Each flower lasts for only a day. That is why the common name of Hemerocallis is simply daylily. Each floral stalk provides several flowers that bloom continually for several days. As one flower deteriorates, another replaces it. Because floral stalks shed so continually, they are not very practical as cut flowers. They are splendidly colorful in gardens though.
Most popular daylily cultivars are products of breeding that is too extensive to document. That is why almost all lack species names. Their cultivars names generally suffice. Most daylilies bloom for a month or so. Also, most bloom best for early summer. A few bloom a bit earlier. Some bloom as late as autumn. Some can bloom randomly or twice annually.
Daylily bloom can be yellow, orange, red, pink, almost purplish or combinations of these. Yellow or pink can be so pale that it seems to be almost white. Flowers can stand as tall as three feet, on bare stem. Their arching grassy foliage stays somewhat lower, in dense mounds. Most cultivars are evergreen. Some are deciduous. They propagate by division. Some migrate by vigorous stolons.
Perennial pea is a somewhat naturalized exotic species here. It may not be aggressively invasive enough to be classified as a weed though. However, I would classify some of it that I can not exterminate from at least one of our landscapes as weeds. Once it gets established, it is very persistent.
It seems to prefer to grow on roadsides or fences. It is not so common in flat open spaces. It rarely gets big enough to overwhelm or otherwise damage other vegetation. It dies back when the weather gets too inhospitable for it. It regenerates when the weather is more comfortable.
Perennial pea certainly is pretty. Almost all of it blooms with typical bright purplish pink flowers. A few uncommon specimens bloom with variations of lighter pink. White is even more rare. Only red is more rare than white. I have never seen it growing wild. Although seed for red perennial pea is available, I know of no one who has actually grown it.
Therefore, until someone can prove that red actually exists amongst naturalized perennial pea, white is the rarest color. It might also be my favorite. I can not decide. White is my favorite color. Also, perennial pea happens to look great in white. Yet, the familiar obnoxiously bright pink is so typical of the species. It is the color that everyone expects to see growing wild on local roadsides.
I was fortunate to find a specimen at work that blooms white. I grew a few copies of it, but kept them canned. I shared some with colleagues in other regions until only two remained here. I was not too alarmed when these last two were overwhelmed by other vegetation and died, since I thought I could grow more copies from the original specimen. That was until I found that the original was destroyed by excavation to mitigate erosion from last winter!
I believe that another specimen that blooms white lives nearby. Its particular colony has already finished bloom for the season. I must therefore wait for it to resume bloom, or look for errant bloom through winter. After getting so involved with it, perhaps it really will be my favorite.
Although not native, gaura, Oenothera lindheimeri, can almost naturalize as if it were. All it needs is occasional watering through summer. It performs better with regular watering. Individual specimens live for only about four years. Some may last for only a single year. However, their abundant progeny are likely to replace and perhaps overwhelm them first.
Gaura prefers sunny and warm exposure. Shade causes sloppy form. Naturalized gaura has potential to become weedy or invade other vegetation. Seedlings relocate efficiently. Cutting back old growth as it deteriorates through winter promotes vibrant spring growth. Concurrent removal of the shabbiest old specimens favors vigorous younger specimens.
Collective growth is mostly less than five feet deep, with wispy and lightly foliated stems. Basal leaves are bigger than tiny upper leaves. Airy flowers are only about an inch wide. Floral color is mostly pale pink. Seedlings of cultivars with white or richer pink bloom are not necessarily true to type. Neither are seedlings of cultivars with richly bronzed foliage. Bloom continues from very early spring until cooler wintry weather.
When it first appeared within one of the landscapes at work four years or so ago, I was not sure of its identity. I guessed that it was some sort of phlox only because it resembled phlox that I had seen in mail order catalogs many years earlier. No one knows where it came from or how it got there. Some sort of Campanula arrived within the same garden only a year or so earlier, and worked out nicely. Therefore, we decided to give what we thought was phlox the same chance to perform.
It performed splendidly! It matured rather quickly, and happened to fill a prominently bare spot. Its bloom is pure white and delightfully fragrant. After getting cut back for winter, it regenerated for spring.
Then, we started noticing that it had seeded while no one noticed. A few seedlings were appearing nearby. At first, we were pleased, but also concerned that it could become invasive. I pulled a few seedlings up from where I did not want them to grow, and was able to relocate them to better situations, but was not sure if I should have done so.
