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Six on Saturday: P III

P was about a white blooming perennial pea, Lathyrus latifolius, that I recently found to replace what I inadvertently lost earlier. P II was irrelevant to both that and this, but did happen to get a title that incorrectly designates it as a sequel to P, and prevents me from using that title for this Six on Saturday post with three variants of perennial pea and the more typical sort. Perhaps I should not have expended such effort for such a weed. What is worse is that I canned and am now growing copies of the three variants as well as the favored white blooming variant.

1. Canna are irrelevant to the primary topic, but are too cool to not mention. These were placed here temporarily in random pots until a new landscape gets installed next winter.

2. Canna musifolia dominates, which is why there is not much bloom. This one stands a bit more than eight feet high in its pot. It might be ‘Omega’ like the compact Oldsmobile.

3. Lathyrus latifolius, perennial pea is the primary topic because I found three variants. This one blooms with swirled pink flowers. It is about as rare as those that bloom white.

4. This looks white in this picture but is actually blushed very slightly with pink. I should have gotten a better picture. I dug and canned a copy because I had never seen it before.

5. This is the typical floral color of the species. To me, it looks purplish pink. I am not so proficient with color. Others say it is pinkish purple. It justifies my preference for white.

6. Like the picture of the very slightly blushed white flowers, this is not a good picture of flowers that seem to be slightly richer purple than the typical purplish pink. I got a copy.

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 · 4 Comments

Six on Saturday: ‘Variegata’

‘Variegata’ is a common designation for the first variegated cultivar of a species. Fancier or later distinct cultivars get fancier cultivar designations. The first three of these six are variegated, but lack a cultivar designation as if variegation is normal for the species. The fourth seems to have a few cultivars with the same designation. The last two could be the only variegated cultivars of their respective species. I can not remember ever seeing any of the first four without variegation. The fifth is still rare. The sixth is now more popular than unvariegated.

1. Hypoestes phyllostachya, polka dot plant lacks cultivar designation. This was labeled merely as white. Variation of foliar variegation indicate that they were grown from seed.

2. Hypoestes phyllostachya, polka dot plant is also pink, which is exactly how this other half of them was labeled, likewise without cultivar designation. ‘Variegata’ would suit it.

3. Hypoestes phyllostachya, polka dot plant variegation is variable. Some specimens are more green than others. At least two of the pink sort are variegated with red such as this.

4. Aucuba japonica ‘Variegata’, gold dust plant is about as variable as polka dot plant is, but is known by the same cultivar name. Of course, modern cultivars have other names.

5. Tupidanthus calyptratus ‘Variegata’, mallet flower was not planned. I have wanted to grow the typical unvariegated type since I met it in 1986. Brent sent me this raggedy old but rare variegated specimen so that I would grow more for him. I am learning to like it.

6. Solandra maxima ‘Variegata’, cup of gold vine was also unplanned. I grew the typical unvariegated type to the left first. Then, Brent got me the variegated cultivar to the right. I am getting to like it because it is more docile. The unvariegated sort grows like a weed!

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 · 15 Comments

Six on Saturday: Homey

Almost nothing is purchased for my garden. Not much more is purchased for work. Just about everything is recycled from somewhere else, along with its history. Consequently, the landscapes are as homey as my home garden is. It is often difficult to not brag about it a bit too much. It is gratifying that others can enjoy so much of what I have enjoyed in my garden. For Six on Saturday, though, I will be brief with my descriptions of these few flowers that bloomed last week. Half are angel’s trumpets. Half are white. Of course, it is no coincidence that white is my favorite color. I requested pruning scraps of single white angel’s trumpet and white orchid cactus. Even if recycling, I may be somewhat selective. It all works out well.

1. Gladiolus papilio, butterfly gladiolus that was budded last week bloomed this week. It makes its landscape feel delightfully homey for me. I should have gotten a better picture.

2. Hydrangea macrophylla, bigleaf hydrangea, like so much of what blooms here, came from another garden, then bloomed too well in recovery to not move out to a landscape.

