June Flowers

Some pretty flowers this month. The garden isn't spectacular as a whole. The roses are past their first blooms and the rest arn't enough to catch the eye.

Still, I have some beauties. The first is an alstoemeria (I think I got that right). I have always wanted one but the ones at the nursery cost an arm and a leg and usually the colors are muddy so I never bought one until this year at the SFGS. It is gorgeous. I just hope that I can grow it when it gets hotter (and if if will survive the winter).

Next is my brugmansia. It is starting to look good but I always have trouble them when it gets hotter.


Verbenia bonariensis grows beautifully for me and make a pretty airy presence wherever I plant it. It also reseeds happily and every year I have more plants. (It survives the winters just fine)

Then the small white bedding zinnias. They were great last year and starting off fine now.

And finally my red daylily.

Water Lily - the rest of the story.

Last year I was into garden goals - and I accomplished the ones I set. This year, not so much.

This water lily was one of my goals last year. I accomlished the goal but never really got the benefit. I was excited about having a small water feature in our courtyard filled with floating leaves and flowers. What I got was a container filled with green scum, a few lily pads and not flowers.

Needless to say, my wife is not a raving fan of this water garden. She does not appreciate the aesthetics of galvanized metal and she doesn't like green scum.

So I have vowed this year to do better. More fertilizer for the lily and find something to fight the green scum. I have inserted fertilzer plugs every few weeks with no noticeable impact on the lily. There are still only a few skimpy leaves. With the scum, I have kept the water relatively clear. It may be some stuff I got to spray the water to prevent mosquitoes. It may have nothing to do with the spray. I don't know. I do know that I expect some appreciation from the lily and I'm not seeing it.

Maybe it's still too cold for lily growth. Maybe, the lily just doesn't like me. All I know is that unless it starts giving me a little appreciation, it won't get another year.

This week in the Garden

First up - Mmw. Cecile Brunner with long bloom stalks. Then the deep purple shrub rose.






Then my new shrub roses for the foundation planting. These are Flame Mediland - a little blue for my tastes but it looks promsing to fill in the spaces where the pittosporums died.

Next is Mutabilis, always looking good.

Finally some new african daisies. I like the color blends available. This one blends orange, brown and purple very nicely.

Flower in May

As you can see the roses are beginning to bloom. Graham Thomas -slightly out of focus, followed by Mme. Ceclie Brunner.






Cecile has been tiny for the past two years and I have wondered if she would ever get big because the catalogue says 3 feet. This year I have some bloom stalks that are tall as you can see. It still remains to be seen if the whole plant will get bigger.

The next rose is a dark violet shrub paired with Cecile and finally Ginger Syllabub growing up the bell tower in my entrace courtyard.

Mutabilis is blooming but only a few blossums and I am still waiting to see flowers on my newest - Fire Mediland which I am using to replace some Pittosporums that died. I havn't used roses for landscaping plantings yet and so if this works, I will be doing more.

Anybody using the new landscape roses like flower carpet ($25 at my nursery, wow!) or mediland or others. Share your experiences with me.

Flowers This week.

More iris this week. Suspect is the first with the dark falls and caramel colored standards. It is an arilbred but looks more like a bearded. Oyex, the second definitely shows the aril in the shape and shadings. It has small leaves and not much of a presence until it flowers. Then you can't take your eyes away.

And finally, my irrepresibly pink sweatpeas. Every blessed one of them is pink, and not just pink but a particularly disgusting lavender pink. Since they are growing in the raised bed where I hoped they would be finished by planting time, I don't know how long I will put up with them.

Flowers This week. p1

This week, I am seeing more flowers in the yard. Here are two to start things off.





The first is a euphorbia with cheerful orange bracts. The second is the sweatpeas that I planted last fall in the mistaken belief that they would start growing and blooming early and yes I don't believe that April is early.


At least this year they came up last fall and didn't die. The next problem is that they are pink. I was sure that they were assorted colors and I most definitely would not have selected a packet with exclusively pink flowers, especially a magenta pink like these. There are only a few flowers so far and these sweatpeas had better put on a good show to make up for their pinkness.

Repotting Cymbidiums

This afternoon I repotted some of my cymbidium orchids so I thought I would share the process. I use coir bricks as the potting medium. Coir is the fiber from coconut husks and you can buy it compressed into bricks which you soak in water before use. I use the mixed bricks which contain larger chunks of the husk.

