Plant of the week: Sedum 'Lemon Coral'

As a busy "been there, done that" gardener I find that I can sometimes limit myself. I think you will know what I mean. There are so many plants and varieties that we can grow in Southern California. At some point you really have to develop a screening mechanism.  It's like being at a crowded party, you just can't listen to every conversation, you must choose, you must ignore.  But just like that party, you may miss out on a good joke or some gossip.

A year ago, my gardening buddy Suzanne foisted a handful of cuttings upon me. Now, let it be known that I respect her opinion as a gardener and horticulturist.  But that doesn't mean we should agree on everything.  So when I saw that little pile of golden succulents I thought (as most would) that it was Sedum rupestre 'Angelina', a plant I first became aware of when I was living in England 7 years ago. So I planted that plant already,old hat, right? At least that's what I thought. And plants get re-marketed all the time, one year one name, another year another name.  Anyway I thought it was more of the same, but I did as I was told and just set the cuttings in a 6" pot of soil and put them aside.

Not long after I planned to forget about these plants did I notice a glow on the makeshift plant table near my potting bench.  This Sedum was luminous and it had grown-in like it had been there for months.  Some months later it was given a home in the new garden in the front yard. And I continued to admire it!  Little by little I have become addicted to that golden glow.  It's a bit like shag carpeting to which is really fun (just shag carpet in the garden not at home, sorry Austin Powers). Now I will tell you that like most all plants it does go through it's little ups and downs.  When it's not rapidly growing it's more green and when it is fed and happy it shines.

Recently I did a whole (little) area of it in the garden, see photos below. Now I'm convinced I need acreage.  Oh, I have plans, yes I do.

close up

more ground giving over to golden shag carpet

Plant of the week: X Graptoveria 'Fred Ives'

Looking around my garden on Friday I started to notice how well things were starting to fill in.  It's such a joy to take a few wee cuttings from a friend's garden and watch them come into their own.

Such is the case with this plant of the week: X Graptoveria 'Fred Ives'.  This plant really fills that lush flower-like succulent category. It has this beautiful silver pink color that seems to really blend well with a lot of greens and grays in the garden. It doesn't get leggy like many Aeoniums so the maintenance is quite minimal. And as I have done in my garden, it's possible to employ them and ground covers . And as I said before that rosette looks like a wax flower, a flower that's more than a foot across. In the photo below they appear to be singles but soon there will be many heads of pups hugging the ground.

I just love heterosis.  Don't you?!

A path to concrete happiness

I finally did it! After weeks and weeks of having them out on the ground, I set my paving stones.   This is the third and final path through the front yard.  I went back and forth on how it should turn out.   Being in my concrete phase I decided to make the stones myself. And having nature held up in high esteem,  I settled on doing a reptilian theme, using reptile vinyls to create the patterns.  I experimented with acid stains and was very pleased with the results.

So yesterday,  listening to Miike Snow, and  drinking a beer in the afternoon sun,  I fixed those babies in place.  I'm happy with it, what do you think?

Concrete creativity

Alright, I'm going to let you in on a secret.  I'm a creative compulsive.  There I've send it, it's out there.  I own it!   Every few days I have to create something.  But lately in the garden my focus has been concrete,  molding concrete.  First it was the balls, then ball towers and now it's relics.  I want to create the sense that the garden, which is not quite a year old, has roots in an ancient culture.  This ancient culture's artifacts are being brought to the surface by Whiskey Creek, my little pond and dry stream bed.  So amongst the balls and stones there are also Buddhas and Quan Yins.

So, how did I do it?  Well still doing it.  I went "old school" and made my molds out of natural latex.   It takes a while and yes it is a bit messy but the results are really fun.  I set my molds in sand on my work table,  get them all ready and then get the concrete mixer going. Did I mention I have a concrete mixer? Originally I had justified the purchase by thinking I would mix custom batches of potting soil. That never happened but I'm so happy I bought it.

Anyway my plan is to keep doing more and more heads until I have hundreds.  Piles and piles.  Here's a look at a couple of areas of the garden where I'm starting to see progress. And a shot of the molds on some stakes in the garden, it kinda looks like some gruesome scene.

Don't you want some latex?

Slathered in latex

Heads on pikes, yikes!

Quan Yin and Buddha

First big Buddha!

More

and More!

Spring Fever: A propagator's vice... Update!

Howdy.

Just a quick update. The Asclepias seeds arrived today!  I sowed half of each of the packets immediately and put them onto the heat mat.  Will let you know when they start to pop!

Spring Fever: A propagator's vice

I have a confession to make.... I have an addiction... to propagation.  I know what you're thinking "so what?".  Well, I'll have you know that it has taken quite a toll on my personal life.  Naw, I'm just joshin', I mean about it taking a toll,  but truthfully I am addicted to starting new plants.  I felt the pang this morning, so strong, so acute.   "Where can I get my hands on some milkweed seeds?"  I cried out!   I have been thinking about making the parkway into a Monarch butterfly pit stop.   And of course I will need lots of milkweed to do it. Well, actually this last year (the first year here) in the garden I had a few, maybe 5 or 6 milkweeds, that came up on their own.  And that was enough to get Monarchs, so if a little is good, a lot more will be better, a lot better (plotting evil voice with hand wringing).

