My favorite plant this week: Cordyline 'Renegade'

Last week I had some difficulty coming up with a favorite plant; however, I think that was mainly due to my general irritation with the fact that the garden was hunkering down under the onslaught of the summer heat that finally arrived with a vengeance.  Until recently, we were enjoying relatively mild summer temperatures.  Compared to other areas hit with monsoonal rain and flash floods, I probably shouldn't complain at all but I'm afraid the unrelenting heat takes a toll on my disposition.

In any case, my only difficulty this week was choosing which plant to feature.  I settled on Cordyline 'Renegade.'  This plant appeared in an earlier blog post (which you can view here), when I picked up 2 of them to fill pots on the front porch of my mother-in-law's former home when we were readying the house for sale.  With the sale completed in record time, we brought the 2 pots home.   They now sit at the front of our house.

The pots may get moved again but the plants are keepers.  Each pot contains a Pelargonium peltatum 'Pink Blizzard,' Calbracohoa, and Alternanthera but Cordyline 'Renegade' is clearly the star of the composition.

'Renegade' is a clumping Cordyline with purplish, almost black foliage.

According to internet sources, it's the offspring of C. australis and C. banksii.  Bred in New Zealand, it's said to be hardy in USDA zones 8-11.  It should reach 2-3 feet tall and wide at maturity.   It needs full to partial sun and a moderate amount of water.  Apparently, it even produces fragrant lavender blooms in winter, although I was unable to find a photo of it in bloom anywhere.

The Cordyline is my contribution to Loree's favorite plants round-up at danger garden.  You can see Loree's current favorite (also a Cordyline!) here, as well as find links to other favorite plant posts.

Before I close, I do have a runner-up to share this week.  It's Hibiscus acetosella 'Mahogany Splendor,' which is just now coming into bloom in my garden.

The buds blend in so well with the plant foliage that I didn't realize it was coming into bloom until an open flower confronted me early one morning this week.  It's pretty, isn't it?

My Blogging Billet

Hoover Boo of Peace of Eden posed 3 questions in her blog post today:

• Where do you blog?
• What is your view?
• Does anyone stare at you sullenly and wish you were not blogging?

As it's too hot to do much of anything outside this afternoon, I thought it a perfect time to respond to her questions.

Here's where I blog:

Here are the views from the windows in my home office:

And here's who's staring at me this afternoon:

Ming the Merciless

Actually, he's not so much staring as squalling his head off to be fed but I couldn't get a picture of him in mid-cry.  He started screaming for his dinner almost immediately after his mid-afternoon snacks.  (Yes, I meant the plural form of the word there - he's relentless.)  To be honest, he wants to be fed all the time - and it's not because I deny him much.  He's just a complainer by nature.

My other cat, Pipig, has left me alone this afternoon.  Her visits to my home office are usually morning affairs.  And she doesn't come calling for food but for affection.  She's a well-behaved cat (mostly).

Pipig in her favorite late afternoon spot

You can go to Hoover Boo's blog page for a view of her blogging spot.

Late Summer Bouquet

I recently discovered the Seasonal Bouquet Project courtesy of a post by Denise of A Growing Obsession.  The project involves weekly posts of bouquets created by 2 farmer/designers on opposite coasts using locally available materials.  They're very inventive constructions, using more than conventional flowers and foliage materials.  They've prompted me to think more creatively about what I use in a bouquet; however, this is not to say that my creation comes anywhere close to the inventiveness of those shown on their site.

I haven't even tried to put together a bouquet for a few weeks.  Our unusually cool summer turned wicked and it has become increasingly hot and humid.  I noticed that the few roses I have wither almost upon opening.  But pumped up by new floral images, I cut one rose in bud before it had a chance to wither and went looking for other materials to show it off.  Here's what I ended up with:

I used some of the same materials I've used in other bouquets but the mix is different and, this time, more dependent on foliage materials.  Here's what I included:

• Rosa 'Medallion'
• Coreopsis 'Redshift' (which has shifted back toward yellow as the days and nights have grown warmer)
• Gaillardia 'Arizona Sun' and another variety that piggybacked its way into my garden with 'Arizona Sun'
• Leucadendron salignum 'Chief'
• Nandina domestica (no ID) berries and foliage
• Pennisetum setaceum 'Rubrum' 

I've previously used Nandina flowers and, while I liked how they look in an arrangement, they shed continuously, dropping rice-like petals.  The Nandina berries hold up much better.

Here's another shot showing the rose fully opened:

Rose, Gaillardia, Coreopsis, Leucadendron, Nandina, Pennisetum

I probably won't post many bouquets as the summer heat wears on but, with those I do, I'm going to make more of an effort.  Now, if I can just keep the cats away from those tempting Pennisetum stems...