The second picture shows the plants waiting to be repotted.

The third picture is the coir after soaking.

The fourth picture is one of the plants broken apart out of the pot. You don't need to be delicate with them. I also clean out dead leaves and the dry fibers around the pseudobulbs to make the plant more attractive.

The fifth picture shows part of the plant repotted with the remaining part waiting it's turn.

Finally, the last picture show the class of 09 perky and eager to grow and get ready for blooming next year. I am hopeful that these will bloom for me. I usually don't expect plants to bloom the first year after repotting but i don't get around to repotting them until well into the summer. This year I am early enough to hope that they get a good long growth season.

The two plants that are blooming now need repotting but I will wait until the blooms fade.

Another Cymbidium

I'm awash in orchids this year.

Well, maybe not awash but three plants with blooms is my best performance yet in the foothills.

King Arthur (Sweetheart) is my best bloomer, both here and in So Cal. This year I had two plants bloom, one in December, when it normally bloomed for me down south and now this one in April. Behind him you can see the pink I showed a week or so back.

I am feeling very optimistic that next year will be a bloom bonanza. Several of my plants are over grown and need repotting. I am going to do it soon to give them the best chance at blooming next year. The ones I potted last year should be definites. I received my coir bricks last week so as soon as the rain stops, I'm ready.

First Iris

Here is my first iris this year. It's an Arilbred. You can easily tell from the beautiful brown blotch and if you look carefully you can see the domed shape of the bloom. I am particularly pleased because it is a true test of a plant to come back a second year on my rockpile.

Logic would argue that arilbreds would be a good bet given that they like dry summers (at least from one parent) but you never know. Then, also sometimes wet winters make a plant that you would otherwise expect to be happy die on you.

Some of my others seem to be coming on strong, others are still there and some are missing. Life is a great experiment and it's wonderful when you can experiment with something as beautiful as this. I am lousy with marking my plants but this one is most likely Burra Sahib although it isn't so domed as the picture in the catalogue.

Put a Tiger in Your Tank, Pam

Pam Penick, Gardener, Designer and Blogger extraordinaire uses stock tanks in her landscapes, both as water gardens and planters to raise her plants to higher levels. It was an inspiration to me as I looked to find a container for a water lily last year (there is a story there but let's save it for later). Anyway in my daily web browsing, I found this lovely pool and since it's an idea that not even Pam has incorporated into her garden, I want to share it with her. I love it when I can reciprocate.

What's going on this week.

First a look at the new plants I got at the SF Garden Show. These are all perenials from Digging Dog. I am now figuring out where to plant them. My plant selection processes are not altogether clear to me. The general characteristics I seek are plants that I think will grow in my rockpile and are not pink. Beyond that I don't have a plan and so when I return, it's always a problem figuring out where to plant them. Then there are the completely irrational selections - like a three pack of flowering ginger varieties. They are supposedly hardy but I know they are forbidden by the plant cops. The original plan was to grow them in pots but Iam seriously thinking about putting them with rosa mutabilis and the elephant ear (also forbidden). I am a sucker for tropicals. If it weren't for the plant cops my backyard would be as tropical as you can get in the foothills. Also, in spite of my poor record with cymbidiums here, I bought another and also a dendrobium that is supposed to be hardy in SF. I expect to bring it in next winter.



Next a progress shot of the roses (or one of them) that I planted last week. Looking good.

And finally a pink cymbidium. This one was one I got for helping a lady repot some overgrown cymbs that she got from her mother in SF. It's not bad although I avoid pink whenever possible. There is one more cymb with buds ready to open.

SF Flower and Garden Show

Yesterday I drove to San Mateo - the new venue for the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show. This was my second year and although it is a fantastic show, it's like they say, The first time is always the best.

I don't know what to say about the difference. Driving another 30-45 minutes didn't help get me in a positive mood but I didn't like the venue very much. it is a newer building than the Cow Palace but very bland. The Sacramento Bee commented on the display gardens being set in the middle oft he vendors. They described it as distracting. And it was. I remembered that last year the gardens were located in an arena away from all the commercial activity. I thought they were dark and strange but they were more effective in their splended isolation than the bustling space this year next to the Sham-wow's this year.

