Yes, we have another new landscape. It is not much bigger than the last one, and is not very far away. In fact, although it is associated with two different buildings, it is located adjacent to the opposite corner of the same building that the last landscape was constructed for. https://tonytomeo.wordpress.com/2018/04/07/six-on-saturday-rock-concert/
These six pictures were taken prior to the installation of wood chip mulch, so ground cloth is visible below. It was quite dry and dusty at the time. All of these six plants were newly installed after being procured from nurseries, so none were relocated from other landscapes, or from our storage nursery. They were blooming nicely when installed, but are actually not blooming so nicely now, and some were damaged by the sudden warmth immediately after installation. They would have been fine if only the warmth did not arrive so suddenly, or if it had arrived a few days later. Well, we can not control the weather.
Large stones and bare soil prior to the installation of the landscape were shown in this previous Six on Saturday post, https://tonytomeo.wordpress.com/2018/06/16/six-on-saturday-rock-on/
1. fernleaf yarrow, Achillea filipendulina, Most of these are white. A few are rusty red. A few are yellow like this one, which might be ‘Moonshine’. These did not show symptoms of heat stress right away, but have since gotten rather crispy. I could not find a picture like this one now. Fernleaf yarrow has been popular here for as long as I can remember because it supposedly does not need much water, although most get watered regularly.
2. Russian sage, Perovskia atriplicifolia, That sounds like ‘piroshki’. These and the rockrose #4 were 5 gallon plants, so are somewhat bigger than most other plants in the new landscape. They were not bothered by the change of the weather. Their faded denim blue flowers continue to bloom nicely. This is a plant that has been popular for a while, but that I have never grown. I tend to avoid trendy plants. However, my colleagues do not.
3. gaura, Gaura lindheimeri, The common name is ‘white gaura’, but some are pink and some are darker pink that is almost red. I do not know if they are merely cultivars of ‘white’ gaura, or different specie. It seemed appropriate to omit ‘white’ from the name. Besides, that is how I learned it. This one can self sow enough to be an annoyance. Individual plants do not live very long, so a few feral seedlings can be selected to replace them.
4. rockrose, Cistus cretisus, When I learned about rockrose back in the 1980s, we learned only two specie. One was white rockrose. The other was pink rockrose; and the pink rockrose did not look like this one. Now, there are too many to remember. Most do not have species name, but merely cultivar names. I really do not know if this really is Cistus cretisus. It just happens to look like it. I suppose I should have looked at the label.
5. chocolate coreopsis, Coreopsis ‘Chocolate’, As I implied for #4, nomenclature is not what it used to be. It was standardized to simplify things, but is difficult to keep track of now with all the breeding and hybridizing, and botanists wanting to make a name for themselves by changing a name to something supposedly more accurate. I really do not know the species name of the chocolate coreopsis. It is known merely by the cultivar name.
6. milkweed, Asclepias tuberosa, This one wilted rather badly in the warmth, but did not get roasted too much. The shriveled flowers in this picture are the worst of the damage. It is blooming more profusely now, and is developing strange seed pods. Milkweed is another trendy plant that caters to the butterfly gardening fad. I am not certain if I like the idea of planting something that is expected to get munched. It sure is colorful for now.
This is the link for Six on Saturday, for anyone else who would like to participate:
https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/six-on-saturday-a-participant-guide/
Tony Tomeo 
This week, I’m also talking about gaura but a pink one. The white is nice too.! Perovskia will be for the coming weeks.
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Gaura is nice because it is tough. However, it is best in home gardens that are maintained by those of us who enjoy gardening. Maintenance ‘gardeners’ try to shear it until it dies. When it tries to replace itself with a few seedlings, they pull the seedlings up or cut them down with the weed whacker as weeds, while continuing to shear the original to death. We do not have gardeners. When our plants get old, we will pull them up. Hopefully, there will be a few seedlings to replace them.
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Nice to see some plants that are familiar to me, with colour, being planted in a drought prone area. If you are planting them, then I can too in the driest places we have in London. Thanks, Tony!
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I do not know for certain, but rockrose may not like a climate that is somewhat damp much of the time. If you never see it, there might be a good reason. Gaura might be weedy if it self sows too much. I am really unfamiliar with the climate there. I know that in San Francisco, where it is quite foggy (without rain though) through summer, rrockrose does well, and gaura is not too weedy.
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I grew all these in my New Zealand garden which was a cottage garden style. I do kind of miss all that varied colour now in my tropical style mainly shades of green garden
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How amusing. I think of these as being Californian, but cottage garden style seems to be endemic to New England and other regions away from California, New Zealand or even Australia. I suppose that the style is similar, even if the material is different.
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New Zealand gardening is quite different to here in Australian sub tropics, cooler climate and more rain
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I think of all these but the coreopsis as growing in a field somewhere. Whether they’re trendy or not, they are certainly colourful w/lovely foliage. Enjoyed this Six.
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Thank you. I am pleased that you enjoyed it. I did not select any of the plants. I am not at all proficient with design. I do not particularly like the chocolate coreopsis, but they are one of the few most popular flowers with guests walking by, and many guests recognize them. That is one of the advantages of working with someone who can select such interesting plants.
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Love the Perovskia. I can never remember the name and call it Perestroika!
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It is one of the few specie that I do not often use the Latin name for because it is awkward to pronounce.
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Your milkweed is very different to mine. Is this landscape planting designed to be wild? I quite like this collection. Some of these would work in my wilder gardens.
