Wednesday, February 15, 2012

This and That

Even though it is winter my Southern California garden never sleeps. Of course, certain plants take a brief break, but something is always blooming or at least actively growing. That is one reason why I love living here so much. Come, have a look what is going in my yard!



I have two of these urns since about a year or so and liked them the way they were, plain and without anything growing in them. But suddenly this winter I had a change of mind and decided to plant them with annuals. I have chosen white pansies 'Delta Premium Pure White' and dusty miller 'Silverdust' to evoke memories of ice and snow, which, of course, we don't have here.


Here you can see the top of the urn a little closer. The pansies have grown in quite nicely and so did the dusty miller. I am really pleased with this plant combination.




A few days ago my banana-shaped rose bed in the front yard looked like this. The roses were more than ready to be pruned. Yes, I know I am late for my climate zone, but I simply don't have as much of a chance to garden than I would like to and my yard and I just have to put up with that fact. I guess nothing bad will happen because I pruned late in the season, except that the spring flush will be a little bit delayed.



This is how the bed presented itself after I was done pruning the roses. I actually enjoy doing this chore, but here in Southern California we have not only to prune but to de-leaf the roses, too, which can be very time consuming, depending on to how many leaves the rose is still clinging on. I am happy to report that now I am almost done with pruning my roses that are planted in the ground. I don't talk about the ones living in containers, though!



Now that the roses are pruned you can actually see how big the alstroemeria 'Little Miss Sophie' has become. What I really like about it, is that it has formed a nice mound. Many alstroemerias become very tall and leggy here in SoCa and besides the lovely blooms don't look that appealing as to me as a plant, but this one acts differently at least so far. If you look closely you can see that it even tries to bloom through the winter. The alstroemeria is surrounded by four penstemons 'Pinacolada Violet', which also want to flower. Unfortunately they are a favorite of the slugs and snails.



The verbena 'Aztec White Improved' is looking pretty good in the moment. It just started to bloom a couple of days ago and this way brings a little bit of life into the relatively bare bed right now.



Close-up of the white verbena blooms. They are tiny, but because they come in masses they do have quite an impact. I planted lavender colored verbenas last year and had no luck with them at all, but the white ones look promising so far, don't they?



Some pruned roses appear almost like sculptures, like this 'Our Lady of Guadalupe' in the front yard. I have to admit that for a brief time I like this sparse look. If I wouldn't know better it is very hard to imagine that this rose bush will transform itself into a dark green leaved beauty with many lovely silvery pink blooms soon. For me that is almost as much of a miracle like a hatching butterfly.



In the back yard my cymbidium orchids are in full bloom now. I especially love this greenish-white variety.



Here you can see my wine red/pink cymbidium in the foreground shadowing the green/white one. Too bad that I don't know the names of the varieties. I have these orchids since many years now, they even moved with me from the Bay Area down to San Diego. Despite their exotic extravagant flowers they are "no fuss", easy to grow plants for me here in San Diego. They just need to be watered regularly and fed once in a while. Last year I thought about dividing them, but in the end didn't have the guts. So I just potted them up and they seem to be enjoying that. Actually the wine red/pink one had six more flower stalks then you can see on the photo, which I cut off to take indoors and to give away to friends. This orchid is blooming so prolifically.



Close-up of the wine red/pink orchid flowers. Aren't they beautiful?



This is my Hybrid Perpetual Rose Bed, which I planted last year. The roses have grown quite a bit in less than twelve months and this spring I expect them to bloom significantly more than in their first year. From the left to the right you can see 'Yolande d'Aragon', 'Reine des Violettes', and 'Grandmother's Hat'. These were the first roses that I pruned this winter. I think I did it the last week of December. To me it is pretty amazing how much the roses have leaved out already, especially 'Grandmother's Hat'. I can't wait for the gorgeous Hybrid Perpetual blooms to reoccur, again. They were so incredible beautiful last year! I planted two 'Giant Blue' Scabiosa Hybrids (Pincushion Flower) in between them and I am astonished that one is already starting to bloom.



Here you can see the very first bloom of the 'Giant Blue' scabiosa as a close-up! I just love the pale lavender color. Despite their delicate appearance they also make quite good cut flowers. In the front yard in a very prominent space close to the front door I have a scabiosa caucasica 'Butterfly Blue', which has much smaller flowers. It is pretty and flowers a lot, but at the same time it is a pain in the neck to deadhead and when not deadheaded it looks unkempt and unruly. Scabiosa 'Giant Blue' has less blooms than scabiosa 'Butterfly Blue', which means less deadheading, but they are bigger and have therefore the same of even more impact. With limited gardening time I am thinking about how to make the maintenance of the garden simpler in the long run, so I am contemplating to replace scabiosa caucasica 'Butterfly Blue' with another 'Giant Blue' scabiosa.



To the left side of the Hybrid Perpetual Rose Bed I placed an Elephant Foot plant in a terracotta container in between two giant Washingtonia Palms. Nothing, absolutely nothing can survive the root competition in the ground between those palms, for that reason the only way to have something growing in that area is to plant it in a pot. There is nothing wrong with this plant but the Elephant Foot never won my heart. I wanted to give it away like I did with its brother, but it didn't work out, so I left it where it is and still try to decide what to do with it.



The pansies 'Colossus Pure White' that I planted in the terracotta containers briefly before Christmas have grown in nicely and by now completely fill out the pots. Two years ago I planted pansies, too, and lost maybe half of them. I think I planted them too late in the season and it was already too warm, so the tiny root balls of six-pack pansies didn't survive the extreme conditions. This year I was planting them earlier and I was also absolutely diligent with the watering, which means watering them every day a little bit over the first couple of weeks. It worked. I am so glad that I made a second try!



