Late to the Garden Party

My husband and I recently visited a new park in Santa Monica, California, a place we called home for several years while making our respective sojourns through graduate school. I still have fond recollections of living in "The People's Republic of Santa Monica," although, as gentrification of the area has proceeded full-speed in the years since we left, it doesn't have quite the same quirky sensibility it once had.

This visit was prompted by articles announcing the opening of Tongva Park, named after the native American population that once occupied the area, and designed by James Corner, who was also responsible for the famous High Line development in New York City. The park was formally dedicated in mid-October. Built at a cost of $42.3 million on a 6-acre plot of land formerly occupied by the Rand Corporation, the park sits across the street from Santa Monica's City Hall on Main Street and stretches to Ocean Avenue.

Santa Monica City Hall photographed from across the street at the entrance to Tongva Park

It was fairly quiet the morning we visited. We were able to find metered parking along Main Street. We were met by this sign.

Park rules

The sign, with its list of prohibited activities, has received criticism but I have to say the park was remarkably well cared for. Paths, as well as picnic areas, were completely clear of debris. We saw 3 or 4 gardeners at work and a woman in park ranger gear on patrol.

A fountain greeted us at the Main Street entrance.

There were some warning signs there too.

We headed off to the right, past another sign, through an area called Garden Hill.

Wide paths cut through the space, which is heavily planted with climate-appropriate grasses, succulents, trees and other plants.

The off-white tubes you see in the pictures above are part of an LED lighting system.

There were small touches of color but various hues of green foliage dominate the landscape.

Coral tree blooms

Blooming aloes

Alstroemeria, in pink and peach tones, could be found in spots throughout the park

Oxalis in different colors was also found throughout the park

As were rain lilies (Zephranthes, I think)

Wending our way in the direction of Gathering Hill, we found good-sized Plumeria trees still in bloom and lots of Canna.

Gathering Hill has a picnic area with a view of a huge Moreton Bay fig tree (Ficus macrophylla), locally referred to as "Morty," and 3 other large rusty figs (Ficus Rubiginosa) referred to as the "Three Amigos." Morty had been part of the old Rand Corporation campus but the other 3 fig trees were moved 550 feet from the intersection of Main Street and Olympic to join Morty in the picnic area (as described here).

Benches and tables are made of non-tropical hardwoods

Morty, the Moreton Bay fig tree, is reportedly over a century old

Morty has very big feet

We ate lunches we'd brought with us in the picnic area, then proceeded along the north side of the park toward the area called Observation Hill.

Ocean Avenue entrance to the park

Plants at the base of Observation Hill

There's another fountain, larger than the one I showed earlier, on this end of the park.

The Ferris wheel on Santa Monica pier can be seen in the distance in the upper portion of this picture of the west-end fountain

Both fountains are lined with large rocks

There are 2 view points at the top of Observation Hill.

Stairs beyond the fountain area lead up to Observation Hill

Stairway leading down from the top of Observation Hill

Clematis vines are being trained to grow up the wall enclosing the restrooms.

The restroom area is located roughly in the middle of the park near a large expanse of lawn containing a massive sculptural piece.

The restroom is on the left and the sculpture is on the right

The restrooms are lit by skylights installed at the top of Observation Hill

Ampitheater-style seating on the left faces the open lawn area

Beyond the lawn area and the sculpture is Discovery Hill, designed as a play area for kids.

Asters were blooming all around the play area.

There were a large number of Arbutus 'Marina' and other trees in the area.

A construction project is underway on the south side of the park. It looks suspiciously like a large condo complex will soon occupy the space on this end of the park. With views of the ocean, pier and the new park, as well as an upscale mall close by, I expect that's going to be very expensive housing, even by southern California standards.

All in all, Tongva is a great park. Should you find yourself in the area, I suggest a visit. You can find additional information here.

Senna (Cassia) bicapularis 'Worley's Butter Cream' is still putting on a flower show in my garden. When I wrote about the plant at the end of October, most of the flowers were still buds but now they're open and the plant shines like a beacon along the fence. I figured that I could snip some for a bouquet without making a dent in the display.

I did my usual walk-about through the garden to find proper accompaniments for the soft yellow blooms. This is what I came up with:

Back view

And this is what I included:

Senna bicapsularis, 2 stems (3 was overkill)
Argyranthemum frutescens 'White Comet'
Leucanthemum x superbum
Nandina foliage
Pennistetum setaceum 'Rubrum' plumes
Rosa 'Buttercream'
Russelia equisetiformis 'Yellow'

I referred to this bouquet as fragile because of the mess that resulted during its creation. The Senna flowers fall apart easily and left tiny petals all over the kitchen counter and floor. However, once complete, it seems to be holding up fine. In fact, I think it looks better 2 days after it was created.

I'm once again joining Loree of danger garden in sharing my favorite plant of the week. This one isn't remotely exotic or unusual. However, it is a good, reliable performer in my garden. It's Erysimum linifolium 'Variegatum,' a variegated form of the common wallflower. I value it because it's resilient and attractive in and out of flower. At present, it's not flowering but the leaves shine bright, even on the gray mornings that have greeted us for the last few days.

I have 4 of these plants circling the square fountain in our backyard. All but one are doing well there with just a little judicious pruning following bloom cycles. The fourth stands between our raccoon visitors and their preferred path to the fountain, where they regularly snatch sea shells from the top tier. I recently added repellent around the base of the plant in an effort (probably hopeless) to keep the raccoons at bay.

Erysimum linifolium 'Variegatum' planted at the base of the fountain

Erysimum on the other side of the fountain bordered by scraggly Cuphea hyssopifolia

This Erysimum has faced frequent raccoon stompings

There are 3 more Erysimum in the back border. They're not quite as full as those surrounding the fountain right now but they also get somewhat less water and attention.

None are flowering at the moment but they do produce small lavender/mauve flowers, as shown in the picture below taken last winter.

Erysimum liniformium 'Variegatum' photographed in flower in early February

Erysimum grows in full sun or light shade. This variety is hardy in USDA zones 3a-9b (Sunset zones 4-6 and 14-24) and grows to 2 feet tall and 2-3 feet wide with moderate water.

