Friday, December 7, 2012

A sunny December day in the garden…


Wednesday was a glorious (rare) sunny day with a lovely blue sky. Heck the temperature wasn't even bad, just a t-shirt and jeans with a sweatshirt over and I wasn't even cold. So can you guess what my first order of business was? I severely cut back the Creeping Wire Vine from Monday’s post. You all scared me into action, thank you! Notice I didn't say I dug it out, I’ll leave that for spring (right now it just looks too nice to get rid of in favor of bare soil). I did however cut back all the long parts and bits encroaching on other plants. In the process I learned that indeed it does root in places where the “creeping” stems touch the ground. Be afraid…be VERY afraid.

So with that chore done I wasn't ready to go back inside quite yet (even though I had a list a mile long of things that needed doing). So I grabbed the camera and lingered a little longer…soaking up the sun and getting that warm “all is right with the world” feeling that you can only get when you’re happy in the garden. It had been too long…

The leaves on the Callistemon 'Clemson' were very fragrant, the sun seemed to be warming them and releasing their scent. It was lovely.

The "Echium that ate my garden" lives on, this is the arm that didn't bloom last summer. It's roughly doubled in size, if it makes it through winter I imagine there will be a huge bloom come May. Oh and it's sprouted a coulple of arms of it's own.

I'd really like to have Sammy (the Yucca rostrata behind the Echium) be the star of the garden again. But as long as this thing keeps going I'm going to let it.

I can't believe this Clianthus puniceus (from Annie's) was just a small 4" container when it went in the ground last spring. It's almost 4 ft tall now. Unfortunately it only has two stems but they are starting to branch, it's an awkward shaped thing but I love it.

Euphorbia stygiana

Love the Loquat!

The silver leaves are the underside of the Banksia marginata...

Rubus lineatus

Love those pleated leaves!

The Tetrapanax is inching ever closer to blooming. It's a race with Mother Nature to see who will when! So far no threats of freezing in the forecast (and it's December!)...

I climbed up on the side of the stock tank to get a closer look at the buds and was able to look into the cut we made after the winter of 2010/11 knocked it back to a new growing point (two actually)...

All that brown fuzz (indumentum), don't get it in your eyes!

The shade pavilion greenhouse glows with the lower angle of the sun...

All the better for the plants inside!

Horse-tail rush (Equisetum hyemale) glows pretty nicely too.

I finally pulled a couple of the plants from the stock-tank pond in hopes of over wintering them.

The Colocasia had a baby!

Here's one of my original Yucca 'Bright Star' it was down to just a couple of leaves when I planted it in this small container. It' managed to work it's way back over the summer...

See those two tiny little plants in the lower left hand corner of the photo below?

Here's a close-up. The Yucca 'Bright Star' that I planted here died and then these appeared. Haven't grown a bit since that day in May of 2011...that's my less than successful history with Y. 'Bright Star'...so I guess technically I haven't had any die on me. Just shrink.

With that I take my camera and go inside. I think I have spring fever.

34 comments:

  1. You have so many choice plants I don't even know where to start saying nice things about (but its all in the skill of gardener isn't it? :)) so lucky to have such a fine day in December! Here we've had snow already!

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    1. Thank you...I don't know about skill, I am lucky in that I've got such great nursery resources here in Oregon and a husband who doesn't mind me spending money on plants!

      I saw that picture of snow on your Cycad...yuck!

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  2. Shrinking plants, too cute. I'm jealous of your sunny Wednesday in the garden. With the time change and the shorter days, I'm a weekend warrior again for a while.

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    1. I am sorry...I hope we get a nice sunny weekend day sometime soon so you can enjoy it too!

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  3. Those plants look like they're rejoicing at the emerged sun...esp that Y. rostrata!

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    1. Indeed...the agaves were especially happy. I took pictures of those too but that's for another post.

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  4. Your garden looks stunning even at what is supposed to be the "ugliest" time of year!

    I loved seeing your Clianthus puniceus. I, too, bought a 4" plant from Annie's. I moved it to a 1-gallon pot and it's about 2 ft. tall now. I'm still looking for a permanent spot...

