Wednesday Vignettes: first time blooms!

In the garden right now, it's still clean up time - pruning, getting the leaves out of everything, figuring out what the cold and/or gophers damaged over the winter... nothing too pretty! But, to remind myself that the winter chores pay off, here are some pictures of one of my cactus (trichocereus grandiflora) hybrids that bloomed for the first time last year!

the only red-ish one i have

it lives on the top of the hillside, behind one of the pine trees

looks pretty in the blue pot!

it bloomed over several weeks!

Here's to hoping it (and all the rest of them...) bloom again this year!

Agave Close Ups

This weekend, I marvelled at how unique the agaves look from above. Because that was better than marveling about how giant my pile of trimmings were, even though i still had so much to go!

agave parrasana

agave shawii (plus many pups!)

agave 'Cream Spike' (still looking for pups)

agave 'Crazy Horse' 

I've been looking at the plant catalogs and websites... i think more new agaves will be joining the garden this year!

Hoya Kerrii - Favorite Plant

Danger Garden identified a shady combo of ferns and mahonia as her favorites for July - so i took a look at my favorite shade plant (of which i don't have very many!)

I have a hoya kerrii that lives in a pot, that i've had for years. It spends the summers hanging by my front door. This year, a mourning dove built a nest in it, and i left it alone the whole time the baby birds were in there. When they finally left the nest, the plant celebrated by promptly bursting into bloom:

funny looking flowers

yes, they will drip nectar all over my front patio

and the leaves

but they are cute, funny looking things!

This is the whole plant - it's in the shade for most of the day, minus a few hours in the morning. It does not like our full sun at all. 

it looks like some kind of weird sea creature with too many legs

Hoya kerrii gets to be my favorite plant right now, and hopefully no more birds will build nests in it!

Curling Up!

A lot of plants will react to prolonged heat/sun exposure. I can tell it's been ridiculously hot here (we had a whole week of above 105 deg F) when all my agaves (and similar plants) start curling up on themselves. Not all of them do it, and some do it more than others. They usually all "relax" again after the temperatures go back to "normal".

Mr. Ripple, normally

Mr. Ripple - earlier this weekend

I suppose this could also be an indication that he's getting ready to bloom... But after carefully sticking my head through his arms and looking, i only see new leaves. Still worth keeping an eye on him, i suppose. I have no idea what to do if/when he blooms (or more to the point, afterwards...)

Next up is xMangave 'kaleidoscope':

This one recovered from a rough winter, and was starting to look good again...

...but closed up a lot this week, although no sunburn (yet!)

However, this was on the winner's table at the Huntington Cactus & Succulent show... wow!

I have a bunch more pictures of that show & garden visit - so many awesome plants! I may have accidentally bought some more plants, which is of course a very bad idea when it's a "cool" 95 deg out.

This poor Agave salmaina var. ferox 'Green Goblet' certainly warns against planting anything:

how to minimize sun exposure...

That plant lives up in the corner of the hill side. It barely gets any water, so has grown a lot slower than it's 2 siblings. The black things at the base are dried up old leaves, not cracks in the ground.  The block wall to the side it of it also radiates heat. But it's not dead, and that's an accomplishment on the hillside!

I learned a while ago that because our "full sun" is really full sun, that certain delicate agaves, especially any with variegation, really need to hide under something. Somehow, that's kept this agave pototarum 'Kissho Kan' alive for several years.

hiding in the shade of an opuntia, which just laughs at the sun

It's not even supposed to be winter hardy here, but don't tell it that. As long as it keeps surviving the cold and heat, i'm happy. Now, i'd like someone to explain why the heat isn't keeping the weeds from growing, but that's something different...

Agaves!

One of the first garden blogs that I discovered when i was trying to figure out what might grow in my garden was Digging, with Pam Penick. One of her signature plants was of course Moby - her agave ovatifolia, who bloomed (as documented on Pam's blog and instagram) recently. Moby was definitely the inspiration for my own two agave ovatifolia, and Pam's blog has been a source of many other ideas, as well as wonderful pictures and advice over the years.

After Moby bloomed, Pam was kind enough to share bulbils with many people, as she documented in this update post. There is now one extra spot that Moby lives on... my garden!

Three little baby agaves!

Pam was kind enough to share three Moby bulbils and after getting them potted up, i let them out into the wild for some "family portraits":

This is the newer of my two a. ovatifolia - i think this is 'Vanzie'

The plant in the picture above was planted a few years after the one below. It's also in a slightly shadier spot - i don't know whether its that or because it's 'Vanzie' that the leaves are a lot pointier than my other a. ovatifolia.

a. ovatifolia and the babies!

