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.
29 February 2008
12 February 2008
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.
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.
13 January 2008
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.
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.
06 January 2008
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.
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.
23 December 2007
first flax
For a week and more, a scarlet flax (linum grandiflorum rubrum) has been open beside the drive. The godzilla, moreover, is still blooming, though only because I haven't quite finished demolishing it; I'm planning that for next weekend. The teucrium is doing very nicely, as is the solanum; the plumbago are looking a bit scruffy, especially the southern one, which needs either more nitrogen or a funeral. The catharanthus behind the house are also still in bloom, despite a frost a couple of nights ago. Did I mention that I've shorn all the perovskia?
There is still no sign of gophers.
I spent this morning doing a little weeding and a lot of thinning, mostly of gilia and clarkia in the front lawn. Then I transplanted various things into the back garden. Under the south wall of the house I put some anagallis and an osteospermum; under the fence I'll try some phacelia campanularia. I've had mixed success transplanting these in the past, but now there are enough of them growing in the East Zone that I can afford to take risks. I also shifted one ipheion a few metres eastwards to make their distribution a little more uniform. A week or two ago I sowed my third installment of snap peas.
I can see a few, very few, Johnny-jump-up seedlings, one probable nemophila, and any amount of ipomopsis. I've been sowing some red yarrow in the front corner, and have decided not to tolerate eschscholzia there. While taking out those and some other weeds, I uprooted one gaura entirely, but no matter; it had siblings. The 'Red Elf' escallonia by the front gate looks healthy, with new bright green leaves; it's hard to tell what the loropetalum is doing. The new grevillea and berberis have at least not died yet. The alstroemeria by the back gate now has two stalks in bloom, and the one behind the house is pushing up some good shoots. There are still some 'Ziva' open at the SE corner and west edge, and today I saw a shoot of a spring daffodil. The zillions of leonotis seedlings are still there in the Zone, and the two that I transplanted to the back of the house look healthy; the bigger leonotis in the corner lawn has also survived the frost (so far) thanks to a hefty mulch. The cistus are looking bigger and stronger than before.
The plum tree needs pruning and I still have no idea how to do this, any more than I did last year or the year before. Somehow I'll manage.
There is still no sign of gophers.
I spent this morning doing a little weeding and a lot of thinning, mostly of gilia and clarkia in the front lawn. Then I transplanted various things into the back garden. Under the south wall of the house I put some anagallis and an osteospermum; under the fence I'll try some phacelia campanularia. I've had mixed success transplanting these in the past, but now there are enough of them growing in the East Zone that I can afford to take risks. I also shifted one ipheion a few metres eastwards to make their distribution a little more uniform. A week or two ago I sowed my third installment of snap peas.
I can see a few, very few, Johnny-jump-up seedlings, one probable nemophila, and any amount of ipomopsis. I've been sowing some red yarrow in the front corner, and have decided not to tolerate eschscholzia there. While taking out those and some other weeds, I uprooted one gaura entirely, but no matter; it had siblings. The 'Red Elf' escallonia by the front gate looks healthy, with new bright green leaves; it's hard to tell what the loropetalum is doing. The new grevillea and berberis have at least not died yet. The alstroemeria by the back gate now has two stalks in bloom, and the one behind the house is pushing up some good shoots. There are still some 'Ziva' open at the SE corner and west edge, and today I saw a shoot of a spring daffodil. The zillions of leonotis seedlings are still there in the Zone, and the two that I transplanted to the back of the house look healthy; the bigger leonotis in the corner lawn has also survived the frost (so far) thanks to a hefty mulch. The cistus are looking bigger and stronger than before.
The plum tree needs pruning and I still have no idea how to do this, any more than I did last year or the year before. Somehow I'll manage.
02 December 2007
And then there were ... ?
Ten days ago I dug out some tunnels under the corner lawn until I reached a Y junction, then set two gopher traps in the tunnels I hadn't dug. An hour or two later, I found a little rodent dead on the walkway by the lemon tree, looking as if a cat had surprised it. Two days later I took out the traps, expecting that they would both be empty. One of them was. Since then, I haven't seen any more mounds or signs of tunnelling. So perhaps the garden is safe for planting again.
