The Silver Lining

Yesterday I wrote about the changes in the Laguna garden after the myoporum tree died and had to be removed. There was one upside - about a cord of firewood!

Moving the Clivias

Years ago I bought a number of yellow clivia plants on sale and used them to line what was once this shady flight of steps that lead into the Laguna garden. They multiplied and grew and formed a lovely sight every spring. Unfortunately they lived under the big myoporum tree that succumbed to thrips last year and had to be removed, leaving the shade loving perennials exposed to the sun all day. Although they don't look too bad in this photo, the leaves and flowers are burnt and brown in spots from direct sun (granted, we haven't had that much this year so far) and will have to be dug up, separated and replanted in another shady spot. The good news is that there will be plenty to bring over to the SJC garden. I do love the brilliant orange clivia, but I find the soft yellow ones easier to blend into the existing garden color schemes. They grow very easily in our climate that gets no frost and are rarely bothered by any pests other than maybe snails and slugs. Lovely foliage year round, dependable blooms that last about a month and a tolerance for dry conditions make them a staple throughout my shady gardens.

Another Great Groundcover for Dry Areas

This is a funny spot in my Laguna garden that is a dry slope in dappled shade. I don't know how many groundcovers I have planted here over the years trying to get something to settle in and live happily without much care or concern. What finally worked? Snow-In-The-Summer (Cerastium tomentosum)! I do love the thick, blue-green blanket it creates around the daylilies and struggling birch trees (not enough water for the birch trees to be very happy). I must confess that the pretty white flowers that most people grow this perennial for are not very abundant in the summer, probably not enough light, but I don't mind. I like it just the way it is, soft, pretty and easy.

Could It Be True?

The ten day weather report shows no rain in the forecast! A few days of partial cloudy, a day of mostly sunny and the rest of the week is sunshine! Much needed sunshine because I don't think my garden can take much more rain without becoming a full-on swamp! Hooray!

More Wisteria

For many years I grew one of my favorite vines, Morning Glories (I know, I know!) over the arbor in the middle of my Laguna garden. I love the beautiful blue flowers and the easy nature of this plant, but eventually it developed a thick thatch that was more unattractive than lovely, as well as taking over everything in sight and had to go.

I took it all out and put in wisteria since this is a very sturdy structure. After two years it is just starting to grow up to the top of the arbor and I expect it to start rambling this year after it is finished blooming.

I am looking forward to next year when the blooms should be hanging through the long arbor over the seating area. I do use a lot of blues and purples in this garden and the addition of this vertical planting will be a nice touch.

White Wisteria

Whenever I think of wisteria I always think of the purple kind, as I would think, most people do. When I first started growing it many years ago in my Laguna garden I chose white wisteria for some reason. I was somewhat intimidated by the beautiful house next door that had very old and very gorgeous purple wisteria growing up to the second balcony that put on an amazing show every spring. It eventually pulled down the balcony and was removed for good, much to my dismay. I started with white over this gate and arbor to the side of the house and kept it pruned judiciously to keep it from taking over everything. I also planted a white wisteria tree down in the garden. Unfortunately it was in front of the 'Bridal Wreath' spirea which is also white and blended in so much that most visitors to the garden never noticed it. This year it appears to be dead. When established things die for no reason in this garden there is only one explanation. Voles. I guess this give me the opportunity to replace it with a purple one, after I replace the voles!

Abundant Avocados

I just had to take a photo of this luscious bunch of avocados from our neighbor's tree that are hanging over our fence. Aren't they gorgeous? The problem is that they are all looks and no substance.

Our properties were once a large avocado orchard before they were subdivided back in the 1930's. Almost everyone on the street still has at least one tree on their slope. We have three, two that still produce wonderful, tasty fruit in abundance almost every other year (avocados produce bumper crops every two or three years and hardly any fruit other years). The trees on our property are fuerte avocados, I've been told, but very tasty and creamy, unlike many of the Florida fuerte avocados that can be bland. I don't know what kind this is on my neighbor's tree, but they do not ripen well (they seem to go straight from hard to rotten) and have a lot of fibers.

Those leaves that are half brown? All avocado trees in this area look like that around this time of year because of the build up of salts in the soil due to a lack of rain the past few years. When the tree is done blooming in about a month, most of these old leaves will fall off creating a thick mulch under the tree. If there is any plant that is happy with all the rain we have been having, it would be the avocado that requires a good soaking to disperse the salts that gather near the surface of the soil where their roots grow.

Determination!

I honestly don't even know what kind of fern this is growing in the crack of a retaining wall in my Laguna garden, other than a very determined one! I have planted so many ferns over the past 15 years here that it could be almost any kind, but doesn't look familiar. I do like it though! A nice surprise.

More Rain and Cold

Is it ever going to warm up? Would someone please let Mother Nature know that today is the first day of Spring and we are waiting for the warm sunny weather that typically accompanies this season! According to the weather report the temperature is barely going to get out of 50's for the next ten days and that includes five days of rain! Okay, I'm done whining.

Fountains of White

I can't think of a more beautiful shrub in my gardens this time of year than the Bridal Wreath spirea in my Laguna garden. It is just covered with romantic white sweetheart-like blooms covering arches of fountain-like branches. Large, dramatic and wonderful!