digging again

The daylilies are mostly coming to an end, but the somewhat inaptly named Autumn Red has just bloomed, and is very lovely and symmetrical. As for other plants, the white gladioli at the front of the house are now open, but I don't think they're worth the water they drink. The echinops are doing nicely and look ready to bloom profusely with no water at all. The oenothera are just about ready to be cut down. The dietes bloomed again on Sunday, and are shrivelled this evening. The big alstroemeria has two good flower stalks open; perhaps I should have pulled the old ones out more eagerly. The Godzilla continues to do well, and the ipomopsis and plumbago develop as expected.

So what do I do when my daylilies are out of bloom? Order more daylilies! I've cleared some existing plants out of the strip by the drive, mostly the ceratostigma, which I've moved down to the edge of the street; it looks as if at least some of them will survive.

The other thing I've done is bottled a good deal of seed: white nigella, flax, lavender, and gilia capitata. I'm also working on some clarkia and California poppy; not much of the latter.

clearing the mess

Today I've pulled out a good many wildflowers (mostly gilia and flax) and collected some seed ... a great deal of lavender seed over the past few days. I've also harvested the very last plum, after slightly more than two weeks of abundance.

The new daylily, which I've named "Raspberry Salmon", has two blooms today, looking very pretty, and Frans Hals has six ... details on the spreadsheet. My wife doesn't want me to get rid of the Strawberry Candy ... OK.

I've tied up (?espalier) another branch of the salvia greggii. The shorn aquilegia has a couple more buds; even the alstroemeria by the back gate is sending up more flower stalks, which is a pleasant surprise. The dietes came into full bloom again this morning; the oenothera are definitely petering out. The only clarkia still in bloom seem to be those on the corner, which also has plenty of anagallis and a fair amount of (almost entirely white) yarrow. The gazania continues with about six or eight blooms at any one time, the morning glory by the east fence has one bloom, while those in the front walkway do better and better. The sweet peas reverse this trend: those by the fence are blooming well and indeed showing quite a number of seed pods, while the one in the walkway has only four or so blooms. The canna is having a hard time. The plumbago is now showing a few blooms at visible height, but is also trespassing on the walkway. The lantana continues to grow back, but has not bloomed yet. Both agastache look good. Two white gladioli have put up hefty flower stems. The ipomopsis are blooming on, rather sparsely. The malacothamnus has fewer blooms but is far from finished. The teucrium, tanacetum, and santolina are finished, and the latter two shorn.

Some of the perovskia are almost six feet high, and Godzilla is close to eight.

it's raining plums

Well, not quite, but I think I harvested a hundred or so of them yesterday and today. Yesterday there were an embarrassing number of windfalls. I've frozen a fair number and distributed some to the neighbours.

Most of the clarkia are over. The scarlet flax and nigella are long over, and I should collect their seed, but there are a few more ipomopsis. The catharanthi continue to prosper and the aquilegia under the back fence has shown one rather ragged bloom and a fair amount of new foliage; today I've pulled away all the old foliage. There is one inarguably pink yarrow in the "corner lawn" and many weeds. The dietes bloomed most of last week, but has some stale flower stems that should be cut out. The erigeron karvinskianus is looking rather dry, and I should shear its flowers off. I've just done that to the tanacetum and some of the salvia nemorosa (others are smothered under the godzilla and I can't easily reach them). There's plenty of white yarrow.

The teucrium is clearly over, and the malacothamnus may be winding down. The godzilla, ahem romneya, is fine, as are the perovskia and solanum rantonetii (?sp). There are still a few osteospermum blooms and several gazania. The canna are struggling.

Daylily Tigerling opened two blooms this week (on different days) and has no more buds. Leebea Orange Crush has shut down. Another of my home-grown seedlings, let's call it Number Five, showed a diaphanous pink lower with a strawberry eye zone, making me wonder about its parentage. Stella d'Oro is doing well, and Pandora's Box. I think Small Gesture is over. As for Gingerbread Man, I have to admire it for being so prolific.

Summer is here

Warm-climate plants are prospering. The catharanthi have a few more blooms and the morning glories are as tall as I am. Some clarkia are over. Most of the anagallis are doing well; the "plumbago" (ceratostigma plumbaginoides) have shown a flower or so each, but the real plumbago is still hiding its flowers near the ground. Godzilla and the malacothamnus are looking wonderful. The dietes have been blooming all week after a fashion, and the oenothera still look good. The lantana is recovering well. I've pulled out the flower stems of the stachys, but I ought to replace them with divisions of a sterile one I have.

I've shorn off half of the blooms from the biggest three perovskia well before it was needed, in the hope that they'll have grown back before I need to shear the other half. I've also shorn some osteospermum that seemed to have finished blooming. I finally pulled up some very old bulb foliage.

The plums are ripening, and I've harvested two dozen over the past few days.

