Sunday Best – Peachy Rose
Six on Saturday: Going Bananas Again
Banana trees have grown slowly through the oddly cool weather of spring. They are only now beginning to slowly recover from last winter.
1. Ariolimax columbinanus, banana slug is obviously unrelated to bananas, but seems as if it should not be. It is about as big as a small banana, but fortunately does not consume much viable vegetation. It prefers redwood detritus. It is rarely out during arid weather.
2. Actinidia deliciosa, kiwi vine is obviously as unrelated to bananas as a mollusk, but is something that I want to show off. These remaining three of five original cuttings are my second attempt to grow a male pollinator for a female vine that grew here two years ago.
3. Musa ingens, oem or giant highland banana produced a pup that grew big enough for separation. A smaller secondary pup remains attached as a potential replacement for the primary trunk when it finishes, but additional pups will likely develop through summer.
4. Musa itinerans var. xishuangbannaensis ‘Mekong giant’ banana also produced a pup. It is still dinky and now seems to be blinding out without a new leaf within its latest leaf. Another pup is only beginning to appear. I hope that more pups will eventually develop.
5. Musa, banana of an unidentified species and cultivar is recovering slowly from winter. It was here through last summer, so, unless it is a dwarf, it should be bigger by now. The shabbier specimen to its far left is Musa X balbisiana ‘Blue Java’ or ‘Ice Cream’ banana.
6. Rhody is who everyone who reads my Six on Saturday really wants to see. I have been negligent in posting pictures of him. He is not exactly easy to get a good picture of. Even this picture should have been centered better. Obviously, he knows his fans do not mind.
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/
Sunday Best – Purple Petunia
Six on Saturday: Neither Rhododendrons Nor Roses
This is an intentional attempt to eschew the most obvious options.
1. Tanacetum parthenium ‘Aureum’, golden feverfew is the only of these six that I know the cultivar of, but only because it is the only cultivar that I am aware of with such sickly chartreuse foliar color that passes for golden. Its little daisy flowers are splendid though.
2. Dianthus caryophyllus, mini carnation is one of those cool season annuals that never gets removed at the end of its season. It neither flourishes nor dies, so has been here for several years. It will probably die back partially now that the weather is getting warmer.
3. Pelargonium X hortorum, zonal geranium may seem to be cheap and common, but it has been very reliable. Besides, I happen to be fond of them. They were some of the first perennials that I grew during my childhood. This and others like it are modern cultivars.
4. Alstroemeria spp., Peruvian lily was the first large scale cut flower crop that I worked with during the summer of 1986, while I was studying horticulture at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. This and a few cultivars at work seem to be as old fashioned as those from 1986.
5. Lilium auratum, Asiatic lily was a gift from a neighbor while its bulbs were dormant a few winters ago. It was not expected to perform as well as it has. Not only has it become reliably perennial, but it has multiplied so much that I must eventually dig and divide it.
6. Cornus florida, flowering dogwood is the last dogwood to bloom so late. This could be because of distress associated with its relocation last winter. I do not remember when it bloomed last year, or if it should bloom as late next year. I suppose that we will see then.
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/
Sunday Best – Diminutive Spirea
Six on Saturday: Bark
Bark was actually not Rhody’s suggestion. It was simply a convenient theme while it was difficult for me to get out to take other pictures. These are six trees that I worked around yesterday. I could recycle this theme for native species.
1. Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood is the Official State Tree of California, and the tallest tree species in the World. Although native, this particular specimen was grown in a nursery, and is the cultivar ‘Soquel’. It was installed into its landscape likely after 1989.
2. Metasequoia glyptostroboides, dawn redwood is the only of three species of redwood that is not native to California. It is also the only deciduous redwood. Sequoia gigantea, giant redwood, is also represented by a young tree, but I did not get a picture of its bark.
3. Prunus serrulata, flowering cherry seems to be the cultivar ‘Kwanzan’. Perhaps shade from surrounding redwoods, birches, sweetgums and dogwoods interfere with its bloom profusion. Individual flowers are a bit smaller than they should be for typical ‘Kwanzan’.
4. Betula pendula, European white birch has distinctly white bark, but also exhibits dark brown or black furrowed bark at the bases of large trunks. I tried to take pictures of both for contrast, but the white bark seemed too gray. I could have gotten both in one picture.
