Local Nurseries - Plants, chickens, cats & dogs

I had one of those days yesterday.  One thing after another went wrong.  There were no disasters but by early afternoon I was feeling aggravated and was in search of a distraction.  I decided to take off for a garden center half an hour from home.  As luck would have it, I made a wrong turn and, unable to make a u-turn, I decided I might as well just visit another nursery a couple of miles down the same road and then loop back.  As it turned out, before I headed home, I'd trawled through 4 garden centers.

Plant shopping in early January is a mixed bag even here, where we can garden all year.  All the nurseries I visited are small independent outfits.  Some of them effectively cease regular operations during December to focus on selling Christmas trees.  And the plant stock often isn't replenished this early in the new year.  I had some specific plants in mind but I didn't go into my trip with high hopes of finding them.

My first stop was International Garden Center in El Segundo.  It's not a place I visit often and I'm not sure I've ever bought anything there but it's worth a periodic stop.

Buddha exerted the calming influence I needed

The chickens were roaming the premises following an employee scattering bread crumbs.  Right off a major highway in a densely trafficked urban area, a flock of chickens is a novelty.

I didn't buy anything but I do somewhat regret leaving this Agave guadalajarana behind

My second stop was Deep Roots, the original focus of my afternoon jaunt.  I was on the look-out for a large pot, as well as a few short-lived perennials.  They didn't have any pots the size, color or price I was looking for but, with all their Christmas trees cleared out, they did have a lot of fresh plants on display.

This was the selection of plants that greeted me when I pulled into the parking lot.  Everything was in pristine condition.  I ended up with 6 Gazanias and one tall-growing snapdragon.

They also had a fresh display of perennials.  Deep Roots is one of my go-to nurseries for Grevilleas, Leucadendron, and other drought-tolerant Mediterranean plants but I didn't bring any of those home with me on this trip.

I admired this Begonia 'Red Fred' but it was pricey and my garden isn't an especially hospitable environment for begonias but I sigh every time I look at this foliage

My third stop was the product of a last minute whim.  Peter's Garden Center sits at a major intersection on Pacific Coast Highway.  I formerly lived about a mile from there but I stopped in infrequently even then.  While it generally had a decent selection of annuals and bedding plants, it didn't carry a broad selection of shrubs and perennials.

The pickings were slim on this occasion.  The friendly manager offered profuse apologies for the low stock, explaining that they'd just reopened following a 2-week holiday closure.

There was a lot of empty space as you can see here but then the nursery has always had more space than it appears to use.  I suspect they make most of their money from the wholesale operations they maintain across the street.  The business has been operating in this location since the 1940s.

While stock was low, on this occasion I noticed that they did have some Grevilleas, Westringia and even Eucalyptus 'Moon Lagoon' for sale

They also had a nice display of healthy succulents

Caught in traffic related to a public works project nearer to home, I decided to veer off my route yet again to check out another small garden center, Elwood Nursery in Rolling Hills.  As the crow flies, this nursery is close to me but there's no straight route to get there so I don't stop by this one often either.  However, I've found it's often a good source for annuals and perennials in small pots, although its stock was low on this occasion.

They had nice selection of florist's cineraria (Pericallis) but I've sworn off these plants this year.  They produce lovely flowers in shade but they're prone to leaf miner and the stems break easily.

They did have some Lisianthus (Eustoma grandiflorum) in stock but the plants weren't looking their best.  The older stems of my Lisianthus develop the same kind of sickly pallor shown here but cutting the plants down to the healthy blue-green foliage at the base usually refreshes the plants.

The main attractions on this visit were the furry employees, although I did come home with 2 reasonably-priced African violets.

I almost missed this cat, sleeping on top of empty cardboard boxes.  The owner told me there's a second cat on site too but I never saw that one.

The caretaker was asleep in the sun.  I tried to warn off another customer to avoid waking her up but

I wasn't successful.  She looked mildly disgruntled but soon went back to sleep.  I met a second dog at the cash register, already trying to alert the owner that it was time to take her, the larger dog, and the 2 cats home.  The owner says they even take the cats now because it's been so cold and coyotes are present here too.

