start of autumn

It actually rained last weekend, possibly as much as half an inch. Some bulb shoots are coming up, probably freesia and muscari. I've watered the grevillea and the ceanothus myself, and hope it does them some good.

I've hacked a lot off the godzilla; its flower production was down, after a month or two without deadheading. Most other plants are unchanged.

season of mists

The epilobium are now clearly in bloom. The ceratostigma look quite well too. One of the leonotis in the Zone is close to nine feet high, and the ones behind the house (which I had to cut down for some painting work) are, ahem, roaring back. The "Grandpa Ott" by the east fence is showing some lovely big flowers, while the ones in the front walkway try to re-grow after they were cut down (yeah, yeah). Also in that walkway, some cyclamen and are coming up, and the achimenes are showing their true colours, two of which I quite like (and two varities are missing; not sure why).

I've demolished the southerly of the two plumbago after deciding that (1) I didn't like its yellow leaves and couldn't see how to cure them (2) it really wasn't needed since its brother grows so well. Speaking of which, the godzilla is overunning everything. The hibscus acetosella is now as tall as I am (admittedly in a large pot) and I may well keep it, if I can decide where. The yarrow in the corner lawn, which I cut short recently, is looking rather sad and in some places dessicated. Possibly gaura would have been a better bet.

I'm also pondering a replacement for the salvia greggii but I don't think the hibiscus is it.

another one bites the ant

Last weekend I put down some gopher traps, without much optimism. This morning I lifted them up, and found that one of them had worked. Some ants had got there before I did, so no photos (and a pair of latex gloves).

Since my last, the daylilies have shut down except for "Happy Returns", and the oenothera are blooming much more sparsely. I've pulled out a good many flax and gilia and so on; some clarkia and even a few brave eschscholzia are still in bloom.

The penstemon and the berberis both seem to be sending up bright new shoots. The dry-climate plants, godzilla and malacothamnus, bloom on unperturbed by the weather; the solanum and plumbago also look good, except that the southern plumbago is almost all yellow again, depsite vast amounts of nitrogen last winter. I may take it out. The ceratostigma has started to bloom. I've demolished most of the sweet peas, including the one in the front walkway, partly because the dry summer did not seem to suit them, and partly because they were too much work for too few blooms. In the walkway I've put a volunteer morning glory in the vacant spot.

The achimenes that I planted in the front walkway in May are coming up in some fair number; of the babiana I see but two, which is two more than of the ixia that I also planted then. The "Durban" canna is growing well; the red ones in the back garden are blooming strongly. One of the nasturtiums that grew under the south fence after I dug the old ones out has bloomed already. Oh, and two of the white catharanthus are in bloom: one by the telephone pole, which is doing quite well, and one down on the street. The alstroemeria behind the house has had a last hurrah and I don't expect to see any more of it; the one by the gate is still sending up shoots, or was as of a week ago, and blooming. The dietes have been blooming wonderfully in this warmth.

Down on the corner lawn, the anagallis that I sheared a week or so ago are not coming back; the yarrow is still growing, but I have cut much of it back, and perhaps should water it.

very HOT

... enough to crisp the petals on the daylilies. Well, 'Custard Candy' still does quite well, as does 'Ginger Bread Man'. The newer ones are a mixed bag: 'Scarlet Orbit' is quite wonderful, 'Quannah' pretty good, NT a disappointment, AAPlum quite gorgeous when backlit by the sun, and 'Cade Stewart' a little too soon to tell but perhaps good. Not sure yet about 'Velvet Rose'. Soon I'll take some out and order new ones. Not in that order.

In the southern Zone, some of the sweet peas are coming back, to my surprise. The new hibiscus has not bloomed again, or not that I could see. The gaillardia is still on the job; one of the ipomopsis behind the house has bloomed, a fairly pure yellow by comparison with the ones at the NW corner, which are mostly mixed pink and yellow. The leonotis all seem to be growing nicely. The plumbago are gradually adding blooms at higher altitudes.

The plum tree started bearing two or three days ago, helped by the heat, I imagine.

summer flowers

The perovskia are now clealry, if shyly, in bloom, and some of the ipomopsis are not shy at all. The teucrium is effectively over, and the berberis seems ... stuck. There's even a cobweb on it. The "Durban" canna is sending up one strong-looking stem, but there's no action from the other spring bulbs. The godzilla continues to sprawl, and I've hacked off some of its outlying stems. The lavender are still in bloom, as is the malacothamnus.