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It was not designed to be wild, but I am afraid that it will end up that way. So many of the plants are at their best if allowed to go wild, and some really do not want to be tamed. I would like the gaura to be allowed to seed where space allows, before the original plants die out. Other plant material in the same landscape is more refined. There are even dwarf Alberta spruce, which contrast nicely with the wildness of the other material, but also make the landscape more compatible with the architecture of the associated buildings. A wild landscape alone would work perfectly, but the tiny spruce trees make it look a bit more tailored. (Goodness! I am talking like a designer!)
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The milkweed is new to me. I have never worked with it before. I do not like fads much, but I do happen to like this milkweed.
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An interesting selection of true sun lovers. The only one I intentionally grow up here is gaura, and I grow it as annuals at the front of the house in pots — the deepest pink/red.
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That spot happens to be quite sunny and warm. With all the big redwoods about, we do not have many spots that are so sunny and warm. I would think that gaura could get weedy there if allowed to grow in larger spaces out in the garden. That is a concern even for us, although I would like a few seedlings to replace the original plants as they die out in a few years.
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Gaura is such a pretty plant if kept tidy, do you find it looks a bit straggly if not kept in check? The chocolate coreopsis is new to me – maybe next year I’ll have a chocolate box bed and grow it with plants such as chocolate cosmos!
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I find that gaura gets tired after the first year. I would not have selected it. One of my colleagues did so. It works nicely if groomed properly, and not shorn. The main problem in other landscapes is that ‘gardener’s try to shear it. Since they last only a few years, I like to leave a few seedlings to replace the original parent plants before they need to be removed.
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These are all lovely field plants in the right climate. You are right about the milkweed; I think of it as a roadside weed, but people have been planting it because of the Monarchs. Goodness. It seeds prolifically (like a weed or Larkspur) and I do hope people realize that…
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I would not mind if it spreads here. Someone who worked here years ago collected seed from the money plant, and tossed them out and about wherever he thought they would be nice. I would like to do that with California poppies in the sunnier spots. The unfortunate consequence of providing so many alternative sources of food for the monarch butterflies is that some of the natives are being ignored and not pollinated.
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I wouldn’t have thought of perovskia as a trendy plant. I have been growing it in my garden for years, but it doesn’t ever look as pretty as yours. I would have said that was due to lack of rain, but you wouldn’t receive all that much there either. Guara was considered a weed here and nurseries were not allowed to sell it for a while, but there was enough fuss to have that decision overturned, thankfully.
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The perovskia just came from a nursery at its prime. I do not know what they will look like later on. I do not see many that look bad, and they really seem to do well with minimal irrigation. I do not know how to feel about gaura. They are not so much of a wee here, and to not have many places to go from here. The surrounding forest is too dark for them. In your region, I would be hesitant to plant them if there had been concern about their potential to naturalize. Years ago, a sterile pampas grass was popular for a while, but was later determined to not be so sterile. Once such things get out there, they can not be brought back in.
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Very true Tony. I have one white gauta in my garden, but it’s been very well-behaved so far.
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Interesting selection this week, Tony. Loving that Russian sage; is quite forgotten that I had that is my previous home which was a very dry, south facing plot. It thrives there. Loving the rock roses colour-such intensity.
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I probably should have mentioned that I selected none of these. I am no landscape designer. My colleague selected everything. He wants a bit more color than what was there. There are also dwarf Alberta spruce, ‘Black Lace’ elderberry, ‘Gulf Breeze’ Heavenly bamboo and a few other plants for interesting form, and for compatibility with the architecture of the associated building.
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A great six. And really interesting comments. In the UK we are all clamouring for drought resistant planting. But next year it could rain all summer! I am intrigued by the Gaura. I am also going to look at all the achilleas, it’s time a found a space for them
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Achillea is nice with or without dry conditions. It is nothing fancy, which I think it to its advantage. It looks like a wildflower. I have never used it herbally, just as a flowering perennial.
Gaura is less than a favorite. It can be easy to work with, but my experience is with specimens that have been abused by maintenance ‘gardeners’. They should not be shorn. If necessary, they can be trimmed. As they age and deteriorate, it is better to allow a few of their self sown seedlings to develop and mature, so that the older original plants can eventually be pulled out. Unfortunately, those with rich color may revert to pale pink or white within a generation or so, although still nice. (Even the bright white might fade to pale white)
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Interesting flower combination. Is it chocolate cosmos rather than coreopsis? If it is, it’s Cosmos atrosanguineus.
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That is how I learned it, as chocolate comsos, Cosmos astrosanguineus! Now I am confused. It sure looked like what I knew as chocolate cosmos, but I did not want to argue with the label. Besides, it looks more like coreopsis. Well, perhaps I should just still with cosmos. It is what is familiar.
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I have to say, labels (and plantspeople) aren’t always right. There are those who make a point of doing thorough checking before labeling plants, and those who go off their memory or what they’ve been told, which may or may not pan out depending on where that information came from. I always like to check plant names with reputable websites or plantspeople who I know value accuracy. I’m stuck with a hedge out the front of plants that aren’t the species I wanted, because when I questioned the nurseryman he ho-hummed my suggestion that the young plants weren’t what I had requested, saying he had been propagating them from the same plants for years, so he ought to know. I backed down in the face of supposedly more experience, but it turned out he was wrong after all. I’m not sure if his stock plants were incorrect or there was a labeling stuff-up. Plant identification can be a very tricky thing!
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Gardeners often add Jacquemontii birches into groves of European white birch just because they are available and they happen to have white trunks. The same is done with London planes that get added to groves of California sycamores! It is so frustrating.
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Haha that wouldn’t have quite the same effect would it? Groves of one tree species can look quite spectacular.
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A jacquemontii birch in a grove of European white birches is like the game on Sesame Street; ‘One Of These Things (is Not Like The Others)’.
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Haha too right.
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