Clearing the decks

During the past week, I've spent a lot of time clearing the raised planters in my cutting garden of the remnants of summer blooms, packing away dahlia tubers, and refreshing the soil in those beds to receive bulbs, plugs, and seeds suitable for our cool season.  At the same time, we've been dealing dealing with hot, dry Santa Ana winds so conditions have been anything but cool but fall will take hold eventually.  It may not look like much but it was a lot of work.

The photo on the left was taken October 23rd, before I started pulling out the contents of the raised planters.  The photo on the right was taken late yesterday afternoon.

 

I'll give you a closer look at each of the raised planters.

Bed #1 has been planted with 5 Digitalis 'Dalmatian Peach' plugs, 40 Anemone coronaria bulbs ('Mount Everest', 'Mistral Plus Rose Tigrato', and 'Mistral Plus Bicolore'), and seeds of Nigella papillosa 'African Bride'.  I left a Cuphea 'Honeybells' and a noID Tanacetum in place.  I've laid wire mesh over the bulbs and seeds to prevent the raccoons and possums from digging up the area in search of grubs.

Clockwise from the upper left are photos of 4 of these these plants taken in prior years: Anemone 'Mount Everest', A. 'Mistral Plus Bicolore', Digitalis 'Dalmatian Peach' and Nigella 'African Bride'

Bed #2 has 6 plugs of a Digitalis purpurea mix, 40 Anemone coronaria bulbs (Anemone 'Admiral' and A. Lord Lieutenant'), and seeds of 4 different larkspurs (Consolida ajacis 'Smokey Eyes', 'Frosted Skies', 'Shade of Blue', and 'Light Blue')

Clockwise from the upper left are photos of Anemone 'Admiral', a facsimile of A. 'Lord Lieutenant', blue Consolida ajacis, and pink Digitalis purpurea.  In the past, most of the bulbs sold to me as Anemone 'Lord Lieutenant' bulbs did not have the multi-petaled flowers the cultivar is known for.  It remains to be seen if this year will be different.

I've cleared bed #3 of everything other than 2 Angelonia and a mystery plant that showed up recently.  I have 7 varieties of sweet peas to plant here, which I should have in place within the next day or so.  I also have 2 other varieties of Nigella papillosa seeds to sow here.

 

I also replanted two of the three barrels in the cutting garden with new plants.

I filled the barrel in the rear that had held Dahlia 'Lavender Ruffles' with white snapdragons (Antirrhinum majus 'Sonnet White') and my favorite pansies (Viola 'Penny Peach').  I pulled Helianthus 'Brown-Eyed Girl' from the barrel in the foreground and filled in with Argyranthemum frutescens 'Angelic Maize', leaving a yellow multi-petaled Calibrachoa in place.  The latter barrel still needs something with more height.  As the 'Sonnet' snapdragons aren't known to be rust-resistant, I suspect they'll require replacing within a couple of months,

 

When I'll see blooms from the cutting garden is anyone's guess.  I soaked all the Anemone bulbs in water for twenty-fours hours as recommended and I'll be soaking the sweet pea seeds as well in the interest of spurring germination.  However, last year virtually everything in my cutting garden bloomed late because late winter and early spring temperatures were much colder than usual here.  My sweet peas didn't take off until May!  On the other hand I've seen some flowers as early as January in other years.  I'll try to be patient.  Elsewhere in the garden, the foliage of the Freesia and Dutch Iris bulbs is already emerging so my earliest cool season flowers may come from them.

All material © 2012-2023 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party