Monday, March 11, 2024

Spring is around the corner

 Well, spring is just around the corner, especially here in the Bay Area. To our gardens we go!! And for those of us lucky enough to have had the time over the last month or two to get such prep things such as weeding, pruning and mulching done, we greet the coming spring ready to already enjoy its bounty. As many of you know, I have a four season garden. Here are some late winter photos of my garden, with much already in bloom!

Plectranthus 'Troy's Gold'. I love recommending plectranthus species to the customers at our Grand Lake Ace nursery. Hardworking, nearly indestructible and greatly varied in leaf form. This is one of several ground cover types.


One of the more curious pelargoniums out there is this shade-loving Pelargonium 'Caroline's Citrine.' It's all about the leaf color in this vigorous and easy to grow Pel.


What is winter without one or more Cyclamen? This lovely 'flame' cyclamen has red-tipped white flowers and returns from dormancy each fall.


Tho the lower light doesn't do justice to the bright chartreuse leaf color on this Physocarpus 'Gold Nugget', I took the photo anyway.


I'm a camellia lover and here is one of my favorites - C. 'Anticipation Variegated'. Each flower displays a slightly different pattern of pink and white and then you have the ruffled petals. Fabulous.


Those who've followed this blog and seen photos of my garden know I have a large collection of bromeliads. That's especially true for Neoregelias. Here's one that has done especially well. And to set the record straight, a great many bromeliads actually like a good amount of sun. As long as you don't let them dry out.


One of my other passions is flowering bulbs from South Africa. Here's a Lachenalia aloides var. quadricolor. Each flower combines yellow, red, green and a touch of purple. Lovely!


Here are two more mature bromeliads, enjoying the sun and adding pizzazz to our walkway.


Rhodocoma capensis. One of the restios hailing from the Cape region of South Africa, this lovely guy actually produces tiny pink flowers at the tips of its seedheads.


While many consider Chasmanthe bicolor to be an invasive plant - it is vigorous no question - I've planted it in a 'problem spot' in my garden and it has prospered.


Switching continents to Australia, here is a photo of my totally charming Melaleuca incana. Commonly called Gray Honey-Myrtle, this Western Australia native does quite well in our climate. And to my delight, a variety of local bees seem to love the fuzzy nectar-rich flowers.


It took two years to flower but now my Leucadendron 'More Silver' had a banner year in producing its telltale yellow bracts. And the shrub itself is prospering.


I always look forward to this fantastic Aloe striata blooming each year. Fantastic bluish-gray foliage too. And of course, hummers love the flowers.


Any guesses as to which flower this is? Don't feel bad if you didn't realize that it's a lily. Lilium 'Apricot Fudge' is one of the more unusual lilies to be found in the nursery trade. It's always the first to bloom, a good month ahead of the many other variety of lilies in my garden.


Grevillea 'Superb'. One of our best selling nursery Grevilleas, one of the principal reasons is th large and colorful panicles of flowers it produces in great number each spring.


Not an artistic photo to be sure but you know how daffodil flowers are - they all nod. I love the simplicity of this one.

It may take you a second to pick them out but this Grevillea 'Molongo' is loaded with tons of tiny, creamy orange flowers. And I swear, they all pop open in like a two week period.


The same is true for my Dodonea sinuolata. The flowers cum seedpods are very small but appear in great numbers in late winter. One of my favorite plants and one whose ID often stumps even veteran gardeners.

This is a bit of an odd juxtaposition but those are Magnolia 'Butterflies' flowers seeming to be right in front of a window. It's just a depth of field illusion. 


Those delicate star-shaped flowers are Ipheions. This bulb returns faithfully each year and gradually colonizes an area.


The orange flowers here belong to a wallflower plant (Erysimum) while the creamy white flowers are species Freesias. 


Here is a bigger patch of those species Freesias. They started out as colored hybrids but at some point reverted back to the original species stock.


Here's the first Harlequin flower (Sparaxis) of the year. It has since been joined by two other colors - a bright pink and a pale orange. This bulb also does a great job of naturalizing in a sunny bed.


And lastly, here's a photo of my long blooming Salvia aurea. There aren't many ginger-brown flowers around but this is one of the loveliest.

Tuesday, July 11, 2023

Summer arrives

 It took awhile but summer has finally arrived! Our gardens have taken notice and it seems that everything is in bloom! Here's a sampling of what is flowering in my garden. 

Above and below are two types of Brodiaea. This blue-flowering late spring bulb is always so cheerful.


Tiger lily mix. This gold-with-brown-spotting lily is super vigorous. Good thing I think that it's beautiful!

Trogon asiatic lily. Love the colors on this lily.

This year's other really exuberant lily is a new one called Pearl Justien.

