Here are some of the blooms from today, Dec 30th, when we got our first light frost.
Alyissum with a lantana ( not blooming) with frost. Those are snail statues in there.
Showing posts with label perennials. Show all posts
Showing posts with label perennials. Show all posts
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It's been a pretty mild winter temperature-wise in Northern California.
Hibiscus bud.
Nicotiana, and petunias holding in there...
Lipstick plant
Close up of safe growing up out of the lipstick plant
Daffodils are starting to bloom.
The Anemones have been blooming, mostly just one at a time here and there they are a nice blueish purple color, and are running a bit small, this one is the largest that has bloomed. It's a little over 3" across.
from Wikipedia: According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Greek anemōnē means "daughter of the wind", from ánemos "wind" + feminine patronymic suffix -ōnē.[4] The Metamorphoses of Ovid tells that the plant was created by the goddess Venus when she sprinkled nectar on the blood of her dead lover Adonis. The name "windflower" is used for the whole genus as well as the wood anemone A. nemorosa.[5]
These are Japanese hybrid-style anemones, and grow from a tuber, I would hope they would naturalize in an area if they were planted in the ground.
Sunset Western Gardener Manual says they are zones 2b-24 (sunset zones, not USDA. I am in zone 14). and that they are long-lived. they are supposed to be slow to establish but spreads if the roots are not disturbed, so plant them and leave them alone. divide the rhizomes in fall or early spring, or propagate from root cuttings. they like partial shade, which is good since i have them on the patio in a pot under a very old large deciduous oak tree that keeps the patio nice and cool all summer long.
Sunset Western Gardener Manual says they are zones 2b-24 (sunset zones, not USDA. I am in zone 14). and that they are long-lived. they are supposed to be slow to establish but spreads if the roots are not disturbed, so plant them and leave them alone. divide the rhizomes in fall or early spring, or propagate from root cuttings. they like partial shade, which is good since i have them on the patio in a pot under a very old large deciduous oak tree that keeps the patio nice and cool all summer long.
There are varieties of anemones that are native to California, Oregon and Washington, you can look at some of them here at the CalFlora site , they are less showy, but retain the bright cheery feel.
This red hot poker is just starting to bloom I thought I'd snap a photo before the crickets eat it.
these things have really shot up in a week! these were taken Saturday 4/28
these were taken Saturday 4/21
and I planted them the weekend of 4/8
These blooms only last a little while a day or so, and close up at night.
I've had this guy for about 4 years or maybe five, and this year it decided to send up some flowers.
This guy comes back every year with tons of blooms and is so striking with it;s red and purple combo! more info
I had a gift certificate for Orchard Nursery in Lafayette, CA and bought a taupe colored pot and three pink blooming plants this weekend.
I'm normally not so into the pink shades I prefer the orangy red tones on the warm side of the spectrum, but I thought these all looked very good together, and the pot went well with all of them as well.
Salvia coccinea 'Hummingbird Coral' Perennial treated as annual, to 2 ft tall, Full Sun.
Scutellaria suffrutescens 'Cherry Skullcap' Perennial, 3-8", Full Sun
Justicia Carnea Perennial, 2ft to 3ft depending on variety, Shade to partial shade
I'm normally not so into the pink shades I prefer the orangy red tones on the warm side of the spectrum, but I thought these all looked very good together, and the pot went well with all of them as well.
Salvia coccinea 'Hummingbird Coral' Perennial treated as annual, to 2 ft tall, Full Sun.
Scutellaria suffrutescens 'Cherry Skullcap' Perennial, 3-8", Full Sun
Justicia Carnea Perennial, 2ft to 3ft depending on variety, Shade to partial shade
I bought this Painted Lady Hibiscus last year, and it's still in the five-gallon pot I bought it in. It's just about doubled in size from the size I bought it, but during the winter it went dormant and took it's sweet time coming back. The first blooms were misshapen and small, it also dries out really fast which tells me it's probably root bound and needs to be transplanted.
I don't currently have another container to move it into, so I fertilized it with some fish emulsion, and that seems to have brought it back from it's sad state. Next steps with this guy will be to transplant it into a larger container, and maybe try to propagate some new plants from it.
Hibiscus stats:
Full Sun
Blooms continuously
Zone 9a, 9b, 10a, 10b
sunset zones 9, 12-16, 19-24, Hawaii 1-2
needs overhead protection if temps go below 30
grows to 6-10ft
to keep growth vigorous, prune 1/3 of old wood back in spring
requires excellent drainage
I planted this Echinacea purpurea, or purple coneflower, three years ago from a six pack, the two plants in this planter were the only two that survived, and last year they didn't do anything but sit there with two leaves on them. Just as I'd given up hope, this year one of them actually shot up a bloom! Its supposed to bloom all summer so we'll see if it continues...there are no signs of the other plant blooming.
Purple coneflower stats:
sunset zones A2, A3, 1-24
Native to central and east North America
seeds are favorite of finches (there are two finch families nesting at our house)
I went to Sloat in Danville the weekend before last and got these four pots during their BOGO sale. I was really happy to see that they had some green colored pots.
I planted the Guara I bought a few weeks ago, and the silver
something is either eating the dichondra, or someone thought it needed a haircut. Anyone know if dichondra is tasty to critters?
Here's what it looked like when I planted it:
Here's what it looked like when I planted it:
Lotus berthelotii or Parrots Beak
My grandmother send me some cash in my birthday card, which I pretty much immediately ran out and spent on this plant and the orange pot it's in.
These guys are supposed to be sensitive to cold, so when I bought it a few months ago, when it was still cold at night, I kept it in the house on the sill of a south facing window. and when it warmed up I moved it outside. It grew a lot when I re-potted it, and this week it started blooming!