5. Liquidambar styraciflua, sweetgum bark goes through different phases as it matures. Young twigs initially exhibit smooth bark. Then, their smooth bark develops corky wings that grow as the stems grow. Somehow, mature bark shows no evidence of former wings.
6. Cornus florida, flowering dogwood is supposedly easy to identify by its ruff bark. I do not get it, though. Of these Six, only flowering cherry has more finely textured bark. This particular tree does not bloom so well, but produces spectacular foliar color for autumn.
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/
Sunday Best – Elderflower
Six on Saturday: Elderberry Foliage
Only six of ten elderberries here were selected for “Six on Saturday”. Four were omitted:
Sambucus canadensis ‘Nova’ and ‘York’ American elderberry
Sambucus caerulea, blue elderberry
Sambucus nigra ‘Black Tower’ European black elderberry
I would have liked to include all of them, but realistically, American elderberry and blue elderberry are not much to see, and I was unmotivated to take a picture of ‘Black Tower’ European black elderberry. Although it is my favorite of the European black elderberries here, taking its picture after neglecting to do so while there earlier yesterday would have necessitated a short drive and a long walk. These six are in the storage nursery, either as cuttings, or because they were not installed into a landscape yet.
1. Sambucus racemosa, red elderberry is a gift from Skyler of Tangly Cottage Gardening. They are a group of four seedlings, so can pollinate each other, as well as a more recently acquired ‘Lemony Lace’. The species is native and grows wild in Tangly Cottage Garden.
2. ‘Lemony Lace’ is a cultivar of red elderberry that I acquired with three European black elderberry cultivars, in a manner that is not illegal. I am very pleased that it is a progeny of ‘Sutherland Gold’, which I had been coveting in the garden of The Random Gardener.
3. ‘Black Lace’ is the cultivar of Sambucus nigra, European black elderberry, that started it all. It was here before my time. I was not so keen on it, but learned to like it because so many admired it in the landscape. I procured ‘Madonna’ as a pollinator, and kept going.
4. ‘Madonna’ and ‘Black Lace’ are so MTV in 1989. This ‘Madonna’ is not so exciting. Its chartreuse variegation looks sickly while it is small. I know it will be prettier as it grows. It arrived two years prior to the three other newly acquired European black elderberries.
5. ‘Purpurea’ is one of the three recently acquired cultivars of European black elderberry that arrived with the ‘Lemony Lace’ red elderberry. I am unimpressed by its bland foliar color, but will learn to appreciate it if I work with it long enough. I like its foliar texture.
6. ‘Albomarginata’ was the European black elderberry cultivar that I initially wanted as a pollinator for ‘Black Lace’, but it was unavailable two years ago. I prefer its creamy white variegation and larger size to the chartreuse variegation and compact size of ‘Madonna’.
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/
Sunday Best – Mock Orange
Six on Saturday: Here & Now
These six lack a theme. They are just random pictures of a few flowers that are blooming here and now.
1. Lavandula stoechas, Spanish lavender posed for this picture, which was not adequate for the gardening column, but is too pretty to delete without sharing here. It looks like it is about to fly away with those long wings. A bee posed with it for the gardening column.
2. (Hespero)Yucca whipplei, chaparral yucca is blooming again after blooming last year. This floral truss is about twelve feet tall, and still growing. Seed that it provided last year is now growing abundantly. It is the first species of Yucca that I met in the wild in 1985.
3. Scilla peruviana, Peruvian squill has been reliably perennial for about three years but has not grown much. Although the floral trusses are bigger than they were last year, they are no more numerous. Just nine remain in three groups of three, just as I planted them.
4. Rhododendron spp., like the bearded iris and cymbidium orchid, is of an unidentified cultivar. Many others are blooming now also. I refrained from posting six pictures of six different rhododendrons like I usually do though, because that can get a bit predictable.
5. Iris X germanica, bearded iris was difficult to take a good picture of at the time of day that I encountered it. Its pale color did not help. I am fond of this iris though, since I got it from Cedar Lodge at Kidder Creek, on the way to the Pacific Northwest two years ago.
6. Cymbidium spp., has been blooming very slowly. The buds appeared over winter, and have been extending since then, but only recently opened. I never liked this orchid much anyway. A white orchid that typically blooms so impressively here did nothing this year.
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 