The 'Desert Museum' Palo Verde has also started blooming in celebration! Hopefully the baby whale tongue agaves will like it here. I'll let them get a bit bigger in their pots before finding spots in the ground for them.

Thanks again to Pam for sharing Moby's spawn, and for all the inspiration over the years!

Weekend Pictures & Favorites - 2/26/2017

I haven't had much time in the garden this weekend, but progress continues! The bed that was a mess is much cleaner now. This does make the smoke bush look even sadder than before... i really should give up on him, i think.

The sage bushes probably need replacing too

The left most hill side has been cleaned up, and i've rearranged the yucca here to fill an empty spot and save it from being engulfed. There are so many poppy seedling here this year!

The rest of hillside is probably next weekend's project...

I wanted to share some of my favorite plants - like Loree at Danger Garden, i picked Five for February. Her post and comments show many more favorites, and here are mine:

the senna artemisioides is starting to bloom - and taller than the wall this year!

every year that this stone cactus blooms i'm impressed that it isn't dead. 3 blooms this year!

The fruit trees on the hill side (this is nectarine) are almost ready to bloom

this combination of green, silver and purple on the hill side makes me happy.

This tube has to be cleaned up some, but i love this combo of plants. 

I'll add cleaning up that last tube to the list of things to do, although i'm always so worried that i'll kill the plants by moving them. But some extra soil and new mulch should help them this summer, and i should do it now, before it gets hot again.

All these projects should be enough to keep me busy, but now i've been wondering whether i've made enough progress yet to get to buy more plants... I have to remember we can still get frost for another month or 2! Maybe buying mulch and continuing clean up will help keep me from buying new plants (probably not!).

Garden Progress, Agaves & Lessons Learned

Even with all the rain the last few weeks, I'm making progress on all the projects/problem areas I identified earlier this year. One particular horrible bed (left of the patio) has been cleaned, new drip lines installed, plants moved and cut back, some new, low-risk succulent cuttings and a layer of new mulch:

cedar mulch because it's the one i dislike the least. 

you can see some of the new drip lines on the left

the other side of the bed has new rock mulch

The new mulch stayed in place through the crazy rain we had last night! This morning, the weather was perfect for continuing the clean up, and noticing some of the spiky goodies, like agave agave lophantha quadricolor hiding under a carex testacea - this keeps the agave happier in our crazy hot summer sun:

This bed still needs a lot of cleaning, but the combination of yucca (need to remember which one), aloe (the biggest one in my garden!) and agave ovatifolia looks good regardless. I also really need to think about pruning that lowest branch off that tree, so it's less of a bush...

Speaking of agaves - there are three in this picture: a. 'Crazy Horse', a. shawii (in the back, with all it's pups) and the one in the foreground that i've lost the tag for.

While not one of my original spring projects, 'Crazy Horse' really needs to come out that tube. I think that will be next weekend's fun, or maybe tomorrow. But i really can't let it go much longer, lest it end up like my biggest (and still favorite) agave: 'Mr. Ripple':

(please ignore all the gopher damage to the DG - still on the list to fix)

He's not coming out of that tube until after he's bloomed, and even then, it will be interesting. And i even knew that he would get too big, since i told myself to move him 3 years ago: right here. He was so cute and little then. And of course, i've never found another Mr. Ripple since... I'd like to say that i learned my lesson about planting for final size, etc, but probably not.

Given all the foliage in the pictures, I'm linking to Digging for Foliage Follow Up (even if i didn't do a bloom day post to follow up on). Now let's hope for some more gentle rain and nice gardening weather as we get into spring!

Favorite Plant this week: Eschscholzia

My favorite plant this week started out as a self-sown "weed"

before the flowers opened - obviously Eschscholzia californica

I was very excited that a california poppy had decided to self-seed in my garden. They are very common here (the CA poppy reserve is fairly close) but none had ever decided to grace my garden before.

And then the flowers opened:

um - poppies around here are yellow or orange. not both.

A bit of research reveals this is likely Eschscholzia californica ssp. maritima - the coastal form of California poppies. It has bluer, more compact foliage that the species, and a distinct yellow flower with orange center. As best I can tell, my "weed" matches all those characteristics.

It decided to grow in the middle of all the purple flowers, one of the "shadier" beds in the garden

it didn't start blooming until early June - way later than all the natural poppies at the reserve or in the mountains

I'm not sure how a coastal poppy ended up in my desert garden, when there are so many more "normal" orange poppies around. But I'm happy it did! I'm planning to plant some of the standard species next fall, but i hope this one comes back too!

I'm joining Loree at Danger Garden for her favorite plant meme - although I'm sure I won't be posting weekly! Her favorite plant is always worth a look, and the comments at her blog have more awesome plants to look at here.

