Even in coastal Southern California, January is not a particularly exciting time of year in the garden. I've got holes to fill all over my garden. While I've ideas in mind for at least some areas, I know that the shelves of local garden centers tend to be relatively bare at this time of year. I nevertheless paid a visit to my local store hoping to find inspiration to fill the empty half-barrel my husband bought me as a Christmas present. Unfortunately, I found little that appealed to me.
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| The shelves really were quite bare |
Rather than go home empty-handed, I selected seasonal plants as temporary fillers.
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| The barrel sits in the front garden in a bed partially covered by the canopy of our Magnolia tree so it's in partial shade. The bed has a variety of foundation shrubs and the soil is so riddled with roots I've found it difficult to establish anything in the bare area around them. |
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| I filled the barrel with packaged soil, planting mix, and pumice to improve drainage. I planted Pericallis 'Senetti Violet Bi-color', Calibrachoa 'Cabaret Sky Blue', and Viola 'Penny Peach Jump-up'. |
I'd hoped to see a new flowers popping up in my garden on their own following the heavy rain we had during the early part of the month but the reality is they're creeping in all so slowly. It hasn't been warm enough yet to get things moving quickly in spring's direction.
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| Recent arrivals include: Top row - Arctotis 'Pink Sugar' and Echium handiense (propagated from cuttings) Middle row - noID paperwhite Narcissus Bottom row - Senna artemisioides and what I think is Narcissus 'Geranium' |
Unlike my perennials and bulbs, some things are moving along at a quicker pace.
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| The bloom stalk of my largest Agave 'Blue Glow' grows taller by the day and is now nearly straight |
My thanks to all who offered good wishes for my cat's recovery. We still have to look at the potentially serious issues underlying the sudden onset of her medical distress last week but, at least for now, she's stabilized and seemingly much more comfortable than she was.
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| She still likes to find a pool of sun to bask in and, because she had trouble jumping onto surfaces, like her favorite sleeping area at the foot of our bed, my husband built her a ramp out of cardboard and leftover carpet. Her aim has improved when jumping but she's still using the ramp on occasion. |
As this post is already a hodge-podge of topics, I'll throw in another photo of the view from my back garden at dawn on Sunday to brighten your day.
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| View looking northeast from our back garden |
Best wishes for a happy hump day!
All material © 2012-2023by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party