Most Lotus need 40° F nights to induce bloom, but not this vibrant-hued variety. Night temperatures can be as high as 55 - 60° F.
Parrot's Beak or Lotus Vine is a great plant that fills the needs for a silver, soft-foliaged plant, as well as a trailing silver plant that flowers. However, the flowering part is short lived, based upon where you live and how fast the temperature rises in the spring. Parrot's Beak needs cool temperatures in order to initiate flowers, and will start and continue to bloom only if the spring temperatures do not climb too fast or spike (when there really is no spring and you fast forward to summer.) If you have warm night temperatures the plant will quickly go out of flower.
In warm-winter areas, lotus is a striking evergreen perennial groundcover. It grows best in full sun with well-drained soil.
Light:
Sun
Zones:
10-11
Plant Type:
Annual,Perennial
Plant Height:
To 8 inches tall
Plant Width:
To 2 feet wide
Landscape Uses:
Containers,Beds & Borders,Privacy,Slopes,Groundcover
Special Features:
Flowers,Attractive Foliage,Easy to Grow
My grandmother send me some cash in my birthday card, which I pretty much immediately ran out and spent on this plant and the orange pot it's in.
These guys are supposed to be sensitive to cold, so when I bought it a few months ago, when it was still cold at night, I kept it in the house on the sill of a south facing window. and when it warmed up I moved it outside. It grew a lot when I re-potted it, and this week it started blooming!
Most Lotus need 40° F nights to induce bloom, but not this vibrant-hued variety. Night temperatures can be as high as 55 - 60° F.
Parrot's Beak or Lotus Vine is a great plant that fills the needs for a silver, soft-foliaged plant, as well as a trailing silver plant that flowers. However, the flowering part is short lived, based upon where you live and how fast the temperature rises in the spring. Parrot's Beak needs cool temperatures in order to initiate flowers, and will start and continue to bloom only if the spring temperatures do not climb too fast or spike (when there really is no spring and you fast forward to summer.) If you have warm night temperatures the plant will quickly go out of flower.
In warm-winter areas, lotus is a striking evergreen perennial groundcover. It grows best in full sun with well-drained soil.
Light:
Sun
Zones:
10-11
Plant Type:
Annual,Perennial
Plant Height:
To 8 inches tall
Plant Width:
To 2 feet wide
Landscape Uses:
Containers,Beds & Borders,Privacy,Slopes,Groundcover
Special Features:
Flowers,Attractive Foliage,Easy to Grow
I put some silver-toned plants into a dark-blue container today. I think it came out pretty good. I had the Dichondra in the backyard hanging out for the last year. And purchased the Snow-in-Summer a couple weeks ago at Lowes (that's when I got the idea to do a silver-tones plant pot). Today, I got this Dwarf Curry and the Society Garlic 'Silver Lace' at Navlets. Later in the day, I went to a different Navlet's location, and walked around with a silver-toned plant to see how it would look in all the planters, I was a bit torn between the dark blue, and a black pot, but ended up getting the dark blue one.
Dichondra 'Silver Falls' (Dichondra argentea)
plant in sun or part sun
Snow-in-Summer (Cerastium tomentosum)
tolerant to USDA Zone 3, full sun (morning in extreme heat),
Dwarf Curry (Helichrysum italicum)
USDA Zones 7-10, drought tolerant, full sun, requires excellent drainage
Society Garlic 'Silver Lace' (Tulbaghia violacea)
The Society Garlic's tag said it came from Montereybaynursery.com and made me laugh, here's the description on the tag:
"Society Garlic - a beautiful clumping perennial for a sun to part shade. Prolific dainty lavender flowers bloom over a long sesaon. The wonderfully pungent aroma is purported to repel vampires. Use with other plants with colored foliage. "
Here's an update on the red pot:
It's growing pretty fast here's what it looked like a couple months ago.
In this container is a Lobelia 'Queen Victoria', that has died back the last two winters and returns the last two springs. also Brass Buttons ground cover, and a red grass, leptinella 'Squalida.' Here's a post from when I first planted these in the container.
I keep them under the oak in the back yard where it gets some direct sunlight in the am and late pm.
It's growing pretty fast here's what it looked like a couple months ago.
In this container is a Lobelia 'Queen Victoria', that has died back the last two winters and returns the last two springs. also Brass Buttons ground cover, and a red grass, leptinella 'Squalida.' Here's a post from when I first planted these in the container.
I keep them under the oak in the back yard where it gets some direct sunlight in the am and late pm.
Today I went with Michelle to the Berkeley Horticultural Nursery, which I swear I'd been to before, but it looked completely different! Maybe because it was spring and full of tons and tons or plants. I picked up a 4" pot of Viola Labradorica, and a pint Heliotropium Arborescens. While we were they we saw a display with a bulb that I liked a lot, we didn't see any for sale there but asked what it was called they said "Sparaxis."
Later, we were driving over to the new location of the Oaktown Nursery, and as we passed the East Bay nursery (which we only drove by on the suggestion of Michelle), and from the street I saw the Sparaxis bulbs so I pulled over and picked up a couple. When we got to the Oaktown Nursery new location, it was closed, so I'll have to make another trip out this way soon.
Later, we were driving over to the new location of the Oaktown Nursery, and as we passed the East Bay nursery (which we only drove by on the suggestion of Michelle), and from the street I saw the Sparaxis bulbs so I pulled over and picked up a couple. When we got to the Oaktown Nursery new location, it was closed, so I'll have to make another trip out this way soon.
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| Sparaxis bulbs from East Bay Nursery |
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| Viola Labradorica from Berkeley Horticultural Nursery |
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| Heliotrope from Berkeley Horticultural Nursery |
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