The year ends with the day, but bad habits continue. I make no resolutions. I continue to collect too much seed, plug too many cuttings and divide too many perennials. Common weeds are not off limits. Canna were already too abundant before more were canned last week. More will be divided later! Cymbidium is not proliferating yet, but has potential to do so after bloom. For now, there is no need to irrigate any of this surplus, since the rain will not stop.

1. Lunaria annua, money plant or honesty, is not quite naturalized within unrefined but damp zones of our landscapes. We collect seed to toss where we think it should perform well. It has become a tradition. The name implies that it is native to the Moon, and that, like 2022, lasts only one year. These seed in key envelopes are for whomever takes them.

2. Canna ‘Australia’ are bloomed canes that I groomed from the downtown planter box, as seen last week. There are a dozen #5 cans of four canes, and six #1 cans of two canes! More pups must be thinned later! Also, I will soon dig even more cannas for a neighbor!

3. Bellis perennis, English daisy is naturalized in the vast lawn at Felton Covered Bridge Park. I have no use for it, but plugged a dozen solitary rosettes in with the Canna canes.

4. Sambucus nigra ‘Black Lace’, black elderberry should generate a bit of fruit without a pollinator, but is merely pretty here. I plugged a few cuttings because its darkly bronzed foliage works so well for our landscapes. Native blue elderberry produces plenty of fruit.

5. Cymbidium orchid is extending quite a few floral spikes. I have not counted them yet.

6. Morgan was reminded why no one craves his parking space. Rain is splendid though!

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/

20 thoughts on “Six on Saturday: 2022 Ends”

    1. The nearest neighbors here are too far away for me to see, and the gardens are all quite variable. It seems to me that people near here enjoy their gardens more than those who live in town. None are overly refined, and we all have distinct concepts of what makes a garden appealing. For example, my garden is not ‘pretty’ at all, since it is too utilitarian. Other gardens are appealing more because they are enjoyed than because of their aesthetics.

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      1. It is all the great outdoors, a space for people to relax and do their thing. Not everyone sees gardening or propagation as the reason to enjoy the garden, but it they have largish gardens and have trees what a plus for everyone.

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      2. Well, most of us have trees here. They are coastal redwoods, which are the tallest trees in the World. You can likely see them if you look in this direction. One of my neighbors made the mistake of giving some of his redwoods a bit of fertilizer, which is why the Moon has so many craters on it.

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    1. I actually do not grow many plants in my own utilitarian garden. Most of my more interesting plants are at work. The problem is that I do not just grow them in gardens or landscapes, but grow MANY copies of them. The quantities of the cultivars of Canna are getting to be ridiculous.

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  3. I imagine you (and everyone in California) are happy to see the rain eh? A Sambucus (with green leaves) sprouted under my window two years ago, and last year it sent out three branches and also flowered. Right now the largest is about four feet long, arching from the ground, and loaded with fat buds. I have no idea how it got there, but I’ll need to move it soon to make way for a porch. Plants are mysterious…

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    1. We are generally happy with rain, but as I write this, the creek outside is only about three feet below flooding, and the adjacent neighborhood is evacuated and partially flooded from the San Lorenzo River. The rain just stopped, so we hope that the water will recede overnight.
      Your elderberry is likely the black elderberry, which was unavailable in California until only recently. Now that it is available in nurseries, I am not so certain I want it though. The native blue elderberry is so productive. I am not so certain that the black elderberry is any better.

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    1. Well, I enjoy them. The problem is that they can be so overwhelming. I may lack sufficient empty cans for the Canna. I may need to give away their bare rhizomes, or install them into the ground somewhere. I give many to the neighbors, but there is too much for that.

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    1. Well, since posting that, the rain got to be a bit too abundant. The creek downstairs was only about two or three feet from the top of its bank, and the parking lot on the other side was full of cars from the adjacent neighborhood that was evacuated because of flooding. Mudslides and fallen trees have closed roads all over the region. A tree fell on a neighbor’s car. Well, at least the evacuated neighbors will be able to party in the parking lot tonight, and should be able to return home in the morning.
      Some of my cuttings are justified by the landscapes here. However, we grow too much. Some gets shared with those who work here and neighbors. I take some to my colleague down south.

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    1. In our region, it only naturalizes where it can stay damp into summer, or where it gets irrigation. We disperse the seed because it is not invasive. There is a bit less of it after winters when we do not disperse the seed.

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      2. Well, that is a bit too much effort for us. I just collect the seed for dispersion. People can do what they like with them afterward. The packaged seed is for those who would like to grow some in their own gardens, although there is plenty to share within the landscapes here.

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