Transplants (and raised beds)

 I didn't realise how long this blog had been dormant.

Last year we agreed in principle to have the front and back yards, but not the east side, professionally designed and landscaped.  So anything in there that I wanted to keep had to be moved, except the plum tree.  I'll also ask the designer (we have not yet selected one; soon) about including the grevilleae that flank the plum, a "Noell" to the east and another of similar size to the west.  Oh, and the yard-wide strip under the north wall of the house can stay as is.

Anyway, a few years back we had to have the house termited, so the Clovis that had been growing undisturbed for years -- as the Book advises -- by the front door had to shift.  That was quite a diaspora, with at least eight clivillae.  As of today, they are replanted in smooth, moist soil under the north wall, in a place where I used to have some Salome and Ice Follies narcissi.  Those have moved to the west rim of the southeast yard, and its east rim is occupied by about half (so far) of the "paperwhite" and Falconet narcissi from the front yard.  Tomorrow I transplant my few remaining (sob!) daylilies and perhaps a salvia greggii from the back yard.  Next: the remaining watsonia, perhaps into a raised bed.

Over the end-of-year break, I used some stepping stones set on edge, and concrete pavers, plus hardware cloth underneath, to build two raised beds in the SE, about five feet by two feet by six inches (not on oath!).  On MLK day, a third.  Not much is growing in them; I intend them for vulnerable bulbs.  Neither gophers nor other sane animals will eat narcissi.

Also over the break, I dug up some offshoots of the Godzilla and moved them to the NE.  Wonder of wonders: both are putting forth leaves and seem likely to establish themselves.  I could have bought another, but this feels better.  The teucrium fruticans, fun as it was, may have to die where it is, though I could conceivably put one of its offshoots near the Paraguay nightshade.  It grows to a ridiculous size, and spreads underground too.  Think about it

dry-climate lawn work

I've killed half the grass in the back lawn and planted six each of chamomile, Reiter's thyme, and creeping thyme. We'll see how they grow.

The columbine by the back door is reblooming rather well. The ipomopsis are just about over, as are the gaura and the gladioli. The purple achimenes is bloomig quite generously, but not yet the others.

I haven't deadheaded the godzilla at all, and it doesn't seem to care. Most of the yarrow has gone to seed; I've been pulling stems for weeks, but not many new ones grow. The alyogyne -- aha, I haven't told you about that -- is still small, but has already shown one flower. The echinops are blooming well, and some withering already.

it thundered

... last week, with a little rain. No, it was the week before last.

The rockroses are now over, after providing a three-alarm show in early May. The watsonias are also finished, but the gaura are picking up from them very nicely. I've pulled out the majority of the gilia capitata and got some seed from the eschscholzia. Various daylilies are blooimng, though a little later than last year, and one or two lonely flax.

More importantly, the Godzilla has started. I've already had to cut it away from the garden path and the sidewalk; we'll see what it does next. The oenothera are also in grand bloom, indeed they have been so for weeks. The plumbago looks terrible; it should have recovered from the frost by now. I haven't the guts to cut it back. The perovskia are starting out quite well.

In the front walkway, the last anemone bloom is gone, but I see a few shy little achimenes shoots. Some of the morning glories are looking all right and climbing tall.

In the corner lawn, I have indisputably got three different colours of yarrow: white, lemon yellow, and a slightly disappointing pinkish-red. The vibrant, almost strawberry, red from the catalogue has not materialised.

a few things

We've had just a little more rain.

The calochortus venustus are in bloom, all three of them, and very lovely indeed. We also have plenty of watsonia and some, umm, clarkia unguiculata I think; loads of gilia capitata and perhaps the last of the California bluebells. The scarlet flax is still alight, as are the Ca. poppies. The oenothera are well and truly started.

In front, the ixia are doing well, and there are two ixolirion (I think), one quite magnificent, the other merely good, both in danger of being crushed by the Godzilla, which is not yet blooming, but growing very broad. Some white yarrow is showing; no other colors yet. Astonishingly, the IteucriumI is still blooming.

