Spring Fever Strikes Again!

I honestly don't need more plants.  But does that stop me from bringing plants home nearly every time I visit a garden center?  Of course not!  There's something about spring that compels me to bring home, if not every pretty thing I see, at least a good number of them.  When I visited Roger's Gardens last week, my goal was to find plants to fill a large terracotta pot in a partial shade location.  Well, as I confessed in last Friday's post, I brought home plenty of plants but nothing appropriate for that pot.  So I went to my local garden center and came home with more plants!

This time I started with a specific vision in mind, inspired by a pot shown in White Flower Farm's spring catalog.

This is a pot in the Hummingbird Annual Collection that inspired me (photo source here)

I didn't recreate White Flower Farm's pot but I let it guide me.  Here's my version:

I wanted foliage and flower color that would complement the plants in the adjoining bed, including the Grevillea alpina x rosmarianifolia and Agonis flexuosa 'Nana'

The plants are all still small but I'm fairly pleased with it.  The Fuchsia I used, 'Gartenmeister Bonstedt', has orange flowers and should handle the morning sun in this location.  Instead of using a lime-green sweet potato vine (Ipomoea batatas) like the one in the inspiration pot, I selected a lime coleus and a chartreuse-flowered Euphorbia, which my experience shows will hold up better under my conditions than the potato vine.  I filled in with more coleus, a mirror plant, and a shrimp plant.

Clockwise from the upper left, the pot contains: Fuchsia triphylla 'Gartenmeister Bonstedt'; 3 coleus (Plectranthus scutellarioides) cultivars, 'Campfire', 'Indian Summer', and 'Salsa Verde'; Coprosma repens 'Evening Glow'; Euphorbia 'Dean's Hybrid'; and Justicia brandegeana

All of last week's purchases from Roger's have been planted as well.

The Lisianthus (Eustoma grandiflorum) plugs are outshone by the foliage of  Pelargonium 'Oldbury Duet' here but they should settle in quickly

The orange and red Freesia planted in the bed alongside the fountain have been traded out for the blue varieties I bought last week.  I moved the orange and red flowered varieties to a more appropriate location.  Maybe I should start buying my Freesia in bud from now on to ensure my color choices...

Salvia 'Love and Wishes' found a sunny spot in the back border (which required digging up and dividing a large clump of society garlic, Tulbaghia violacea)

Scabiosa 'Fama Blue' evicted a couple of poorly performing plants to nab another sunny spot

The annual California poppy and Ageratum plugs were also tucked into the garden and, with everything I bought last week now planted, I'm feeling rather virtuous.  Now, if I only can avoid going crazy at the Cactus & Succulent Society sale scheduled this weekend at the local botanic garden...


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

Project Update: My pocket bromeliad garden

Work on my garden projects slowed but never entirely stopped when summer returned with fury in October.  In late September, I posted photos of a succulent bed renovation that was mostly done.  I'm now declaring that one done done.

Since my September post, I've added a few more succulents, mostly of the ground cover variety, and bark mulch

This area soared through October's nasty heatwaves without an issue

In early October, I provided a peek of what I called my surprise pocket garden.  This area sits behind the succulent bed shown above, in back of the clump of Agave attenuata and the Arbutus 'Marina' in that photo.  It's a narrow and fairly shady area running parallel to my neighbor's driveway on the northwest side of our property.  Since we moved in almost 7 years ago, it's been occupied by little more than weeds.  In my October post, I showed photos of a few plants, mostly bromeliads, I'd planted there.  Since then, I've added a stone pathway, more plants, bark mulch, and several pots.  Here's what it looks like now:

This is the long view from the walkway along our garage occupied by our garbage bins and my potting bench

This is the view from the other direction.  Shrubs and trees prevented me from backing up to provide a better view.

Because it's a narrow space and the pathway curves through it, it's not easy to see all at once.  Here are some close-ups by section:

The Agave attenuata on the lower left mark the edge of the succulent bed I showed at the top of the post.  I've added Aeonium arboreum cuttings, a noID bromeliad pup (an Aechmea, I think), and pups of a noID Sansevieria on the right.  I'm using dwarf mondo grass (Ophiopogon japonicus 'Nanus') as a ground cover between and around the stepping stones.

I want to fill the empty area to the right of the Agave attenuata here with more of the Seslaria 'Greenlee's Hybrid' shown planted next to the stone pathway but I haven't been able to find it.  I'm not sure if I'll keep the Kalanchoe prolifera currently planted between the 2 grass clumps.  It's interesting but looks gawky to me.

The pink-edged Aechmea 'Mend' and the flowers of the Aptenia cordifolia planted along my neighbor's driveway set the color palette for the area, which I picked up with shade-tolerant Pelargonium peltatum 'Pink Blizzard' and Dracaena marginata 'Colorama'.  Other than 'Mend', the other bromeliads I've used are all pups of Aechmeas, Neoregelias, and Vrieseas I've been growing in pots.