The hibsicus I bought last weekend must have been in bud, because it bloomed yesterday. The burgundy-red bloom was hard to spot against the maroon foliage! There's one sweet pea trying to grow in the southern Zone where snap peas used to be; I wonder how it will last with no water. The solanum looks very well, as do the clarkia, though a few of those are withering. Of the flax and eschscholzia a sturdy few linger on; I've been harvesting seed from the latter, and must do the same for the former.

The santolina has lots of its little yellow flowers, and is sprawling more than I like. The anagallis are sparse but visible. Under the south fence, one of the Stella d'Oro put up a single bloom a few days ago. The antirrhinum seems over, as is the alstroemeria under the back of the house.

new stuff

The lantana that I said was coming back to life was in fact doing nothing of the sort. I've torn it out and put in a convolvulus sabatius, which should harmonise better with the overhanging malacothamnus; a short distance uphill from that is a penstemon "Midnight". I also gambled on a hibiscus acetosella, which looks rather exotic: it's in one of the tubs in the southern Zone, where I can easily see it from the window.

I've terminated the snap peas, and done a quixotic pruning job on the sweet peas by the east fence. A few more daylilies are blooming, and many in bud.

after the heat wave

The godzilla is flopping over (except for a few stems nearly straight up) and opening several blooms on some stems. The lavender are still blooming and clarkia are quite glorious but the flax is just about gone, the eschscholzia mostly gone to seed, and the gaura and plumbago only gradually coming in. All but one of the rockroses have gone quiet. The malacothamnus is blooming well, and one salvia nemorosa is doing very well even in the shadow of the godzilla. The solanum has a fair number of flowers on. The daylilies are making progress; see spreadsheet. The alstroemeria behind the house is clearly over.

Both sweet peas look good, and I've even trimmed the one in the front walkway. There, the morning glories have also started to bloom, though they're still not very tall. At the SE corner the gaillardia now has four or five blooms, and looks good. Of the aquilegia there, one has not yet done anything and I've deflowered the other; the ones by the back door are doing well. The snap peas, by the way, are winding down. Of the leonotis behind the house, one is up to seven feet, the other about four. Both the tanacetum and the santolina are in bloom; the cerastium are finished, and rather to my surprise some triteleia laxa are open in various places. The corner lawn sports a great deal of yarrow -- mostly white, but one yellow and one pink -- and the anagallis as before. There are also some white nigella in the western strip and just east of the garage.

I've pulled out a lot of gilia as I said I would.

The purple aquilegia is losing a few blooms, perhaps because of the heat wave. The little red one behind it has one; the others are as before. The salvia greggii is losing a few. The red catharanthi are gaining, though. The flax behind the house still show a few bright red blooms. Well, more than a few. Another nasturtium seems to have been severed by a gopher, but three are still doing well.

Out in the Zone, the snap peas are probably coming to an end; the sweet peas could in theory do with deadheading, but I don't think I'll take the time. The big yellow daylilies are very productive. We still have plenty of gilia and eschscholzia, not to mention the santolina blooming. I should probably pull out some of the phacelia campanularia and many gilia. Further north, the cistus are doing well, three in quite conspicuous bloom and only one (out of seven) with no flowers at all. The solanum is very sparse, but the gaura are adding blooms quite quickly, and the dietes look ready to bloom in a day or two. The plumbago are adding blooms more slowly. There's quite an ocean of oenothera. Near the house we have white nigella and sky-blue ones further downhill.

In the corner, we have plenty of white yarrow and anagallis plus the big leonotis; hard to see what the smaller ones are doing. And there is one good clarkia (many more of these elsewhere).

By the drive, the old gaura looks dead, as do some of the daylilies I brought in last year. The lantana is coming back to life as it always does, but slowly! The bulbs I planted last weekend are not, of course, showing. In the walkway, the cyclamen are over; the biggest of them has two seed pods, which I shall try and use. The sweet pea is well over my head and blooming dark red; the "Grandpa Ott" morning glory are more like knee high.

In the front lawn, the godzilla has three or more full-size blooms and there are plenty of clarkia, including a rather effective row of them behind the lavender (also in full bloom). The rhaphiolepis are out of bloom and the escallonia fading. I've cut off all or nearly all the flower stems of the ixia and am waiting for the ipomopsis to open; meanwhile, there are a few white nigella. The malacothamnus is still lightly blooming, and the salvia chamaedryoides is starting.