So I went on the inter-tubes and found a place that specializes in milkweeds!  (butterflyencounters.com)  And I restrained myself, and only purchased ones that should be fine with summer drought. As I have no intention of babying these guys.  Here's what I got:  Asclepias speciosa 'Davis', A. fascicularis, A. viridis, A. cordifolia, and A. asperula.   Photos below!



                                                               Asclepias speciosa 'Davis'

A. fascicularis

A. viridis

A. cordifolia

A. asperula

First returns of spring

I noticed today that the Tweedias in the garden are blooming again.  They had been taking a break since mid-autumn if I remember. The funny thing with them is that they constantly have buds so you think "well there must be flowers coming".  But they seem to just abort the flowers when the conditions are not right.  Like if they are say, you know, completely infested with orange aphids (can't be bothered to spray). Actually having grown many milkweeds and relatives before, I was surprised at how long it took to get a resident population for those orange milkweedy aphids. Anyway some of the Tweedia are covered in aphids and so they haven't the strength to bloom.

It is early yet and the nights are certainly cool (40 degrees is our low).  I'm sure the moment things begin to warm up the garden will be studded with sky blue blooms again. For now there are just two open in the garden, tinged with purple, my guess that the added color comes from the chill. So it is an added pleasure to see my little blue stars again.

Plant of the week: Iceland poppies Papaver nudicaule

Ah the joys of spring err.. I mean winter. Well, here in So Cal it's certainly feeling like spring to me.  In the past I had a hard time with the idea of growing plants in my garden that were also being grown in strip malls and gas stations.  But I always felt that the elegance of the Iceland poppy was at odds with such banal places. You can see why they are planted; easy, beautiful and perform at a time of year when many annuals do not.  I wonder when they first became popular as bedding plants in Southern California.

So, I have decided that the thing that has become really common is MIXED Iceland poppies, you know 'Champagne Bubbles' etc.   And since I was able to identify the commonness, I was therefore able to plant them in my garden, as single strain color. It seems to me also that a single color was a bit more natural,  but who knows maybe 'Champagne Bubbles' is the poppy's natural state. I asked a local grower to grow me a few flats of six packs so I could have a winter splash of color. And color I selected was supposed to be red, but it ended up orange.  Orange of course is totally at home in the front garden. So all's well that ends well.

I quickly took a look at the origin of Iceland poppies and interestingly enough they are not endemic to Iceland as their name might suggest, but are boreal. So somewhere in Alaska and Canada we should be able to find some too.

They look lovely and have been a pleasure in my garden for weeks and weeks, and of course the anticipation was great too.  I dutifully deadhead and groom them to get most out of their ephemeral show. Look at the little Buddha soaking up the afternoon light and watching over the poppies.

I'm Back! and so is topiary!

Hey, howdy!  I'm back! Did you miss me? I know I did. Well,  let me tell you I went all over... the Southwest, Nor Cal and Mexico. Lots of time off, so that's my excuse and I am sticking to it.  I had out of town (out of country) company for nearly 5 weeks, so needless to say my routines were out of whack during that time. Still getting back into the swing of things.

Out and about today I spotted a little piece of heaven.  I would like to blogs about things like this... You know, the stuff you see when out.  OK, raise your hand if you think topiary is out. OK, hold 'em up high, uh huh. That's what I thought.  Well, guess what? It's back in!  Yeah it's cool. And for the record Buxus japonica is way drought tolerant when established.  We need to have more topiary, it can be cool, fun, elegant and OK yes... cheesy.

So below you see this photo of  "Jaws". Isn't it amazing (no sarcasm)?  The size and proportions are incredible.  Who needs to go the aquarium? I can only guess that this was once an overgrown hedge and some BRILLIANT person decided to trim it a different way.  What would the world be like if there was much more whimsy like this in it?  No road rage, people holding hands... the whole world would be a better place.  Such beauty.     duh dunt...... duh dunt... duh dunt.. duh duhduhhhh!

I think I may make "Topiary on the fly" a regular feature. If you have seen great topiary please send me a photo!

Plant of the week: Echeveria gigantea

It's drizzly here, and rain is on it's way.  On a day like this I look back on the photos I snapped of Echeveria gigantea a while back, with leaves blushed pink from the sun. Such a beautiful hens-and-chick. Though had I to put a barnyard reference to this plant it would be a sow's ear. The large leaves twist and turn with fleshiness that really resembles a porcine auditory organ.  This must be the largest member of this genus, at least as far as I know, the specific epithetic would seem to agree.  My plants are over  20" wide.

I discovered this unlabeled succulent maybe four years ago at a specialty "dirt" nursery under power-lines in East L.A.  I thought it was so great, and when I went back to get more some months later there were none left. Arrrgh...   Many months after the nursery visit the plant that I had access to shot up with three tall (four foot tall) flower spikes.  I was excited, as I had already tried to do a leaf cutting with no success, but here was a stem of sorts.  Little leaves ran all the way up the stalk and I thought "there is potential here".  I cut the stalk into sections and put them upright into a flat with my succulent mix.  Then I took whole stalks and laid them down into a flat with succulent mix just to see what would happen.  Well,  the stem cutting did alright, but the whole stems in horizontal position made babies for two years!  And that was with total neglect in and out of shade.  Anyhow I have given many away and still have loads for my garden.

I had been enjoying the large rosettes of foliage until about two months ago, and then the flower spikes began to grow.  Pink and nodding, the tiny towers draw oohs and ahhs from nearly every garden visitor.

Good luck finding your own!   ;-P