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Six on Saturday: More About This Later

Brevity is not always easy with Six on Saturday. I might elaborate on some of these later. There is no common theme. These are merely six random pictures from last week.

1. Sambucus nigra ‘Black Lace’ European black elderberry got ‘Madonna’ as a pollinator only this year. ‘Madonna’ will not bloom until next year. ‘Black Lace’ makes a few berries anyway. I hope that they are prettier when more abundant. I can elaborate about it later.

2. Amaryllis belladonna, naked lady is demonstrating is preference for sunny exposure. This row of bulbs extends from left to right across this picture, but blooms only half way, with no transition to where bulbs are too shaded to bloom. I can elaborate about it later.

3. Canna musifolia, canna, which has been very fun to grow, was a gift from a neighbor, but not practical for our landscapes. These, with a few fancier cultivars, were potted here temporarily until a new landscape develops this autumn. They earn many compliments.

4. Canna X generalis ‘Inferno’ canna arrived with Canna musifolia. I think that it looks like ‘Wyoming’. Without a plan, we put this specimen into this ugly cobalt blue pot from a very dead Ficus benjamina houseplant that someone left for us, and now it looks RAD!

5. Hymenocallis festalis, Peruvian daffodil had been in the nursery for too long when we finally put all ten into three landscapes shortly before bloom. It is supposedly as reliably perennial as some of the more reliable types of Crinum. If so, it should be more popular.

6. Dahlia ‘Tabasco’ dahlia was purchased as a bedding dahlia, which implied that it is as disposable as annuals. However, this is its third season. It was originally red with orange stripes. Then, it was yellow with orange blotches. Now, it is this delightfully simpler red.

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/

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Travel

This does not happen often. Actually, it is quite rare, which is one of the consequences of enjoying my horticultural professions a bit too much. I almost never crave travel as I have been lately. Why should I? I live and work in such an excellent region which is excellent for horticulture and just about anything else. It is the sort of region that those who are not here travel to. Furthermore, there is nothing here that I want to get away from. In order to travel, I must first make obligations where I intend to travel to. Then, I can not change my plans for such travel. Even then, some of my obligations are horticultural pursuits, as if I must make work where I intend to go to compensate for my inability to take all of my work with me. I prune apple trees when I go to the Pacific Northwest. I procure regionally rare species where they are more available when I go to the Southwest. While vacationing in the region of Los Angeles last May, I spent a day greeting guests at one of Brent’s three landscapes that were featured on ‘Blooms With a View’, the Spring Garden Tour of View Park and Ladera Heights. I have no such plans anywhere yet. Now that it is late summer, it would be inconvenient to leave here for more than three days anyway. So, why should I so arbitrarily want to travel? I do not know. I suppose that I could go to the region of San Luis Obispo for Monday and Tuesday. I would like to find a pup of the regional variety of Hesperoyucca whipplei spp. whipplei that I first encountered while studying horticulture at Cal Poly there. But of course, I need no excuse to travel.

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Down On The Corner

Yucca elephantipes at Taco Bell in San Luis Obispo in 1968.

Down on the corner, or at least next door to the western corner of Olive Street at Santa Rosa Street in San Luis Obispo, Creedence Clearwater Revival stopped at Taco Bell, supposedly about the second of August of 1968, on their way from Palo Alto to Santa Monica. They were famous for such horticultural songs as ‘Run Through The Jungle’, ‘Have You Ever Seen The Rain’, ‘Cotton Fields’ and ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’, which I incidentally remember playing on the radio as I drove over the Grapevine Highway on my second trip to Los Angeles sometime in about 1987. This particular Taco Bell is conveniently located for travellers, since its corner location is also the interchange of southbound Highway 101 and Highway 1. The two highways are concurrent to the south. The original Taco Bell building has been replaced with a larger modern building that also occupies the parcels to its left and right, so that it really is down on the corner now. A bit more than eighteen years after the picture above was taken, in autumn of 1986, Brent and I became very familiar with the original. It was the scene of one of his more notorious adventures, which is too naughty for me to describe here. Another tamer incident involved the relatively small giant yucca, Yucca elephantipes, to the lower right in the picture. It was larger by 1986, and prior to one of our visits to Taco Bell, it had suspiciously deposited a few small limbs onto the sidewalk. Upon closer inspection, we found bits of pulverized chrome plated plastic and an emblem from what was likely a relatively new Cavallier of the early 1980s. Of course, we could not just leave the yucca canes there on the sidewalk to eventually be disposed of. We loaded them into the trunk and took them back to our dormitory, where we shared them with neighbors. The smallest shoot grew in a can of soil in our dorm room until it matured enough to also be given away. Because I sort of enjoyed it while it was there, Brent gave me a larger and more impressive specimen with an even more scandalous history a few years later. I have grown hundreds of giant yucca specimens since then, but the original that Brent gave me before 1990 is still here. I wonder if any of the others survive.

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Still Going Bananas!