I don't get off much with the gardens. They seem unreal and not very appealing. Mostly I like finding plants that I want although I do get ideas. This year the walls of plants were appealing. The first picture is from the Smith and Hawkin display with succulents making a wall. This one is probably the most possible one for me in the scorching foothill summers but the others are very attractive.

I found lots of plants that I liked in the sales area- mostly practical selections although I was seriously tempted by the tree peonies. More on the plants I brought back later. Last year I found a vendor selling coconut hull bricks for potting orchids and was hoping to get some more but I was disappointed. I guess I will be web-surfing.

I think I read that the operator of the show has found a buyer so there will be another next year and I will most probably go. I can't resist the opportunity to browse thousands of wonderful plants and take them home immediately.

This week in the Garden

Still slim pickings. The daffodils are looking good. I just can't seem to get a good picture. The small bulbs (iris species, tulip species, crocus and muscari are all missing this year. I don't know if they are just laying off, whether they needed fertilizer or whether they just arn't dependable here. Gotta love the daffodils although I intend to give them one more boost of fertilizer before they go dormant.

I am waiting to see if my iris which had their first bloom year in 2008 will put on a good show. The leaves look good and so, for now, I am optimistic.

Still haven't planted the roses but I intend to get at least some of them into the ground today.

What's in my garden?

First the new roses for this year. I am adding a second Graham Thomas to make a more robust presence and replacing some pittosporums which died when the drip system got stopped last year with shrub roses. I am hoping to get the same size planting with flowers to boot. I selected Fire Meidiland because I like it hot.

Last year I lost every rose I planted, something that has never happened to me before. I think I know why and I won't be using that product again. I will probably phase out all the products from the supplier over time also even though I think they are good products. I think that east coast techniques may not always work on the west coast.



At the bottom, I show you the flowers from my grevillea planst. They are showy up close but not so much from a distance. Still its nice to get some color on my hillside backyard.

What's in my garden

Not much beauty today. Buds are bulging. Leaves are growing but the early daffodils are fading and the later ones still sprouting. Last year I remember lots of crocus by now. This year just these tiny ones. They are gorgeous however.

My Bad

Last year I got carried away at the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show and bought some tropicals like this Epidendron. I meant to bring it in before it got really cold but good intentions have a way of going bad. Anyway when I finally brought it in it was mostly black with just a few green leaves. I pruned off the dead growth and found green stems and the few leaves you see.

Will it come back? Stay tuned.

What's in my garden

Bumper crop of lemons this year on my dwarf lemon tree. Lemons are happy in the foothills. It’s too bad they ripen all at once and in the winter to boot. They hold on pretty well but by summer lemonade time they are past their prime.

In my garden

I've talked about my cymbidiums and their struggle in the north. This one has been my best performer both down south and up here. These buds popped up before Christmas and developed through some near freezing nights. I thought this was the only plant but I find I have two more with budstalks. One is the same variety and the other is one I got from helping someone repot orchids from her mothers San Francisco garden.

More later because there is not much else going on garden wise.

Elsewhere in the garden

Making a fine show is an aster, noted earlier this year for reappearing after being AWOL last year.

Quite a welcome return and a nice bit of fall color

My Inferno Strip

High Country Gardens has a selection of plants to thrive in what they call the inferno strip. This is a dry hot area of your garden where it is difficult to develop beautiful plants because of space and access. Mine is a narrow strip of soil (rocks in my case) between the retaining wall on the north side of my house and the walkway.

I bought into the concept believing that if there is an inferno strip, it is this area of my yard. These are the survivors.

Starting from the bottom, we have a salvia. I am afraid that I have forgotten which one and I bought it locally, not from High Country It's not a beauty yet but it does have some sky-blue flowers and it made it through the summer with little coddling.

Next is a penstemen (pine-leaf if I recall). It blooms in the spring and the rest of the time looks like this I started with two and this one is left

Next up is artemesia Seafoam. It doesn't bloom but is is attractive most of the time. This one is a survivor of two as well.

Finally, up top is an unlikely inferno dweller a self-seeded viola She popped up all by herself (and some siblings with her) and now as summer is fading has started blooming. I don't know how to explain her but she is definitely welcome.