I found the Dracaena 'Colorama' and the "Satin Pothos" (which I think is Scindapsus pictus 'Argyraeus') in the houseplants section of my local garden center.  The Draceana was a bargain - 2 plants in each 4-inch pot.  I was concerned about whether the pothos would survive outside but it's been fine and now I wish I could find at least one more.

This area, near the end of the stone pathway includes more Pelargonium 'Pink Blizzard', Aeonium 'Lily Pad', Dianella intermedia 'Turutu' (received by mail order just yesterday), and the Villebrunea pedunculata I picked up on my visit to The Huntington Garden's sale last week.  My neighbor's Aptenia has crept up beyond the boundary line, as has the Senecio vitalis she stuck there but that's fine.

Two established trees and numerous large established shrubs inherited with the garden make it nearly impossible to plant in some areas so I filled in with pots.

Two sides of the same pots are shown here.  The photo on the left was taken facing the succulent bed.  The photo on the right was taken from the pathway inside the bromeliad area.  The largest pot already contained spotted Manfreda maculosa and I added a few Kalanchoe daigretmontiana and cuttings of Oscularia deltoides to cascade over the side.  I moved the smaller pots, one containing Cordyline brasiliensis 'Pink Joy' and the other a striped noID Aechmea, from elsewhere in the garden.

The pots at the terminus of the stone path were also moved from other areas.  The large one contains Dermatobotris saundersii, which I also picked up at the Huntington sale.  It's supposed to produce coral blooms.  The small pot contains my latest plant crush, Aloe 'Marsha Leyhew' (lower right), purchased at the same sale.  The mid-sized pot contains Billbergia 'Carioca', which recently surprised me by flowering.  Unfortunately, I didn't photograph the flowers at their peak but the photo on the upper right gives you an idea what they looked like.

The bromeliad pocket garden isn't 100% done as I'm still looking for more Seslaria and I expect to add more shade-tolerant succulents, dwarf mondo grass and mulch but that will be a piecemeal process.  Time to move on to other projects!  The weather is perfect for planting and there's a chance of some light rain this weekend.

View of the Los Angeles harbor from our backyard about an hour after sunrise

Wherever you are, I hope the fall season provides plenty of opportunity to get your hands dirty this weekend.


All material © 2012-2017 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Wednesday Vignette: Coleus in Combination

I'm joining Anna of Flutter and Hum in presenting a Wednesday Vignette, which she has described as a  combination in which "individual components lift each other, and make each other sing."  In February, I replanted the pots outside our front door with a simple mix of coleus (Solenostemon scuttellariodes) and Fuchsia.  I find myself admiring the pots every time I enter and leave the house.

The pot on the right

The pot on the left includes a yellow Calibrachoa, carried over from an earlier combination

Individual elements, clockwise from upper left: Solenostemon scutellariodes 'Electric Lime', S. s. 'Lava Rose', Fuchsia 'Swingtime' and Calibrachoa 'Double Lemon'

Visit Anna at Flutter and Hum to see what she's found for us this week.


All material © 2012-2015 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

The Front Porch Gets Dressed Up

As summer sets in here in Southern California, it becomes more and more ridiculous to continue planting.  If a heatwave hits, new plantings frequently die, even if they get extra water.  Every year I make a vow to stop planting between June and October.  And every year I break my vow, although my purchases do taper off a bit.  This year, the month of June has been relatively pleasant, at least by comparison to the miserable May we had, but July is seldom pleasant so I've tried to shift my attention to activities that don't amount to throwing money away.  This year, those activities involved replanting the pots on the front porch (which can always be moved if the heat gets too intense).

I didn't take any "before" photos so the following picture, taken last December showing one side of the porch, is the best one I can provide to show what I started with.  The pots shown in this photo weren't looking nearly this good earlier this month.

The front pots were originally created to adorn the front of my mother-in-law's house when we prepared it for sale but I moved them to our house after the sale.  The ivy geranium (Pelargonium peltatum 'Pink Blizzard') took the sunny setting in stride but the Cordyline 'Renegade' struggled and the Calibrachoa eventually died off.  One of the Cordyline has been repotted and placed in a shadier location and the Pelargonium have been moved elsewhere.  The back pots were intended as temporary holiday decorations and they were definitely past their prime.

The ceramic pots, benches and bench cushions remain but I changed out the pillows and swapped out most of the contents of the pots to create a sunnier front entry.

The two sides of the front entryway are near mirror images of one another.

Bench #1

Side view of bench #1 with a close up of the replanted blue pot, which now contains Pennisetum 'Purple Majesty,' Abelia x grandiflora 'Kaleidoscope,' Echinacea 'Cheyenne Spirit,' Calibrachoa 'Peach' and 'Papaya,' Lotus berthelototii, Zinnia 'Profusion Apricot,' and leftover lime Alternanthera

Bench #2

Close up of one of the 2 back pots, which contain 3 varieties of coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides) and yellow Calibrachoa

I'm planning to stick to succulents for any further planting I do between now and October - or at least September.  Probably.  It's a real possibility.  Well, it's a goal anyway.

