Posted on by tonytomeo · 26 Comments

Six on Saturday: Bad Neighborhood

 

My six pictures for today are not from any of the landscapes. Nor are they from my garden. They are not from the forests or parks or other people’s gardens either. That is nothing new. I sometimes get my pictures from some rather randoms situations. These six are a bit more random than just average random though. They happen to be from around the big compost piles, where we dump some of our green waste and horse ‘fertilizer’.

This is the same compost pile where where the ‘Good Weeds‘ grow. Yup, good weeds from the bad neighborhood.

The first #1 is exotic. The second #2 and the third #3 are assumed to be native, but might possibly be exotic. The others are quite native.

1. Mullein – is a naturalized exotic species. It does not seem like the sort that would naturalize. To the contrary, is seems to be quite docile here. It is sometimes left in gardens where it self sows, just because it is appealing.P90727

2. Unidentified – but believed to be native, these tiny silvery white flowers are not as pretty as they are up close in this picture. I just happen to like them. I think I studied it in school, but just I can not remember what it is.P90727+

3. Bull Thistle – is not so easy to distinguish from other similar species. I do not even know if this is the native bull thistle. The prickly scales are not as straight as they should be. It is the only one that we now as such here.P90727++

4. Yerba Santa – seemed to be more purplish when I took this picture. The foliage looks grungy to me, as if sticky with honeydew and a bit of sooty mold. That is natural for it, and may explain why it is an unpopular native.P90727+++

5. Sticky Monkey Flower – has a funny name. It is native, but the sticky monkey that it is named after is not. It gets a bit shabby if allowed to grow wild in home gardens, but can be improved by aggressive winter pruning.P90727++++

6. Evening primrose – is not the same as the common yellow evening primrose that is familiar elsewhere in America, although I really do not know what makes it so special. Another species has smaller pastel pink flowers.P90727+++++

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/

Posted on by tonytomeo · 18 Comments

Six on Saturday: No Category

 

I do try. I prefer to submit pictures that conform at least somewhat to a particular theme. It just did not work out that way for this week. The only thing in common with these pictures is that they are from the same garden. It is garden at work, but one that I do not do much in.

1. Grape, which I still think of as dago wisteria, was planted here years ago, by someone who is no longer here to take care of it. The established vine grows like big voracious weed. I pruned it back last winter, and pulled up several stems that rooted where they flopped onto the ground. There are still six copies left at the storage nursery. I would like to plant some of them this winter, but the one original is already too much work. The grapes are somewhat tart when ripe, which makes me suspect that it is not quite warm enough here for them. It gets warm during the day, but cools off at night.P90720

2. Succulent of an unknown species grows so close to the grapevine that it was overwhelmed before I pruned the vine back. This is a common exotic succulent that has been around in the region for a long time. I remember that it grew on the sides of some of the roads in Montara, along with other vegetation that naturalized from the gardens of homes that had been there during the Victorian period. I suppose that it is naturalized also in some spots, but does not seem to be aggressive or invasive about it. This particular specimen was likely put here intentionally. The foliage is always yellowish.P90720+

3. Tillandsia, along with a few other epiphytic bromeliads, were added to this garden just this year. They are wired onto this branch from the Eucalyptus cinerea that I mentioned in ‘Silver‘ last week. The branch is a scrap from pruning that was just propped up in the landscape for the ephiphytes. The big gray limbs in the background are of an old ‘Kwanzan’ flowering cherry tree. The epiphyllums that I mentioned two weeks ago on Sunday in ‘Epiphyllum Surprise‘ get hung from the cherry tree while they are in bloom, and then sent back to the storage nursery for recovery when they finish.P90720++

4. Spanish moss hangs with the tillandsias on the same branch of the Eucalyptus cinerea. It does not grow here naturally of course. It would probably prefer a significantly more humid situation. It gets watered and misted automatically from above. So far all the epiphytes seem to be happy here, and do not see to mind that the stem that they are clinging to is from a eucalyptus. Mosses that cling to native oaks do not cling to eucalyptus trees until the trees are old. While viable, young eucalyptus bark is toxic to mosses and other epiphytes, and exfoliates too regularly for much to cling to it anyway.P90720+++