To see Loree's favorite of the week and connect to other gardeners' favorites, click here to visit danger garden.

I've heard it said that everyone has a doppelgänger, a virtual double who may be mistaken for the original. In fact, a couple of weeks ago, as I was flying through the supermarket, a guy I didn't recognize called to me. I thought he'd addressed me by name so I stopped. When I greeted him with a hello and a confused look, he introduced himself as Bob Someone, my former neighbor in San Pedro. But I've never lived in San Pedro. I subsequently learned that he'd called me "Pris," not Kris - the name similarity had contributed to my confusion, if not to his. In any case, he claimed that I have a near double somewhere here in the South Bay.

The existence of botanical doppelgängers was raised by readers of my recent blog post on Erysimum linifolium 'Variegatum.' I posted a picture of this:

Erysimum linifolium 'Variegatum' in my back garden

And a few people commented that they initially mistook it as variegated Euphorbia like this:

Euphorbia 'Ascot Rainbow' in a pot on my back patio

The foliage form and coloration is similar. Clearly, these are the elements that drew me to both plants.

I started to wonder if I had other doppelgängers in my garden. Discounting plants in the same genus, the only other pair that came remotely close were Arthropodium cirratum and Beschorneria yuccoides. The former is also known as Renga Lily while the latter is commonly known as Mexican Lily. My Beschorneria is still a relatively young plant but the similarities are more apparent when the Arthropodium is compared to a more mature Beschorneria.

Mature Arthropodium cirratum in the border on the southeast side border

Relatively new Beschorneria yuccoides in the dry garden

Wikipedia's image of mature Beschorneria yuccoides

Do you have any doppelgängers lurking in your garden?

A friend and I made a trip to OC Succulents in Irvine, California this weekend. We'd been there once before, about a year ago. It's a schlep but worth the effort as the variety and price of the succulents in stock can't be matched elsewhere in our area. They're also very good about labeling their stock, which can't be said for most nurseries that sell succulents, at least in my experience.

The following pictures provide a sense of what you see when you step out of your car.

There are planted pots.

Sadly, these weren't exactly bargain priced

And empty pots.

A wide assortment of varieties in 6 and 8 inch pots sit under a net canopy.

Example of their helpful signs (Note: the 6 inch pots were $6.40, not $640)

Even the prices on some of the larger plants were reasonable.

These Agave 'Quadricolor' were $28

And the Yucca gloriosa were $24

Inside the store to the back, constructed of what appear to be old Quonset huts, there were smaller (mostly unlabeled) succulents, houseplants, decorative pots and baskets.

Although my friend was the primary instigator behind this particular trip, I did have one planned purchase in mind. I sought - and found - 3 reasonably priced Agave attenuata for my slope.

Agave attenuata, also know as Fox Tail Agave, has soft leaves - I didn't want anything with sharp spikes on the slope where falls are possible

What I didn't plan on were these purchases.

From the top, Graptoveria 'Fred Ives,' 2 Echeveria 'Ruffles', and 2 Aloe aristata on either side of an unlabeled 4-inch plant

I fell hard for this unlabeled succulent, some form of Crassula I think (maybe C dubia), for $2.90!

I also picked up the makings of one Christmas present but I'm not going to spoil the surprise for the intended recipient and show that here.

As I was checking out, the salesperson asked me if I was buying on behalf of a company. Apparently, they discount wholesale purchases. Given my current rate of spending, maybe I need a wholesale license...

All in all, it was a productive trip. We even snuck in a brief stop at Roger's Gardens on our way home. I really do need to stop shopping for anything other than holiday gifts, however...

For me, the winter season starts with Thanksgiving. This is probably because year-end holiday preparations crank up in earnest at this time. It certainly has little to do with the weather here in southern California or the seasonal demarcations on the calendar. Although the days are shorter and the nights are colder, we don't get the freezes that signify the onset of winter elsewhere and our days are still relatively warm. It was in the mid-70s today, perfect for running pre-Thanksgiving errands and doing a little gardening.

November also usually brings the start of our short rainy season. While we got some drizzle in October, those events barely registered on the rain meter. We got our first "real" rain last week, three quarters of an inch according to my rain meter. That was enough to justify turning off the automatic irrigation system, at least temporarily. It filled my rain barrel too.

Rain flowing down the rain chain outside the dining room window

I caught an unexpected rainbow over the LA harbor at the end of last week's rain

Another rain event was predicted for Thanksgiving but, unfortunately, that forecast has been rescinded. I fear we may be in for another dry year.

To put myself in a winter mood in spite of warm dry afternoon, I constructed 2 winter-themed pots to stand immediately outside the front door. I can't say that the idea was original - I copied winter scenes created in containers by the staff at Roger's Garden. I even picked up my "trees" there on my brief visit last weekend.

Here's Roger's creation:

And here are mine:

Pot #1, planted with 'Goodwin Creek' lavender, white cyclamen, Cuphea 'Itsy White', Alyssum 'Snow Crystals', and Senecio cineraria 'Silverdust' (Dusty Miller)

Pot #2 with the same plants

I even gussied up my gargoyle for the winter season with a collection of Magnolia leaves and seedpods gathered from the front lawn:

The gargoyle will get a red satin ribbon around his neck when Christmas gets close and a gnome (or 2) may appear with the pine boughs but, for now, this is it for my winter decorations, unless you count the Christmas cactus I found in full flower in a neglected area of my garden today - it's now on the side patio where it can be properly admired.

Schlumbergera x buckleyi (aka Christmas Cactus)

Best wishes to all for a happy Thanksgiving! I hope you enjoy the start of the winter season, no matter how winter is served up in your area.

A few months ago, Heather of Xericstyle launched a new meme to capture wide views of her garden and the gardens of other contributors. Like many gardeners, I tend to focus on individual plants or isolated combinations of plants when photographing my garden so participation in Heather's monthly post gives me an opportunity to literally pull back and take the broader view into consideration.

