Housebound

Given our climate, I'm seldom housebound by inclement weather for long; however, the relentless rain and cold temperatures associated with the most recent atmospheric river has kept me inside almost continuously for three solid days.  Although I've periodically said I'd welcome a winter break from gardening (as long as it wasn't longer than a month), the present experience suggests otherwise.  After three days, I'm feeling stir-crazy!  There are only so many home chores I can stand in steady succession.

As we were flooded with warnings about this second storm, I took care of grocery shopping and outdoor activities in advance of its arrival.  In the course of surveying the garden, I cleaned up my lath house and discovered two issues.  The first was that I'd been unsuccessful driving away the gopher(s).

I discovered mounds inside and outside the structure.  The floor's comprised of concrete pavers.  It was my idea to leave planting pockets along the edges of the pavers but I didn't factor gophers into the equation.  Now I think I need to add concrete bricks to fill those gaps.

There's also a gap in the short retaining wall that came with the garden on its southwest corner that wasn't there before.  It's visible from inside the lath house.  I'm inclined to blame gopher activity but time and weather could also have played a role in this break.

The second issue was that the first atmospheric river had an impact on the lath house structure itself.

I think critters may have contributed to breaks in the lath house roof but tree trimming activity could also be a factor; however, the recent storms have made things much worse

My husband, who built the lath house for me in 2018, will make repairs to it once our rainy season is over in late March or early April.  Meanwhile, I ordered more gopher repellent and yesterday took advantage of a brief break in the rain in another effort to drive it/them away.

I sprinkled the gopher repellent in what appeared to be entry/exit holes, pounded the soil back into place, watered in more of the castor oil pellets they hate, and added a solar-powered sonic deterrent device

Earlier efforts to drive the gopher(s) out of the back garden seem to have yielded results but whether the activity near the lath house can be attributed to the same animal or a different one isn't clear, especially as I've found evidence of activity on the back slope.

This gopher mound on the lower level of the back slope suggests that the critter that'd made a mess of my back garden had moved downward through the garden in the direction of the eastern canyon area.  It's hard to imagine that the same animal is responsible for the new activity on the southwestern edge of our property adjacent to the lath house.  Gophers may be solitary creatures but they seem to have subdivided our property into at least 2 territories.

I've made a couple of other brief excursions into the garden, usually involving picking up the mail or taking out trash, but I've pulled a few weeds and cleaned up the fruit littering the driveway under the ornamental pear tree and the Camellia petals shattered by the rain.  

The photo of Camellia 'Taylor's Perfection' on the left was taken just as the first storm started last Thursday.  The photo of the same plant on the right was taken yesterday.

I noticed the first sweet pea flower when I passed through the cutting garden and the first Arctotis flower as I walked through the back garden.

This is still the only open sweet pea bloom but there are other buds biding their time, waiting for more sun and warmth to open

Arctotis 'Pink Sugar' is also waiting on some sun

Other than the quick passages through my garden, I've had to make do with checking it from inside the house looking out.

View from the living room looking at the back garden.  The Callistemon 'Cane's Hybrid' in the background (center) is getting top heavy and could use pruning.

View of the north side garden from the master bathroom (with a bit of glare from the window glass apparently created by a night light).  I've yet to even start cutting back the Leucadendron 'Chief' in the background on the right.

My husband's kept himself busy with a woodworking project in the garage, where he has his own small hobby shop.  It's times like this when I'd really like a smallish greenhouse to putter in.  If we get a lot more atmospheric river events as some climate scientists predict we will in the future due to climate change, I may campaign for a greenhouse, if I can only figure out where to put one.

Pipig's company is helpful.

She spends most of her days now sleeping on the afghan covering her heating pad in my office.  Her gait suggests arthritis and I think the extra warmth offers comfort.  She insists that I leave the guest chair by my desk askew, though, so she can jump on my desk when she wants attention.  She lodges a vocal complaint if the chair is improperly positioned as she's no longer prepared to jump on the desk in a single leap as she once did. 

It looks like we have one more day of rain left, although we may be lucky and get several hours of partly sunny skies. 

View looking northeast from our backyard late yesterday afternoon.  I saw traces of blue sky as I took a quick spin around the neighborhood to walk-off some pent-up energy.  About 90 minutes later, the skies opened and we had the biggest downpour we've had yet.

All material © 2012-2024 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

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

Visiting my Lath House!

The title of this post is a play on the "Coronavirus Tourism" posters designed by Jennifer Baer and shown on her website, This is Colossal, which Denise of A Growing Obsession introduced me to last week.  Stuck at home, visiting the nooks and crannies of my own garden is one of the few acceptable "adventures" now.  What could be more appropriate than a tour of my lath house, built by my husband two years ago for the shade plants that otherwise have difficulty surviving in my area?

So let's embark on the tour, shall we?

There it is!  We're looking at it from the upper level of the front garden.  It sits at the bottom of a moderate slope.

The door's open.  Let's head down there.

This is the path from the upper level of the front garden into the lower area where the lath house sits

We're approaching it now

Shall we take a peek inside?

