No More Dates as Titles....

I keep ratting myself out by dating these entries.

This summer has been a trial... My significant other was diagnosed with a very fast cancer. I'm here at the hospital now. Good news is, it's going to be fine. The therapy has gone very well. This will be over by the end of October, then a several months recovery...

OK. Back to gardening...

With time being short and funds tight, I've had to re-think my plans for the garden. (Did I say 'garden'? It's not much more than a really large border or bed, 11' X 23' with a surrounding 30" brick walk plus 5' beds surrounding that....) I've settled on really aggressively amending the soil with compost, using small redwood bark chips for mulch, and gradually adding groundcover, mostly Ajuga. Boring bronze Ajuga, I know, but only boring because it's so willing to grow. Familiarity and contempt and all that.

This season sums up with 48 purple decorative kale, a small ocean of Ajuga and 250 Hyacinthoides hispanica 'Excelsior' to bloom in the spring. The bronze-leafed dahlias will rest out the winter, the ferns, Hostas and Japanese anemones will also rest dormant. I want to add some yellow Calendulas for color, then leave the garden alone until spring

That said... There are swales of Forget-me-not seedlings and volunteer silver-leafed Lychnis that will fill in the blanks.

Photos to come...

August 2, 2011

And the year flies by.

I was on the balcony this AM, feeding the squirrels and the scrub jays.

If I don't feed them, they tap at my window and DEMAND attention... Actually, I don't have to bring them food. If I leave the door open, they come inside and forage for themselves. One jay will eat out of my hand. I'm working with the squirrel.

Here are some pix for the day:

First is a tight shot of an Epiphyllum oxypetalum. It's a pass-along plant from a former co-worker's aunt. I think they've had their plant 50 years. Mine is just now six. I asked Jim at Got Epis why no blooms and he said I had been over-feeding with a high nitrogen fertilizer, so the plant got huge. The plant was beautiful, green and growing vigorously, but no blooms.

I cut back on food and water and this is the result.

The plant is a yellow-green now, not the lush deep green it used to be. The foliage is harder, but I have about a dozen buds striking. The buds are about an inch and a half at this point and growing day by day. So it seems that to bulk up the plants, feed and water well, then starve them and they'll set buds.

I have some other Epiphylums in the wings. 'King Midas', 'Padre', 'Red Velvet' and two "dragon fruit' varieties that will go into the garden as full-on plants... One is called 'American Graffiti', the other is a generic, red-fruited variety.

Here's something new... I bought three of this lovely black petunia called (so original!) 'Black Velvet'. They're blooming happily in a hanging basket under my deck, but now one plant is showing a wonderful yellow star in the heart. Here's a pic:

This feeds my love of the bizarre...

So... That's today. Maybe more later.

Jed

A New Garden!

I've just been gifted with some growing space at my beloved 'in-laws' house. A (vegetable) plot about 30' X 40'.... This is in Marin, California. Sunny and warm during the days, milder at night, still no frost. I've seen oranges and lemons doing well there, beans and egg-plant thrive. Apple and pear trees bear well. It's PARADISE! Stuff that needs heat I can't provide here in the city will flourish. I can plant my rose babies in the ground, so they'll reach their full size and I can start some of my Climbing Fourth of July seeds.

My head's spinning over the possibilities... Raspberries, blueberries... all the great fall-planted veggies. The summer stuff I crave, like fresh, heirloom tomatoes, cardoons, maybe some horseradish and rhubarb... Right now there are some beans and a few potatoes in the garden, four artichoke plants along one side.... Mostly, though, it's clear, bare soil.

That's going to change. I'm seriously into mulch and compost... I'll be beefing up the plot this fall, maybe even get some broccoli, brussel's sprouts, winter veg in... Next year it's tomatoes, peppers, etc. I'll be posting images as I get them! I need to get my Mantis sent from Texas!

Huzzah!

Summer Musings...

We've passed the hump.

This year has been crazy, weather wise. A warm January, then chilly and drizzle... or as my friend Lee says, "mizzle" in July. Here are some photos taken this AM:

First up is 'Koko Loco'. This one is new to my garden. It's one of the off color roses I cherish and a 2012 introduction. The color works well in the vase. It's a bit too subtle for the garden. I think this would be smashing in a wedding bouquet. I want to cross this one with a pink stripe. A beige and pink rose... call it 'Monaco'?

This next rose is 'Honey Dijon', another odd-but-lovely rose.

There are som other bloomers right now. I know Shasta daisies are ho-hum to some, but the yellow and white is fresh and cool. I have 'Crazy Daisy' in my garden, plus this shredded coconut bloomer. I don't remember the name right now. I'll look it up.

One last rose shot. This is a seedling of the climbing rose 'Compassio'. It has a yellow sibling I've posted before. I'm waiting to see what the flowers look like on this. It HAS bloomed before, but I need to be reminded of the color on this. As you can see, the plant is robust and I don't see any mildew or rust in spite of the wet and cludy summer we're experiencing. I'll post the blooms as soon as I can. I believe I see buds on this.

Just for the fun of it, here's a view out my back window. It's pretty obvious where I live...

My Unique Roses

What I mean is, these are roses I've grown from seeds. It's a thing I do. People have told me many times, "You can't grow roses from seeds". Meaning, If you plant a red rose, 'Mr. Lincoln', say, and it sets seeds (in the shiny red hips) and you plant those seeds, you will NOT get a rose identical to 'Mr. Lincoln'. 'Mr. Lincoln' is a Hybrid Tea... emphasis on the word "Hybrid", meaning, there are LOTS of other roses in 'Mr. Lincoln's' family tree (bush?), and quite possibly a stray bee (google "birds and bees") might have diddled the blossom, though with the number of petals in a 'Mr. Lincoln', the chances of that are lessened due to the fact that the bee would have a hard time finding the target and would likely have mobved on to 'Sally Holmes' as an easier make.

ANYHOW...

I like to grow seeds from rose hips (where the seeds reside) that I've gathered from various gardens, friends, road-side, bouquets and nurseries just to see what the spin of the wheel will provide. I'm attaching a collection of seedling blooms from a wonderful rose called 'Compassion'.

'Compassion' is a highly fragrant, climbing Hybrid Tea rose. It's a solid medium pink and very popular in Europe. It's available here in the states, too. It has one sport* that I know of. An equally fragrant, also clinbing YELLOW rose called 'Highfield' aka 'Lemon Sunbeam'.

*A "sport" is a naturally occuring mutation of an existing rose. Some roses sport prolifically:  the rose 'Ophelia' sport frequently. 'Yellow Ophelia',  'Madame Butterfly', 'Silvia', 'Evelyn'—not the David Austin 'Evelyn'... plus more.

Anyhow, ANYHOW...

Here are some of my 'Compassion' seedlings

This first seedling looks very  much like the parent rose. Likely a climber. There is a bit more gold in the pink, and as this is still a first bloom seedling, the petal count is low. The color will change, the blossome will get bigger and the petal count should increase as the rose plant develops over the next few seasons.

Here's another seedling of 'Compassion'. Also fragrant, likely a shrub, unlike the parent plant.

Here's a nice surprise. A third seedling of 'Compassion'. This one opens from pale yellow buds that age to off white. Nice scent, maybe a shrub, maybe a climber. Again, this is a first bloom. I expect more petals and a larger blossom.

Here's another shot of the pale seedling. The bloom is a couple days older. I like the "Old Rose" form, meaning, though this is still a Hybrid Tea, it doesn't look like the formal, florist's HT roses. I'm not in love with those roses in the garden.