Although I continued to tweak my back border in November, I'm not sure it looks markedly different than last month. There's certainly less in bloom than there was in spring and summer but there are still some touches of floral color even now. Frost is rare in our area and, although the nighttime temperatures are dipping lower, our daytime temperatures have continued in the low 70s, only occasionally dropping into the mid-60s.

View of border from backyard door

View of backyard border from new side yard pathway

Border from right side end

View from left side end

I also continued work on the "new" side yard garden in November, filling in some of the remaining holes. Other than adding some additional thyme between stepping stones, I think I'm done futzing with it for the time being. I'm hoping our winter rains and time will help the plants fill in.

View of side yard from front lawn area

View from side yard patio

View from back lawn area

View from narrow pathway behind the backyard border across the lawn to the side yard

There's very little color in the front border at the moment. I cut most everything back, with the exception of the shrub roses, in late October and early November. I've recently added a few annuals but they haven't swung into bloom yet. The reblooming Hemerocallis 'Spanish Harlem' put out individual blooms now and then but their fall display is no match for their spring fanfare.

View from the patch of lawn bordering the street toward the house

Left side of the front border

Right side of the front border

This month I thought I'd also add shots of my dry garden on the northeast side of the house. I haven't made any massive changes to this area in the last few months but I've made minor tweaks here and there, removing a few plants to make room for others. With the exception of the 2 guava trees, this area was mainly dirt and rocks when we moved in nearly 3 years ago.

The pathway through the dry garden leads to a rough stairway down the slope at the back of the lot

The dry garden photographed from a small patio area on the northeast side of the house

Dry garden photographed from the stairs leading down the slope

I'll leave you with a few shots of the view of the horizon from the backyard.

Cruise ship in port in the LA harbor Saturday afternoon

An uncharacteristically clear view of the mountains to the east with a nearby neighbor's flagpole, decorated with Christmas lights, in the foreground

A night view of the neighbor's flagpole Christmas tree in lights, 20 or more feet tall, visible from my home office

How's your garden looking in the wide view? Visit Heather at Xericstyle for other wide views.

There aren't too many plants in bloom in my garden right now. The one with the most impressive blooms is a relatively new introduction, Grevillea 'Superb.' I fell in love with it on a nursery tour with a friend in mid-October but I passed it by as I had no idea whatsoever where I could put it. It likes full sun and limited water. The best area for it would have been my dry garden but the sunniest areas there were already taken. Unable to give it up, I ended up moving a few plants in a smallish bed tucked into a corner of the front yard to create room for it. I picked one up at Roger's Garden on the way to an appointment in early November. At this time of year its new bed gets somewhat less than the ideal full day's sun but the exposure should be fine during the longer days of spring and summer. In its current placement, it's backed by 3 Nandina domestica, which unfortunately don't show it up to its maximum advantage but, for now at least, it has to do.

It has been in the ground about a month now and seems happy enough so far. The shrub itself is attractive but the coral pink blooms are magnificent.

The tight bud clusters open slowly

Unfurling from the bottom

Into their full glory

I have 2 other varieties of Grevillea and, although they bloom heavily, the flowers are relatively small. At maturity, the blooms on G. 'Superb' are about 5 inches long.

Grevillea 'Superb' grows 3-5 feet (1-2 meters) tall and wide. It hails from eastern Australia and was even featured on a 50 cent Australian stamp in 2003. In its October 2011 edition, Pacific Horticulture magazine included it as one of the best Grevillea for southern California. Depending upon what source you refer to, it's described as hardy to 20 or 25F (-4C). It's drought tolerant and attracts hummingbirds and, reportedly, orioles.

This is my contribution to Loree's favorite plant meme at danger garden. Please visit her blog to see her favorite this week and link of other gardeners' favorite selections.

Ming is the older of my 2 cats and, for some time now, he's been in ill health. He's got a host of long-term medical issues but, within the last few months, I've had to confront the possibility that, even though he's just 12 years old, I'm likely to lose him sooner rather than later. I'll spare you the details of his medical problems. Suffice it to say, my current focus is on doing what I can to give him as much quality time as possible and providing him enjoyment for whatever time he has left.

He's been an indoor cat all his life but, every once in awhile, he manages to escape through a door that isn't closed quite tightly enough. Those brief adventures are clearly something he revels. However, letting him roam about on his own would be risky - he has absolutely no street smarts and drivers in our neighborhood aren't particularly careful. We also have a serious coyote problem and their hunting activity is no longer only a nocturnal pursuit. I've tried putting him on a leash/harness but this causes him to panic. So I recently began taking him for supervised walks around our property without a leash. Perhaps because he's now so frail, he's less inclined to run off on his own so this is working fairly well.

Our daily walks also give me a cat's eye view of my garden, allowing me to catch details I might otherwise miss. I thought I'd share one of our recent walks with you in pictures.

Ming leaves his screened porch off the house

"Come on, what's holding you up?"

Iceland poppy blooming in the bed off the side yard patio

Moving on into the backyard

Ming isn't impressed by Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt"

But I am - of my 4 'Cousin Itt,' this one in a pot appears to be the happiest

"Are you taking pictures again?'

Nothing in the back patio interests Ming today and he heads back to the side yard

"Now what's holding you up?"

Pipig's sleeping peacefully inside the house - she lacks Ming's appetite for adventure

Ming takes a short cut into the area behind the shrub border along the street

He ignored the Brugmansia I planted a few months ago - it has some ragged leaves but it's grown a lot

He was unconcerned by the fact that the neighbor's shrub has seeded all over

But the woodpile held endless fascination

I was surprised to find that an orchid (no ID) I generally ignore had bloomed - the mother of one of my husband's colleagues brought this home from China

Ming struts down the narrow pathway between 2 shrub borders running parallel to the street, now covered in moss

We discover that something has gotten to the pumpkin arrangement along the driveway

Ming stops at the front door, probably wondering why it's closed

He's more interested by leaf debris than anything in the front border

He ignored the latest bloom produced by Hemerocallis 'Spanish Harlem'

He wasn't particularly interested in Leucadendron 'Wilson's Wonder' either

However, I was impressed to see that it's already developing cones

He really likes the Carex oshimensis 'Evergold' growing along the garage in the vegetable garden area

But he ignored the fuchsias

He checked out the raised vegetable beds, this one planted with herbs

But, surprisingly, he ignored the flock of small birds (Lesser Goldfinch maybe?) perched in the now-bare Persimmon tree

"Why is the garden gate closed?"

