Not that I needed an excuse to buy plants...

South Coast Botanic Garden (which I previously wrote about here) held its annual Fall Plant Sale today.  Purchases benefit the garden's foundation.  As a new member of the botanic garden, I qualified for both preview access and a 10% discount.   As I'd signed up for the "family plan," I was able to bring a friend along to shop with the same privileges.  In addition, now that a large section of grass has been cleared from our side yard and prepared for planting, I actually need plants to fill the new space.  I couldn't have had more excuses for plant shopping, could I?

The outside courtyard just inside the entrance of the garden was occupied by a variety of local vendors, offering succulents, tropical selections, and drought-tolerant plants.

I almost bought the Salvia clevelandii 'Wilfred Gilman' (2nd from the right on the table)

More healthy selections from the same vendor

I passed on the Plumerias  - I have to see if I can keep the one I've got alive before picking up another

The prices on the vendor offerings, while pretty good, generally ran  higher than the plants on display in the main auditorium.  My impression is that volunteers supply many of the plants offered for sale in this area but San Marcos and Native Son nurseries also provided donations.

An Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt' - do you see that price?!

Agave 'Blue Glow' - a wonderful plant but not as good a price as I've found elsewhere for its size

I spent 10 minutes debating the purchase of this beautiful ornamental banana ($20!)

Beschorneria yuccoides 

There were a variety of Cuphea, a genus that does well in my SoCal garden

An unidentified variety of Plectranthus - I love the genus but this variety looked rangy

Strobilanthes anisophyllus 'Purpurea' (aka Mexican petunia)

The Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy had an entire room dedicated to California natives.

This plant looked interesting but the common name put me off

Melica imperfecta, a low-growing, drought-tolerant grass

None of the plants on display fit into my current plan for the side yard.  Nonetheless, I didn't walk out empty handed.

My purchases

Here's what I got:

• Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt' (yes, I already have 3 of them but, at $15 for a beautiful plant priced at $40 by the local nurseries, I could hardly take a pass)
• Beschorneria yuccoides 
• Cuphea ignea 'Alba'
• Aeonium simsii hybrid
• Agave lophantha 'Quadricolor' 

My total expenditure was a very reasonable $36.90.  So does it matter that I have a specific spot identified for just one of these plants?

My favorite plant this week: Bauhinia x blakeana

My favorite plant this week is a tree, Bauhinia x blakeana, also known as the Hong Kong Orchid Tree.  Although this semi-deciduous tree looks a bit shabby part of the year, it's hard to overlook when it's in bloom.   I think mine could use some judicious pruning to improve its overall appearance but that will have to wait until it finishes this year's bloom cycle.

I don't have record of its bloom period for our first 2 years in the house but my impression is that it's blooming early this year.  Sunset Western Garden Book, which says that the usual bloom period is late fall until spring, appears to substantiate this impression.

The large, 5-6 inch, magenta flowers, which attract regular visits by our resident hummingbirds, are readily visible through our bedroom window.  The flowers are said to be fragrant but I can detect only the slightest scent.  They become paler as they age, taking on a light purple hue.

The leaves are interesting.  They are bi-lobed, which gives them a butterfly-like appearance when open.

Some leaf drop accompanies the bloom period, although the tree never loses all of its leaves.  Drought conditions can also cause leaf drop.  Inserting a folded leaf inside a book is said to support academic achievement.

Bauhinia x blakeana is usually sterile, seldom producing the seedpods that are characteristic of its parents, B. variegata and B. purpurea.   It grows 12-20 feet tall and 15-20 feet wide.  It's adapted to USDA zones 9b-11 (Sunset zones 13, 19, 21, 23, 24 and H1-H2).  It prefers full sun and can tolerate heat but it needs at least moderate water.

The Hong Kong Orchid Tree is my contribution this week to the favorite plants corralled by Loree at danger garden.  See her post here for her personal favorite of the week, as well as other gardeners' contributions.

Wordless Wednesday

I broke a promise to myself (again)

Every year, I tell myself that I'm not going to plant anything new from July through September.  These are usually our hottest, driest months and, no matter how attentive I am to my watering regimens, plants put in during these months have a reduced chance of survival.  I've learned my lesson in this regard over and over again.  It's rather like throwing money away.  Yet, year after year, I rationalize my way through summer purchases.  And I've done it again this year.

My husband and I have been working at tearing out a large section of lawn in our side yard and building an extension of our flagstone pathway.  While I don't intend to plant most of the area until October, I wasn't able to stop myself from fiddling with plantings along the pathway area.

It started with the addition of a Geranium 'Tiny Monster.'  I've been very pleased with this plant, even featuring it as my "favorite of the week" a few weeks back (as you can see here).  Well, I stopped by a local garden center/florist just to see if they had anything interesting and I found 'Tiny Monster' in stock at a very good price.  I put one in near the new pathway at the start of our current heat wave and it handled the heat without difficulty.  

So, I went back and picked up 2 more 'Tiny Monsters.'  Then I relocated 3 Briza media, a low-growing ornamental grass, from what was the front of my old (now expanded) border to fill in along the pathway.  The Pelargonium tomentosum (aka peppermint geranium) I'd introduced in the adjacent bed was doing well and I'd rooted some cuttings so I added some of that to replace a mostly dead Heuchera 'Melting Fire.'  You can see how this kind of thing takes hold, can't you?  Soon, I had this.

So, one side of the pathway was coming to life, while the other side was loose dirt.  It wasn't balanced.  Then, Annie's Annuals & Perennials announced a sale.  As that's where I originally got the Briza media, I thought it would be smart to order more for the empty side of the path while it was still in stock.  That's just prudent, isn't it?  While I waited for my mail order delivery, I decided that some Mexican feather grass (Stipa tenuissima) would look nice in the corner and I happened to find some in 4 inch pots at a nearby nursery.  That same nursery had a a nice, healthy flat of thyme, which I'd already been planning to use between the flagstones so I picked that up too.  Somewhere along the line I also found some 6-packs of Ajuga 'Mint Chip," which seemed perfect to fill in around stones .

Here's the result.  (I still need another flat of thyme.)

Now, if I can just keep it all alive...

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...