Friday, June 30, 2017

Ha! Will you look at that, it's the last Friday of the month...

It completely hit me out of the blue...today is the last Friday of June. How the hell did that happen? I'm supposed to post about monthly favorites today. Would have been nice if I'd actually thought about it, and maybe taken some photos in advance. Rather than running around yesterday evening and snapping poorly lit shots.

So, attempting to keep up with my own meme here are a few favorites. I chose, once again, to focus on plants that surprised me after our desperate winter...who'd have thought I'd still be finding surprises?

This is Curculigo sp. JSM, from Far Reaches Farm: "Ornamental species of unknown hardiness collected by Josh McCullough in North Vietnam. Broad pleated leaves with yellow six-petaled flowers clustered near the leaf bases. A lot of the plants coming out of the mountains there are proving hardier than thought. This would likely survive in a mild garden here but surviving and looking good are two different things. Best to treat this as the outrageous container plant that is bringing it inside for the winter. A cool sun room is fine. This carries an aspect of tremendous refinement and would cause any container designer to salivate." Doesn't look like much but honestly I thought it was dead. Happy happy. Now I have to finally get serious about moving it to a better spot.

Here's what it looked like "before"...

If you can overlook the bright photo and focus at the base of the blooming Callistemon (which is quite lovely in its own right) you'll see a Manfreda virginica. This poor thing was planted right before I left for the Garden Bloggers Fling, and then had to endure upper 90's and over 100F for two days. I am thrilled it's still alive, but this isn't the fist time it's proven how tough it is.

Here's a close up. About that toughness, last winter I stuck it in one of the driveway stock tanks. It went all deciduous on me and so when I pulled the Agaves, before winter got nasty, I forgot about it. That means it froze solid in our winter cold (mid-teens) above ground in a container. Yet it then reminded me of it's presence by sending up leaves when things warmed in the spring. A survivor! (this plant was a gift from Alan who blogs at It's Not Work It's Gardening)

Next up is another gift plant, Melianthus villosus, from Evan of The Practical Plant Geek.

I lost my Melianthus 'Antonow's Blue' this winter so I expected the same from this plant. I was wrong! (and I'm very happy about that)

This might be the biggest surprise of them all. The Agapanthus? No...

There, behind the hose...

Ha! That's a tiny piece of Passiflora 'Sunburst', a Zone 10 plant! It first appeared back in 2015. I'd dug the mother plant before winter and a bit of root stayed behind — come spring it turned into a plant. It reappeared in summer 2016 but after our cold, snowy and icy winter 2017 I thought it was dead for sure. Microclimate to the rescue! Now if it would just bloom.

In case you're wondering the mother plant successfully over wintered indoors again and has begun its summer growth sprint.

One more before we go. Arborvitae spikemoss, aka Selaginella braunii. I bought this plant in a 4" pot last fall and never got it planted. Over winter it came inside where it dried out and I thought it was dead for sure. Not! So many happy surprises. Of course there are just as many sad discoveries but we don't need to talk about them. Tell me about your favorites!

Weather Diary, June 29: Hi 82, Low 55/ Precip 0

All material © 2009-2017 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

24 comments:

  1. How did it get to be the last Friday of June already? You've sure got some tough and lovely survivors in your garden! Our winter was milder than yours and my Antonow's Blue died to the ground but has come back with vigor. Curculigo was not so fortunate as it's pot didn't make the migration and it wasn't in the ground so it's a goner. So cool about the passiflora!

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    1. That's what I'm screaming! I think my 'Antonow's Blue' was already on the downward slide before winter, it didn't have much vigor last year. Then I also (for the first time) didn't mulch it over winter and we did get rather cold.

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  2. Wow! That Curculigo is a big surprise! Sorry to hear your Antanow's Blue is toast. That's a bit surprising, too, but not in a good way. I'm glad Melianthus villosus is alive and well, though!

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    1. Like I replied to Peter, I don't think the blue Melianthus was happy going into winter. The villosus on the other hand actually looks better this year...

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  3. I'm glad you're still finding winter survival success stories! BTW, your success with passionflower vines is greater than mine in what is arguably a much more hospitable environment for them. I think the high winds that regularly whip through the garden here are my downfall in that department. I was also taken a bit by surprise when I realized that it's the last Friday of the month but, surprising even myself, I was able to come up with some solid June performers: https://krispgarden.blogspot.com/2017/06/june-favorites.html

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    1. I shared a passionflower success story but didn't talk about the 4 I lost, so there's that.

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  4. Your Passiflora 'Sunburst'gives me hope.

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  5. Love the Melianthus foliage with the Ginkgo. I'm still waiting for my Eryngium that made it through the winter and then got hit by too much rain and cold in April/May. No sign of it yet. Forgot about your meme but coincidentally posted about new favorites.

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    1. That Ginkgo is supposed to be variegated. It got some parts amputated yesterday, they're no longer cozy with each other. Which Eryngium?

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  6. Good luck with the Curculigo! Here in subtropical east Argentina the curculigos grow like weed and spread invasively if left unchecked, I had to remove them from my backyard because they threatened to take over my camellias!

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    1. One persons weed is another persons treasure...or something like that.

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  7. Pretty unbelievable how those things could pull through this past miserable winter, when so many supposedly hardier things died off. How exciting!

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    1. Right? Plants are crazy...we're even crazier for trying to control them.

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  8. I'm encouraged by your surprises, though perhaps just a tad jealous as right now I'm going through the garden wondering what unpleasant surprises await between now and September... I do love that Selaginella braunii - what a fabulous texture!
    With temps spiking at 118 just when our well pump decided to act up, my plants are proving their desert-growing capacity... or otherwise. I've been so impressed by one of my Leucophyllums that it was obviously the choice for this month's fav: https://www.smallsunnygarden.com/2017/06/30/furred-silver-leucophyllum-pruinosum-sierra-bouquet/

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    1. I can't imagine gardening through the heat you've had...and then to add in water issues...desert plants and desert gardeners are tough!

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  9. Congrats on so many unexpected winter survivors!

    The Curculigo looks like a palm seedling. I love the pleats. Ah, I see a common name for one species is "palm grass". Well, there you go.

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    1. Yes it does look like palm seedlings! I think that's one of the reasons I fell for it. Plus it gets these crazy yellow flowers right at the base, which is just plain strange (and thus cool).

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  10. That passiflora is tough! Impressed by the Manfeda too, that's quite hardy.

    I wrote about a new plant in my collection this year and it's a good one to link here as well.

    http://rockoakdeer.blogspot.com/2017/06/one-plant-different-pots.html

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    1. I look forward to checking it out, tout suite!

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  11. I Googled Passiflora 'Sunburst' because those leafs are so cool and look so different the the Passiflora I remembered my head. The flowers are striking! Did the mama plant ever flower?

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  12. Isn't it great to get all these surprises? Makes gardening feel extra rewarding :)

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  13. The Manfreda virginica should easily survive whatever your climate throws at it. Surprising plants are a big part of what makes gardening fun!

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