Garden Tour through the Backyard: There are still some Roses blooming!

Here is the latest of my garden videos. It is done a little while ago, but not much has changed in the garden and it looks right now almost like you see it in the video. So I thought I will publish it.

It is a narrated tour through my backyard and I am featuring roses that were blooming at that time. You will meet besides others 'Stephen's Big Purple', 'Snowbird', 'Rhodologue Jules Gravereaux', 'Scepter'd Isle' and 'Mister Lincoln'. I am also visiting other plants like for example coleus 'Wasabi', iris 'Platinum', my camellias and alstroemeria Princess Lilies 'Claire'.

Thanks for watching! I really appreciate that you took the time to have a look.

Before I leave you, I have to tell you that it is raining right now in San Diego and the weather forecasts predicts that it will continue to do so all day long with short interruptions. That is certainly an early Christmas present and it makes my hope grow that I will have some lovely roses blooming next year, too.

If you celebrate Christmas, I hope you enjoy your Christmas preparations and that it didn't get too hectic for you! And just in case I don't get to blog anymore: I am wishing you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas!

See you in the garden!

Christina

I am linking to 

Rose Garden Malevik

End of Summer

Tomorrow it will be official: Summer is over and to be quiet honest with you, I am glad about it! This year summer was a torture for the garden with in general very high temperatures, a couple of heatwaves on top of that and the toughest water restrictions since I garden here in San Diego.

Because of the heat I hardly did any gardening since the end of June, except the most necessary maintenance chores. And when I did try to plant something in the last two months, it is very likely that I have lost it again by now. Lesson learned: Avoid planting new plants in the heat of summer.

I hope that temperatures slowly will come down from now on, even though in San Diego it is very likely that we will have some very hot, arid and windy days caused by Santa Ana Winds in September and/or October.

Besides my complains above there was of course a lot of beauty happening in the garden and I would like to share some photos with you that I have taken this summer.

On the first glance you could think that this is a rose, but no, it is an exquisite gardenia 'Veitchii' bloom.

This gardenia actually seemed to welcome the heat...

...and was blooming as profusely as never before.

And the fragrance of a gardenia, what can I say, it is simply out of this world.

'Neptune' has been doing well since transplanted into a big terracotta container on the backyard terrace. 

The blooms of this rose have a beautiful lavender color and the fragrance is equally pleasant.

The agapanthus were also liking the summer or at least putting up with it...

...and some were blooming generously.

'Yolande d'Aragon' had a good second rebloom.

I somehow like this shot quite a bit of the same rose.

The beautiful blooms of 'Cymbaline', an older David Austin rose that you don't see too often, were another nice surprise to me this summer. 

The plant with the tongue twister name Plectranthus ciliatus 'Mona Lavender' had wonderful blooms, but...

...couldn't withstand the heat and sadly I pulled it out about a week ago, since I have come to the conclusion that it is unsuited for my climate.

'Chandos Beauty' is one of the few roses that really likes the heat. The blooms are always gorgeous and the rose bush itself is very healthy.

'The Prince' fries easily in the heat,...

...but who can resist those flowers?

My bearded iris 'Platinum' also surprised me positively this summer and rebloomed not just once but twice for me. 

And I almost had thrown it away because it wasn't doing anything for quite a while. Now I am so glad that I didn't!

Hardy geranium 'Rozanne' is unfazed by the heat as long as it gets some supplemental water and is fertilized. 

I am on the fence, if I should keep the Mini-Flora rose 'Moonlight Scentsation' or not. I love the off-white blooms with lavender or even brown undertones, but the rose mildews on a regular base, which really bothers me.

It is kind of the same situation with 'Captain Christy': Beautiful blooms, but ugly powdery mildew. This rose is an heirloom rose that is hardly available in the nurseries anymore, so for that reason I might give it another year.

Here is a shot of 'Our Lady of Guadalupe' taken around 4th of July. This rose amazes me regularly with her profuse flushes of blooms. 

How do you feel about the end of summer? What ever your feelings are, I am definitively wishing you a lovely autumn!

See you in the garden!

Christina

End of Month View - The White Garden Bed June

My apologies for coming in very late with my monthly post documenting the development of my White Garden Bed, but work simply didn't leave me any time to blog prior to today. The photos that I used for this post were all taken on June 29th though, so what you see is really how the bed looked at the end of June.