3. Brugmansia, angel’s trumpet of an unidentified cultivar remains unidentified, but is a bit more obviously pink than any other color. Perhaps its cultivar name is not important.

4. Brugmansia candida, angel’s trumpet with fluffy double white flowers is what started all this fuss about angel’s trumpet. Yellow ‘Charles Grimaldi’ was the second acquisition.

5. Brugmansia, angel’s trumpet with single white flowers is an unidentified cultivar that I got merely because I like its single white flowers, but is not so great for the landscapes.

6. Epiphyllum, orchid cactus with clear white flowers remains as unidentified as most of these Six. Like all of these six, it also has important history that makes its garden homey.

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 · 9 Comments

Six on Saturday: Glad

Butterfly gladiolus will not bloom for a while. Abyssinian gladiolus may not bloom at all. Hybrid gladiolus, though, are already finishing. I got these few pictures while I can, and will likely get pictures of butterfly gladiolus as they bloom later. I am glad to do so. They are my favorite gladiolus. They are more like wildflowers than overly bred hybrids. Also, they are very reliably perennial. I hope that the Abyssinian gladiolus perform also. They are also supposedly reliably perennial, but are not in a very good situation here. I should relocate them, perhaps closer to where the butterfly gladiolus are so happy. The hybrids are earning my appreciation too. I was not aware that they had potential to be perennial.

1. Gladiolus papilio, butterfly gladiolus is my favorite, because it is from Tangly Cottage Gardening, is approved by Skooter, is reliably perennial, and it blooms like a wildflower.

2. Its foliage is rather grassy, which is more compatible with other wildflowers than wide leaves of more garish hybrid gladiolus. The corms multiply and migrate quite efficiently.

3. Gladiolus murielae, Abyssinian gladiolus is my second favorite, even while it is not so much to see. It is a gift from a neighbor. It should bloom for autumn, but I have doubts.

4. Hybrid gladiolus are the most colorful, but are not reliably perennial. However, these and two others have been blooming well here for several years, and actually multiplying.

5. This orange with yellow hybrid gladiolus was one of the first two to bloom again after a few years of producing only foliage. The yellow gladiolus joined them a few years later.

6. This purple hybrid gladiolus is the other of the first pair to resume bloom, although it does not multiply as much as the yellow gladiolus that resumed bloom a few years later.

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 · 12 Comments

Six on Saturday: Surprise

Surprise is a town northwest of Phoenix that I encountered between late April and early May. These six are different sorts of horticultural surprises which I encountered at work.

1. Platycerium bifurcatum, common staghorn fern, Tillandsia usneoides, Spanish moss and two other unidentified species of Tillandsia combined for a surprisingly compelling epiphytic platter. The staghorn fern is from Brent’s garden. The Spanish moss should be fuller as it grows. The two unidentified Tillandsia should be displaced as the fern grows.

2. Brugmansia X cubensis ‘Charles Grimaldi’ angel’s trumpet is no surprise. A picture of it posted here last Sunday. Its richer than typical yellow floral color is a surprise though. It is also from Brent’s garden, and was from one of his projects years ago. Brugmansia X candida ‘Double White’ and Brugmansia suaveolens ‘Single White’ both bloom nearby.

3. Brugmansia, angel’s trumpet of an unidentified cultivar demonstrates why the yellow floral color of ‘Charle’s Grimaldi’ is so surprising. Both were about the same pale peachy color last year, with the same fragrance. I thought that they may be the same. Obviously, but actually surprisingly, they are not. I do not know what it is, but I know what it is not.

4. Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Firetail’ arrived here with Persicaria bistorta ‘Superba’ and perhaps Persicaria affinis ‘Dimity’ from Tangly Cottage Gardening early last April. I can not distinguish the cultivars, which is why I do not know if they include ‘Dimity’. It was a surprise to see ‘Superba’ bloom immediately after relocation. ‘Firetail’ is a surprise now.

5. Mimulus guttatus, seep monkey flower is blooming with surprising abundance where the stream from Redwood Springs flows into the drainage pond. The location should not be a surprise since, as its common name implies, this species prefers damp situations. It is surprising only because I somehow neglected to observe so much bright yellow earlier.