All the perovskia are growing like banzai, and some are in bud.

quick update

The malacothamnus is starting to bloom, but the solanum has lost its heavy spring covering. There are now six rockroses in bloom, though two of them have only one flower. The sweet pea in the front walkway has its first flowers, and oddly enough the clivia still has one that looks fairly fresh; the maroon cyclamen still has flowers, but the red one is over. Some of the ixia are hanging on. In the back, a burgundy snapdragon is starting. The aquilegia by the back door is quite astounding, with eight flowers; the one behind, in dark red, is also starting, and the larger of the two by the back fence looks good. The one out in the Zone looks insect-eaten and may have to go. Outside the window, the taller of the two leonotis that I transplanted to the back of the house is now easily visible, with one flower head in bloom and one waiting to open. Near it, the alstroemeria seems to be fading, but the one by the back gate still looks great.

I think I'll take out the gilia everywhere except the northern half of the Zone; elsewhere, it just gets in the way and adds little. The clarkia are now doing well almost everywhere, and the oenothera look wonderful. The eschscholzia are starting to turn yellow and flatten out.

I have some new bulbs (what a time for them to arrive): ixia, babiana, alstroemeria (Ligtu hybrid), achimenes, and crocosmia. Watch this space. And this one. And this one ....

gopher again

... I've set traps.

I've hacked away a big chunk of the godzilla and some of the malacothamnus. I've dug up what I hope are some tulipa clusiana bulbs that had been under the godzilla, and hope to re-plant them this autumn; the hacking also revealed a very handsome ixiolirion, which I have watered. In the strip just west of the drive, I've pulled out a great deal of spent foliage from bulbs and flax, leaving a few flax that are still in bloom and some clarkia that are opening. Nearby, the anemones are gone and the "Eye of the Tiger" iris starting to wither, along with all the white iris, but some of the blue iris are still good. The rhaphiolepis continue. The "Hidcote" lavender are blooming nicely, as is -- still -- the teucrium. That calla has gone, but one or two more have taken its place. In the front walkway, the sweet pea is taller than I am, but has still not bloomed, whereas the one by the east fence is magnificent.

In the southern part of the Zone, the gaillardia has its first flower open, and so does the red aquilegia, though it's behind the purple one by the back door. There are plenty of big yellow daylily flowers and a few Stella d'Oro; I'll update the daylily spreadsheet, and a few others are in bud. There are also a few nasturtiums open and some anagallis. There are plenty of gilia, though I'm taking some out, and more Calochortus venustus plus one C. superbus. Further north, both plumbago are blooming and so are four cistus, with a fifth almost certainly on the way; the dietes are blooming and plenty of oenothera interspersed with eschscholzia and ixia. The corner lawn is much as it was: plenty of yarrow and anagallis, to say nothing of the weeds, and a pretty fair leonotis. The first gaura has opened.

feels like summer

... and a long time since I've been here.

Latest to bloom are the aquilegia by the back door, one of the cistus ladanifer, and a few clarkia. Before that, there was one (one) zantedeschia and two calochortus ... I think these are C. venustus, anyway, the white ones with the lovely markings inside. The oenothera have also started. The freesia are just about gone (some shrivelled ones left hanging on the stem) and some of the flax are starting to fade; but there are still plenty of these, many eschscholzia, and quite a number of gilia.

I've pulled out a lot of flower stems from the flowering stachys, which were probably a mistake to buy in the first place, and a lot of clarkia ?unguiculata and gilia from the corner lawn, which is being overrurn by anagallis, not that I mind that. The "Eye of the Tiger" iris are proving more numerous than I had thought: there are at least eight in front of the house, though apparently only one in the Zone. The big yellow daylilies are starting to bloom, and several others are budding. The sweet peas outside the fence are quite splendid, as is (still) the solanum. Nothing yet from the "Grandpa Ott", and the cyclamen are losing blooms; the clivia has been withered for a week or so, but I'm thinking of trying to get a seed from it. The alstroemeria seem very happy: behind the house there are four stalks blooming and two more to come, and by the gate very many stalks in bloom simultaneously. But the ones behind the house are starting to lose leaves already, even though I give them extra water. It's hot there.

The ixia are mostly open, but I wish they weren't all pale cream with deep red centres. Well, one of them is rose-pink. I should try and buy some better ones. Several of the transplanted watsonia look dead.

The godzilla is already huge. There's not much to be done for the plants under its spreading footprint. Oh, the berberis is now fully clothed in dark red leaves; the grevillea has opened some spidery red flowers; the ceanothus is blooming fairly well for its size, but the lower leaves are yellow and I daren't flood it with nitrogen as I did (apparently successfully) the plumbago.

not yet warm

But the tulips are mostly withered anyway, even unto the two remaning T. clusiana chrysantha (beautiful), and there is only one "Ice Follies" representing the daffodils. The ipheion are nearly gone, freesia starting to wither, sparaxis about half gone, and ixia just in bud. The watsonia seem to be suffering from transplant shock. Only the clivia, cyclamen, and anemones are doing well, relatively speaking. The alstroemeria look promising, though. The calochortus frankly do not.