Fortunately, like the campanula, this new plox seemed to want to cooperate. After getting established, it did not seem to be invasive.
Now, it is one of my two favorite perennials within its particular landscape, along with Gladiolus papilio. I am confident that we can allow it to bloom fully without dispersing too many seed afterward. I am very fond of the strikingly bright white bloom and its rich fragrance. It would be great if more feral species developed as assets to their gardens instead of as weeds. I am pleased that we gave this phlox its chance to perform, and will likely relocate more to other landscapes.
This picture is from my Six on Saturday post for this morning.
Its name is so minimalistic and blunt in the language of the indigenous people who are most familiar with it. Others might know it as the giant highland banana. It seems to me that most of us who find it to be of interest know it by its botanical name of Musa ingens.
Oem, or giant highland banana, or Musa ingens, is native to the tropical montane forests of New Guinea. Because it is endemic to high elevations, it does not perform so well in the sort of continually hot and humid tropical climates that most other species of banana enjoy. It actually prefers the weather to get somewhat cool at night. Therefore, it is more likely to be happier here than in Southern Florida, Hawaii or coastal San Diego County.
Not many horticultural enthusiasts grow it anyway. Actually, I do not know of anyone else who grows it. I have seen only a few comments online regarding germination of the very rare and expensive seed. Furthermore, no one seems to be successful with germination. This particular species does not generate pups as readily as other species of the genus, and even if it did, there are no established specimens from which to procure such pups.
However, its lack of popularity is less likely a result of its rarity and difficulty to propagate, but more likely because of its massive scale. In the wild, oem can grow to a hundred feet tall! It may be limited to about half as tall within cultivation, and without competition from other tall trees, but that is nonetheless a potential to get fifty feet tall! That may not seem like much relative to other trees, particularly the redwoods that are more than a hundred feet tall, with potential to get three times as tall. The concern is that banana trees are not actually trees. They are merely humongous perennials. Their pseudostems do not grow for very long before they begin to deteriorate and collapse. Pseudostems of smaller sorts may complete the process within two years, but are easily removed afterwards. Fifty foot tall pseudostems take significantly more time to mature and then deteriorate, but are not so easily removed from refined landscapes. Arborists can not climb them to cut them into sections. They require space to fall harmlessly. They are full of water, so are very heavy.
Now, oem lives here. It is merely a single dinky pup, but grows very efficiently. I have no idea of what to do with it. It can likely stay canned through this year, but may need to go into the ground next year. Not only does it need plenty of space, but it does not conform to the styles of any of the landscapes here. Consequently, it might eventually inhabit my home garden, regardless of its awkward appearance. This will likely get very interesting.
This warm season annual is actually a biennial. Cardinal flower, Lobelia cardinalis, may stay relatively short for its first summer. It might bloom four feet high for its second or third summer. By then, pups are easy to divide as new plants to replace the old. Most cardinal flower plants from nurseries are rather mature. They might grow tall for their first summer.
Common cardinal flower has rich cardinal red bloom and bright green foliage. ‘Alba’ has white bloom. ‘Rosea’ has pink bloom. ‘Queen Victoria’ has familiar rich red bloom above deeply bronzed foliage. Individual flowers are only an inch and a half from top to bottom, but are numerous. Basal leaves can be almost six inches long. Upper leaves are shorter.
Cardinal flower enjoys richly organic soil with regular irrigation. It dislikes getting too dry. It appreciates a bit of partial shade as the weather gets warmest after noon. Seed is easy to collect. However, seed from fancy cultivars is not necessarily true to type. Subsequent generations eventually revert to familiar rich cardinal red bloom and bright green foliage.
Giant bird of Paradise, Strelitzia nicolai, is a grand perennial. It develops several trunks like those of palms, with lush leaves like those of bananas, and bold white flowers. Their bloom can be messy with its sticky and viscous nectar though. Brent and I refer to them as drooling seagulls. For this reason, these giant bird of Paradise needed to be removed. I was pleased to recycle them. They look pathetic now that most of their foliage has been pruned away to minimize evapotranspiration during their recovery. Most should begin to regenerate roots through summer, and then resume growth for next spring and summer.
1. Giant bird of Paradise does not look so impressive laying on the ground. This is one of two piles of well foliated trunks that must be processed and heeled in until next autumn.
