Friday, June 3, 2022

The lath house's summer spruce-up

Despite predictions that our morning marine layer is doomed to fall prey to climate change, it remains intact for now.  Visitors to coastal Southern California may be disappointed by our gray morning skies in May and June but most locals appreciate the value of nature's own air conditioning system.  However, the condition rarely extends into July and August so it's just a matter of time until the heat is on.  With that in mind this week, I dusted off and installed the sun shades designed to protect the shade plants in my lath house from the intense summer sun.

My husband built the shades to exactly fit the interior area of the lath house on its west and south sides.  (He built the lath house for me as a Christmas present in 2017.)  Installing each shade requires me to take out all the plants that line the interior shelves.  It's a cumbersome process but it gives me an opportunity to sweep the area clean twice a year (i.e. when the shades go up and when they come back down in late fall).

Exterior view of the structure with the shades now in place, photographed from the upper level of the front garden looking down

 

Once again, I neglected to take any "before" photos but here are some "after" shots:

My husband imprinted the location for each shade in its wood frame (e.g. "South Middle") to help with placement.  There are 2 large shades for the interior roof of the structure too but I don't usually put those up unless there's a stretch of extreme heat.

West wall of plants, photographed from the window on the structure's east side

View from the window on the north side


 

Here are a couple of shots taken from inside the structure:

This shows the 2 shelves along the south wall.  The top shelf houses orchids.  The 3 plants hanging from the edge of the top shelf are orchid cactus (Epiphyllums)

This is a closer view of the plants on the shelves on the west side.  The Hoyas on the top shelf are all looking pale, although they're developing flowers.  Hopefully the cactus fertilizer I gave them will provide them a boost.


In addition to sweeping the shelves and the floor of dust and debris, I watered, primped and fertilized the plants that needed that.  For some reason, I thought that would be easier to photograph individual plants once the shades were up but I was wrong.  My camera struggled to focus on the plants with the shades behind them so I'll share only a handful of closeups.

This is the only one of the 3 Epiphyllums to ever bloom, E. oxypetalum 'Queen of the Night'.  It has a single bud at the moment.  True to its name, it blooms only at night so catching it at the right time is a challenge.

This is a terrestrial bromeliad, Orthophytum gurkenii.  I picked it up at a Sherman Gardens' plant sale last year.  It's foliage markings are looking faded but it's produced a bloom spike.  If you look closely at the photo on the right you can see one of its tiny white flowers.


Formerly known as Epiphyllum anguliger, the fishbone cactus on the left is now classified as Disocactus anguliger.  It hasn't bloomed yet but it's produced a lot of new foliage in the past year.  The plant on the right is Lepismium cruciforme, an epiphytic cactus I picked up at South Coast Botanic Garden's recent plant sale.

My ornamental begonias struggled last year, although these 2 are doing well (or better than my sad fuchsias anyway).  I've no ID for the one on the left.  The one on the right is 'Bundy Plum'.

So far, the Tillandsias I mounted on a grapevine cut from my garden last year are doing okay.  I've given up soaking those I wired in place in favor of misting them.  I've no ID for the delicate Tillandsia on the bottom left but the next 2 are T. 'Spirit' and T. xerographica.

 

I added a few plants to replace those that had seen better days as well.

Anthurium 'Maine' (upper left) replaced an ornamental begonia that withered away.  I squeezed in the Hoya macrophylla 'Variegata' on the upper right.  I planted Kalanchoes and coleus (Plectranthus scutellarioides) in 2 narrow sections of soil surrounding the structure's cement flagstone floor.

 

The plants immediately outside the lath house didn't need anything at the moment but a little water.

The window boxes on the east and north sides of lath house are now filled with succulents


This collection of pots, almost all of which contain succulents, has gotten a little out of hand

This group of pots on the lath house's east side get partial shade.  The 2 pots containing Billbergia were looking sad several months ago in full sun but they appear to be recovering now.  There are 3 Fuchsias here but I'm not sure any of them will amount to much.  I really can't seem to grow Fuchsias here at all.