Favorite Plant this week: Hesperaloe

My favorite plant this week is Hesperaloe parviflora, the yellow version:

Hello yellow!

I have many (9, I think) of the red/pink version, but only 1 of the yellow form. I wanted more for the back garden when I replanted it, but at the time, you couldn't find them anywhere! Even now, the red is way more common, but I did notice that the nursery that did my landscape installation now seems to have several. I finally found mine about a year ago at the Huntington Garden plant sale. This is the first year it has bloomed in the garden.

H. parviflora is also known as Red Yucca, or False Red Yucca. The clumps get about 3-4 feet tall and wide, and they grow well in the heat. They don't need a lot of water, and don't need a lot of care in general - other than trimming the dead flower stalks off. If the clumps get really big, they should be divided, although I haven't done that to any of mine yet. The leaves don't have teeth, but the ends are sharp!

Wider view. This clump has been in the front garden for about a year.

I'm joining Loree at Danger Garden for her favorite plant meme - although I'm sure I won't be posting weekly! Her favorite plant is always worth a look, and the comments at her blog have more awesome plants to look at here.

Favorite Plant this week: Helianthus

My favorite plant this week is Helianthus annuus:

aka sunflower

Because how can it not be? These particular ones self-seeded themselves in one of the tubes. I planted some named varieties a few years ago, but I've long since forgotten which ones they're supposed to be.  This year, there are six plants growing. This one is the first to bloom, at about 2 feet tall.

According to Sunset, these annuals need a lot of water. In my garden, they've seeded themselves in the tube with the Opuntia pads, so they're not getting that much water. They're also not staked (lazy gardener!) but seem to hold up alright in our crazy winds. In the fall, the birds like to hang from them to eat the seeds.

They always look so happy!

I'm joining Loree at Danger Garden for her favorite plant meme - although I'm sure I won't be posting weekly! Her favorite plant is always worth a look, and the comments at her blog have more awesome plants to look at here.

My Favorite Plant This Week: Buddleia 'Orange Sceptre'

For the last GBBD, I showed a close-up of the bloom on one of my favorite plants this whole winter - Buddleia 'Orange Sceptre'. Here is a picture of the whole plant:

Buddleia 'Orange Sceptre' wide shot

 Now, one thing you can see straight away is that this particular plant is not the most attractive ever, with the bare stems. Pictures online don't show this, but it is similar to what other buddleias do in my garden. I think it's a combination of the heat and lack of water, and the fact that they don't die back and I don't prune them. I have some ideas for combination plantings that will help cover up the bare stems.
But the point of this plant is the flowers - it has been flowering all winter! The flowers are really orange, and different shaped for a buddleia:

bloom spike just starting to open

Close up of flower

 When they first form, the blooms are covered with a white-ish/grey fuzz, much like the new leaves are:

Bud forming

Bud & new leaves

 The blooms eventually elongate to a foot or so, and bloom from the bottom up. Here are some more mature ones:

In the summer, more of the spike blooms at once - this was last week

 'Orange Sceptre' responds really well to dead-heading, sending out more flowers.

All winter, I've been watching hummingbirds fight over the flowers from the kitchen windows

I was hoping to have a picture of the hummingbird - but they really love this plant!

And it just keeps flowering...

 My 'Orange Sceptre' was planted at the end of March 2013, when it looked like this:

28 March 2013

 In my garden its a very fast grower - by the start of May, it looked like this:

4 May 2013

 I did some research about this plant. I got mine from Plant Delights (for sale here),  where they say this is a hybrid of Buddleia stachyoides and Buddleia tubiflora by  Dr. Jon Lindstrom of the University of Arkansas. I found the article from the University announcing the release. They mention the concern about re-seeding, and say you should remove the spent flower heads. I have not yet seen a seedling from  my plant anywhere, but that may be unique to the desert. Both sources say the mature size is around 8 feet tall, and based on its performance in my garden, it grows fast, if a bit leggy. It seems somewhat drought tolerant and adapted to the heat. We haven't had any rain this winter, so I've been watering the garden, but only about 1-2 a week. It is planted in full (afternoon, hot) desert sun, which is probably not helping with the leaves... This summer may be a true test of 'Orange Sceptre's' willingness to live in the desert.

While taking pictures, I noticed that there are new leaves growing on the bare stems, so I'm hoping the bottom of the plant will look better soon. I'm still going to find some plants to help fill in the gap, and maybe next year, try cutting it back to the ground.

new leaves growing

Loree at Danger Garden is sharing her favorite plant (in an orange pot!) this week, and you can visit the comments to see other people's contributions. There is such a variety of plants to see each week!