Fallen leaves are the most interesting thing in the dry garden (and mom won't let him scuttle down the slope beyond like he's done before because she can't keep up without risking a fall)

Time to head back to the backyard

"Now that I'm out, I want back in"

After ousting Pipig from her basket, Ming took a brief nap to rest up until his lunch was ready.

These days, the only thing he likes better than a walk is to eat. If only he could put back on some of the weight he's lost...

Last March, just as spring was getting its start in southern California, I took a picture-taking stroll around our neighborhood, which is essentially a large circle comprised of 50+ homes. Because of a bad knee, I don't walk the neighborhood regularly as I did when we first moved here so I generally see just that portion of the neighborhood that leads from the main thoroughfare to our door. As the sun was shining after a welcome rain on Saturday, I thought I'd make another tour with my camera in hand.

The degree of curb appeal varies quite a bit from house to house. Many homes are blocked from view by hedges and others are set back from the road with only driveway entrances in view or situated along private "spur roads" off of our road. In contrast to last March, there weren't a lot of blooms to see at this time of year.

Bougainvillea and Copper Canyon Daisy (Tagetes lemmonii) make the biggest color splash in this sloped front border

A beautiful Arctotis that I think needs to find a place in my garden

Aloe, Lion's Tail (Leonotis leanurus) and Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia) add color to the succulents in this border

This aloe was growing in what appears to be almost full shade

Strelizia sited among Agapanthus, palms and ivy

My guess is that this is some variety of Cassia or Senna

Close-up of flower

There were a lot of berries on display, mostly Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia), which I recently learned has been designated the official plant of the City of Los Angeles.

And, even though southern California doesn't produce much in the way of fall foliage color, there was some.

Maples directly across the street from our house

This red maple, sited among green foliaged plants, immediately grabbed my attention and led me to think I need to find a place for another one in my garden to add fall interest

Of course, massive succulents are more prominent than trees in some front yards here. I think I skipped this one in my earlier post.

Cactus (Euphorbia?), Agave attenuata, Yucca gigantea, palms and ivy made up this front yard

As was the case in March, the most impressive front yard was that of an accomplished gardener several houses away from me. She terraced her sloped front yard after she and her husband moved in 10+ years ago. It's densely planted and there's always something in bloom.

Orange, exemplified by Leonotis leonurus here, is the most prominent color in her garden right now. The huge red/orange Leucospermum (shown in the upper middle of this photo) isn't blooming yet.

Narcissus is already blooming near the front of the border, here under a huge Salvia clevelandii I didn't get a good photo of

There are 2 more houses for sale, including this one, which I'd featured in my March post. It was sold to a flipper in April and put back on the market for almost twice its original purchase price in late October. No takers yet.

The other house that was for sale at the time of my March post was purchased. Sadly, the attractive front garden tended by the prior elderly owner has been pulled out and, so far, left nearly bare.

There were some beautiful rose bushes and Pelargonium here prior to the sale

The construction that was in progress at the other end of the neighborhood is still going on and, frankly, I don't see that a lot has changed since March, at least on the outside.

There are also signs of work starting at another house down the block.

And the empty double lot is still very empty.

There weren't a lot of holiday decorations up yet.

I was told that neighbors refer to this front yard as "the park"

I'll leave you with a picture from the back of my neighbor's house across the street that shows something of the elevation changes in the area.

I wasn't sure I had any standouts in my garden this week but, on my walk with my cat this morning, I found 3 good prospects and narrowed my choice down to Melaleuca thymifolia, commonly known as Thyme-leaved Honey Myrtle or Feather Honey Myrtle. It's a relatively new introduction to my backyard border. It's still small in stature and not particularly easy to photograph. The flower color also clashes rather badly with some of its neighbors, most notably the Salvia 'Wendy's Wish' growing next to it, so one or another plant may have to be moved.

I bought the plant for the foliage but what attracted my attention this morning were its blooms. The label on the pot described the flowers as pink or purple so I wasn't at all clear about the floral color when I selected its location.

My relatively poor photo of the flower

Wikipedia's picture

Melaleuca thymifolia hails from eastern Australia. It reportedly tolerates poor soils and, in its native habitat, is frequently found growing in sandstone and clay-based soils. Its foliage produces a spicy scent when bruised. According to the Australian National Herbarium, it can flower for up to 8 months of the year. It's reputed to attract bees, butterflies and birds and to be free of disease and pest problems.

Predictions of its dimensions vary quite a bit but 3 feet tall and wide (1 meter) is the most common projection. It prefers sun but can tolerate some shade. It requires moderate to average water and is hardy in USDA zones 9a-11 (Sunset zones 8, 9 and 12-24). Predictions of its cold tolerance range from 25 to 18F (-6.6 to -8C).

This is my contribution to Loree's danger garden meme this week. You can find Loree's spikier selection here.

With much of the nation hunkered down under sheets of ice and snow, I can't whine about the limited supply of blooms here in my part of southern California. In September, following a heat wave, I complained that finding blooms suitable to include in the Bloom Day post amounted to a scavenger hunt. Finding blooms in my December garden presented something of the same challenge.

Much of what is blooming seems to be pink, with the biggest masses of color represented by Camellia sasanqua, Correa pulchella 'Pink Eyre, Pelargonium peltatum 'Pink Blizzard' and Schlumbergera x buckleyi.