Wide Shot - September 2013

Like a lot of garden bloggers, most of my photos show micro-views of my garden, often just one plant or close-ups of blooms or foliage on a particular plant.  I've only occasionally shown broad views of my garden.  (See the posts here, here and here for examples.)

While the micro-views are useful to plant enthusiasts, myself included, the sense of how the plants fit together frequently gets lost.  Heather of Xericstyle is introducing a new meme featuring wide shots of the garden at the beginning of each month.  I thought the exercise would provide me a good opportunity to chronicle the evolution of my garden so I'm joining in with the widest view I could manage of my backyard border.   At this time of the year this feels a little like posting pictures of my dirty laundry but here we go.

Photo taken from the back door

Side view of the back border taken from the left

Side view of the border taken from the right

In addition to brown spots in the lawn, you may notice that there are a lot of holes in the border.  Some of this is attributable to summer die-back but the immaturity of the plants is a bigger factor.  Most of what you see here was added within the last 12-15 months when I pushed the width of the border out by 6 feet.  I also continue to change my plant selections as I make determinations as to which plants do well here and which don't.  Many revisions are already planned for the fall planting season.

The good news with respect to the state of my back border is that, when it looks shabby, one only has to lift one's eyes to the horizon for a better view.

Please go to Heather's blog, Xericstyle, to see the great wide view of her front garden, and to find links to wide views offered by other gardeners.  Thanks for pushing me to document a broader view of my garden, Heather!

Clouds everywhere

The morning sky looking southeast was full of puffy clouds tinged with gray.

More clouds to the northwest.

The desert and mountain areas to the east are under flash flood watches but not a drop of rain has fallen here.  It's just hot, muggy and uncomfortable.  A good time to check out garden blogs, plan fall planting schemes, and maybe order some plants by mail.

Or maybe just rest.

Ming in a rare period of repose

Pipig enjoying a spot of sun - and the air conditioning

My favorite plant this week: Euphorbia 'Dean's Hybrid'

The return of summer heat in our area has taken a toll on the appearance of a lot of my plants, especially the flowering ones.  My roses look downright sad, with the blooms withering almost as soon as they open.  Even Coreopsis 'Redshift,' which has been blooming heavily for weeks, looks a little wilted.  It may be that I've been too stingy with the water this summer but, if you saw our last water bill, I'm sure you'd understand.  We discovered two leaks the week before last, which may account for the stratospheric charges on this month's bill but, until I can be sure of that, I'm metering out the extra water very carefully.

Strolling through my garden, I wasn't sure there was anything I could call my "favorite" this week - until I walked down the stairs of my slope and saw Euphorbia 'Dean's Hybrid.'  Nothing on the hot, dry slope looks particularly good at the moment - except this plant.  It's thriving even though none of the plants down there are irrigated automatically and they recently went a good 2 weeks without water when I was preoccupied with other tasks.

I put 5 of these plants in on the slope last year.  I lost one but it self-seeded nearby.  I cut back a few of these last week when their blooms turned tawny and they're already producing new foliage.  The foliage of this Euphorbia is soft and fern-like with a blue-ish tint.

New foliage is coming in at the base of this plant which I cut back just a week ago

The one plant I haven't yet cut back has turned into a behemoth, overwhelming the Ribes viburnifolium 'Catalina Perfume Currant' next to it.

The seedling hasn't bloomed yet but it looks healthy.

I planted a few of these Euphorbia in my backyard border as well back in May.  They haven't assumed the size of those on the slope but perhaps they just need more time in the ground - or maybe this plant actually prefers the abuse it received on the back slope.

Euphorbia planted in May next to Coreopsis 'Tahitian Sunset'

'Dean's Hybrid' grows up to 30 inches tall and 2 feet wide.  It's hardy in USDA zones 7a-10b.  It makes do with occasional water and needs full to partial sun.  Removing the stems when the flowering bracts become tawny will keep new foliage coming.  As with any Euphorbia, you need to be careful of the milky sap produced when a stem is cut as it causes skin irritation.

In addition to the ferny foliage, the plant produces bright, acid yellow blooms in spring and again in mid-summer.  The bracts gradually fade to a light yellow, eventually taking on a muted tan/orange shade.

'Dean's Hybrid" sporting its signature chartreuse bracts in May

Euphorbia 'Dean's Hybrid' is my contribution to the "favorite plant of the week" meme sponsored by Loree of danger garden.  You can see Loree's current favorite plant and find links to favorites posted by other gardeners here.

Wordless Wednesday