6. Rosa, rose of an unidentified cultivar would not be so surprising if I were not aware of how it got here. Someone who does not work in the landscapes removed it from where it was obstructing access to one of his projects. I saw it in his pickup as he was about to discard it. I am surprised that it survived, blooms well and seems to be a hybrid tea rose.

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 · 5 Comments

Six on Saturday: No Rhododendrons

Rhody’s rhodies were spectacular in bloom. This year, I refrained from posting too many pictures of them by posting none at all. I thought that I might get a few at the end of the season; but now find that the few that remain are either shabby or difficult to get a good picture of. There is plenty of other bloom though, even without exploitation of the warm season annuals. Now that daylilies are blooming, they will continue until autumn. Roses continue at least as late, but bloom in phases since most are partially shaded. All but one of these six species were recycled, although one was recycled by remaining where it was.

1. Daylily is not actually a lily. With all the bickering amongst botanists, its classification remains vague. This surplus from thinning a congested colony now borders the iris bed.

2. White climbing rose that was removed from the garden of a renovated cabin has been relocated to el Catedral de Santa Clara de Los Gatos, where merely white flowers bloom.

3. Rose lily that was plumply budded for Six on Saturday two weeks ago is now finishing. It recycled itself from a previous froufrou garden as the rose garden was installed over it.

4. Carpet rose was originally too close to a walkway, so was relocated to a wide roadside embankment. I am none too keen on carpet rose, but it is appropriate for its application.

5. Easter lily that was left from a wedding at el Catedral de Santa Clara de Los Gatos was added to the perennials across the road, but could have remained with the white flowers.

6. Unidentified hybrid tea rose, which had the color but not the form of ‘Double Delight’ before it began to fade, blooms in the rose garden, which was installed over the rose lily.

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 · 5 Comments

Six on Saturday: &

Odds & ends. Bits & pieces. Rhythm & blues. That is all I got here. The latter might make sense with #4 below. It makes this no easier for me though. I have difficulty writing with characters such as “&”, and even “#”, although I do use “#” when necessary to describe a caption number or can size as for #6 below. Perhaps I should challenge my comfort zone a bit more, as I did when I tried using contractions a few months ago. Although I did not continue using them afterward, it was not nearly as awkward as I thought it would be. At least I now realize that I could do so if I choose to. I simply choose to not do so. In other simpler words, I could, but I don’t.

1. Carson, Rhody’s Roady, posed for this thumbnail illustration for a recent article about how similar binomial botanical nomenclature is to traditional automotive nomenclature.

2. Purchases are almost against the rules in my garden. They can only involve items that I lack access to. This purchase that was delivered by mail apparently needed ventilation.

3. Someone who does not take compliments well diverted this one to me. No one knows what seed it contains, but I suppose that we will find out when it grows after next winter.

4. Salvia guaranitica ‘Rhythm & Blues’ came as a cutting in a red Solo cup with the pack of unidentified wildflower seed. This is why I abide by my rule that disallows purchases.

5. Saccharum officinarum ‘Pele’s Smoke’ sugarcane provided more cuttings than I knew what to do with. Fortunately, most succumbed to frost. I can accommodate these fifteen.

6. However, they are merely the fifteen best specimens that were big enough for #1 cans. At least as many smaller cuttings that got separated from them still need four inch pots.

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 · 12 Comments

Six on Saturday: Crosswalk

A crosswalk connects a rose garden at work to a fancy perennial and annual bed across a narrow road. As much as I would like to maintain certain standards within both of these two distinct gardens, neither is perfect. Each is inhabited by something that should be of the other. One stays because of its justification for being there. The other stays because I can not easily separate it from the roots of what moved in over it, and because we sort of like it there now. Anyway, I added another picture from Arizona a month ago, and one of Brent’s useless pictures, just because they are too pretty to discard without sharing here.