Camellia sasanqua (no ID) with blooms somewhat worn by the recent rains

There are masses of bloom on this Correa pulchella 'Pink Eyre" but you have to get close to the flowers to fully appreciate them

Close-up of flowers on Correa pulchella 'Pink Eyre'

Pelargonium peltatum 'Pink Blizzard' is still churning our flowers in both pots by the front door

Schlumbergera x buckleyii on the side patio

Grevillea lanigera 'Mount Tamboritha' has bloomed continuously since it was planted in early January

Some other pink-flowering plants are just entering another bloom cycle:

Argyranthemum frutescens 'Comet Pink'

Camellia japonica 'Taylor's Perfection' will be blooming soon

Cuphea x ignea 'Starfire Pink' is coming back after the hard pruning it received in October

Coleonema pulchrum 'Sunset Gold'

The tiny blooms on Greveillea lavandulacea 'Penola' are just beginning to open en masse

Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl' is finally putting out more than a few sporadic flowers

Others are well past their prime:

Celosia argentea var. spicata is more tawny than pink now but I still hesitate to pull it out

These should be Lisianthus 'Echo Pink's' last blooms

Pentas lanceolata 'Kaleidoscope Appleblossom' has proven to be hardier than other varieties in my garden

There are some orange and yellow bloomers too.

Grevillea 'Superb' with Nandina domestica

Anigozanthos hybrid (Kangeroo Paws) with Papaver nudicaule (Iceland poppy)

A late-blooming 'Joseph's Coat' rose hanging over our truck's front bumper

Tagetes lemmonii (dwarf form)

And there are a few white and purple blooms here and there.

Argyranthemum frutescens 'Comet White'

Gomphrena 'Itsy Bitsy'

Hebe 'Patty's Purple' (photo-bombed by Geranium 'Tiny Monster')

Lavandula multifida (fern-leaf lavender)

My garden workhorse, Osteospermum ecklonis '3D Silver'

Osteospermum 'Serenity Purple'

Pansies

Westringia fruticosa 'Naringa' in the vegetable garden

Perhaps the biggest story this December is that my favorite citrus fruit is ripening fast.

Washington navel oranges

Mandarin orange (no ID), fruiting earlier this year

The pink-fleshed guava is also coming along but I leave that to the squirrels as I have yet to develop a taste for it.

Guava 'Mexican Beaumont'

Yes, I'm lucky. Please visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens, the host of the monthly Garden Blogger's Bloom Day event to find what's blooming in her garden and other gardens around the world.

My garden isn't blanketed by snow or ice like the those of many garden bloggers right now. In fact, our daytime temperatures are currently downright balmy. Today's forecast is a high of 83 degrees. I'm not sure what the plants feel about a temperature shift from the low 60s to the low 80s in the span of a week but, so far at least, they appear to be taking the change in stride.

Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt' basking in the morning sun

Agonis flexuosa 'Nana' flaunting her pretty new leaves

As is Calliandra haematocephala

Despite nighttime temperatures in the 40s, Solenostemon scutellarioides 'Mocha Mint Coleus' still hasn't bit the dust

My new Crassula (maybe C. dubia) has found a home in a pot

Digiplexis 'Illumination Flame', a hybrid of Digitalis and Isoplexis, acquired after a tip from Denise at A Growing Obsession, seems to be settling in

Leucadendron 'Pisa' in a pot for the time being

Lomandra longifolia 'Breeze'

Milium 'Flashlight' valued for its chartreuse color (despite its brown tips)

Moss, which appears all over our property once the rainy season begins, including between driveway paving stones

Moss covering the usually bare dirt path running inside the hedge separating our lot from the street

Phormium tenax 'Yellow Wave' (or 'Apricot Queen' - I've forgotten which is which)

My newest Prostanthera ovalifolia 'Variegata' (mint bush), accompanied by asparagus fern

Yucca 'Bright Star' with Euphorbia 'Dean's Hybrid' in a pot until I find a proper place for it

Those are my foliage highlights for this month. Please visit Pam at Digging for other foliage stars. In the spirit of the season, I'll leave you with one more foliage photo. Even if you're surrounded by snow, I hope you manage to stay cozy and warm. Enjoy the holidays!

Last week, in seeking a plant deserving of the title of my "favorite of the week," I came up with 3 possibilities. Last week I chose Melaleuca thymifolia but this week I want to highlight Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt' (aka A. 'Mini Cog' or Little River Wattle), even though it could be said that the plant has already received more than its fair share of attention in other blogs as well as my own. Still, now that I've placed one in a large pot where it's visible during every stroll through the backyard and also through the living room window, I have to give it its due and acknowledge that it's an admirable plant. I certainly already have sufficient photos on hand to share.

I have 4 'Cousin Itt', which is amazing given that I was put off by the price of the plant when I first became aware of it. Initially, it couldn't be found for less than $40; however, when I came across it at Sperling Nursery in Calabasas for less than half that price, I snapped up 2. I later picked up another at full price. I hadn't planned on purchasing more but, when I found one offered for $15 at the South Coast Botanic Garden's fall plant sale, I brought it home and put this one in a pot, where it appears to be very happy.

My newest Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt' has visibly grown in size since it was potted in early September

The other 3 are placed in the backyard border underneath one of our California pepper trees (Schinus molle). The 2 purchased from Sperling were smaller than the other 2 at time of purchase and have never had the thick head of foliage 'Cousin Itt' is known for. The third looks almost exactly as it did at time of purchase some 9-10 months ago. All get some shade during the hottest part of the day but these 3 also have to deal with root competition from the tree.

The 2 Sperling purchases have lacy frameworks unlike the plants grown by San Marcos

This one, from San Marcos Growers, appears to be approximately the same size as it was when it was planted 9-10 months ago

Like their namesake, Cousin Itt of the Addam's Family, the plants welcome petting. They're evergreen and hail from Australia. They'll reportedly grow 2-3 feet tall and up to 4-6 feet wide. They need well-draining soil and are heat and drought tolerant. If grown in a container, San Marcos Growers recommends using a low phosphorus fertilizer. They can tolerate winter temperatures in the 20-25 degree range and are suited to USDA zones 9a-11 (Sunset zones 16-24).

I've yet to see any sign of flowering, even in the oldest plants, which have been in the ground for well over a year now and could find no photos of the pale yellow blooms anywhere on the web. However, with foliage this nice, flowers really don't matter.

Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt' is my contribution to Loree's favoite plants meme at danger garden. Visit her blog to see her favorite of the week.

