Wordless Wednesday: A Bird's Eye View of the Garden

In a Vase on Monday: Before and After

After one week of cooler weather, temperatures are climbing once again in southern California and the Santa Ana winds are blowing.  The winds, called "devil winds" during California's Spanish colonial period, are the source of as many problems as the heat, increasing the danger of wildfires and drying up soil, plants, and the gardener's skin.  The Santa Anas have a place in popular mythology too.  They featured prominently in Raymond Chandler's 1938 story, "Red Wind," in which Chandler described the hot, dry winds as those "that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch."

This is a long-winded (no pun intended) way to explain how I chose the centerpiece for the bouquet I put together in connection with Cathy's weekly meme at Rambling in the Garden.  I don't have many hybrid tea or floribunda roses so I use them sparingly as cut flowers, if at all.  But, when the Santa Anas blow, these flowers can shrivel or blow to pieces overnight so, facing that prospect, I cut 2 stems of my lavender rose, consisting of 2 full-blown blooms and 4 buds, for today's vase.

This was my first pass at constructing my bouquet.

Vase, sitting in my kitchen window with a cookie jar pig I use as a tea caddy

I'm uncertain as to the name of the rose, which came with the house.  The best guess is 'Angel Face,' although the blooms are much bigger than those of the 'Angel Face' I grew in my former garden.  However, like that rose, the flowers are extremely fragrant.

I accented the roses with Pentas, ornamental oregano, Gaura, and stems from one of my favorite variegated foliage plants.

Pentas lanceolata 'Kaleidoscope Appleblossum'

Origanum 'Monterey Bay'

Gaura lindheimeri 'Snow Fountain'

Pseuderanthemum 'Texas Tri-Star'

The arrangement was fine but I thought it needed something else with volume to fill the space between the roses and the wispy Gaura.  I went hunting in my garden for the white form of Centranthus ruber which, along with the pink varieties, is a virtual weed here.  Unfortunately, the big white blooms had been wiped out by the last heatwave.  I found only smaller sprays of white Centranthus.  Even the pink varieties, on their second bloom cycle, were relatively small.  I added some of both to the bouquet anyway.  Here's the "after" photo:

Vase after the addition of Centranthus ruber

The addition of the Centranthus did help fill out the arrangement from the back.

Although all my photos were once again taken in the kitchen, the bouquet sits in my home office, where I can enjoy the fragrance.  (Taking a good picture in my home office appears to be impossible.)

This is my contribution to Cathy's meme.  Please visit her at Rambling in the Garden to see what she's cooked up this week and to find links to the creations of other participating gardeners.

My favorite plant this week: Hemerocallis 'Spanish Harlem'

Once again this week, I had a prolonged debate with myself about which plant to feature as my favorite.  I flip-flopped on my choice up until the point I sat down to write this post.  All my candidates won my respect by sailing through last week's heatwave with nary a tinge of leaf burn.  In the end, Hemerocallis 'Spanish Harlem' won out, mainly because it's up front and center - literally - waving at me every time I walk up to my front door.  I planted clumps of this daylily in the beds on either side of our front walkway in November 2011.

I didn't have daylilies at our old house and frankly had little interest in them until we moved into our current house over 3 years ago.  I inherited 3-4 dozen with the house, all the same dormant variety with red-orange flowers.  The vigor of the genus even under the hot, dry conditions here made be look into evergreen and reblooming varieties.  'Spanish Harlem,' advertised as an evergreen rebloomer with flowers that are "soot black underlaid with pink," was one of my earliest purchases.

In this case the camera doesn't lie.  The flower color is fairly represented in my photos.  The yellow-green inside the flower's throat adds to its appeal.  The flowers themselves are large, 5-6 inches (13-15 cm) in size when open.

I know that some people don't like the maintenance daylilies require but I don't mind snapping off their fading blooms.  Even with a dozen new flowers blooming each day, it only takes a minute on one of my many trips out the front door to clean the plant up.  However, I do have to be a bit careful with this particular daylily as sap dripped by the flowers can stain both hands and clothes.  In fact, I suspect the inky purplish substance could be used as a dye.