5. Alyssum happens to be one of my favorite wildflowers in this garden. When I was little kid, I found a small envelope of mixed wildflowers seed in a Sunset Magazine in a waiting room in a hospital. It is a long story, but to be brief, I ‘borrowed’ the seed, and put it out in my mother’s garden. The alyssum from that mix naturalized and self sowed quite nicely for decades. The original plants might have bloomed more colorfully, but eventually reverted to basic white, just like these that grow wild here. I still believe that white is the best, but would not mind other colors if I ever grew it intentionally.P90720++++

6. Morning Glory is another favorite, but for a different reason. I like it here because it is so much prettier than it ever was in any of my gardens. I sowed the seed, and cared for it, but morning glory was never very happy for me. In this garden, it sows its own seed, and does reasonably well. The vines are not as voracious as they are supposed to be, but the flowers are pretty. That is probably a good thing. These vines happen to be next to the grapevine, so could make quite a mess on top of the mess of the grapevine if they grew as well as they are supposed to. This is a good compromise.P90720+++++

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/

Posted on by tonytomeo · 20 Comments

Silver

P90713KThese are two pictures that did not make the grade for my ‘Six on Saturday‘ post this morning. That post featured bronze and gold foliage. Actually, of the six, only two were bronze, and only one was truly gold. One that I passed off as bronze was more purplish. Two that I thought were gold were just variegated with yellowish green and white.

I am none too keen on bronze or gold foliage anyway. The only exception that I can think of is the old fashioned bronzed ‘Schwedleri’ Norway maple. It was planted as a street trees on a few streets in the Santa Clara Valley in the 1950s.

Bronzed cultivars are less vigorous than their greener counterpart.

Gold cultivars are even less vigorous, and susceptible to scorch.

The best quality about bronze and gold is that they make silver look so good.

Olympic medal designations really should be reconsidered.

I only featured bronze and gold foliage earlier because I liked the contrasts between two different cultivars of each of the three species that were featured. Ironically, none of the three pairs compared bronze to gold directly. One compared purple to gold. The other two compared bronze to variegation that was barely yellow. Oh well.

There are neither bronze nor gold cultivars to compare to the silver foliage of the two species shown here.

I do not know what species of agave this is. There are not many distinguishable features visible in the picture above. The color and texture of the foliar surface might be identifiable to an expert. The little snail does not seem to be at all concerned.

The Eucalyptus cinerea in the picture below was pruned aggressively last autumn, both to contain the disfigured canopy, and also to stimulate more vigorous new juvenile growth. It is now strikingly silver.P90713K+

Posted on by tonytomeo · 20 Comments

Six on Saturday: No Silver

 

We have bronze, and we have gold, but we have no silver, at least not in these six pictures. I suppose I could have posted a picture of Eucalyptus cinerea or Echeveria glauca. I thought it would be more interesting to contrast two different cultivars of each of these three species. Only two are truly bronze. Only one is truly gold. They contrast nicely anyway.

1. Bronze smoke tree – Cotinus goggygria – Modern cultivars with richer color like this are now considered to be ‘purple’. When I studied it in the 1980s, the old fashioned bronze cultivars were still available.P90713

2. Gold smoke tree – These might not have been available back in the 1980s. I do not remember every seeing one. I am not often impressed with their vigor; but I have seen them doing quite well in some situations.P90713+

3. Bronze canna – Canna spp. – I believe this is the cultivar ‘Wyoming’, with bronze foliage and rich orange bloom. The bronze color does not show up well here. Other cultivars are much darker purplish bronze.P90713++

4. Gold canna – Just as the bronze cannna is more bronze than it looks here, this one is more golden, particularly when the foliage is new. Obviously, it is variegated as well. The foliage is as interesting as the bloom.P90713+++

5. Bronze New Zealand flax – Phormium tenax – It might be known by a cultivar name rather than the species name of ‘tenax‘ followed by a cultivar name. Weird modern hybridization complicates nomenclature.P90713++++

6. Gold New Zealand flax – I really though that this one was ‘Yellow Wave’, but it does not look like that here. The variegation is more white than yellow. Could this variegation instead be classified as silvery?P90713+++++

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/

Posted on by tonytomeo · 18 Comments

Six on Saturday: Under And Over

 

These are some of the bridges in the neighborhood where I work. There are several others that I did not get pictures of, as well as several more closer to town. Bean Creek happens to flow into Zayante Creek here, and Zayante Creek flows into the San Lorenzo River just a short distance away. Bean Creek flows through the farm a few miles upstream. Zayante Creek flows right past my home.

