Fall is the best time to plant in our climate and, although the thermostat turned up again this week with the arrival of our moisture-sucking
Santa Ana winds, I've been moving ahead with my own planting plans, aided in part by friends in the social media sphere.
About 2 months ago I left a comment for Tamara of
Chickadee Gardens expressing admiration of her
Callistemon viridiflorus, a plant I've been searching for, quite literally, for years. At one point, I made contact with a mail order nursery about purchasing the plant but, after exchanging a couple of messages, I got no further response. I consulted a Southern California nursery specializing in Australian natives but they weren't carrying the plant so I bought another species that reportedly produces green flowers 50% of the time and red flowers 50% of the time. After more than 2 years, it still hadn't produced a single flower, green or red, and I gave up on it. To my surprise, in response to my comments on her blog, Tamara offered to find the plant for me and she did! It arrived earlier this week.
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| You can see what it will look like when mature here |
I planted it the very same day (with a little help from my husband in digging a good hole to give it the best possible start).
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| Here's the Callistemon in its selected spot, formerly occupied by a Grevillea lavandulcea that went into decline last year. I'm going to add a ground cover around it while it settles in and gains size. |
Tamara's delivery was followed 3 days later by another box of goodies, from a party who wishes to remain unidentified.
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| I was surprised by the size of the box as I was expecting a few small pups |
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| On the left is Billbergia marmorata 'Tim Plowman', which I've been trying to hunt down for more than a year after seeing it at Sherman Gardens. On the right are 2 pups of Mangave 'Kaleidoscope', the largest of which was as big or bigger than the plant I'd previously mail-ordered from a major nursery. |
I promptly planted those as well. Our Santa Ana winds make me feel as though I'm being mummified alive so I can only imagine the impact on plants and I didn't want to risk their health by dawdling.
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| The Billbergia went into the bromeliad bed I created last year |
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| The larger of the 2 Mangave pups went into this bed directly across from the entrance to my lath (shade) house |
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| The second pup was situated near my original plant in the succulent bed I renovated a year ago |
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| While I was fussing with my decision on the second pup's placement, this little fellow showed up, seemingly ready to add his input |
In addition to these wonderful plants, I picked up several on my own at the fall plant sale at
South Coast Botanic Garden.
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| While the fall sale has been scaled back in recent years, they still had a good selection. I picked up 3 plants when I attended the official sale last Saturday with a friend and then 2 more when I made a trip back to the garden to attend a meeting on Monday morning. |
I got all 5 of these plants tucked in this week too, although 2 of them went into pots.
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| This is Aloe vanbalenii x striata, which I planted in the succulent bed on my front slope. I love the color but I've no idea of its mature size. I previously picked up an Aloe vanbalenii x ferox hybrid at another SCBG sale and it's done well in my garden thus far. |
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| This is Hypoestes aristata (aka ribbon bush). I had a splendid specimen of this plant in my former garden but I've had poorer results with it in my current garden. I'm hoping this one finds this particular spot in my front garden to its liking. You can get a look at its flowers here. |
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| This is a noID Plumeria (aka frangipani). I don't even know what color flowers it'll produce. I've killed a number of these plants but I've seen them growing in gardens in the surrounding area so I remain hopeful. I think my biggest challenge will be to get the watering schedule right. |
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| This is Psoralea pinnata (aka the kool-aid bush because its flowers are supposed to smell like grape kool-aid). A neighbor I ran into at the SCBG sale told me this plant has done well in her garden. You can see it in bloom here. |
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| This Tillandsia wasn't labeled at all. My best guess is that it may be T. fasciculata, although the foliage color doesn't look quite right when compared to specimens shown on-line. I stuck the plant in a pot with some bark nuggets for now but the plant is ready to divide and I may break it apart once it's finished blooming. |
I've recently done a bit of work in my front garden too.
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| I added Grevillea 'Ned Kelly' and Leucadendron 'Jubilee Crown' to this bed in the front garden a few weeks ago. Last weekend I added Alternanthera 'Joseph's Coat', Gaillardia aristata 'Amber Wheels', and 3 Cordyline 'Renegade' to fill in around those plants. The Gaillardia and Cordyline were marked down 50% when I found them so I figured I couldn't lose. |
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| This is a closer look at the plants on the left end of the bed. I think I'm going to add more Alternanthera as ground cover and bark mulch to accent the dark Cordyline. |
Every once in awhile I wonder if I'm getting carried away buying new plants. But somehow it always seems there's room for something more. This week I realized that I'm going to be needing at least a couple of new plants for the succulent bed facing the street.
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| Both of the Agave desmettiana 'Variegata' in this bed are preparing to bloom |
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| Once they bloom, I may have lots of bulbils but I'll also have 2 large holes |
We have one more day of very warm temperatures and dry air before our weather improves. For those of you in Central Texas, I hope the rain has abated and your area is spared any further flooding. Best wishes for the weekend.
All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