Sap from snapped flowers stained the foliage below here

Despite the plant's apparent happiness in the mostly sun borders at the front of the house I may move it eventually.  The grower I bought them from, as well as most of those offering the plant on-line, projected a height of 26 inches (66 cm).  Mine have reached 40 inches (1 meter) in height, putting them out of proportion with the surrounding plants in the front borders, at least at this time of year.  The Gaura lindheimeri planted in front of them will eventually reach nearly that height but, by the time it does, the daylilies will be finishing up their spring-summer bloom cycle.  This is a reliable rebloomer.  The heaviest bloom occurs in late spring to early summer but it blooms here again in November into early December.

Hemerocallis 'Spanish Harlem' is my contribution to Loree's favorite plant meme at danger garden.  Please visit her to see her spiky favorite this week.  If you have a favorite you'd like to share, you can post a link to your photos and commentary on her site.

Is Summer Here Already?

We were hit with blast furnace heat here last week, with temperatures nearing 100F (37.8C).  The heat, accompanied by high winds, took a toll on the garden, as well as the gardener.  Although I supplemented the twice weekly automated irrigation received by most of my garden during our "warm season" with daily hand-watering of the most fragile plants, it wasn't enough to save them all.  Although the losses are discouraging, as those of you in areas affected by the "polar vortex" know all too well, I was surprised by the number of plants that seem to be thrive in the heat.  Based on a comparison with last year's photographic record, it appears that that many of my early summer bloomers have a 2-3 week head start this year, including many of my daylilies.

Hemerocallis 'Blythe Belle'

Hemerocallis 'Double Impact'

Hemerocallis 'For Pete's Sake'

Hemerocallis 'Russian Rhapsody'

Hemerocallis 'Spanish Harlem'

Other perennials are also producing early blooms.

Achillea 'Moonshine' didn't bloom until late May in 2013

The Agapanthus are now appearing en masse - I stopped counting those in the backyard when the number reached 70 and I didn't even bother checking those in the front yard

Gaura 'Snow Fountain' is taking off

Leucanthemum x superbum 'Snow Lady,' although divided last fall, are also blooming early

Digiplexis 'Illumination Flame' and its companion, Anagallis 'Wildcat Mandarin,' sailed through the hot, dry weather without any sign they even noticed it.

I am definitely getting more Digiplexis when it becomes available in additional colors

On the other hand, the heat and wind proved to be too much for some plants.

Baptisia australis, planted more than a month ago and doing fine until last week, was just taken off life support

The demise of this Euphorbia 'Dean's Hybrid' is a mystery - those on the back slope that got far less water are doing fine

 

The sweet peas, Lathyrus odoratus, collapsed virtually overnight

Nepeta 'Pink Cat,' planted more than 6 weeks ago from starts as an experiment, all croaked 

In addition to these plants, I lost a large mass of Ajuga 'Catlin's Giant' and one whole strip of plants along the driveway.  Other plants are damaged or struggling.

Acer palmatum 'Purple Ghost' looked to be doing fine until I noticed damage to some of the leaves just as the heat wave came to an end

The flowers on Dianthus barbatus 'Heart Attack' took a beating but the plants themselves seem healthy

In addition to the grass in the one section of the front yard, which is most dead, there are patches in the backyard that are looking pretty bad - dethatching, fertilizing, aerating and overseeding are planned

I expect that the lack of winter rain, combined with a pattern of stingy irrigation on my part, are factors in my plant losses and damage.  However, as our drought is unlikely to end this year and as mandatory irrigation restrictions are possible (if not likely), I'm treating the lessons of this recent heatwave seriously.  I'm considering new, more drought-tolerant options to replace the plants I've lost.

In a Vase on Monday: Odds & Ends

Last week, I featured Arthropodium cirratum, also known as Renga Lily, in a favorite plant post.  When gathering information on the plant, I read that the bloom spikes make good cut flowers.  Although I've had these plants for years, I've never used the blooms in a cut flower arrangement and, as I currently have a half dozen or so plants in bloom, I thought this week's post for Cathy's meme at Rambling in the Garden was the perfect opportunity to remedy that situation.  As usual, the difficulty was in finding the right accent plants.

The small flower buds of the Renga Lily close up at night but the white petals open in daylight to reveal pinkish purple and yellow stamens.  I picked the last of my pink Alstroemeria as the primary accent flower, then added a stem of Leucanthemum x superbum and a few stems of Hebe 'Wiri Blush' to echo the colors in the Alstroemeria.