With the exception of plant nursery trips, I've come to hate shopping. I especially hate holiday shopping - the crowds, the parking hassles, the ever-changing "special" offers that leave you wondering if you got a good deal or should have waited to buy. I used to avoid it altogether by shopping for Christmas gifts months in advance but I haven't been that organized for years. This year I did most of my holiday shopping on-line. However, last weekend, 2 friends and I ventured out for some last-minute shopping in 2 more unusual venues.

The first was the Long Beach Flea Market. A friend had mentioned it to me as a place to find inexpensive plants and garden ornaments. When I learned that Denise of A Growing Obsession and 2 of her friends, Dustin of non-secateur and Reuben of Rancho Reubidoux, planned to open a booth at the December market, I gathered a couple of my friends and paid a visit. As I'd never visited a flea market before, I didn't know exactly what to expect. The sheer volume of stuff was a bit overwhelming. Navigating the market was also challenging - there was no map to help you locate booths of particular interest. I didn't take any photos at the market but you can find a slideshow on the market's webpage. If I'd had the foresight to bring a cart of some kind, I might of carried more home with me but, without that, I restricted my purchases to a table-runner and some old editions of Garden Illustrated and plants offered by Denise, Dustin and Reuben.

Dustin provided the name of this succulent but I didn't write it down - I think it's Ledebouria socialis

As exhausted as my friends and I were after our visit to the flea market, we had another stop to make. After a lunch break, we visited Crafted at the Port of Los Angeles. This warehouse-based crafts and arts emporium is only about 15 minutes from my home. Most importantly, my very good friend, Patsy, has a booth there, from which she sells quilted items.

Crafted has had its ups and downs but it's at its best this holiday season. I wished I'd visited at an earlier stage of my holiday shopping process.

There are places to take holiday photos.

And places to buy holiday cards and stationary items created from photo collages.

Used books.

Beauty products and specialty food items.

Even succulents.

Although the succulents in the earlier picture were real, those in this photo were not

And there was entertainment.

It was a very different and much lower-key shopping experience than the flea market but there were still good deals to be had. If you're in the vicinity of the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro and still have holiday shopping to do, it's definitely worth a visit. Stop by and see Patsy and her fellow crafters and artists.

And, coming next year, apparently there will be an adjacent brewery.

What more can you ask for?

As I covered in an earlier post, I've been taking regular walks with Ming, the elder of my 2 cats. He's come to expect these daily jaunts and cries (as only a cat bred from Siamese stock can) when I'm tardy about getting to it. Most times, he just circles the house once to twice, then heads back to his screened porch, apparently hoping that another dish of food will have miraculously appeared. However, yesterday, he took some time to check out elements in the garden.

The fountain was of major interest.

While he was taking a drink, I noticed that my Erysimum linifolium is starting to bloom.

Ming checked out the Correa pulchella 'Pink Eyre' currently in full bloom in the dry garden.

While I noticed that a more recently planted Correa appears to be suddenly dying off.

Climbing up on the fountain wasn't Ming's only feat on this walk. He also jumped up on the birdbath in the vegetable garden, currently full of glass pebbles.

And then he hopped over into one of the vegetable beds, where I'm currently growing poppies, snapdragons and sweet peas.

He was oblivious to the house finches staring down at him from atop the Yucca elephantipes.

But he got quite excited when a small flock of birds flew out of the bushes in the vegetable garden upon his approach. I didn't get a picture but, while he didn't actually run, he moved faster than I've seen him do in many months.

As he headed toward the driveway at the front of the house, I noticed that my Camellia japonica 'Taylor's Perfection' is starting to bloom.

And that the ornamental pear (Pyrus calleryana) is showing a bit of colorful foliage.

When we got back to the side yard, Ming investigated a bucket.

Then he finally headed back to the screened porch where, after taking a closer look at a Agave 'Blue Glow', he checked his bowl.

Food did magically appear about 5 minutes later. I think the walks are doing him some good.

Houzz, the on-line home and garden design resource, recently featured an article on property lines. The author took pictures of homes in the Sacramento area showing how adjacent properties sometimes complement each other but, more frequently, collide. I hadn't given our own property lines much thought so took my camera out for a look at the boundaries between us and our neighbors on either side.

The houses in our neighborhood weren't all built at the same time. The earliest, like ours, were constructed in the 1950s but other homes were built at intervals stretching through the 1960s and 70s into the early 1980s. House styles vary, as do lot sizes and shapes. The area is hilly so many homes also sit at different elevations. The 2 houses on either side of us are both sited below us with yards encircling the back of our house and garden.

The driveway entrance of the house on the right of us is separated from our driveway by a long expanse of hedge and a low stone wall, which the neighbors extended down along their own driveway entrance.

The neighbor's concrete wall blends in fairly well with our stone wall, as do the hedges

It's hard to determine exactly where the dividing line is between the 2 properties from the street. The neighbor's hedge, constructed of Nerium oleander, blends into the hedge on our side of the property line, constructed of what I think is Pittosporum rhombifolium. The line is only nominally clearer from the area behind the hedge.

Shortly beyond where the one hedge ends, another, constructed of Xylosma congestum, begins. This hedge, which belongs to us, extends along the right side of our property, behind our backyard border, into our dry garden.

Our Xylosma hedge starts in the right side yard just outside a raised wood border that creates a narrow pathway behind the side and backyard borders

The pine trees beyond the hedge in the backyard belong to our neighbor

But the Yucca beyond the hedge is apparently ours

The hedge, somewhat taller here, creates a boundary on one side of the dry garden

When we made the offer on the property, I assumed that all the area behind the Xylosma hedge belonged to neighbors. However, during the property inspection process, I learned that the area behind the hedge in the dry garden, extending down the slope, also belonged to us.

View of sloped area beyond the hedge

I also learned that this area had been the subject of a dispute between our neighbor to the left and a prior owner of our property. We found evidence of where the chain link fence had been moved when the boundary lines were clarified. The area from the concrete stairs (which were installed by my husband our first year here) to where the chain link fence now stands, bordered from the inside by yet another hedge, had previously been tended by our neighbor. She was responsible for planting the lemon tree that stands at the bottom of the slope. Thankfully, she bears us no ill will (reserving that for the former owner). I drop off a supply of lemons periodically.