Most of the banana pups and plugs are manageable, . . . for now.

Three more cultivars of banana arrived this week. There are now as many as twenty here. Three are unidentified. Of these three, two could be redundant to others. Of these two, one is merely dormant corms that could rot before generating new foliage. Another is already generating pups. Another is represented by a pair of pups. Eight grew from pups. Twelve grew from tissue culture plugs. Five have already grown too big to remain in the nursery where this picture was taken. At least three can grow more than twenty feet tall. At least two can grow more than forty feet tall. One is Musa ingens, which is the largest species of banana in the World, which can grow more than sixty feet tall! This sounds like fun, but so far, we only intend to add one of these twenty to only one of the landscapes! Three other small cultivars might remain potted in other landscapes, but are merely a minority of the total. Banana ‘trees’ are not exactly easy to accommodate. They want generous irrigation. Their ‘trunks’ grow very fast, but do not last long. Because they can not be climbed, every ‘trunk’ requires a radius that is comparable to its potential height to free fall when it gets cut down. None of the refined landscapes can forfeit areas that are large enough for ‘trunks’ of the larger cultivars to fall. Riparian areas that can accommodate them, and even without irrigation, are forested with redwoods, which banana ‘trees’ are not aesthetically compatible with. I would say that we will figure this out as they grow, but banana ‘trees’ grow very fast. They can remain canned for the rest of this season, but would be very displeased with such confinement next year. It is about to get even more interesting.

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Six on Saturday: Amiss

Heather worked ‘VERY’ late. Labels got switched on two cultivars of passion flower vine. We got another banana tree with no plan. A walnut replaced a palm. Palms did nothing. Oh my!

1. Musa acuminata ‘Popoulu’ banana ‘tree’ arrived in the mail as this tissue culture plug with a crease across it. It will recover, but its blemish is annoying. What is more amiss is that this is the twentieth cultivar of banana here, but we have plans for none of them yet.

2. Juglans nigra, black walnut was a typical understock for the English walnut orchards of the Santa Clara Valley. It is somewhat naturalized nearby, but not here. Where are all these seedlings coming from? Why did this grow in a can for Costa Rican bamboo palm?

3. Chamaedorea costaricana, Costa Rican bamboo palm is what should be in the can of the black walnut seedling. I brought enough rhizomes from Brent’s garden for about ten #5 cans and about as many #1 cans, but after a year, this is the only specimen that grew.

4. Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’ Hakone grass had never performed particularly well. A few other small perennials were added nearby to compensate. Now, the Hakone grass is growing lushly enough to overwhelm some of the perennials that were added to assist it.

5. Passiflora caerulea ‘Constance Eliot’ passion flower vine went into a landscape after it impressed with purple bloom. Of course, it was expected to bloom white like the original that provided the cuttings. This specimen was expected to bloom purple like its original.

6. Heather is a very proficient mouser. Rodents had been a major annoyance prior to her arrival. They are now no bother at all. However, a rat was observed within this particular shop. Heather apparently went in to investigate, and consequently spent the night there.

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/

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Santa Cruz

Begonia boliviensis ‘Santa Cruz’

Begonia boliviensis ‘Santa Cruz’ is one of those modern cultivars that I am typically not so keen on. It grows vigorously with abundant red bloom. ‘San Francisco’ is similar but with abundant pink bloom. ‘Santa Barbara’ is similarly similar but with abundant white bloom. All perform splendidly, like so many formerly modern cultivars that were trendy before them. I am not so keen on them merely because they are both modern and trendy. Their names do not help either. My colleague purchased ‘Santa Cruz’ from a nursery in Santa Cruz. It now lives here in Mount Hermon, which is a few miles away from Santa Cruz, but still in Santa Cruz County. I suspect that it is more popular locally because of its name. For the same reason, I suspect that ‘Santa Barbara’ is more popular in Santa Barbara, and ‘San Francisco’ is more popular in San Francisco. I also suspect that I would be less resistant to these modern cultivars if they had more appealing names, such as ‘Los Gatos’, ‘San Jose’ or ‘Palo Alto’. Perhaps the names are for the counties rather than the cities within the counties. All three of my recommendations are within Santa Clara County.

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4:00

Mirabilis jalapa is known more commonly as four o’clock. It is spelled with letters rather than as 4:00 with numbers. This refers to the time in the afternoon when its bloom should be at its best. These pictures were taken prior to nine in the morning though. Apparently, it does not adhere to a strict schedule. I took these pictures because I was so impressed with the performance of these particular specimens. Those with yellow bloom above are so large that I came from across the road to confirm their identity. I do not expect this species to grow so large. They are about as big as small oleander! Those with white and pink bloom below are actually the same plant. The species commonly blooms with flowers of different colors, but such colors are typically not so divergent as clear bright pink and clear white. They are more typically blotched with colors of each other, such as white flowers with a few pink blotches in conjunction with pink flowers with a few white blotches. This species is somewhat naturalized here, but politely so. Although it generates copious seed, it is not migrating very far from where it is established.