The best looking plant outside was this one, which is actually growing from the edge of the dry stacked stone wall bordering the slope.

Oscularia deltoides flowers like clockwork as spring turns to summer.  My original plant was grown from a tiny cutting I (literally) pinched 10+ years ago.  I've got at least 4 clumps like this now.

That's it from me this week.  Best wishes for a pleasant weekend.


All material © 2012-2022 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party


14 comments:

  1. I have to admit, there's now way around this: I'm jealous of your lath house. It seems large enough to squeeze in a comfy chair and provide shelter for a tired gardener.
    All my efforts to grow tilandsia aren't yielding satisfying results. I hope to do better with a couple of Hoyas I picked up recently. I'd love to see yours when they bloom! Hopefully not as spars or illusive as the Epiphyllums.
    The window boxes are gorgeous. I remember when you had them re-done. I love them.
    Chavli

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    1. Of course, after the fact and although I agreed to the specs my husband proposed beforehand, I wish the lath house was just a little bigger ;) It is big enough for a chair but I use the sturdy step-ladder my husband created during the building process to sit on and put stuff on when I'm working in there, as well as for it's original purpose. It's not elegant but it's practical.

      I've no idea how Tillandsias handle freezing temperatures but I wonder if that could be an issue in your climate. I think soaking them once every 7-10 days is actually the best way to treat them but spritzing them with water has worked well enough during our cool season - whether that'll be enough during the "warm" season is still a question.

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  2. It looks wonderful! What a great gift from your husband.

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    1. It's the gift that keeps on giving, perfect to provide the extra shade some of my plants need (even if I still have problems with fuchsias here). I'm lucky that my husband enjoys building things - and fixing things too.

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  3. Putting up summer shades is an excellent way to motivate cleaning up all the potted plants--I need an "it's mandatory" level of motivation to do that chore.

    What material on the shade screens? Shade fabric?

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    1. I needed motivation even to put the sun shades up, HB! It was long past time to take down the rain shields on Pipig's "catio" and the only way to make room in the garage to store those away involved taking the sun shades out ;) Yes, we used shade cloth for the screens.

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  4. Your collection has grown, both in size and number. A wonderful little habitat! Eliza

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    1. There's very little room left (short of taking over the floor space I need in caring for the plants). However, a loss here and there that allows me to introduce something new now and then isn't as painful as it'd otherwise be. I could hang some things from the ceiling I suppose - as long as the ceiling doesn't require shades...

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  5. What a lovely little microclimate for plants (and the human who tends them :) I love the pentagon shape and pitched roof of the structure, both of which would have made construction more complicated, but really add to the beauty of it. Is that a Begonia luxurians in the blue glazed pot outside? I'd love to find an Australian source for that plant - I've never seen it IRL.

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    1. For a scientist, my husband also makes a good architect ;)

      Yes, that's a Begonia luxurians. It's still relatively small but even so I realized it was better placed outside the structure (in the shade) than inside it as it gets big. I've never seen the species for sale locally and got my plant by mail order. I hope you can find a source too.

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  6. Your lath house is gorgeous and can imagine a lot of time in there. Great gift from your husband :)

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    1. It's a great place to putter - and hide away from the world to an extent.

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  7. Hello there Kris ! I have never seen such a remarkable little plant oasis like this lath house .. and all of these beautiful plants .. that begonia (white circular one ) is gorgeous and I have to say my favorite is the succulent window box , I have a weakness for that type of grouping and it is gorgeous. How on earth do you keep track of them all with so much in your gardens as well ! My husband and I managed to almost clean and organize our shed and we thought that was a huge accomplishment ? LOL
    I have really cut down on as much as I could because I just can't keep up with things, so I am glad to have mature gardens that can almost take care of themselves with the help of the sprinkler system. My two luxuries , that and the flagstone pathways ;-)

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    1. It actually helps to have all those plants congregated in one spot in the lath house as I can survey them all at once, which I try to do every 10 days or so at least ;)

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