I didn't find the Dianthus or Lisianthus plugs I was looking for but I've already planted the Gazanias and snapdragon I brought home from Deep Roots.  The African violets have been tucked away in my lath house, which I hope will offer them sufficient protection.  More rain is on the way this weekend and, once I finish planting another flat of creeping thyme, I'll be ready for it.

Best wishes for a wonderful weekend, whatever your weather.


All material © 2012-2019 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Wednesday Vignette: Pool party!

Saturday morning was cold, the sky was gray, and the air was heavily laden with moisture, already signalling the storm that would arrive that evening.  However, what immediately caught my attention as I looked out my office window was the unusual flurry of activity on our backyard patio.  Birds were furiously swooping back and forth between the mimosa tree and our fountain.  Although smaller in size than the crows that made an appearance one evening last year, these masked invaders were far greater in number.

The entire tree was full of birds but I could photograph only a portion of it from inside the house

Winter visitors here, it appears that an entire flock of Cedar Waxwings had decided to stop by for a bath

I tried to get better photos but, whenever I drew close to the window, they took off.  Realizing that their activity would show up on one of our security cameras, we pulled the footage to provide a better idea of the party.  It reaches its height about 30 seconds into this clip.  (It's best viewed in full screen.)

For more Wednesday Vignettes, visit Anna at Flutter & Hum.


All material © 2012-2019 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

In a Vase on Monday: The usual suspects

Every garden has its rhythms and, despite the mild winter conditions here, mine is no exception.  When I look back at photos of arrangements I created in January in prior years, the same flowers usually make at least one appearance on In a Vase on Monday, the popular meme hosted by Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.  The tradition continues with this post.

Leucadendron 'Wilson's Wonder' produces yellow "blooms" every January.  While this is one of my favorite plants of all time, notable not only for its colorful yellow bracts in winter but also for its fiery red bracts in summer, I've never been entirely happy with how it looks in a vase.  On this occasion, I trimmed off most of the green foliage to make the bracts surrounding the cones more flower-like and to show off the plant's red stems.

I also kept the arrangement somewhat looser than I usually do.  The paperwhite Narcissus was thrown in the back, partly to add interest there but also because the stems had been plastered to the pavement by rain.

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Leucadendron 'Wilson's Wonder', Agonis flexuosa 'Nana', Corokia x virgata 'Sunsplash', Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream', and noID Narcissus

For a few weeks now, I've been pruning plants as though my life depended on it and, as my pink-flowered Leptospermum is one of the plants under siege, I'm using it and another January all-star, Grevillea 'Penola', in a second vase.

The Leptospermum and the Grevillea both have needle-like gray foliage but the former's flowers are flashier

This Grevillea has small but profuse red and white snail-shaped flowers,  Most of the flowers on my plant are still tightly furled.

Top view

From left to right: Grevillea lavandulacea 'Penola', Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl', and Persicaria capitata

For more January arrangements, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.

On the weather front, we got a decent soaking of rain at last on Saturday night and there's more coming down this morning, and still more predicted for the coming weekend.  With that boost, I'm hoping I'll see a variety of new blooms in February, if not sooner.  On the other hand, I also hope Los Angeles will avoid any serious rain-related disasters in the recent burn areas.  It's a fine balance Mother Nature but I know you're up to the challenge!

View of the incoming storm from my backyard late Saturday afternoon

This is a closer look at one of the funnel clouds that got some news press in association with Saturday's storm.  I caught it on camera too.  Luckily, this one never touched the surface.

All material © 2012-2019 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Wide Shots - January 2019

I fear these quarterly wide shots posts may be getting a little old but they're one of the best tools I have to track developments in my garden so I hope you'll bear with me.  I took all but one of these shots yesterday, albeit at varying times of the day.  I was trying to put each area in its best light, which isn't easy at this time of the year when shadows are everywhere.

I'll start as usual in the back garden.

This is the morning view from our back door looking out toward the Port of Los Angeles.  The view in the distance is partly shrouded as usual with a light layer of dingy smog.  I recently cut back a large area of the groundcover Barleria obtusa, which left the Echium webbii to the left of the fountain with bare legs.  This Echium isn't looking as good as it did last year but I'm hoping it'll spring back with more rain.

This is the view from the back patio looking north.  The 2 Arbutus 'Marina' in the background on the right are showing off their red limbs after being pruned in mid-December.  Another variety of the asparagus fern I've been struggling with, Asparagus densiflorus 'Myers' in this case, is growing in the foreground on the right.