The Beginning of Winter in Southern California

For me, the winter season starts with Thanksgiving.  This is probably because year-end holiday preparations crank up in earnest at this time.  It certainly has little to do with the weather here in southern California or the seasonal demarcations on the calendar.  Although the days are shorter and the nights are colder, we don't get the freezes that signify the onset of winter elsewhere and our days are still relatively warm.  It was in the mid-70s today, perfect for running pre-Thanksgiving errands and doing a little gardening.

November also usually brings the start of our short rainy season.  While we got some drizzle in October, those events barely registered on the rain meter.  We got our first "real" rain last week, three quarters of an inch according to my rain meter.  That was enough to justify turning off the automatic irrigation system, at least temporarily.  It filled my rain barrel too.

Rain flowing down the rain chain outside the dining room window

I caught an unexpected rainbow over the LA harbor at the end of last week's rain

 


Another rain event was predicted for Thanksgiving but, unfortunately, that forecast has been rescinded.   I fear we may be in for another dry year.

To put myself in a winter mood in spite of warm dry afternoon, I constructed 2 winter-themed pots to stand immediately outside the front door.   I can't say that the idea was original - I copied winter scenes created in containers by the staff at Roger's Garden.  I even picked up my "trees" there on my brief visit last weekend.

Here's Roger's creation:

And here are mine:

Pot #1, planted with 'Goodwin Creek' lavender, white cyclamen, Cuphea 'Itsy White', Alyssum 'Snow Crystals', and Senecio cineraria 'Silverdust' (Dusty Miller)

Pot #2 with the same plants

I even gussied up my gargoyle for the winter season with a collection of Magnolia leaves and seedpods gathered from the front lawn:

The gargoyle will get a red satin ribbon around his neck when Christmas gets close and a gnome (or 2) may appear with the pine boughs but, for now, this is it for my winter decorations, unless you count the Christmas cactus I found in full flower in a neglected area of my garden today - it's now on the side patio where it can be properly admired.

Schlumbergera x buckleyi (aka Christmas Cactus)

Best wishes to all for a happy Thanksgiving!  I hope you enjoy the start of the winter season, no matter how winter is served up in your area.

What do you do when you're overwhelmed by your garden?

By mid-summer my garden looks as though it needs a face-lift.  I've cut back the spring and early summer bloomers.  There are holes in spots where plants have unexpectedly dropped dead.  The grass is dry and turning brown.  The mimosa tree continues to drop its dying blooms.  I'm continuously deadheading.

I meter out water to keep my landscape plants going, ever mindful of the impact to our water bill.  I make plans for plant moves I want to make in the fall when conditions are more hospitable for transplants.  Abetted by cooler than normal temperatures, we've begun ripping out another section of lawn to expand my planting area but the soil needs serious work to prepare it for fall planting.  

Despite all the constructive planning and preparations, I'm frustrated.  I need some immediate gratification.  What do I do?  I plant up some pots.  Pots provide opportunities to create small, manageable gardens.  I can experiment with new plants and different plant combinations.  I can keep my miniature gardens watered without borrowing from savings to pay the water bill.  It's relatively quick and easy to tidy up my pots and, if a plant dies or fails to deliver on its promise, I can yank it out and replace it without disrupting a large planting scheme.

The vast majority of my pots contain succulents, which winter over outside here with little problem due to our mild winter temperatures.  (My potted succulents were featured in a January post, which you can view here.)  However, in the last couple of weeks I've planted some pots with herbaceous materials.  

Here's the first of my summertime creations:

 

This 12 inch tall, 18 inch diameter pot on the back patio is crammed with plants.  I don't usually crowd plants this much, even in decorative pots, but, figuring that I'll transplant some of these elsewhere in the garden when they die back, I went for broke.  This is what I included:

• Coprosma hybrid 'Evening Glow' (1)
• Echinacea 'Cheyenne Spirit' (2)
• Euphorbia 'Ascot Rainbow' (1)
• Lantana 'Little Lucky Peach Glow' (2)
• Russelia equisetiformis 'Yellow' (1)
• Zinnia 'Profusion Mix' (3 plugs)

All these plants like the sun.  They're also drought tolerant once established so they'll work well if they end up in a garden bed later this year.

Yesterday, I planted another pot on the small side patio, which gets only morning sun.

This pot is 13 inches in diameter and 12 inches tall.  It contains the following plants:

• Agave 'Blue Glow' (1)
• Carex testacea aka orange sedge (1)
• Nematanthus aka goldfish plant (2)
• Rhipsalis salicornioides aka Dancing Bones Cactus (3 divisions from larger plant)

I'm hoping that the grass will get enough sun to preserve its orange coloration and that it won't outgrow the pot too quickly.  This agave does well in a pot and tolerates some shade.  The goldfish plant was a sentimental selection - I remember tending one as a houseplant when I was a teenager.

So, there it is, my temporary bandage for my angst over the current state of my landscape.  What do you do when your garden "to do" list leaves you feeling overwhelmed?