I do like the blue whiskers a lot!

See you in the garden!

Christina



18 comments:

  1. I like that planting of dusty miller and white pansies. I would never have thought of that combination, but I like them together. And your cymbidium orchids are beautiful. Maybe I will try my hand at growing one!

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  2. Wow, Christina ! I would love to have such a garden in February. Great colours and shapes. Your cymbidium are gorgeous !!!! Thank you, for this beautiful walk in your green paradise.
    Greetings from Greece !

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  3. Oh Christina ~ This post was a real treat! I love the planting combination in your lovely urns. The blue whiskers of the white pansies in the last photo are sweet. I am very afraid to prune roses, afraid they won't grow back, how silly is that. Your orchids are beautiful, especially the purple ones.

    Enjoy ~ FlowerLady

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  4. Dorothy, I am happy that you like my pansy and dusty miller plant combo! Yes, try your hands on cymbidiums, since you live close to where I garden I assume, they are a piece of cake to grow for you as well.

    Dani, thanks for your very kind note! I am looking forward to seeing your garden waking up to spring glory!

    FlowerLady, thanks for your nice comment! I was and sometimes I still am afraid to prune roses, too, but after doing it many years I know they are very forgiving, even if we make a pruning mistake. I am very convinced that pruned roses do much better than unpruned ones, except the Tea roses, of course. So be brave and just go right ahead and get the secateurs :-)!

    Christina

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  5. And I thought I had problems with my roses still in full leaf, but it looks as though yours had blooms on as well. Still the secateurs are coming out soon. Love your orchids, by the way.

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  6. Your silver and white planting in those white urns are just gorgeous! And your orchids make a dazzling arrangement. They are just beautiful. I would have a hard time pulling off rose blooms to prune them!

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  7. Crystal, yes some of my roses were still blooming prolifically when I had to prune them, but what can you do their heads needed to come off. I am glad that you like my orchids :-)!

    Holley, I am happy that you like my plant combination and the orchids. When you prune for a while you somehow get used to cruelty and just want to get the job done ;-).

    Christina

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  8. Christina, your orchids are beautiful and I am looking forward to seeing your roses when they bloom. Your previous posts about pruning inspired me to get out and prune mine. I am looking forward to see the results of my own too since I am not very experienced. Jeannine

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  9. Wow what a fantastic big garden you have. Must be lovely living in a country where is always a beautiful shrub or roses flowering. And the orchids how beautiful they are. Thanks for the breathtaking photograph's.
    Have a lovely weekend Christina.
    gr. Marijk

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  10. Beautiful! I am glad you can find time to plant annuals, I almost forgot what annual color looks like.... Your roses look all ready for spring, I can almost imagine OLOG in full bloom. Your HPs look very big, I hope they give you lots of blooms.

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  11. Absolutely...absolutely beautiful flowers. White flowers look really fragile,dainty and beautiful to me, I don't know why. Do you have any advice/suggestions for pruning roses? How do you go about doing it? There are 4 rose plants in our property left by the previous owner. I don't know what type they are but I want to prune them and make them look nice. They flower a lot but they don't have lots of leaves like your roses and others have.

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  12. Jeannine, thanks for your comment! Believe me I am looking forward to my roses in full bloom again, too. I am happy that I inspired you to prune your roses would love to see photos of them on your blog!

    Marijke, thanks for your kind note. It is really interesting you say my garden is big and I always think of my garden as small :-)! I guess it is all relative. Thanks for your compliment on my photos! Wishing you a nice rest of the weekend, too.

    Masha, thanks. Actually I had hardly time to garden at all lately. All the annuals you see in this post were planted in the last week of 2011 when I had a week off. I also think that the HP's are quite big for not even being a year old. Can't wait for them to bloom.

    KL, thanks for your nice compliment! I have a weak spot for white flowers that is for sure :-)! Regarding your rose pruning questions: I have done two posts on rose pruning roses last year. If you go to the search function on the right side of my blog and search for pruning roses they will come up. Maybe you can find some first clues there. It is essential to know what class of roses your roses belong to, because different rose classes are pruned differently. I don't dare to give any advice if I don't know what roses you have. Usually the members of rose societies are very friendly and eager to help. So I would suggest you contact your local rose society and ask for advice. Someone may even come out and look at your roses in your garden. Good luck!

    Christina

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  13. I think everything looks great, even the pruned roses. :o) They do look a bit like modern sculpture without all their foliage. I think Elephant's Foot is a weird plant. Too bad there isn't a Salvation Army for plants!

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  14. I'm planting the parsley in both pots I featured on my post as well as a few smaller ones. We probably have different butterflies, which may explain why you don't have caterpillars in your parsley. But the closest I come to orchids as beautiful as yours is a greenhouse!

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  15. Casa Mariposa, thanks for stopping by and commenting! I think there are people out there, who rescue plants like others rescue animals. I just don't know them here in San Diego. I just know I am not one of them, well, except when it comes to rescue old rare roses :-)!
    Christina

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  16. Casa Mariposa, cymbidium orchids simply love the climate here in San Diego, as long as you grow them in a shaded location, they are so easy to grow. Since they are so beautiful that they can be quite additive. I just got a new one from Traeder Joe's (will be featured in one of my next posts ;-))!
    Christina

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  17. You are right, I'm always amazed when the garden and each plant leaps to life here in March... it is sort of a miracle.

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  18. Jess, even though I live in a warm climate, I always feel that spring is such a special time in the garden. My garden is gearing up already quite a bit!

    Christina

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