If you happen to know who Miley Cyrus is, she was photographed in the waterfall where Ferndell Creek flows into Bean Creek, which is literally just a few feet upstream from where Bean Creek flows into Zayante Creek. I do not know who she is, but I can understand why she came here to have her photograph taken.

1. Under the Conference Drive Bridge over Zayante Creek, East Zayante Road, Roaring Camp Road, Roaring Camp Railroad, and an access road to a (Rhody’s) baseball field, one would not guess that this bridge covers so much territory. The two roads below are on opposite sides of Zayante Creek. I posted pictures of this bridge before, but during winter while the box elders were bare. One box elder off to the left fell not too long ago.P90706

2. Over Zayante Creek, just a short distance upstream and around a bend to the east, this small pedestrian bridge is closed until it can be repaired or replaced. Rhody does not seem to mind. Except for the light green box elders off in the distance, the trees to the left are some rather nice specimens of white alder. The foliage to the right is that of California buckeye, which is a weirdly ‘twice deciduous’ species that can defoliate during summer.P90706+

3. Under Roaring Camp Railroad Bridge over Zayante creek, just another short distance upstream from the pedestrian bridge (#2), we can see some more white alders, as well as some coast live oaks in the background. The lighter foliage to the left is likely box elders. This railroad passes under the significantly higher Conference Drive Bridge (#1) just a short distance in the opposite direction. They are almost perpendicular to each other.P90706++

4. Over a nicely landscaped section of Ferndell Creek, this small pedestrian bridge is probably the best place to see most of the rhododendrons when they bloom. Most are off the left, but that unrecognizable shrub to the right is one of the biggest. It is about ten feet above the bridge, and about twelve feet below! The big camellia that was killed by gophers earlier was just to the left at the far end of this bridge, just in front of the redwoods.P90706+++

5. Under another pedestrian bridge just a very short distance downstream from the bridge pictured above (#4), recently planted Boston ivy is beginning to climb the pair of pillars in the background. Now that we know it does well here, we will eventually add more to climb the closer pair of pillars, after the English ivy gets removed. The site from which I removed sedge earlier is just upstream to the left, between the two pedestrian bridges.P90706++++

6. Over Conference Drive, and a short distance up the road form the Conference Drive Bridge (#1), this small pedestrian bridge was built at a time when Conference Drive carried much more traffic. The road was closed to through traffic and bypassed in 1968. I like how the bridge leaps up into the redwoods and back down again on the far end. I need to prune these redwoods for clearance, but try to leave them cozily close to the bridge.P90706+++++

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/

Posted on by tonytomeo · 30 Comments

Six on Saturday: Rhody In Pictures

 

All I wanted was just one good picture of Rhody in the weeds for an illustration for the gardening column. I wrote about weed seeds, such as foxtail and burclover, that are dangerous to pets. That article will post on Monday, but can be found now at the Canyon News.

Anyway, Rhody would not cooperate. His defiance was so annoying, . . . but also adorable. I used a picture of another terrier on the lawn at Felton Covered Bridge Park instead. (The article in the Canyon News does not use the thumbnail image.) These are a few of the pictures of Rhody that I did not use.

Even though they are irrelevant to horticulture, I posted these pictures here because they are too amusing to delete without sharing. My primary ‘Six on Saturday‘ article was posted separately.

1. Rhody really can be cute until he realizes that I want to get a picture of him.P90629K

2. Then he gets pompous.P90629K+

3. He briefly considered trying to cooperate.P90629K++

4. He did not consider it for longP90629K+++

5. Then he got annoyed that I was still trying to talk him into being cute for pictures that he wanted no part of.P90629K++++

6. By this time, it was obvious that I needed to turn the camera off.P90629K+++++

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/

Posted on by tonytomeo · 10 Comments

Six on Saturday: Sedge Removal

 

What a nasty job! We know this sedge, or whatever it is, as ‘razor grass’ because it cuts like razors. It is difficult to pull from the rocky creek bottom and bank with the creeping stolons still attached. The creek is mucky. The water is wet. The gloves I wear to avoid getting slashed obviously get just as mucky and wet.