Daylilies are numerous. New arrivals include Hyperion and Frans Hals just today, Apricot Beauty, Fairy Tale Pink, Strawberry Candy (which is doing well but I'm not fond of it), and the second Holiday Happiness (not as tall as the first). Pandora's Box is blooming more generously. Custard Candy continues to delight me and Gingerbread Man is still going strong, as is Leebea Orange Crush. Stella d'Oro is back.

daylily time

Today's news is that, for no doubt at all, what I thought was one wine-red daylily seedling is actually two. Its two halves were both in bloom an hour ago, clearly different in size,shape, and colour. Another seedling ... number five ... finally got a bloom all the way open, a pleasant red colour. Its first two were an intriguing rusty brown but did not open fully. Hmm, maybe it also is really two plants. The Gingerbread Man produced one bloom that I quite liked, but mostly it's a landscaper's plant: looks better from a distance. Strawberry Candy is rather disappointing today.

Of true lilies, we now have two white speckled blooms and four orange, the latter starting to fade already. The ipomopsis are looking better ... well, two of them are, out of many. In fact they look better on camera (close up) than in real life. The teucrium has a few little blue flowers left. Other things are largely as they were; another canna is open and the Grandpa Ott are getting taller. Did I mention last week that the osteospermum are just about finished?

Watch out, Tokyo!

The Godzilla plant (romneya coulteri) is starting to roar. The malacothamnus isn't doing badly, either. These are both dry-summer plants, native to California, and I expect they will bloom for some time.

The daylilies are opening in increasing number and variety. Holiday Happiness looks quite handsome in the gentle light of evening. I suspect that the wine-red seedling is actually two plants, because I see two rather different colours in its blooms. Gingerbread Man continues to disappoint. For others, see the spreadsheet. Well, and maybe a few photos.








The sweet pea by the east fence is now two sweet peas, the other one being purple. The Turkish tansy (tanacetum densum amanii) has been blooming brightly for some time. In the south-east lawn, we have our first vaguely pink yarrow ... maybe. Among the true lilies, we have a creamy white with speckled centre, and two or three bright orange ones. Still plenty of clarkia, but I've begun to demolish the phacelia campanularia. The bright red canna behind the house is fully open. The mimulus struggles on. The very first ipomopsis flower is open, but they are so small, they are noticeable except in large numbers. The teucrium is getting pretty low on flowers, but the gazania is back.

I've shifted one of the volunteer perovskia to where it may do some good: just south of the main daylily bed, where the keckiella died last year.

I can almost hear the gopher laughing at my traps.

It has been a fortnight

... and the dietes are earning their name of "fortnight lily" by blooming again. Well, they are earning the first half of that name. It annoys me to think of how many plants are given names containing "lily" in the hope that they will sell better, or something. The true lilies are not blooming at all, and I plan to dig out that raspberry-coloured one. The daylilies are doing nicely, though. The two Happy Returns in the back patio have started, as has the Stella d'Oro under the back fence; the Small Gesture is still blooming intermittently; the little Wine Cup has started; just today we have Strawberry Candy, Leebea Orange Crush (I'm not as pleased with it as some folks), Holiday Happiness (misshapen petals), and maybe Gingerbread Man. Two that I think I grew from seed have also begun: one is a dark purple with a white blush, not very impressive, and the other a handsome wine-red. I think both are children of Dark Ruby, with paternity uncertain but perhaps Always Afternoon or Stella d'Oro. Several of the big yellow daylilies have now quit.

The romneya started about a week and a half ago and now has nine big white flowers open. The gaura have been stealthily adding blooms to the point where they look very pretty. The perovskia are just as stealthy and not as far along. The "wild lilac" (ceanothus thyrsiflorus "Skylark") has a few almost invisibly tiny flowers, long after I had stopped looking for them; the larger plumbago has its first few flowers, normal size but close to the ground and hard to see. The cistus stopped blooming some time ago, and I've pulled off most of what I suspect are seed pods. Some nigella are still blooming, but many are forming seedpods; I can scatter some seeds of the white ones at the western margin, where the ixia are over and the ipomopsis not yet started, with the teucrium fruticans still showing a few flowers and the big escallonia getting bigger -- I've trimmed it back -- and still blooming. Oh, and the rose looks good. No more zantedeschia. The lavender look very well next to the clarkia. The scarlet flax continue in some parts. Almost all the gilia are over, and I've collected seed from them. The gazania and solanum rantonettii are blooming with rather less enthusiasm. The first of the newly sown yarrow has bloomed, but it's white. There seem to be several volunteer epilobium seedlings; I'm not quite sure what to do with them.

In the back garden, one of the catharanthus that suffered so badly last winter has shown a nice red flower. There's a red canna just opening. Some of the heuchera are staying on. In the front walkway, the morning glories are two feet tall or so, the sweet pea there is struggling, but the one by the east fence has been blooming for a week and more, showy red (pinkish) flowers. The alstroemeria by the back gate is fine; the one behind the house is suffering fromthe heat, or something -- no blooms, despite extra water. I've sheared off the big aquilegia in the hope that they'll re-bloom; the seedlings are having mixed success.

The gopher is back. I've baited a trap with a fresh eschscholzia root and not much optimism.