Close-up of Renga Lily flowers in sunlight

Close-up of Alstroemeria, Shasta daisy, and Hebe

The wild card in this case was the foliage I added to support the bouquet.  Late Sunday afternoon, I found myself cutting back another favorite plant, Ageratum corymbosum.  I added some of the stems of this plant to the bouquet rather than tossing them in the compost bin.  The leaves are very attractive, more purple than green, and slightly fuzzy.

Close-up of the leaves of Ageratum corymbosum

Everything went into one of my favorite blown glass vases, picked up at a street fair many, many years ago.  The vase picks up the darker notes in the Ageratum foliage.

Please visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden to see her floral composition.  If you have a bouquet on hand this Monday, take a photo (or two) and share it by posting a link on her site.

Wide Shots - May 2014

We're in the middle of a nasty heat wave, with high winds and temperatures soaring into the mid-90sF (35C).  To make matters worse, the seemingly inevitable wildfires that accompany heat, wind and drought here popped up in areas to the east of Los Angeles, polluting the air, turning the sky a dingy brown, and forcing the temporary evacuation of over a thousand homes.  I sincerely hope current conditions aren't a portent of what we can expect this summer.

The wind, heat and low humidity are already taking a toll on the most fragile plants in my garden, although it still looks pretty good in the wide shots I've included here.  My backyard borders have filled in some since last month's post.

Backyard photographed from the back door

Backyard borders photographed from the left side

Backyard borders photographed from the dirt path that starts in the southeast side yard

After repeated problems with raccoons digging things up in the southeast side garden, I pulled out some of their favorite targets.  There's been a drop in raccoon activity since then but whether that has to do with my new plant selections, the raccoons' foraging schedule, or pure luck, I don't know.

Southeast side yard photographed from the front lawn through the arbor

Side yard photographed from the side yard patio

Side yard photographed from the backyard grass path

Floral color is more prominent in the front yard borders than it has been for the last several months.  The 'Pink Meidiland' shrub roses, Hemerocallis 'Spanish Harlem', and Gaura lindheimeri 'Snow Fountain' are in bloom, along with various Pelargonium and Cuphea x ignea 'Starfire Pink.'  However, the lawn on the right side as you face the house (virtually invisible in the photo below) is in terrible condition, probably due to a combination of sparse rainfall and the greedy roots of the Magnolia grandiflora occupying that area.

Front borders photographed from the driveway

While sweet peas still dominate one of the 3 raised planters in the vegetable garden, I've now got seeds of 'Glass Gem' corn sprouting in the middle planter and the thornless raspberry bush I thought I killed last year has reappeared.  I've also got sunflower seeds sprouting amid strawberry plants in the third planter and the Mandarin orange tree in the corner still has plenty of ripe fruit.

Vegetable garden photographed from the gate leading to the dry garden

I've had some raccoon activity in the dry garden as well.  I put a tomato cage over a recently planted Agave vilmoriniana in an effort to keep them from tearing it out of the ground again.  So far, that's worked.  The first bearded Iris in this area is in flower and the daylilies have made sporadic appearances, although none were bothering to show their faces when I took the pictures below.

Dry garden on the northwest side of the house, photographed from the start of the path leading to the stairway down the slope

Dry garden photographed from the backyard

We did quite a bit of work on the slope last month, although it may not be readily apparent.  My husband went a little crazy cutting back the huge Yucca elephantipes that marks the boundary between us and one of our neighbors.  The Yucca still creates a sprawling fence along the property line but we managed to clear some space around a peach tree it had engulfed and increased the light and air flowing through the Yucca.  The Yucca appears to root wherever a branch touches soil.  There are a lot of plants buried under the ivy spreading from the neighbor's property, which I'm slowly cutting back.

Slope photographed from near the top of the concrete block stairway

A closer look at the "thinned" Yucca elephantipes - you may be able to make out the pink flowers of the slender peach tree we discovered just in front of the Yucca

That's it for this month's wide shots.  Please visit Heather at Xericstyle, the sponsor of this meme, to see her wide shot this month and to find links to shots presented by other gardeners.