The sweet peas are starting to bloom at the south-east fence, and the snap peas are almost yielding a useful harvest. This autumn I'll plant an entire row in November instead of half a row. The saponaria is starting to bloom and the lithodora is looking very pretty. We also have several eschscholzia. The nameless ceanothus has some bloom, which is rather hard to see. The loropetalum is unmistakably out, the flowers much brighter than the leaves, and the berberis has more leaves, including green ones near the ground. Nothing from the zantedeschia yet. The lavender at least look nice and green; there are more nemophila open, I think three plants.

The solanum is most impressive viewed from the south. The osteospermum are also very showy, to say nothing of the flax. The dietes muster four blooms between them. Oh, and the salvia greggii is sparse but very bright red; the nasturtiums are climbing well and have some good deep orange flowers.

I'm after that gopher again. I've ripped out some more allium neapolitanum and transplanted various gaura and catharanthus, plus a couple of leonotis. All in all a busy weekend.

tulips wilting

... the species tulips, anyway. Next year, I should have some of the T. clusiana in the western strip, which has been pure green these last few weeks. Now the nemophila are starting to decorate it, and I'm very pleased to see them back. All the Darwin hybrids are out, and a plethora of sparaxis and freesia; this may well be the high point of my bulb garden. The daffodils under the front of the house are getting dry and old. Another red anemone is blooming. The cyclamen still have plenty of blooms and the Clivia is starting to open.

The plum tree has exchanged most of its petals for leaves. The solanum has a fair number of purple flowers, and rather fewer leaves. I've hacked off the outer parts of the two plumbago, which I should have done weeks ago. The biggest of the leonotis has more flower heads starting; I should consider what shape I want it to be.

The snap peas are just starting to be big enough to eat. Next year I should sow a full half of them in November. Make that this year. On the Strip, the osteospermum and freesia look gorgeous, except that I wish I had more yellow freesia, and perhaps even a few more purple ones. The California bluebells are being joined by their neighbours the eschscholzia and by their colour allies the lithodora and anagallis. The scarlet flax blazes generously from the northern Zone and the edge of the drive.

better and better

Just after my last, nine days ago to be exact, the "Ice Follies" daffodils in front of the house started blooming. In a few days they were all open, looking crisp and pretty. Now the "Barrett Browning" that I planted in front of them are also open, less spectacular, but a good counterpoint. The others, which I think were salvaged from elsewhere in the garden, are not yet even in bud. I may put some daffodils in the south Zone for next year. The "Falconet" are almost finished; some of them will be trimmed this weekend. The "Tete a Tete" are over, and there is one "Minnow" (I think) open. There is still no news of the N. obvallaris. Puzzling, that.

The species tulips are doing very well, at least the yellow-and-pink ones ... T. sylvestris I think ... and the "Lady Jane" T. clusiana. The Darwin hybrids are opening, starting with the bright red ones. The anemones are much as they were, except that the bright red one now has more blooms. Four. The hyacinth is over.

I've ripped out the zantedeschia that were under the big escallonia by the front gate and put them next to the solanum, where the watsonia used to be. They may not bloom this year. The ones in front of the house, next to the aforementioned daffodils, are growing but not yet in bloom. Where the z. were I might put in some ipheion, crocus, or miniature daffodils.

In the front walkway, the clivia miniata has six -- six! -- flower stems and buds are swelling. The cyclamen are still doing well. The sweet pea is starting to climb (but you should see the ones by the east fence) and some "Grandpa Ott" ipomoea have at least germinated. There are plenty of flax, a few eschscholzia, and a few gilia capitata open; the osteospermum are putting on a good show, and the trailing rosemary, besides blooming, is starting to grow upwards. The calochortus and phacelia campanularia continue. At the south fence a few nasturtiums are open, and the salvia greggii has a few flowers as well. In front, the new grevillea has inarguably got some flowers, which are slowly getting bigger; the same goes for the loropetalum. The berberis has leaves to perhaps six inches above the ground. The teucrium still looks good. The various perovskia are getting their first leaves. And there are plenty of muscari; perhaps too many. The white freesias outside the back door opened last week, and are now being joined by one or two in other places. What look like most of the sparaxis are open, in colours ranging from deep red through orange to pale pink and one or two rather startling white ones.