View looking in the front door at the center of the structure

Pots on the ground

This is the view looking through the window on the right side

and this is the view looking in the window on the left side

So let's take a closer look at some of the plants inside, focusing on the most presentable specimens.

These are a few of my Begonias
Top row: Begonias 'Amberley' and 'Little Darling', 'Bundy Plum', and 'Champagne Bubbles'
Bottom row: Begonias 'Escargot', 'Nautilus Lilac', and B. luxurians

Ferns can be hard to grow here even where they're protected.  On the left is Asplenium nidus (aka Lasagna Fern) and on the right is a Staghorn Fern (noID Platycerium).

I still struggle with Fuchsias but I keep trying new ones.   Clockwise from the upper left are Fuchsia 'Autumnale'; the unusual trailing F. procumbens, followed by a close- up of its flower; and F. thymifolia.

I've somehow accumulated a lot of orchids.  Most, including the Epiphyllums (aka orchid cactus), aren't blooming now but four are.  Clockwise from the upper left are: Colmanara 'Wildcat', noID Cymbidium, Cymbidium Sussex Court 'Not Peace', and Dendrobium kingianum.

Two of the three Tillandsias are shown here: T. capita 'Peach' and T. xerographica

Other flashy plants include, clockwise from the upper left, Fatsia japonica 'Camouflage', assorted Cyclamen, Kalanchoe blossfeldiana, and Philodendron 'Prince of Orange'

The lath house also has some decorative and utilitarian elements.  The iron cat in the center guards the door.  The wood piece on the lower left serves as both stepladder and stool.

The two window boxes are not looking their best and need an overhaul

That concludes today's tour.  Let me show you out.

The slope facing the lath house is planted mostly with succulents

Taking the lower level path to the driveway at the front of the house takes us by a mass planting of Aeonium arboreum but you have to squeeze by a large peppermint willow (Agonis flexuosa) planted in the middle of the path

You've reached the lower level exit!

I hope you can take advantage of a staycation this weekend.  Best wishes for a safe holiday weekend, however you plan to spend your time.


All material © 2012-2020 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

This week in my garden

Last Friday I wrote about new plants.  This week, I did a little planting and a lot of garden clean-up.

I had the most fun with my first project, replanting the window boxes attached to my lath (shade) house.  The boxes I'd planted in early July looked worn by late October so I decided they needed an overhaul.  I found a colorful Coprosma at my local garden center and when I discovered a new Lisianthus that picked the deep pink tones in its variegation, the contents for my boxes came together quickly.  There are 2 boxes and I used the same selection of plants in each.

Coprosma repens 'Inferno' (left) provided the inspiration and the new-to-me pinkish red Lisianthus (Eustoma grandiflorum, right) sealed the deal.  I love the buds on the Lisianthus as much or more than the flowers themselves.

In addition to the Coprosma and the Eustoma, each box contains Nemesia 'Snow Angel', Alternanthera 'True Yellow', Viola 'Red Blotch', and Lobularia maritima (aka sweet Alyssum)

The second box is the same as the first

My biggest project this week was emptying the raised planters in my cutting garden to prepare them for planting winter bloomers.  This entailed pulling out the mildewed zinnias, all of which were still flowering, and digging up the dahlia tubers.  Most of the dahlias had been knocked out by last week's Santa Ana winds but 'Punkin Spice' was still producing new blooms, even after I'd cut 7 blooms on Sunday.  I cut all the mature blooms and used them to refresh the flowers in one of my vases before lifting the tubers for cleaning, division and storage.

As you can see I didn't quite pull everything out.  I have plans for the yellow zinnias in the middle planter but they'll be pulled this weekend.  A lemon verbena and a few stray plants are left in the planter in the foreground, as well as some herbs in the planter in the background.  I'll plant around those.  That exuberant Euphorbia 'Sticks on Fire' is in a strawberry pot - I've no idea what to do with it.

After pulling the majority of plants in each planter, I cleaned out the left roots and other debris, mixed in some fresh planting mix and a light dusting of fertilizer, then covered the soil with compost

My other tasks were less time-consuming.  I mulched the front garden bed I showed in last Friday's post after adding a few more ground cover plants.

I resisted my inclination to squeeze more large plants into this area and made do with ground cover plants like Alternanthera 'Joseph's Coat' to fill the space between the large shrubs (2 Leucadendron and a Grevillea), which will eventually spread substantially

While I'm hoping for decent rain this winter, I've applied more mulch this year to retain soil moisture (micro-bark in this instance).  I'm relatively happy with how this area is shaping up but there's still more work to be done, including additional planting (a mail order plant delivery is due next week!).  I also need to order flats of creeping thyme so I can fill in between the paving stones, which were overrun by clover last year.

I finally got around to pruning the 2 large Leptospermum 'Copper Glow' on either side of the walkway to our front door too.

I love these shrubs but they'd gotten a bit larger than I'd planned while I wasn't paying attention

This weekend I hope to get seeds sown and ranunculus tubers planted in my cutting garden.

I've got more seeds than space already

That's a summary of my week in the garden.  Fall's a busy time here.  What are you up to in the garden this weekend?


All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party