Are you ready for the summer season?

It's hard to predict exactly what summer is going to throw at us and I can rarely say I'm entirely ready for the season but I do my best to prepare in advance.  It's fairly certain that it'll be hot and very, very dry.  Part of getting ready here involves letting go of the cool season flowers in my cutting garden in favor of plants that can tolerate summer's intense heat.  My cool season annuals and bulb blooms were going strong in April but I potted up my dahlia tubers to get them started in mid-April.  By late May, I'd pulled the snapdragons and bulb blooms and planted out many of the dahlias to give their roots the opportunity to spread; however, the sweet peas had only just gotten rolling in mid-May so I left that raised planting bed alone for a time.

I sowed my sweet pea seeds in early November but I didn't see flowers until early May and it was late May by the time they all got going.  This photo was taken on June 10th.

When the heat turned up again late last week, I could see that the end of the sweet peas was near.  Aided by our persistent morning marine layer and the warmer afternoon temperatures, the vines' foliage was exhibiting the first signs of mildew and the flower stems were getting shorter.  Their vase life was also shorter.  So this week, I bit the proverbial bullet and pulled out the vines, as well as the other flowers in the same raised bed.

It's a messy, annoying process, especially when I try to save the last of the flowers to give away

I handed off 2 bottles of sweet peas to visitors on Tuesday.  I put 5 more bottles of sweet peas plus one bottle containing the last of the Nigella flowers and 2 others with Calendulas on the street for the neighbors to take.

Digging up the roots of the sweet peas and other flowers and supplementing the soil took almost 2 hours.  A few gladiolas are attempting to return and I've left them in place for the time being.

I planted 5 sprouted dahlias here late Wednesday afternoon.  They included: 'Brown Sugar', 'Catching Fire', 'Fairway Spur', 'Lady Darlene', and 'Summer's End'.  Yesterday morning, I also sowed seeds of Zinnia elegans 'Benary's Giant Coral' and Z. e. 'Senorita'.

All the dahlias I have room for are now in place.

This bed was planted with 6 dahlias in late May, including 'Creme de Cognac' (2),  'Kelsey Annie Joy', 'La Luna', 'Miss Brandy', and 'Summer's End'.  Several Calendulas remain at each end of the bed.  I sowed Zinnia seeds here too.

This middle raised planter was the first one I planted in late-May.  It contains 5 dahlias, including: 'Blue Bell', 'Cafe au Lait', 'La Belle Epoque', 'Mikayla Miranda', and 'Molly Raven'.  The last has struggled a bit since I transplanted it but appears to be hanging on.  The Zinnia seeds I sowed here are developing well.  I've left the larkspur (Consolida ajacis) and foxgloves (Digitalis purpurea) in place for now.

Four dahlias landed in half-barrel containers, 2 of which sit in the cutting garden and one in the front garden.  The first barrel includes Dahlia 'Caproz Pizzazz'.  The second contains 2 'Labyrinth' Dahlias and the third contains Dahlia 'Excentric'.

A wide shot of the cutting garden at present

I gave six dahlia tubers to a neighbor back in April but potted up others with the plan of giving away some of those that sprouted, knowing I didn't have room for all of them.  I didn't expect all of them to sprout but was surprised when all but one did.  All of these were divisions of tubers I dug up last year.  I have five "leftover" sprouted dahlias.  I've tapped three friends who are interested in taking them and arranged a hand-off meeting next week.

Only one potted tuber (a 'Brown Sugar') has failed to sprout yet.  The "orphans" that have sprouted include 'Catching Fire' (2), 'Creme de Cognac', 'Labyrinth' (still tiny in the biggest pot), and 'Summer's End'.  

Meanwhile, my efforts to fill in the empty spots in my garden continue as the window for planting anything new is closing due to our higher temperatures.  I planted out a flat of creeping thyme (Thymus serpyllum 'Elfin') between paving stones on the south end of garden last weekend; however, temperatures in the upper 80sF (30C) toasted some of what I planted.  Hopefully, what I planted in the same general area outside our "catio" will fare better in handling the heat.

I don't have a "before" shot of this area but it was formerly occupied by 5 clumps of Nassella tenuissima (Mexican feather grass), removed because they can be flammable.  Once again, I spent a large amount of time digging out masses of the bulbous roots of Asparagus fern, as well as the remains of a Wisteria that came with the house.

Clockwise from the upper left, the new contents in this area include: Aeonium 'Jack Catlin' (cuttings), Alstroemeria 'Inca Lucky' (2), Crassula mascosa 'Princess Pine' (3), Agave attenuata (cutting, already sunburned), Daucus carota 'Dara' (self-seeded), Hippeastrum 'Elvas' (transplanted), and Neoregelia 'Guinea x Pepper' (3 divisions of potted plant)

I've still got a lot I'd like to get done before it becomes hotter yet.  How about you?  Are you ready for summer?

All material © 2012-2025 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Renga Lilies Everywhere

In addition to putting in new plants, I'm taking advantage of the cooler temperatures to begin moving plants around.  In fact, I spent a good part of Saturday doing just that.  The biggest change involved digging, dividing and replanting 3 large Arthropodium cirratum (aka Renga Lily) I'd originally planted on our lower slope.  The summer sun was more intense there than I'd anticipated and, while the plants soldiered through the heat and dry conditions, they didn't look their best as the summer drew to a close.

Arthropodium cirratum in February

Arthropodium cirratum at the end of September 

The plants tolerate dry shade but dry soil in full sun was asking too much of them.  I moved some daylilies from the backyard border to replace the Renga lilies.  As the Renga lily clumps were large, I decided to divide them and spread them around the upper level of my garden.  The plants divided easily with just a tug.

Now I have Renga lilies in the garden bed bordering my neighbor to the northwest, where I installed 3 of the divisions.

The foliage of the Renga lily looks like a smaller version of the Agave attenuata to the right of it

Another division was added to the bed on the other side of the house near 2 existing plants of the same variety.

And the last 2 went into a nearby dry shade bed, where I haven't been successful in getting much of anything to grow.  I put 3 Renga lilies there this past spring so the additions make 5.  This may be overkill but, until I can come up with an alternative as tolerant of dry shade as these plants, they'll have to do.

I'd moved one Acanthus to a moister end of that bed earlier.  More recently, I transplanted cuttings of peppermint geranium (Pelargonium tomentosum), foxglove seedlings (Digitalis purpurea), and a mint bush (Prostanthera ovalifolia 'Variegata').

The area's looking a little better but I could still use some drought and shade tolerant plants to fill in the bed's mid-section, which is exceptionally dry (probably due to tree roots).  I've tried Geranium catabrigeniense, Geranium macrorrhizum, Hellebores, various Heuchera, and Francoa sonchifolia with little success.   I'm open to any ideas!