The neighbor had previously treated the triangular area from the stairway to the hedge on the right in the picture above as hers

Lemon tree reportedly planted by our neighbor

I'm still not entirely clear where the boundary between our yard and that of the other neighbor, on the right, lies at the bottom of the slope. As the property drops sharply just beyond the Yucca elephantipes and as the neighbor, who religiously trims the other trees on his property, hasn't ever touched the Yucca or the plants at its base, I'm operating on the assumption that these belong to us. One day, I've got to pin him down and ask but I rarely see him.

The sunnier area beyond the Yucca belongs to our neighbor on the right

Like the house on the right, the house to the left of us isn't readily visible from the street but our stone wall and Xylosma hedge end a couple of feet from the neighbor's driveway. The mailbox and Strelitzia reginae belong to her.

In our case, good hedges make good neighbors. I can't say that our boundary lines on either side "collide" with those of our neighbors. I'm glad to say that they're relatively harmonious, like our relationships with the neighbors themselves. Do your boundary lines say anything about the relationships with your neighbors?

Unbelievable as it seems to me, I started this blog a year ago today. On that date, we'd been in our current house for two years. I'd been reflecting on the changes I'd made to the garden within that period, as well as pondering what else I wanted to do to make the garden mine. I can't say I'd planned to write a garden blog about it, although I'd been reading lots of other peoples' blogs and I'd casually wondered what it would take to get one going. As I recall, it was raining and my husband was late getting home so I began looking at Blogger. Before I knew it, I'd set up a profile, selected a blog name and typed up my first post, which compared the experience of gardening in a tiny, shady yard which I'd started from scratch and spent 20 years turning into a personal haven (or, as some people referred to it, my own jungle) to gardening in a space a little larger than half an acre with several different microclimates and many well-established trees and plants.

I went from a house with a backyard roughly 50 feet long and less than 15 feet wide with no front yard:

To this:

A large, mostly sunny front yard

A large backyard with a view of the Los Angeles harbor

A good-sized yard on the southeast side, which became much sunnier after the removal of a 60 foot Eucalyptus tree this past February

A largely empty slate on the northeast side of the property, which I converted into a dry garden

And a difficult sloped area at the back of the property, which is still very much a work in progress

Once started, I wasn't sure if - or how - I'd keep the blog going. For one thing, it was a very difficult year on a personal level, with the loss of my mother in March, followed by the loss of my mother-in-law barely 10 weeks later, and all the related family issues that accompanied those events. I also wasn't sure I had enough to share about developments in my garden. But, a year and 160 posts later, I'm still taking photographs and writing posts. I credit this fact mostly to the support I've received from other bloggers and readers. My husband is not remotely pro-blog and has little to no interest in gardening (although he's always helpful if called upon for tough jobs). Many of my friends don't garden and those that do aren't nearly as obsessive as I am about it. In this context, I've appreciated those of you who are as crazy about plants and gardening as I am for the camaraderie, the feedback, and the willingness to share your own experience. I can't tell you how pleased I was to hear from other bloggers, some of the earliest of which were Tammy of Casa Mariposa, Louis of Parallel 49 Palms, and Sue of Idyll Haven. Jean at Jean's Garden gave me a major boost when she reviewed my blog on her site in June.

Blogging has provided me a disciplined way of chronicling developments in my garden I didn't have before. Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, sponsored by Carol at May Dreams Gardens, and Foliage Follow-up, sponsored by Pam at Digging, have helped me to create a pictorial record that I can use to assess my garden's status year-in and year-out.

From reading other blogs, I've learned a lot about plants. Loree's favorite plants meme at danger garden has been especially helpful in that regard. It not only provides me an opportunity to learn about new plants, many of which I've never even heard of, much less seen, but it has also led me to delve more deeply into the history and culture of the plants I grow in my own garden. Nan at Hayfield has provided new insights into plant combinations (and a supply of seeds too).

And Heather's wide shots meme at Xericstyle has forced me to look at the big picture, to evaluate how the plants in my garden relate to one another, and consider the overall design of my garden rather than just the never-ending accumulation of plants. Not that collecting plants for their own sake is a bad thing! Reading the posts of others with the plant acquisition "disease" has made me comfortable with my collector orientation.

I appreciate the opportunity to view your gardens and your own plant collections. Denise at A Growing Obsession and Hoover Boo at Piece of Eden have given me the opportunity to, figuratively speaking, peer over the fence into gardens subject to the same vagaries of climate as my own but there are takeaways from every garden I visit via the blogosphere.

I also appreciate the chance to virtually visit places I've always hankered to see, like the Chelsea Garden Show seen through the eyes of Mark and Gaz at Alternative Eden, the Portland Japanese Garden viewed through the lens of Scott at Rhone Street Gardens, the Coastal Maine Botanic Garden toured with Kathy of GardenBook, the Atlanta Botanical Garden viewed courtesy of Deb of Deb's Garden, and the US Botanic Garden visited through photos provided by Shirley of Rock-Oak-Deer. I've also enjoyed participating in expeditions led by Peter, the Outlaw Gardener and Alison of Bonney Lassie.

My thanks to all of those named above and the many authors of the other blogs I regularly read, as well as my local friends who kindly check out my blog at regular intervals. This bouquet was prepared in your honor.

Westringia fruticosa, Erysimum linifolium, Papaver nudicaule, 'Joseph's Coat' rose, and Antirrhinum majus

Happy new year! Wherever you are and whatever you're doing, I hope you're enjoying the holiday. I also hope that, once those of you in frozen zones thaw out, this will be the start of a glorious year in the garden for everyone.

