The lath house's summer spruce-up

Despite predictions that our morning marine layer is doomed to fall prey to climate change, it remains intact for now.  Visitors to coastal Southern California may be disappointed by our gray morning skies in May and June but most locals appreciate the value of nature's own air conditioning system.  However, the condition rarely extends into July and August so it's just a matter of time until the heat is on.  With that in mind this week, I dusted off and installed the sun shades designed to protect the shade plants in my lath house from the intense summer sun.

My husband built the shades to exactly fit the interior area of the lath house on its west and south sides.  (He built the lath house for me as a Christmas present in 2017.)  Installing each shade requires me to take out all the plants that line the interior shelves.  It's a cumbersome process but it gives me an opportunity to sweep the area clean twice a year (i.e. when the shades go up and when they come back down in late fall).

Exterior view of the structure with the shades now in place, photographed from the upper level of the front garden looking down

Once again, I neglected to take any "before" photos but here are some "after" shots:

My husband imprinted the location for each shade in its wood frame (e.g. "South Middle") to help with placement.  There are 2 large shades for the interior roof of the structure too but I don't usually put those up unless there's a stretch of extreme heat.

West wall of plants, photographed from the window on the structure's east side

View from the window on the north side

Here are a couple of shots taken from inside the structure:

This shows the 2 shelves along the south wall.  The top shelf houses orchids.  The 3 plants hanging from the edge of the top shelf are orchid cactus (Epiphyllums)

This is a closer view of the plants on the shelves on the west side.  The Hoyas on the top shelf are all looking pale, although they're developing flowers.  Hopefully the cactus fertilizer I gave them will provide them a boost.

In addition to sweeping the shelves and the floor of dust and debris, I watered, primped and fertilized the plants that needed that.  For some reason, I thought that would be easier to photograph individual plants once the shades were up but I was wrong.  My camera struggled to focus on the plants with the shades behind them so I'll share only a handful of closeups.

This is the only one of the 3 Epiphyllums to ever bloom, E. oxypetalum 'Queen of the Night'.  It has a single bud at the moment.  True to its name, it blooms only at night so catching it at the right time is a challenge.

This is a terrestrial bromeliad, Orthophytum gurkenii.  I picked it up at a Sherman Gardens' plant sale last year.  It's foliage markings are looking faded but it's produced a bloom spike.  If you look closely at the photo on the right you can see one of its tiny white flowers.

Formerly known as Epiphyllum anguliger, the fishbone cactus on the left is now classified as Disocactus anguliger.  It hasn't bloomed yet but it's produced a lot of new foliage in the past year.  The plant on the right is Lepismium cruciforme, an epiphytic cactus I picked up at South Coast Botanic Garden's recent plant sale.

My ornamental begonias struggled last year, although these 2 are doing well (or better than my sad fuchsias anyway).  I've no ID for the one on the left.  The one on the right is 'Bundy Plum'.

So far, the Tillandsias I mounted on a grapevine cut from my garden last year are doing okay.  I've given up soaking those I wired in place in favor of misting them.  I've no ID for the delicate Tillandsia on the bottom left but the next 2 are T. 'Spirit' and T. xerographica.

I added a few plants to replace those that had seen better days as well.

Anthurium 'Maine' (upper left) replaced an ornamental begonia that withered away.  I squeezed in the Hoya macrophylla 'Variegata' on the upper right.  I planted Kalanchoes and coleus (Plectranthus scutellarioides) in 2 narrow sections of soil surrounding the structure's cement flagstone floor.

The plants immediately outside the lath house didn't need anything at the moment but a little water.

The window boxes on the east and north sides of lath house are now filled with succulents

This collection of pots, almost all of which contain succulents, has gotten a little out of hand

This group of pots on the lath house's east side get partial shade.  The 2 pots containing Billbergia were looking sad several months ago in full sun but they appear to be recovering now.  There are 3 Fuchsias here but I'm not sure any of them will amount to much.  I really can't seem to grow Fuchsias here at all.

The best looking plant outside was this one, which is actually growing from the edge of the dry stacked stone wall bordering the slope.

Oscularia deltoides flowers like clockwork as spring turns to summer.  My original plant was grown from a tiny cutting I (literally) pinched 10+ years ago.  I've got at least 4 clumps like this now.

That's it from me this week.  Best wishes for a pleasant weekend.

All material © 2012-2022by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party