating a number of to-do projects around the houses. There have also been a few community projects demanding attention. Couple a busy schedule with a rainy month and I must admit I haven't spent much time in the garden. I finally had to add "take garden photos" to my list of things to do just so I would have some inspiration for my blog entries. It rained heavy in the early morning hours this morning, but the sun finally came out and the dogs and I headed out for some pictures. There were lots of things going on in the garden that I knew would be happening, but I was surprised to spot my first narcissus of the season! Can it be that time already? I guess so!

Then as I wondered on I spotted my first camellia of the season. I really do need to get 'out' more!

Even More Mums

Giving the fall garden another shot of easy color are these deep red chrysanthemums against this pretty gray artemisia, which is color itself all year round.

Ligularia Blooms

I do love my various types of ligularia and often post pictures of the lovely foliage, which is why I grow them. I get questions about the blooms, which are quite sparse on most of them since I grow them in shady spots. I even cut off the blooms on many of them so all their energy goes into the foliage.

However right now my "leopard plant" ligularia is blooming away and since there is not much else going on in the area, I've left the blooms on to enjoy. So if you were wondering what ligularia blooms actually look like, here you go!

Rice Flower Plant

There are some plants I grow to use as fillers, both in the garden and in cut arrangements. The rice flower shrub (ozothamnus) is one of those plants. It does well in both the sun and partial shade, although it tends to get a bit scraggly in shady areas and needs to be cut back to maintain a full look.


I have grown it for years and I like the way it looks light and airy in the garden beds when mixed with other plants.

The pink one has a tendency to fade in too much sun. It holds it's flowers for a long time and blooms almost all spring and summer in our area.


It also lasts a long time when cut and dries nicely too. The books say it has a pleasant fragrance although I must admit I've never noticed. Now I know someone is going to ask if this is the plant that rice comes from and the answer is no!

My Weeping Cedars

I have a passion for weeping trees. They seem so romantic to me with their grace and subtle movement at the slightest breeze. I remember falling so in love with this one that is planted in my Laguna garden when it was at a nursery near where I worked. I think I must have lusted after it for a good six months before I could afford to buy it and cram it in my car, lug it down fifty steps and into the garden. That was about twelve years ago and the poor thing has not had an easy time surviving on the hillside where it resides. It is a bit top heavy and tends to want to lay down and so it is propped up precariously.


When we moved into the SJC house one of the first things I did was replace an over sized palm tree planted much too close to the house in this planter in the motor court with another weeping cedar. it is a fairly vertical tree so I thought it would be a good choice.


It turned out to be a happy combination because the tree has grown more in three years than my other one has in twelve I think. It is an interesting specimen that adds a lot of character to the house and I see it every time I come home. Not everybody sees the beauty in it's twisted shape and muted color, but it works for me.

A Crested Palm

I am not expert on palm trees although I am responsible for quite a few of them in at our SJC home, but I do know an anomaly when I see one! I don't know what type of palm this is, but it is definitely sporting a mutation known as a crest or fasciation. Basically what this means is the plant cells that normally grow up at the growing tip of the plant, start to grow sideways instead, creating a crest at the top of the plant. It is most often seen in succulents and cactus, but can happen in almost any plant that grows from the top. Scientists are not sure why this occurs, but suspect it may be the result of a virus or insect infestation. It doesn't really hurt the plant and this palm one seems very healthy. Just different!

Five Days of Rain

There is nothing like a good rain to clean off the spider webs, dust and dirt and show the garden at it's best. The greens seem a little more saturated and the colors of the fall flowers pop. There is new growth on the summer perennials that were cut back last month and everything is looking lush and sparkling in the Flying Rabbit Island planter bed.

What's Loving The Rain?

These banana trees in our SJC backyard are quite happy with the unusually wet weather we've been having lately. Although they will tolerate drier conditions, being tropical, they thrive in the wet, mild weather. The deep soaking they are getting from a week of rain will leach out the salt accumulation from the soil which will be good for them. They stop growing if the temperatures go over 80 degrees or under 55 degrees, so they are suited quite well to our climate that has temperatures in that range most of the time. Our trees in the Laguna garden gave us bunches of fruit every year and I'm looking forward to these little ones eventually producing too.