Here in Southern California, it's sunny and warm. It also remains very, very dry. In fact, 2013 was the driest year recorded for Los Angeles since 1877, when record keeping began. We got just 3.6 inches (9.14 centimeters) of rain last year and there's no rain in the forecast in the near future. It's nonetheless a good day to poke about in the garden but instead I find myself sitting at my computer, looking at the pictures I've taken over the past year, evaluating what I've done and what I want to do in 2014. The biggest changes in my garden in 2013 occurred on the southeast side of the house, stemming from the removal of a 60 foot Eucalyptus tree. That one change led to the transformation of a large segment of the garden and it may trigger still more changes in 2014.

I hadn't originally planned on taking out the Eucalyptus tree. Just before Christmas in 2012, we were approached by a neighbor about removing the tree, which over time had grown to block her view of the Los Angeles harbor. After discussion with her, review of our local statute on "view conservation," and consultation with an arborist regarding the health of the tree, we agreed to cut it down. It wasn't an easy decision and I felt quite bad about it at the time but I've written about my decision-making angst before so I won't dwell on it here.

Picture of the Eucalyptus tree taken by my brother on Christmas Eve 2011

The decision to remove the tree was made in early January 2013 but, due to rain delays, the tree didn't come down until early February. It was a major production that literally took all day (which you can read about in detail here).

The side yard was left looking very bare.

I rushed to plant the vacant area. While I gave some thought to a planting plan, in retrospect I probably gave less consideration to how I wanted to use the space than I might have, focusing instead on the choice of plants that would be suitable in what had been transformed from one of the shadiest areas of our property to the sunniest.

A little over a month after the tree came down the bed that it had been occupied looked like this:

In the meantime, the plants on the other side of the pathway in the picture shown above were struggling. They'd been selected for their ability to grow in shady conditions and, while a few enjoyed the increased sun exposure, many did not. Over time, I moved some and introduced others. Photos taken in July show that the empty spaces had been filled; however, I didn't feel that the space connected well with the surrounding area.

In fact, the whole area looked chopped up to me. The grass area adjacent to the side borders hadn't recovered from the battering it received during the removal of the Eucalyptus tree and the pathway that had divided the area now looked silly coming to an abrupt end some 10 feet from the side yard patio.

So, in August, we extended the pathway to the patio and also through the existing archway to connect with another path that led down a slight slope toward an area behind the hedge along the street.

Then we elected to tear out the remainder of the grass in the side yard.

I got a little ahead of myself (as usual) and began planting the area surrounding the new pathway in early September.

I had the sense to haul in more topsoil for the main area we'd stripped of grass.

But I started planting the new space before we got around to laying more flagstone to divide the space into workable borders.

The area's slowly filling in.

Overall, despite leaping into the redesign of this area without a solid plan at the start, I'm fairly satisfied with how the side yard looks, although I already expect I'll be changing out some of my plant selections in 2014. However, the biggest issue for me now is what to do to improve the flow from the side yard into the backyard. I think I'm going to pull out more grass in the backyard, extending the planted area around the fountain along the pathway running parallel to our living room to connect with the border adjacent to the side yard patio.

The proposed change will expand the bed around the fountain from the edge of the main patio

and extend the planting area along the walkway to connect with the border in the side yard

I'm still grappling with whether to leave a wide swath of grass to serve as a pathway or tear it all out and continue the flagstone. The transition from flagstone to grass feels abrupt to me. My husband believes that I'll eventually pull out all of the grass, which is what I did at our last house. But this garden is much larger than the tiny space I gardened in before and I'm not sure that getting rid of every shred of grass is appropriate here. The grass provides a place for the eye to rest and I think this garden needs that. The idea of pulling out all the grass is also overwhelming - it would require an investment of time and money I'm not sure we're prepared to make all at once. So, while I want to keep the big picture in mind and factor how one area relates to the areas adjacent to it, I suspect that I'll continue to chip away at my garden renovation piece by piece, allowing one decision to lead to another and then to another...

Do you plan any major overhauls to your garden in 2014?

I've got a belated new year's lunch with friends to get to but I didn't want to miss posting my favorite plant this week. It's the grass-like evergreen Lomandra longifolia 'Breeze' (aka dwarf mat rush). This plant has performed admirably in my garden since I planted 3 in the fall of 2012. In fact, I've been looking to purchase more and have held off only because I can't find it in anything smaller than a 1-gallon size.

My photos don't do it justice. The foliage is a bright emerald green. It produces yellow flowers in summer, which reportedly have a honey scent - next summer, I'll have to take a whiff. The attributes listed by growers are impressive to say the least:

Suitable in full sun to partial shade (mine did fine in a mostly shade situation but adapted without difficulty when that became a mostly sun situation after the removal of the nearby Eucalyptus tree)
Drought tolerant once established but, according to San Marcos Growers, it can also handle wet soil
Performed well in tests with irrigation involving both saline water and reclaimed water
Accepting of clay and sandy soil
Winter hardy to 15-20 degrees Fahrenheit (reportedly unscathed by temperatures dipping to 16F in the Atlanta, GA area)
Evergreen in USDA zones 8-11 and perennial in zones 7-11
Successfully grown under Eucalyptus trees (where, I can testify, it's hard to grow anything)
Deer tolerant
Suitable for use singly or in mass plantings

What more could you want from a plant? This Australian native grows 2-4 feet tall and wide (mine are currently about 2x2 feet in size). After reading more about it, I think I may have to plunk down cash for the 1-gallon size and try it on my back slope.

Lomandra longifolia 'Breeze' is my contribution to Loree's favorites meme at danger garden. Please check her site for her favorite and those selected by other bloggers.

Tongva Park

Fragile Fall Bouquet

Favorite plant of the week: Erysimum linifolium 'Variegatum'

Botanical Doppelgängers

Succulents Galore!

The Beginning of Winter in Southern California

Wide Shots - December 2013

My favorite plant this week: Grevillea 'Superb'

Walking with Ming

Neighborhood Stroll II

My favorite plant this week: Melaleuca thymifolia

Bloom Day - December 2013

Foliage Follow-up - December 2013

Favorite plant of the week: Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt'

Holiday Shopping

Walking with Ming II

Boundary Lines

My first blogversary

Time for Reflection

My favorite plant this week: Lomandra longifolia 'Breeze'