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.