2. ‘A Flock of Seagulls’ demonstrates how abundantly these mature specimens bloomed. They are not just any seagulls, but are dead drooling seagulls. I will glean them for seed.
3. Husks make the trunks seem to be bigger than they are. They are the bases of petioles of leaves that were pruned off over the years. Trunks are leaner and tidier without them.
4. Severed roots are unimportant. They merely indicate that a portion of a subterranean rhizome remains attached to the base of a trunk. Trunks are neater without their husks.
5. Adventitious roots grow from portions of rhizome that remain attached to the bases of the trunks, and from the bases of trunks near the rhizomes. These roots are now buried.
6. Lineup shows that there are about a dozen significant trunks, a dozen shorter trunks, and half a dozen pups. They are heeled in here to begin rooting with frequent irrigation. They will be relocated to their permanent landscape after the rain starts during autumn.
Giant bird of Paradise is not actually from Paradise, and if it were, it would not be the Paradise in Butte County that burned five years ago. This particular species, Strelitzia nicolai, is from South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana and Zimbabwe. These particular specimens are from none of these places though. They came from Morgan Hill. Nor are they actually birds, although they seem to be migratory like so many species of birds that migrate about the southwestern portion of Africa, and apparently Morgan Hill, but not Paradise. Oh, this is getting confusing.
Giant bird of Paradise, which is unrelated to Big Bird of Sesame Street, is a grand perennial that can get twenty feet tall. It resembles the more common bird of Paradise, but with tall trunks that resemble those of small palm trees. Also unlike the common bird of Paradise, their appeal is more foliar than floral. In other words, their primary attribute is their lush foliage, rather than their bloom. Actually, their bloom can be undesirable within some situations.
In fact, that is why these particular specimens needed to be removed. Their bloom was drooling messy nectar onto the pavement below. In horticultural slang, they are known as ‘drooling seagulls’ because of this habit, and also because their bulky white flowers look like seagulls peeking from the lush foliage, and of course, drooling while they do so.
Morgan, the old F250 who coincidentally is named after Morgan Hill, and I brought these giant bird of Paradise here, where they await processing. They are supposed to be left out of the ground for about two weeks anyway, so that they will be less susceptible to rot when planted and irrigated. After their processing, they will get heeled in here so that I can monitor them more directly as they begin their recovery. The best of them will migrate again to their permanent landscape after the rainy season starts. I should get better pictures of them and their processing for Six on Saturday.
Mount Shasta very rarely lacks its snow. Its summit is almost always white. Shasta daisy, Leucanthemum X superbum, strives for the same. Bright white bloom starts in spring and continues into autumn. Primary spring bloom is the most profuse. Sporadic bloom lingers between subsequent minor bloom phases. Only cooling autumn weather inhibits bloom.
Shasta daisy is a resilient perennial. It develops dense colonies of tough basal rhizomes to survive winter dormancy. From spring to autumn, upright blooming stems grow almost three feet high. Individual composite flowers are of classic daisy form with cheery yellow centers. They are excellent as cut flowers, with simple green foliage. Leaves are serrate.
Shasta daisy prefers systematic watering, but can survive with less. It tolerates only a bit of partial shade. Removal of floral stems after bloom or cutting should leave no tall stubs. Removal of all upright growth as it deteriorates into winter promotes tidier spring growth. During winter dormancy, Shasta daisy is very easy to propagate by division of rhizomes.
Mrs. George Washington never grew Martha Washington geranium, Pelargonium X domesticum. It was hybridized in Europe from south African species after she passed away. Although classified as a hybrid species, it is actually a group of distinct hybrids. Most are related to the same pair of primary ancestors. A few other species mingled in the process though.
The largest cultivars do not get much taller than three feet. Some develop rather irregular form. A few grow upward only to fall over. Minor tip pruning can improve awkward form. Stems are woodier than those of common zonal geranium. Consequently, cuttings do not develop roots as efficiently. Old specimens are less likely to recover from major pruning.
Martha Washington geranium may not bloom quite as profusely as zonal geraniums. The flowers are more spectacular though. Floral color can include purple, lavender, pink, red, burgundy or white. Billowy flowers are bordered or blotched with alternate colors. A few flowers bloom together on rounded umbels. Evergreen foliage is light green and ruffly.
Tony Tomeo 