1. Distictis riversii, royal trumpet vine demonstrates that, no matter how much he wants to get one of his pictures into his local Canyon News, Brent does not provide a good one.

2. Lantana camara, which is known simply as lantana, bloomed within the same garden as the orange cultivar of last Saturday; so this picture is from a month ago near Phoenix.

3. Rosa, which is an unidentified miniature rose, is designated as the lily rose because of its stubborn occupancy of a former lily colony within a garish perennial and annual bed.

4. Although pretty, it really should be in the rose garden across the road. I can not move it over there, because of its sentimental significance for the person who installed it here.

5. Lilium, which is an unidentified Oriental lily, is designated as the rose lily because of its stubborn occupancy of a former perennial and annual bed that is now a rose garden.

6. Although pretty in bloom, it really should be with this colony of abundant lilies, which I shared a picture of last Saturday, in a garish perennial and annual bed across the road.

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 · 21 Comments

Six on Saturday: Mostly Flowers

Simply, these are six varieties of flowers. All but one bloomed last week. Half are hybrid cultivars of the same genus with two in the same picture. Six pictures of flowers with two varieties in one picture should include seven varieties of flowers. But of course, “mostly” indicates something that is not exclusive. Anyway, I should have gotten more pictures at work, since it was a rather fun week. Irrigation is getting more demanding, though, now that the weather is getting warmer. Because we need to delay renovation of a prominent landscape, we installed potted Canna onto the site. They are potted to facilitate removal when renovation resumes, but will be rad!

1. Lantana camara, which is known here simply as ‘lantana’, is too colorful to not share. Actually though, it is from three weeks ago, and west of Phoenix. Ours is more yellowish.

2. Rosa ‘Iceberg’ and ‘Burgundy Iceberg’ are grafted together on two old rose trees in the rose garden. I find multiple grafts to be annoying, but guests find them to be intriguing.

3. Rosa of an unidentified cultivar blooms better with better exposure, and also without the other cultivar that it was originally grafted with, but that was crowded out years ago.

4. Alstroemeria peruviana, Peruvian lily will not die. We removed large colonies at least twice from this location, but some always survive. They are yellow, orange, pink and red.

5. Lilium, which seems to be some sort of fancy Asiatic lily, was a gift from a neighbor. I did not expect them to perform so well, but after only four years, they should be divided.

6. Rhody is the only one of these six who is not a flower, although another type of flower is named after him. Morgan, his F250 who identifies as a Mercury, wants to get washed.

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 · 11 Comments

Six on Saturday: While You Were Out

My vacation was in two halves of two weeks each, with two weeks in between. It seemed to be six weeks collectively. Quite a bit happens within the landscapes during that much time at this time of year. The first of my Six is from Arizona, and happens to be the State Flower of Arizona. The others are some of what I returned to, including the State Flower of Colorado, and a relative of the State Flower of Hawaii. One is German from Monterey. One is Algerian from the Canary Islands. One is European from Washington. Oh, this is all such confusing nonsense and false trivia. California poppy, which is the State Flower of California, is blooming, but I got no pictures of it for this week.

1. Carnegiea gigantea, saguaro was a species that I should have gotten more pictures of before leaving Arizona. This is one of only two pictures. It is the State Flower of Arizona.

2. Persicaria bistorta ‘Superba’ snakeroot came from Tangly Cottage Gardening not too long ago, but is already blooming splendidly among watercress on the edge of the pond.

3. Hedera canariensis, Algerian ivy clings to the exteriors of several buildings at work if not pruned back frequently. This vine is getting even more aggressive by coming inside!

4. Aquilegia X hybrida, columbine refuses to grow where planted, but tosses seed before it dies. Its feral seed then grows in random situations. It is the State Flower of Colorado.

5. Iris X germanica, bearded iris bloom is finishing about now. I earlier mentioned that this cultivar seemed weirdly pale. It might be feral. However, it seems bright white now.

6. Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, tropical hibiscus is blooming as vibrantly here as it was in Los Angeles and Phoenix. It is related to Hibiscus brackenridgei, the State Flower of Hawaii.

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/