This is the view from the south end of the back garden looking back at the mimosa tree (Albizia julibrissin), reduced by half after the front section of the multi-trunked tree was removed due to it falling prey to shot hole borers.

This is the view of the south half of the back garden looking toward the the peppermint willow (Agonis flexuosa).  With a record low rain last year, I wasn't able to get creeping thyme established between the paving stones in the foreground after we leveled a dip in the pathway.  I've placed an order for 3 flats of thyme so I can fill this area and a few others.

This is a view of the south end of back garden from the dirt path behind the main border as we move toward the garden on the south side of the house.  I included it mainly because the Leucadendron (background, left) are putting on a good show right now.

The garden on the south side is coming into its own.

This area of the garden looks its best in the late afternoon.  The succulents are filling out and the Metrosideros collina 'Springfire' that was badly damaged by our horrific heatwave in July has rebounded, although it's still relatively small in stature.

This is the view looking through the arbor on the south side of the house toward the harbor.   The arbor marks the transition between the back and front garden areas.

There are 2 levels to the front garden.  This quarter, we'll take a brief jaunt down to the level adjoining the street on the southwest side before returning to the main level.

Looking down from the mulched path that leads from the garden's main level you can see the lath (shade) house my husband built for me a year ago.  Not all of the plants I tried out in the lath house performed well last year and it's time for me to seek replacements for those that washed out.

Behind and a step below the lath house is a succulent bed running along the street.  Two of the Agave desmettiana 'Variegata' I planted in 2014 have produced bloom spikes but no flowers have opened as yet.  In addition to replacing those 2 agaves, I'm contemplating removing and replacing 2 of the 3 remaining shrubs on the right (Auranticarpa rhombifolium).  They were part of a section of hedge that came with the house that has been slowly dying off.

This photo returns us to the area alongside the lath house, looking back at the path we came down with the harbor in the distance beyond

Returning up the path shown on the right in the last photo brings us back to the main level of the front garden.

This is the view looking across the main level of the front garden from the south end toward the garage on the north end. The Magnolia grandiflora in the background on the right was pruned hard in December.

This is a photo of the same area looking back toward the south end of the front garden.  I planted a Grevillea 'Ned Kelly' on the right in late September to balance the established Grevillea 'Superb' on the left.  The Arbutus 'Marina' in the background was pruned to give 'Ned Kelly' and the surrounding plants more sun exposure.

 

This is the usual view looking at the front door from the driveway.  The Hong Kong orchid tree (Bauhinia x blakeana) on the left made it through pruning without losing too many of its flowers.

This is the view from the garden area next to the garage looking back toward the house.  I'm finally feeling good about how this area is coming together.  We removed the last section of lawn on our property from this area in January 2016.

Half of this succulent bed was also lawn prior to 2016.  If there's a lesson here, it's this: funds permitting, start with larger succulent specimens than I did.  It takes a long time for tiny succulents to fill in.

My former vegetable garden, now a cutting garden, sits on the other side of the garage on the northwest side of the house.

I replanted these raised beds with plugs and seeds in late October.  Sweet pea and other seedlings are coming up but I'm still fighting to keep birds and other critters away from the beds (which is why there are empty plastic flats here as protection).  Right now, the most colorful elements are the Euphorbia 'Sticks on Fire' and the ripening navel oranges.

Passing through the gate in the fence opposite the garage (not shown) leads to another garden area, featuring a variety of drought tolerant plants.

I've pruned the grape vine, the persimmon tree and the Senna bicapsularis here, leaving things looking a little bare.  I worried that I'd cut back the Senna too hard but it's starting to leaf out again now.

The gravel path bisecting the garden area shown above leads to my steep back slope, which isn't visible to the casual observer.

This is the slope looking down from the upper section of the concrete stairway.  I cleaned up the lower area (left of the stairway in this photo) in late November and early December but I haven't make any further progress on the upper section on the right.

This past weekend I discovered that the neighbor had hired a crew to tackle rampant growth in her garden.  Apparently, that included the Bignonia capreolata shown here, which I discovered looking like this.  The trunk of this vine is on our property but the plant grows across the neighbor's chain-link fence.  The neighbor planted it decades before my arrival.  A prior owner of our property subsequently laid claim to the area, which created a dynamic that remains awkward to this day.  I've no objection to having the vine pruned but I'd have liked a heads-up beforehand as the crew entered into our property while doing the work, effectively sweeping away the California poppy seeds I'd sown in early December.  I think the neighbor and I now have the issue resolved with respect to any future work.