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    1. Thank you Gerhard, for me the ugliest is January...

      You're smart to wait to put the Clianthus in the ground until you've got just the spot. Me? I couldn't wait!

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  5. oooh ...I missed that creeping wire post! As you know I have it surrounding my pond. And yes, It is creeping and rooting itself freely. At the moment I done't mind because its in an open gravely area. I'll be keeping an eye on it though ...I've had the bishops weed invasion already.

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    1. To tell you the truth I had forgotten about yours, but now that you mention it I remember! That seems the perfect spot actually. And best of all it didn't seem to mind Rosie and Mickey's lounging on it at all.

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  6. Tetrapanax dust is painful indeed, tidied mine up the other day and got a face full. Ouch! When possible, I love sunshine and gardening in the depths of winter. December hasn't been all that bad for us either. Lots of rain but sunny days in between.

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    1. Yes I think anyone who has made that mistake will remember it and not do it again. I inhaled a bunch of it and thought I wasn't ever going to ever stop coughing. Probably wasn't the healthiest thing to have done.

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  7. Your garden looks luscious!!!! I love it. That is such a snazzy echium, but don't worry Sammy is still the star in my eyes.

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    1. "snazzy" there's a word I don't use nearly enough, thank you!

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  8. Yes! It was nice and sunny and dry here that day too. Back to gray and wet now. :(

    Great picture of Mother Colocasia and her baby. They both look sort of alien.

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    1. I couldn't believe it when I pulled mama out of the tank and that umbilical cord just kept coming. I wish it were warm enough over the next few months to see exactly what they would have turned into!

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  9. See that little "almost a baby" in front of the Colocasia "youngster"? Even though it doesn't have leaves yet, my experience is that you can cut it off (with a few inches of stem), pot it up, and it will grow into a plant. So you have two babies!

    Actually, you may be able to cut that super long umbilical cord attached to the small plant into sections and have each form a little plant too.

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    1. You're going to think me lame. I saw that and I figured that's what it was but I didn't pot it up. Stupid huh? I should have. It wouldn't have taken anything to stick it in the same pot with the other one...

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  10. The sun is so welcome this time of year and your plants look wonderful lit by those low rays. I'm rooting for the Tetrapanax blooms to happen: maybe they'll be ready for December Bloom Day!

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    1. Wouldn't that be lovely! Especially since I have nothing else to offer on bloomday but the same cast as last time.

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  11. You made good use of that sunny day! From what I hear, we might have another one coming up on the weekend...Yay!

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    1. Hopefully...this weekend is "clean the gutters" time. I task that is already unpleasant even without bad weather. A little sun might actually make it okay.

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  12. I love unexpected mild winter days. Especially when they land on a weekend so I can make the most of them. Fortunately I don't think that wire vine grows around here but if I see it I'll be sure to pass.

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    1. Smart lady (the wire vine), be careful though. If you stand still too long it just might reach out and grab you.

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  13. You have loads of striking plants. Love the Yucca rostrata and Echium combo. What is the name of the first palm pictured? I have one and would love an ID

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    1. Hi Nicole, it's a Trachycarpus fortunei (http://plantlust.com/plants/trachycarpus-fortunei)

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  14. Ciao, veramente un bel blog! Complimenti!
    Lo seguiò con piacere :)

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  15. I could gorge on loquat fruit day in and day out!

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    1. Really? I thought I'd read that it was pretty bad. Mine haven't even flowered so no fruit here...

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    2. It tastes similar to and has the texture of an apricot, but the pit does account for nearly 50% of the fruit. At least they are very easy to remove.

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  16. I guess the blazing hot brutally dry conditions I gave 'Bright Star' were the right conditions after all. Hoping for an offset someday.

    Enjoy that beautiful sunshine...or is it already gone?

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  17. Hey there! I know this is somewhat off topic but I was wondering
    if you knew where I could find a captcha plugin for my comment form?

    I'm using the same blog platform as yours and I'm having trouble finding one?
    Thanks a lot!

    ReplyDelete

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