It was such a miserable job last autumn that we postponed most of it for winter. I figured that I could wait for the dangerous foliage to die back, and then just pull up the stolons below the dead foliage. It might have been a good idea, if only we had returned to actually execute our plan. By the time we got back, new foliage was already maturing.

I was so dreading returning to this job, but then found that the fresh new foliage was not nearly as dangerous as the more mature foliage that we pulled late last summer and autumn Furthermore, the new rosettes had not dispersed their roots quite as firmly as expected. They were suspiciously easy to pull, with the stolons still attached. Dead old rosettes seemed to be completely necrotic and decayed. It was too easy.

I expect at least a few new rosettes will develop later. There were likely some down under the muck that were not up when I was there. I also expect that some will grow from bits of stolon that were left behind. However, nothing has been seen in the past three weeks or so since we did this. (I would have shared these pictures sooner, but there were other pictures to share instead.)

Speaking of other pictures to share, there are six more on my secondary ‘Six on Saturday‘ post. I did not want to save them for later because they are almost irrelevant to horticulture, but I did not want to delete them without first sharing either.

1. Sedge, or whatever it is, is difficult to handle, and is even more difficult to handle when trying to separate the stolons from the stones on the bank of the creek.P90629

2. It did not take long to fill each of these plastic bins. I did not leave any foliage hanging over the edge, because I did not want to get cut when picking up the bins.P90629+

3. These bins can be used as a flotation device. Actually, it was rather annoying that they kept floating away until they got filled. It was a nice day to be in the creek.P90629++

4. This acorus grass was mostly overwhelmed by the sedge, or whatever it is. I should have gotten a ‘before’ picture. It looks great now, and is happy in the muck.P90629+++

5. While pulling sedge, I found these two knees developing from the roots of one of our two bald cypress. This particular tree was supposed to be a dawn redwood.P90629++++

6. I also noticed that the montbretia was blooming more than it normally does down in the deep shade. It is a voracious weed too, but inhibits even worse weeds.P90629+++++

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/

Posted on by tonytomeo · 14 Comments

Pink Trumpet Tree

P90615K

This is why I do not often use pictures that my colleague, Brent Green, sends to me. He frequently tells me what I should feature in my gardening column, and sends me what he considers to be good pictures for such topics. This picture would have been good for writing about the sky over Los Angeles, or the neighbors’ driveway, since those are two of the most prominent features here. Where did all the smog go?

Chimneys in Los Angeles seem silly to me. Even if the weather got cool enough for a fire in a fireplace, there is no firewood to burn. The chimney to the far right certainly seems to be original to the house, but how did it survive all the earthquakes since the house was built, probably in the 1940s or 1950s? There have been a few moderate earthquakes since then.

Those signs that warn potential criminals of non-existent home security systems are even sillier, and just cluttering otherwise nice landscapes. There is nothing official looking about them. There are bins of them for sale in the local big box stores. Shouldn’t we all assume that since the home on the left is in Los Angeles, that it is outfitted with home security system that is more impressive than that silly, irrelevant and unwelcoming sign?

I would guess that what Brent really wanted to send a picture of was the big pink trumpet tree, Tabebuia heterophylla. After all, it does happen to be sort of in the middle of the picture. It really was spectacular while blooming late last winter. However, even if Brent had sent a good picture of it, I would not have featured it. Most of those who read my gardening column are not within regions where pink trumpet tree blooms like this.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 11 Comments

Six on Saturday: Gophers and Weeds

 

Both have been very active all spring. Some of the sneakiest have been getting away with their activity unobserved.