So that's what my garden looks like in what passes for winter here.  It's more subdued than in spring, summer and fall but it's not as barren as gardens in colder climates.  While I've complained of colder than usual temperatures here, we've never had a freeze in the 8 years I've lived in this area of coastal Southern California.  I know I'm lucky.  And I'll feel luckier still if rain arrives as predicted on Saturday night.  At present, our total for the rain year that started October 1, 2018 is 4.08 inches.

Best wishes for a wonderful weekend.


All material © 2012-2019 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Tell the Truth Tuesday Follow-up

On Tuesday December 18th, following the lead of Alison at Bonney Lassie, I shared some of the ugly truths about my garden.  The first item I showed was the mass of asparagus fern, Santa Barbara daisy, and other weeds growing in front of the mimosa tree that had been cut back by half due to a losing battle with the shot hole borer.

I'd already cut the largest stems of the asparagus fern, some of which were easily 6 feet in length, when I took this photo

One of my new year's resolutions was to address each of my problem areas and, somewhat to my own surprise, cutting back the rampant Asparagus densiflorus 'Sprengeri' led me to try digging it up.  I say "try" as getting rid of a plant like this that has had years, or more probably decades, to spread is difficult to say the least.  (You can find guidance on the steps required to eradicate it here.)  I didn't plant this one, or any of the others spread throughout our property.  They came with the house.  I spent several days digging, a couple hours at a time.

I dug down about a foot, working small sections one at a time

The photo on the left is a close-up of the tuber-like nodules attached to the plant's roots.  I filled about 10 large trugs like the one on the right.  Each trug was so heavy I could barely carry it to the trash.

I dug out an area about 10 feet long and 2 to 3 feet wide.  In addition to removing the tuber-like nodules attached to the roots, I tried to pick up all the berries I saw as each one is capable of forming a new plant.

After I cleared the area, I added topsoil I had on hand from an earlier project and dug in planting mix

I've no illusions that I got all of it.  For one thing, the roots have reached under the paving stones into a succulent bed beyond, as well as underneath the pots positioned below the Ceanothus hedge.  They also may have mingled with the similar tuber-like roots of the Agapanthus planted in the same border.  They even wrapped themselves around the irrigation pipes and I found some attached to the base of the mimosa tree.  Ugh!

This succulent bed is a mess in itself, especially as it was stomped on during the recent tree-trimming exercise.  I may end up digging it up too sometime this year, in which case I'll have another go in battling the asparagus fern.

All I can hope is that I've slowed the fern's progress.  Whenever the plants pop up, which they do regularly in nearly every corner of the garden, I pull up the foliage and as much of the roots as I can get without damaging nearby plants.  My next question is what to plant in the empty space.  As there's a good chance the mimosa tree towering above won't last more than a few more years, I don't want to plant anything too precious as taking down the tree will damage anything in the surrounding area.  I'm leaning toward a low-growing groundcover of some kind but I'd like something tall enough to obscure the mimosa's "wound."  I could put another large pot there I suppose.  Any ideas?

Lest you think I spent the rest of the holiday period eating bon-bons, here's a photo of another project I tackled as the year was coming to an end.

This is an "after" shot of the Pelargonium peltatum (ivy geranium) that chose to climb up a Pandorea jasminoides vine on the north side of our house.  It had grown ratty.  I got carried away pruning it.  It looks a little sad now but I'm hoping the geranium will come roaring back.

In the course of my rabid pruning, I inadvertently disturbed this little fellow, who appeared to have been hibernating peacefully under the cover of the geranium's dead foliage.  He was curled up and I thought he was a snake at first until he moved around a bit.  I left some debris behind the vine and I hope he managed adequate cover to return to hibernating.  

This is what the 2 vines and the Trachelospermum on the right looked like last June.  With any luck, they'll look as good in the summer of 2019.

There's plenty more ugliness to tackle!  However, we've got family in town so I'm going to take a short break.  I need it - every muscle I've got is aching at the moment.


All material © 2012-2019 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party