Alstroemeria is one of those Once-you-have-it, you-have-it-forever plants. This is a lovely one planted many years ago.

Lilium 'Pink Brush' Subtle but pretty.

In spring I get lots of lovely chartreuse new growth on my Cryptomeria 'Bandei-Sugi'.

Cotinus 'Royal Purple'. This smoke bush benefitted from all our winter rains.

Lilium 'Giraffe'. Still one of my favorite lily variety names.

Eriogonum latifolium. One of the loveliest of California buckwheats.

Gold Band lily. This Asiatic type lily is usually a more vibrant gold but this year it came out a 'mellow yellow'.

No problem with color for this Orange Ton lily. It sports a vibrant orange color.

Lily 'Patricia's Pride'. Though in the seller's photo, the purple is more of a blotch, I like the fact tht mine have turned out to have a spray pattern.

One more photo of my Lily 'Giraffe.'

One other very successful lily variety this year is the new L. 'Kaveri'. It has emerged through a gregarious Salvia elegans 'Golden Delicious'.

Hydrangea 'Firefly.' The attraction for this new hydrangea is its dark foliage.

Peanut cactus. Just give it sun and a little bit of moisture and it will bloom.

Lily 'Eyeliner.' This new lily is supposed to have a dark edge but that's okay. It's still pretty.

Lily 'Pink Planet'. This trumpet lily is a new one this year.

Though this photo is in a bit too much shade to show off the rich blood-red color of the Lily 'Corleone', I include it anyway.

Callirhoe. Known as Wine Cups for its rich, wine-colored, cup-shaped flowers, this vigorous deciduous perennial always returns strong each year.

Crinum 'Rosea'. After I waited like 6 years for this bulb to bloom, it has suddenly become a blooming machine. Here is its first flower stalk & flowers. More will surely come.


Calceolaria 'Kentish Hero'. This colorful pocketbooks features burnt orange flowers.

Tuesday, June 6, 2023

Wherefore summer?

 That old Bay Area truism - 'If you don't like the weather, wait for five minutes" - seems to have vacated the premises. Each cooler than normal day follows another and we're not the only ones missing the sun and some heat. So are our gardens. Well, it will soon change. Meanwhile, here are recent photos from my One-of-Everything' garden.

Campanula 'Blue Waterfall'. My favorite Campanula and possibly the most prolific bloomer of them all.

Sweet peas tangled in tall lily stems. A little color now and then color to come

Lily 'Lionheart'. Always one of the earliest to bloom of my large collection of lilies, this charming Asiatic type is very cheerful.

Perhaps not exciting quite yet but this long row of potted lilies will soon be a riot of color.

One of my favorite Haitian metal sculptures.

Tho not yet bushy, this prolific blooming Echium Blue Bedder is a real bee magnet.

Streptosolen jamesonii. Better known as Marmalade bush, this long standing part of my front yard has garnered more 'Wow, what is that?' comments than any other plant.

Lonicera x americana. A prolific blooming honeysuckle but alas not one that is fragrant.

Here's my 'full to the gills' Driveways bed. Lilies, salvias, a Banksia rose, a snail vine and a Laburnum tree are here!

Tho most bottlebrush plants take a tree form, this Callistemon viminalis is a shrub. Same fuzzy red flowers beloved by hummers.

Maritime CA poppy. Unlike the other CA poppies, this species is a true perennial. This guy has been in this very bed for 6 or 7 years.

Here's one of the many Mimulus varieties in my garden.

Tho bare looking here, this Alstroemeria variety has overrun my Driveways bed. If anything is going to get 'weedy' this is certainly a pretty one.

It's not often that a flower's seedpods are as interesting as its flowers but that's the case for this Phacelia tanacetifolia.

Everybody loves flowering maples (the common name for Abutilons). Here's my A. 'Tiger Eye.'

Cotinus 'Royal Purple.' Everybody's favorite smoke bush ...

Digiplexis variety. Tho this cross between a Digitalis (foxglove) and an Isoplexis has now been reclassified as just a Digitalis, I prefer its original designation.

More sweet peas.

The early star of my collection of lilies, this L. 'John Hancock' has produced large, vividly colored flowers.

Papaver rhoeas 'Shirley.' These lovely flowers have a papery feel and are often attractively crinkled.

My Scarlet Peony breadseed poppy has gone wild this year!

Nasturtiums may be common but they still are pretty and they literally grow themselves.

Eucomis 'Sparkling Burgundy'. This vividly colored Pineapple lily is a knockout.

My bronze fennel has gone wild but no sign yet of Anise Swallowtail caterpillars.

Finally, a photo of my 'recovering' Shady Lane. Every plant close to the house wall on the left had to be cut to the ground to accomodate the painters last year. It's slowly filling back in.


 
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