1. This is a fifteen foot tall camellia, or what remains of it. For comparison, that is a six foot long bench it is laying on. It still looks green and healthy, but started leaning. Upon closer examination, I found that it was not rooted to the ground. It pulled right out! The roots were almost completely gone! There was no indication that there was a problem.P90615

2. This is what remained of the root system. Gophers ate through just about everything that was sustaining and supporting the big camellia above. No excavation or gopher mounds were observed. The area around the camellia was obscured by Algerian ivy. This all happened faster than the camellia could express symptoms associated with such damage.P90615+

3. ‘Kramer’s Supreme’. More specifically, “Award Winning – ‘Kramer’s Supreme’ – Camellia japonica – Trade Mark Registered”. Someone should have removed the label before it damaged the stem it was attached to. Actually, the long dead stem was stubbed just a few inches above the upper margin of this picture. It doesn’t matter now anyway.P90615++

4. This big mound of greenery is all a single big weed, perennial pea. I put it next to the wheel for comparison of size. It grew in a newly landscaped area where we did not expect such big weeds to grow so quickly. It did not seem to be as big as it is, so was easily ignored. Why didn’t gophers eat this instead of the now dead camellia above?!P90615+++

5. As you can almost see in the bad picture, perennial pea is not an unsightly weed. It also lays low and fits into the landscape in such a manner that it is easy to ignore while targeting more obtrusive weeds elsewhere. That is how the specimen in the picture above got so big. This one is not nearly as big, but overwhelmed a few smaller perennials.P90615++++

6. Perennial pea flowers are quite pretty. If possible, I like to let them bloom before pulling them up. Most look like these. Some bloom with fluffier double flowers. Some are lighter pink. A few are darker purplish. White is quite rare. As prolific as they are where they are not wanted, they are surprisingly unreliable from seed sown where actually desired.P90615+++++

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/

Posted on by tonytomeo · 20 Comments

Six on Saturday: Off Schedule

 

Every year is different. The weather is different. Bloom times are different. Growth rates are different.

1. Asiatic lily. This is one of five that were planted late enough last winter to be blooming right now, after others have finished. I would not have planted them so late, but that was when one of the neighbors shared them. They are a different color of the same sort of lily as the rose lily that was also blooming late last week.P90608

2. Peruvian lily. It seems to me that they were only beginning to bloom by this time last year. This year, they started blooming sparsely more than a month ago, and were blooming as profusely as they are now more than two weeks ago. There are pink and peach Peruvian lilies here too. I showed them off last years. (A peach flower can be seen out of focus at the bottom of the picture. A pink flower can be seen out of focus at the lower left corner of the previous picture #1 of Asiatic lily.P90608+

3. Rhododendron. Some bloom early and get battered by winter weather. Some bloom late and might get slightly roasted in the arid air of late spring. This one always bloom late like this, and has no problem with the weather. I do not know what cultivar it is. It certainly seems happy.P90608++

4. Dahlia. #1 Asiatic lily bloomed late. #2 Peruvian lily bloomed early. #3 rhododendron bloomed late. This dahlia did both. Dahlias typically only begin to bloom late in June. As you can see, this one already bloomed. I would not have shared this bad picture of a deteriorating early bloom, but was impressed that it bloomed at all. You see, it was dug and stored TWO winters ago, and then forgotten about. It somehow survived in storage through last year. I found it late last winter, and after determining that part of it was actually still viable, buried it right behind the lilies #1. It grew as if nothing had ever happened, and bloomed a year late and a month early. It has nice buds on in, so should resume bloom right on schedule, and continue to frost.P90608+++

5. Boston ivy. Four were planted over winter to climb a concrete retaining wall and a pair of concrete pillars supporting a bridge. The plan is to remove the Algerian ivy that hangs down over the retaining wall as it is replaced by the Boston ivy climbing up from below. I do not want to remove the Algerian ivy until necessary. I just want to keep it out of the way. I did not expect the Boston ivy to start growing like a weed so early. I cut the Algerian ivy farther to the left after getting this picture.P90608++++

6. Flowering cherry. Two plants; above were early. Two were late. One was both early and late. Well, this one won’t break the tie. These flowering cherries bloomed on time and are well foliated as they should be. In fact, they are better foliated and healthier than they have been in several years. They were so unhealthy last year that we had planned to cut them down and replace them by now. We just have not done so because we have not found replacements for them yet. Therefore, we are late; but it is not their fault. If it were at all possible, I would not remove them.P90608+++++

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/