In celebration whereof I've planted three shrubs today. One was a Berberis thunbergii var. atropurpurea (please pardon my spelling) in place of the Camellia sasanqua, which looked pretty dead. The second was a Grevillea lavandulacea "Penola" in the place to which I had tried to transplant my previous Grevillea. The third is an unidentified Ceanothus hybrid in the place where the C. thyrsiflorus "Skylark" was also looking very dead.
Of the new daylilies, one, "New Testament", has bloomed, though the flowers did not look good. That could have been because of the lateness of the season: I hear that pink daylilies need a lot of sun to look their best. Besides that, the Godzilla still has two flowers, and the Solanum and Plumbago are still looking great. The original Epilobium looked dead and I've taken it out, but one of its children has bloomed prettily. The "Ziva" in the south-east corner are nearly over; those along the western edge are doing nicely. The Teucrium fruticans looks wonderful. The Perovskia don't, and I am progressively trimming them back, though the Godzilla keeps me busy that way. There are more morning glory seedlings than anyone could count, and plenty of sweet peas; my first planting of snap peas is well above ground.
In celebration whereof I've planted three shrubs today. One was a Berberis thunbergii var. atropurpurea (please pardon my spelling) in place of the Camellia sasanqua, which looked pretty dead. The second was a Grevillea lavandulacea "Penola" in the place to which I had tried to transplant my previous Grevillea. The third is an unidentified Ceanothus hybrid in the place where the C. thyrsiflorus "Skylark" was also looking very dead.
Of the new daylilies, one, "New Testament", has bloomed, though the flowers did not look good. That could have been because of the lateness of the season: I hear that pink daylilies need a lot of sun to look their best. Besides that, the Godzilla still has two flowers, and the Solanum and Plumbago are still looking great. The original Epilobium looked dead and I've taken it out, but one of its children has bloomed prettily. The "Ziva" in the south-east corner are nearly over; those along the western edge are doing nicely. The Teucrium fruticans looks wonderful. The Perovskia don't, and I am progressively trimming them back, though the Godzilla keeps me busy that way. There are more morning glory seedlings than anyone could count, and plenty of sweet peas; my first planting of snap peas is well above ground.
30 September 2007
Rumours of Winter
There are some shoots coming up that can hardly be anything but the 'Ziva' paperwhite narcissi. There are also some oenothera coming up just where I don't want them (and some where I do). Yesterday there were two Happy Returns daylily blooms, quite a nice surprise. The alstroemeria is long out of bloom and today I pulled out its second last stalk. The godzilla is stil fiercely in bloom, and one of the salvia nemorosa is bravely blooming under it; I cut away a big hunk of the godzilla to let more sun onto the salvia (and because tearing the whole thing down at the end of the year is utterly unrealistic). The teucrium is showing a few more flowers and seems to want to get bigger. I've hacked off one more set of faded blooms from the various perovskia, and what's left (not too bad-looking) will have to carry us until December or whenever I demolish them. Of the new daylilies in front, two still refuse to grow leaves. I've planted a couple of yarrows that my neighour gave me in the corner lawn; we'll see if I got them right. The solanum and the plumbagos do well ... I must remember to give the southerly plumbago plenty of nitrgoen this winter. The dietes bloomed just today, opening almost as I watched.
I launched an attack on the lemon tree this morning. Yes, it defends itself. The epilobium and one of its children are blooming perhaps a little more than before. The gazania was long out of bloom, but when the gopher took it out anyway, I took out the gopher. (No, I don't enjoy handling corpses.)
By the back door, that was a white nigella, Still is, in fact: just bloomed today. The echinops there has one faded bloom and two still blue. The catharanthi are doing very well, as is the red begonia in the south-east corner. And that's all I have time for.
I launched an attack on the lemon tree this morning. Yes, it defends itself. The epilobium and one of its children are blooming perhaps a little more than before. The gazania was long out of bloom, but when the gopher took it out anyway, I took out the gopher. (No, I don't enjoy handling corpses.)
By the back door, that was a white nigella, Still is, in fact: just bloomed today. The echinops there has one faded bloom and two still blue. The catharanthi are doing very well, as is the red begonia in the south-east corner. And that's all I have time for.
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