Posted on by tonytomeo · 31 Comments

Six on Saturday: My Downtown Planter Box – again and up close this time.

1

At the northwest corner of Nicholson Avenue and North Santa Cruz Avenue, in front of Mike’s Bikes, is my little downtown planter box. ( https://tonytomeo.wordpress.com/2017/11/04/my-tiny-downtown-garden/ ) That little brass plaque in front has my name on it. Everything is starting to recover from summer, and will look even better when the nasturtiums come back later in winter.

2

Most of the main plants were grown from cuttings taken from the home of a friend’s mother as we were emptying it out after she passed away. She lived in Monterey, and was a direct descendant of the first Spanish people to arrive in Monterey! Of the plants pictured here, only the dusty miller in the last picture is not from those cuttings. There are two of these big common housleeks, and a few of their babies.

3

This bronze houseleek is as old as the two big green ones but always gets broken off and stolen whenever it tries to grow big enough to get noticed. I really should grow more cuttings of it when I can, just in case the entire plant gets stolen.

4

I refer to this one as an aeonium (or houseleek) as well; but it is really something else. I just do not know what it is.

5

I do not know what this aloe is either. The foliage is pretty cool, but I think that the bloom will be even better!

6

This dusty miller was added to contrast with so much pale green foliage. I love the housleeks and the nasturtiums that will grow later, but so much foliage of the same color looks rather bland. I also planted ‘Australia’ canna with dark bronze foliage.

This is my first ‘Six on Saturday’. I do not intend to make a habit of it, and would not get enough pictures anyway, but I might try it again once in a while.

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 · 34 Comments

My Tiny Downtown Garden

P71105Main Street and Santa Cruz Avenue are the two main streets of downtown Los Gatos. They are the main shopping district, and the part of town that everyone sees. As much as things have changed, a bit of the familiar remains. Gilley’s Coffee Shoppe is still next door to the (rebuilt) Los Gatos Cinema. The brick La Canada Building miraculously survived the Earthquake. The simple deco Park Vista Building across the street is just as elegant now as it was a century ago. There are still concerts in the Town Plaza in summertime, shaded by the Town Christmas Tree that gets lit up in December.

Both Main Street and Santa Cruz Avenue are outfitted with big planter boxes that give the downtown a more relaxed and colorful ambiance. Each planter is elevated about a foot and a half, and contains one or two Indian hawthorn trees. A low wrought iron railing protects the contents of the planter boxes. Irrigation s automated. That is about all that the planters have in common.

Each planter box is ‘adopted’ by a member of the community, or a community group, each with different styles and different ideas of what we should plant in our boxes. Some like things neat and trim. Others believe that bigger is better. Some like plenty of foliage. Others like lots of colorful flowers. Some planter boxes even get adorned with seasonal decorations.

My little planter box is on the northwest corner of Nicholson Avenue and North Santa Cruz Avenue. It has a brass plaque with my name on it. It is my little garden space downtown, where I get to express my simple gardening style for everyone to see, even though I grow a few flowery things there that I would not actually waste space on in my own garden.

The trailing rosemary that cascades over the wall so nicely was there when I got the planter. So were the montbretia and liriope, which I did not want to remove because someone else had gone through the effort of planting them. When there was more space available, I planted a few inexpensive flowering annuals, like pansies and calendulas. As things grew, there was less space for annuals. Besides, I wanted to make a point of doing this planter nicely with sustainable plants that I propagated myself.

The two largest features are common aeoniums. The two original cuttings were on the dashboard in the car for weeks before I finally stuck them in the planter. They came from the home of a friend’s mother in Monterey. We emptied the home out after she passed away. It was gratifying that they found a home in my planter box, and even more gratifying that they grew so well and provided countless cuttings for copies all over town, including in other planter boxes. Between the two big aeoniums, there is a small bronze aeonium. It is the same age as the two big ones, but grows slower, and is regularly set back by people breaking off and taking the stems as fast as they grow.

These three aeoniums were not alone on the dashboard. They arrived with another related succulent, which I believe to be an old fashioned echeveria, and some sort of compact aloe. The echeveria has spread out over much of the area between the big aeoniums. The aloe is still confined to one corner.

To contrast with all the pale green foliage, I added two bronze ‘Australia’ cannas. They cost only a few dollars, and were probably my biggest expense in this entire project.

The most impressive feature of the planter box are the nasturtiums. Yes, common, simple and cheap nasturtiums. I wanted to get straight yellow nasturtiums for compatibility with the signs of the neighboring bicycle shop, but could not find any at the time. I instead started with the common ‘Jewels’ mix, which is still my favorite. After self sowing, the subsequent feral nasturtiums are only orange and yellow, with only one or two red blooming plants. What made them so excellent is how they grew! They overwhelmed the trailing rosemary (which is fine since they die back in summer when the rosemary takes over), and cascaded onto the walkway and curb. They filled the space between the railing and an adjacent bench, and even started growing through the bench. There was so much bright orange and yellow that no one seemed to mind that it was nasturtium.

After a long and warm summer, the aeoniums need serious grooming, and the nasturtium need to be replaced. I really hope that the planter box will be as impressive as it was last winter. The picture here is not very good. Perhaps I will get a better picture in a few months.

P71105+

Posted on by tonytomeo · 6 Comments

Aloes (and a Rant)

P71020We really should be growing more of what grows well here. This is as relevant in other regions as it is in the Santa Clara Valley. Some regions have a lot more to choose from. There are always limitations too. Tropical plants do not survive the winters of New England. Apples and pears want more winter chill than they can get in San Diego.

In California, we do not have enough water to go around. Well, that is not completely true. Much of that misconception is political, which is none of my business. Much of it is that there are just too many people living here and sharing a limited resource. Much of it is that many of the too many people living here waste water on, among other things, gardening.

Many of the urban areas of California are in chaparral climates, which means that there is not much rain. Los Angeles and some other urban areas are full blown desert, which means that rain is quite minimal. My former neighborhood in the western Santa Clara Valley got about a foot of rainfall annually. It was considered to be chaparral. Trona, in the Mojave Desert, gets about four inches of rain annually.

However, few people in chaparral or desert regions landscape their homes accordingly. Some limit their ornamental plants to natives. Others limit their choices to plants from chaparral or desert climates, even if not native. Yet, most of us grow plants and lawns that really have no business in chaparrals or deserts, and we do so excessively.

Well, enough of that rant. There are many plants that really should be more popular here.

Aloes are a perfect example. Although many are from more tropical climates, most do not need to be watered too much. Some prefer minimal watering through summer. After winter rains, they produce fresh new succulent foliage in spring, and bloom reliably. Many have flashy orange or yellow flowers on striking vertical spikes. As plants grow, superfluous shoots can be separated and planted wherever more of the same plants are desired.

Smaller aloes are quite dense and mounding, with tight rosettes of stout leaves. Larger types with more open growth can get six feet tall. A few grow into small trees, with thick trunks that might be distended or buttressed at ground level. Leaves might have pronounced teeth along the margins, and most are spotted to some degree.

Everything about aloes is striking. They have prominent and colorful bloom. The distinctive succulent foliage is bold and unique. The larger aloes even have sculptural form.

Aloes are ideal for planters and pots because their roots are so complaisant and undemanding. They are rarely bothered by insects or disease. They are so easy to propagate that cuttings or pups can be acquired from friends or neighbors who are already growing them.