The first few "Johnny-jump-up" viola are in bloom, and the leonotis in the corner lawn has more flower heads active, so that I become very glad I protected it over the winter. The gophers are back; I've set traps in the corner lawn and my son is trying to drown them in the back lawn. The plum tree still has some blossom and is adding leaves, including some that probably presage the growth of additional twigs from the trunk, and so must be stripped off. The rhaphiolepis are budding strongly. The alstroemeria by the back gate has a few flowers ready to open.

lonely as a cloud

Ouch! It has been more than a fortnight since I last was here. And the first yellow daffodil -- a St. Keverne, I think -- opened nearly that long ago. We now have a few more yellow ones and several of the Falconet, some of which I evidently moved a few yards northwards without telling myself. A few miniature daffodisl are open, possibly the Tete a Tete, which I should move closer to the street (in front of the row of lavender). There is one calochortus, the pale purple one; the hyacinth is doing nicely, and though we still have only two anemones open, there are more growing where I planted them in soil that I had enriched with compost. I'm now nearly sure they just can't take this heavy clay unless it is amended. There are plenty of ipheion and it would be a good thing to put some of them in the western strip, which is rather dull at the moment. The muscari armeniacum are opening and the cyclamen are still strong; no bloom from the alstroemeria at the moment. The freesias, and some of the tulip species, are in bud.

The plum tree is in wonderful nearly full bloom. The creeping rosemary at the south-east corner is also blooming, which I had forgotten to mention, and the snap peas that I planted in October or November have got a few flowers. Many of the phacelia are open, and of course the osteospermum. There are a few more flowers from the dietes. The loropetalum is clearly budding.

Springing!

For a week and more I've had some mini iris open, starting with the dark purple I. reticulata "George", and going on with the deep blue "Ida" and not quite so deep blue "Cantab". I should put some of those in the place west of the old malacothamnus where it's now rather bare. Today I saw one blue-purple anemone coronaria had also opened, several anagallis monellii, and one scarlet flax in the Zone. The scarlet cyclamen looks quite wonderful; the maroon one is losing blooms. None of the alstroemeria are blooming at the moment; on the east side, the osteospermum are doing well, as is the creeping rosemary, and at the south fence the salvia greggii has started to bloom too. The new grevillea has some deep red buds. The teucrium still looks good.

The daffodils I planted in front of the house last autumn are simply rocketing up out of the ground; some older ones already have swelling buds. That unidentified bulb by the back gate is a freesia, to judge by its flower stem, so I had better move it to somewhere sunnier. Behind the house, those leonotis I transplanted look fat and healthy; in the corner lawn, the half-grown one is fine, but of the others, one
half-eaten seedling remains. In the southern Zone I am going to have far too many of them if I don't watch out.

trans plant trans plant trans

After pruning the plum tree (trying to keep it open, remove duplicate shoots, and look for buds pointng the way I want to grow) I turned to planning, and moved two gaura seedlings from the corner lawn to the big belt of perovskia outside the back gate, and half a dozen watsonia to the retaining wall just north of there. I can't remember if those are the white or the orange ones ... we'll find out in a few months. Then I sieved some earth and stones under the front of the house.

The cyclamen in the front walkway are going well ... the scarlet one is trying to catch up with the maroon. The berberis has lost its last few leaves; the teucrium is spreading a bit wider; there are a few dots of primrose. Also slight bloom from the flax and the solanum rantonnetii (?sp); not a lot else yet.

more pebbles

Yes, I'm at it again: separating soil from pebbles and putting the pebbles in a trench.

Yesterday's storm seems to have left no flowers on the solanum nor leaves on the berberis but other plants are much as before. Two of the anemones that I planted in the green tubs with a mixture of soil and compost are coming up. The creeping rosemary is doing well, with a little bit of bloom; the juniper next to it is not visibly growing. Pity: on my walk this morning I saw a "lawn" of low-growing juniper and thought that might be better around the water meter than the erigeron karvinskianus (Santa Barbara daisy) that I have there now. The northern plumbago is not quite so yellow; I'll give it some more nitrogen in a few weeks. The various transplants from two weeks ago look healthy.

I can now see which of the daylilies in the Zone (and, for that matter, by the drive) are evergreen in this climate. I'll log them on the spreadsheet ... oh, I should create a new one of those for 2008.

Last week I finished demolishing the godzilla, except for some new growth that I hadn't the heart to cut down. I also hacked the salvia chamaedryoides right back, and hope I haven't killed it. Some of the catharanthi are looking sad, but I'm leaving them uncut for now. There are some overgrown lobularia that need to be shorn or pulled, so I've been doing some of that. I've also transplanted some chunks of cerastium tomentosum along the front path, and may do one or two more.