I have to say that for the first time since I started to take part in this meme, I am truly satisfied with my White Garden Bed. The plants have filled in nicely, there are lots of white flowers and you can finally see that it is designed with a monochromatic white color scheme in mind.

The biggest change that I made last month, I planted a new rose, you can't even see in the first view of that bed, but I come back to that later. Besides that I bought seven plants of Gaura lindheimeri 'Belleza White', which are placed behind the white column with the silver gazing ball. I also took off another layer of fronds of the right cycad, because I couldn't stand to look at the sunburned fronds anymore.

June 2015

May 2015

I think it is justified to call the change between May and June quite dramatic. The Dianthus 'Floral Lace White' are in full bloom and all four roses (from the left to the right: 'Pope John Paul II', 'Chandos Beauty', 'Moonstone' and 'Auckland Metro') are flowering more or less profusely. 

Here is a bud of 'Moonstone', the rose in the center of the bed, that is just opening. Very beautiful rose, but the leaves are starting to become infected with rose rust, again. 

Mature bloom of 'Moonstone'. The flowers are undeniable very pretty, but I am never really happy with a rose, when the leaves are very sickly. 

When I started to participate in the End of Month View meme, this white angle shot was my initial first view. Between the last rose to the left and the Pygmy Date Palm to the very right there was just a huge crater of a hole, which is now filled with a rose and plenty of soil. Unfortunately, you can barely make out the small leaveless canes in front of the dark blue post of the fence.

I had a little mishap with this rose, because right after I planted it, we went to Portland and when we came back all its leaves had gotten brown and most of them had already fallen off. I finished the job and plucked of the last leaves, in the hope that the rose would start to leave out again. I believe it was either over or under watered or it simply suffered from transplanting shock. Even though the rose looks like it is dead right now, I am relatively sure it will survive. I guess next month we will know more. 

In this photo you can see the rose a little better. Initially I wanted to continue the White Garden Bed up to this area, but after much contemplation I decided that the White Garden Bed will become to big in proportion to the whole size of my backyard. So I decided to plant a pink rose ('Memorial Day') here to have a color transition to the area to the right side of the White Garden Bed. I am not entirely sure if this is the right decision, mainly because I have such a hard time to visualize anything. But the good thing is that if I don't like it, I always can change it.

June 2015

May 2015

In my second End of Month View it is very clear that the Hybrid Tea Rose 'Moonstone' has become the star of the White Garden Bed in the moment, but...

...'Chandos Beauty', the rose to the very right, can also produce very lovely blooms. At the time the photos were taken it had only two fully open flowers, but those were stunning. 

I don't know why I am so crazy about this small plant, but I am really in love with Dichondra sericea 'Silver Ponyfoot' (it is the small plant in the foreground of the white garden statue). I think the metallic shine on the leave is just doing me in. For the longest time I thought the plant wouldn't make it, after it had been transplanted from a container into the ground, but now several month later it seems to have recovered and is growing actively. It is supposed to be drought tolerant, exactly what I need with the ongoing water restrictions. 

My bearded Irises 'Platinum' surprised me positively. Both plants to the right and to the left of the rose 'Moonstone' in the middle of the White Garden Bed were blooming. Altogether I counted five flower stalks, which is unheard of so far. I think, Iris flowers are almost as pretty as rose blooms. 

June 2015

May 2015

In my last End of Month View shot you can clearly see how profusely the white agapanthus is blooming. It is really fantastic this year. The leaves of the amaryllis belladonna behind the white column with the gazing ball have completely died back and I removed all the dried up parts. 

Here is a close-up of the white agapanthus. Isn't this a beautiful flower? To me agapanthus in bloom is the substitut for the alliums that we can't grow here, because it is too warm. 

Probably my most favorite rose in the whole garden: 'Pope John Paul II' growing right next to the agapanthus on the right side. 

The flowers are hard to beat in terms of their beauty and for an Hybrid Tea Rose they come in great quantities and the rose has a quick repeat. 

My husband cleaned up the dried up parts of the lamb's ears in the foreground. And they look so much better now. Behind them you see the Gaura lindheimeri 'Belleza White' more clearly. I haven't had time to plant them into the ground yet, but I think they will look quite nice there. 

I am in love with the airy, butterfly like blooms. They are so dainty and seem to flutter if there is a light breeze. Best of all, Gauras are supposed to be really drought tolerant and planting them is another step to help my garden to cope with the drought conditions, but still look pretty.