The cyclamen are dying down. The alstroemeria by the gate is great; the other one looks as if it regerts ever moving to the hot strip behind the house. The blue nigella by the back door has far exceeded my expectations, so I hope I get plenty of seed from it.

spring

Many of the tulips are withering, as are some freesias, but the recently planted Darwin hybrids at the corner look lovely still.  The sparaxis still look great, though some are spent.  Two of the new cyclamen have suddenly yellowed and may well be dying.  I'm starting to see some zantedeschia by the garage.  The anemones are a bit less vigourous than they were.

There are plenty of flax and eschscholzia open, and a few gilia.  The solanum still is covered in blooms, and the lithodora and saponaria are nearly so.  The ceanothus is not yet out of bloom, which surprises me.  There is more anagallis and loads of osteospermum.  The primrose seems almost over.  The alstroemeria by the back gate is getting more blooms; the one behind the house has none yet.

I've pulled out the hibiscus.  It was pretty clearly dead.  Maybe the frost got it, but maybe I just hadn't given it the right soil; the root mass had not filled the tub.  The teucrium still looks good and colourful.

bouquet of bulbs

The daffodils are over (I've beheaded the last of them, except a few by the south fence) but the tulips are doing nicely: most of the Darwin hybrids, all of the T. bakeri etc., and some "Lady Jane" T. clusiana. The sparaxis still look great, the muscari still look good, more anemones are open (a pink and a white near the drive), and more and more freesia are showing up. There are more calochortus.

There are a few scarlet flax, a fair number of California poppies, ditto osteospermum daisies. There has been one bloom from the dietes. The alstroemeria are opening more; the lithodora diffusa is looking very good on the east side of the fence. A few anagallis, but not enough to make a summer.

The ceanothus is still in bloom, and the solanum was spectacular yesterday when wseen from the south.

I've been thinning out the gilia and clarkia in the Zone.

warming up

We had one frost scare two or three nights ago, but everything survived.  I've now taken away most of the insulation I had put on last year.

Two weeks ago I forgot to mention that a very daring cosmos was open behind the house.  It's only knee high, from a strain ('Sonata') that is supposed to grow head high, but still.  The red primrose I mentioned then is doing very well indeed, as are the cyclamens; of the three I planted at the south fence, the third (bright red) finally seems happy.  In the back, the hyacinth is opening and so are a few daffodils, though I think I'll move them; in front, the 'Ice Follies' and 'Barrett Browning' are looking very good, and I want more of them in the adjacent bed that now has only zantedeschia and lobularia.  All manner of tulips are threatening to open, and the ones I planted in fron of the corner lawn (where the erigeron also is) are at least up.  Another sparaxis is open, just, and the freesias are covered in buds.  Most of the ipheion are blooming, and the dwarf iris are nearly over after making a good show in the daylily part of the Zone.  Several red anemones have joined the blue one: two in the tubs in the southern Zone and one or perhaps two in the front lawn.  I've also seen a first scarlet flax, a first few anagallis, and a first 'Johnny-jump-up' viola cornuta.  The ipomopsis seems nearly extinct in the western border -- oh well, I wasn't quite happy with it there anyway -- but is growing behind the house.  The bloom on the plum tree  was within a few feet of the tops of the branches, and I hope there is some left after today's storm.

I managed to mow the back lawn yesterday, and cut the biggest epilobium down to roughly knee high rather than try to keep a cage around it.  For the rest, the only work I've doen is weeding.  Oh, and I've pulled out most of the gilia capitata, except in the Zone.  Not that it's ugly, but in the lawns I have better uses for the space and light.

In the western border, neither the berberis nor the hibsicus have done anything yet, but the teucrium does its best to make up for them.  The grevillea are both in bloom, as is the loropetalum, though the latter is hard to see because it has not added any height to speak of.  The 'Newport Dwarf' escallonia is doing slightly better in that respect.