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Khartoum

‘Khartoum’ (Agapanthus orientalis ‘Khartoum’) is a blend of Blue Nile and White Nile.

Khartoum is located where the Blue Nile River merges with the White Nile River to become the Nile River. Lily of the Nile, contrary to its name, is neither a lily nor native to any of the three Nile Rivers. It is in the Amaryllidaceae Family, and is native to Southern Africa. Coincidentally though, it naturally blooms either blue or white. It really seems like it should be native to at least two of the Nile Rivers, with those that bloom white inhabiting the floodplains of the White Nile River, and those that bloom blue inhabiting the floodplains of the Blue Nile River. Perhaps both should inhabit the floodplains of the primary Nile River. Like a few other species that bloom exclusively true blue or white, lily of the Nile sometimes exhibits sports, which are mutant growth, that bloom with the other of the two options. In other words, those that bloom blue sometimes produce a shoot that blooms white, and conversely, those that bloom white sometimes produce a shoot that blooms blue. As if genetically unstable, such sports may revert to their original floral color by the following season, and before they divide into several shoots that bloom prominently with aberrative floral color within their otherwise florally monochromatic colonies. When I noticed a single white bloom within an exclusively blue blooming colony, I did not want to wait for the following season to see what its intentions were. Then, as bloom faded and I separated it from the colony, I found that it was blushed with blue, as if already trying to revert. Because it is impossible to confirm its intentions, I canned it and set it aside to see what it does in the future. If blue, it can return to the landscapes with the random mix of blue lily of the Nile that has been accumulating as long as they have inhabited landscapes here. If white, it will be given to neighbors, because I want to maintain the genetic purity of the single white cultivar that is here. If it remains white with pale blue blush, it might get a separate but prominent position within a landscape.

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Six on Saturday: Firsts

The first and last may potentially suggest that this is an episode of the Red Green Show.

1. Hedychium greenii, red butterfly ginger, which I accidentally took from Brent Green’s garden with a bunch of crowded out Heliconia psittacorum, is now about to bloom here. I was totally unaware that it was here until Brent mentioned that it was no longer there.

2. Hedychium gardnerianum, kahili ginger bloomed during the pandemic, while no one was here to see it. Then, gophers ate it. I canned the remnants, which are blooming now. This is the first of several florets to bloom on the first tall floral spike. It smells like 1986.

3. Agapanthus orientalis, lily of the Nile suddenly bloomed with this single white umbel within an exclusively blue colony. I removed the offending shoot as bloom began to fade, but found that it is not completely white. I canned it to observe how it blooms next year.

4. Begonia boliviensis ‘Santa Cruz’ begonia was not my idea. Another horticulturist here just procured it from a nursery in Santa Cruz, a few miles away. It is quite happy here in Santa Cruz County. It deserves a more appealing name, such as ‘Los Gatos’ or ‘San Jose’.

5. Canna ‘Cannova Mango’ canna was not my idea either. Brent sent it to me. I am not at all keen on modern cultivars, particularly this color. I nonetheless divided it too much to bloom well. This is its first opportunity to demonstrate how profuse its bloom should be.

6. Canna that was a gift from friends of a friend last winter is now blooming here. I have no idea what cultivar it is, and I do not care. Gifts are always better than nursery surplus from Brent’s projects. It is elegantly tall with simple red bloom and simple green foliage.

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/

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Madonna & Black Lace

Sambucus nigra ‘Black Lace’ European black elderberry

1984 was four decades ago. This is happening right now. Sambucus nigra ‘Black Lace’ European black elderberry, with intricately lacy and richly bronzed foliage, and flaring upright form, has inhabited one of the landscapes here for a few years. I was initially not so keen on it, but eventually learned to appreciate it as others who saw it expressed fondness for its distinctive texture and color. It was so popular that I grew a few too many copies from pruning scraps two winters ago, with the intention of adding a few more to other landscapes. I plugged a few more last winter, as if I did not know better. Several were shared with neighbors, but so far, only one was added to another landscape here, and only a few days ago. It may not look like much in the picture above, but should be a bit bigger and more richly bronzed next year. Sambucus nigra ‘Madonna’ European black elderberry, with simpler and yellowish variegated foliage, and somewhat more rounded form, was a more recent acquisition. Although I am not so keen on its yellowish color, it happened to become available while I was considering acquisition of a pollinator for ‘Black Lace’, which has not produced berries yet. Although each can self pollinate somewhat, different cultivars pollinate each other more effectively. Doves enjoy the resulting berries; and people enjoy seeing happy doves. The original specimen of ‘Madonna’ was thrashed when I acquired it, but provided more than sixteen rooted side shoot copies before going to live in a colleague’s garden. The first of these copies was installed adjacent to and in conjunction with the first copy of ‘Black Lace’. It may not look like much in the picture below, but it is just a dinky copy from a four inch pot.

Sambucus nigra ‘Madonna’ European black elderberry