Even though I am late, I am linking my post to Helen's The Patient's Gardeners Weblog, who kindly hosts the End of Month View meme each month. If you haven't visited her yet, please pop over and see how her's and other gardens looked by the end of June. 

See you in the garden!

Christina

More Spring from my Garden

As usual I have taken tons of photos this spring in my garden, that I didn't get around to publish. So I thought I will just put a post together with at least a small selection of them.

The calla lilies, zantedeschia aethiopica, which are growing in urns by the pool, were flowering fabulously in early spring this year, when the temperatures were still relatively moderate.

I am always fascinated by the elegance and simplicity of a calla lily bloom. 

Two new chartreuse/lime green colored heucheras with ruffled leaves (did I tell you that I have a weakness for chartreuse colored plants?), made it into my garden. The name of the variety is heuchera 'Lime Marmelade' and they are supposed to retain the chartreuse color well year-round.

Ajuga reptans 'Catlin's Giant', also called Buggleweed or Carpet Buggle, was blooming generously in a lovely deep blue hue, which you don't find that often in the plant kingdom. The green-bronze foliage is quite attractive as well.

My white bearded iris 'Platinum' reluctantly gave me only a few spring blooms, but at least it did. I was taking photos of the blooms in different light conditions. Here it is on a gray overcast morning.

Same variety back lit in the late afternoon...

... and hit by sunlight from the front. I think, it is amazing how different the flowers look depending on the changing light conditions.

The 'Lavender Crystal' miniature rose, produced blooms in an absolutely stunning bluish/lavender color. Apart from the color I also like the flower form of this variety very much.

I have transplanted 'Lavender Crystal' from a container into the ground last year November already, but the rose is still struggling, only able to grow into this spindly very small shrub. I guess, it is time for some pampering with fish emulsion and hopefully that helps. 

Alstroemeria Princess Lilies 'Claire' blooms continuously and tirelessly since weeks and is one of my favorite plants in the garden right now.

My white cyclamen (variety unknown) in the blue container bloomed very floriferously this spring, which I believe is due to a good feeding with fish emulsion. This stuff can help some plants to achieve amazing performances. Martha Washington geranium 'Regal Elegance Purple Majesty' in front of the cyclamen just started to flower in this photo. 

Here are some close-ups of the blooms of the Martha Washington geranium 'Regal Elegance Purple Majesty'. It was flowering very happily and still is, but right now needs a good deadheading. 

I am really in love with the color of this particular variety.

It is very easy to grow in my garden...

...and the blooms are almost always perfect. 

I have another Martha Washington geranium 'Regal Elegance Rose Bicolor', which seen by itself is pretty as well,...

...but the color is very bright and bold and not so easy to integrate in my cool color garden scheme. I seem to go back and forth by the week, if I really like it or not in the front yard. 

Floriferous 'Climbing Iceberg' rose strutting her stuff.

'Grandmother's Hat in her full swing. This rose has a wonderful perfume...

...and the blooms can be outstandingly beautiful.

'Reine des Violettes' is a little bit of a diva in my garden, that requires extra attention and the bush itself so far is not a lovely sight, but the blooms and fragrance, oooh my...

My white camellias 'Nuccio's Gem' were a mess this year. I blame the drought, early heatwaves and the water restrictions for all the scorched, brown and balled blooms. But every now and then one opened to perfection. These camellias were so breathtakingly beautiful last year (here is the link to my post about them from previous year), so it is really sad to see them suffer like they did this spring. Even though the climate data doesn't give much reason for it, one can always hope for a better next year...

An unknown light green cymbidium orchid was blooming its heart out this spring. You see how many flower stalks it had and, as far as I remember, I had cut already a few to fill my vases indoors when I took this photo. The plant itself is not the most prettiest sight, though. I assume, that is was sitting in too much water, which can lead to the brown leaves. Maybe the drainage hole in the pot is clogged...

The blooms are so gorgeous, pure and perfect...

...and I simply love, love, love the light green color.

Before I leave you I just have to share that we had rain yesterday and the temperatures dropped down quite a bit to 56 F/13 C. Altogether we maybe got a little bit over an inch of rain (25.4 mm) or so (note to the gardener: I have to get a rain gauge!). For most of you this is probably not worth mentioning, but with the severe drought and heat that we are having here in California, it was really a reason to be happy for me and it looks like the plants felt the same. 

See you in the garden!

Christina