Monday, July 2, 2018

The Opuntia house

It was a cloudy morning as I headed out to run some errands. My route took me past this house, and garden, as it does several times each week. This time though, I stopped...

The combination of blooming Yucca and artichoke foliage is a good one, and those artichokes themselves look pretty fabulous...

My common Yuccas are blooming too. Perhaps I need to put them in a vase? (I've really been neglecting the In a Vase on Monday meme)

I would love a few of these to put in a vase!

I've never noticed the Alstroemeria, it pays to view a garden from the sidewalk rather than behind a steering wheel.


Ah the joys of gardening under an Albizia julibrissin! Poor Sempervivum...

I've also never spotted the Peony. That makes this another garden for my "Peonies and Optunia" collection. My friend Andrew Keys mentioned Opuntia flowers as a substitute when you can't grow Peonies, in his book "Why Grow that When You Can Grow This?" I remember the gasp the audience let out when he referenced the pair at the NWFG Show years ago. I've always loved the comparison, especially since more than one visitor to my garden has expressed disdain that I have them growing less than two feet away from each other "those don't belong in the same garden!"... what can I say...

So this is why it's been dubbed "the Opuntia house"...

Isn't that an absolutely flawless clump of Opuntia? Some flowering, some already forming fruit. Andrew (my Andrew, not Keys) feels this is the "ultimate" in Portland Opuntia growing, his commute used to take him by here and if traffic was backed up, he might end up staring at it for several minutes.

I would love to see what it looks like from the front porch. I wonder if the mailman has ever dropped a piece of mail in there?

More Yucca, leaning. I had to tie one of mine up yesterday, it had made the sidewalk impassable.

They're such beautiful flowers.

One last look at the Opuntia.

Before I take my leave. Oh! I should point out the blooming Sedum too, it's the white "snow" on the ground.

Soon to be replaced by pink snow, when those Albizia buds open and their pink-puffballs have a moment in the sun, before falling to the ground.

Weather Diary, July 1: Hi 77, Low 58/ Precip 0

All material © 2009-2018 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

26 comments:

  1. Do love the way you can drive around your area and there are so many properties you can with very interesting gardens, spoilt for choice! Opuntias and peonies make for an interesting combination, throw away the rule books...

    Btw, was just thinking how gorgeous yucca flowers are as I admire our recurvifolia currently in bloom. I don't mind that blooming away but prefer not to see them on your blue leafed yuccas in our garden at least.

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    1. No denying that Portland has an amazing gardening culture, but I would counter that you can find a garden (or at least a plant collection) worth photographing just about anywhere. I challenged myself to find something worth stopping to photograph in a "not so nice" part of Las Cruces, NM, recently. And came up with a few Instagram worthy photos.

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  2. Does it take any particular care to get Opuntia to bloom? I still have the two pads you sent me several years ago, now grown larger, but they've never bloomed, they just keep making more pads every year, one or two each year.I wonder if I should fertilize them. Do you know what Sedum that is? I like the white flowers.

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    1. I really have no idea what kicks an Opuntia into flowering, besides (I'm guessing) sun and heat. I've never fertilized mine. I don't know the Sedum's name, but its flowers look like the white "haze" that a Sedum from my garden in Spokane produced. A few plants (which have multiplied) hitched a ride here with plants from that garden...I'd be happy to give you some.

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  3. I.love.these type.of.posts, but admit that I'm scared to stop.my car and take.pictures of a stranger's house. Everyone on Nextdoor would get all bent out of shape about how I'm casing the house to rob it.

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    1. In all my years (9!) of photographing gardens from the sidewalk I've only had one person question my motives. I do have a couple "business" cards in my wallet, so I can back up the story of photographing for a garden blog, should proof be needed.

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  4. Well this year is an amazing year for opuntia flowers in Austin. I'm sure it is a complicated combination of rain, cold, sun and heat. Who knows what the combination is. I was expecting an incredible crop of tunas on mine but they are shriveling. Were there too many to bear? Was pollination not complete? Did it get too hot too quickly? Did we not have enough rain? I saw plenty of beetles rolling around in the flowers. But we have been unusually hot. All of thee have a bearing on whether they flower and fruit and we just have to go with the flow. My yuccas bloom but never set seed and I read somewhere that it has to do with the pollinator being missing. It is a certain kind of moth. Still we can enjoy the blooms and you can enjoy the drive by of that garden. Do you know if they are active gardeners?

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    1. The only place I've ever seen Yucca seed pods is in New Mexico, and I got to see the Yucca moth at work too. Thankfully they go on flowering up here, even with no hope of pollination. I have never seen the homeowners out in the garden working, but this looks to be a personal garden, not a "check-book" garden, so I have to think they're out there on occasion.

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  5. I don't know if I could let artichokes bloom, I'd be too tempted to cut the buds to eat - yum!

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    1. I think I could, but then again who knows! I don't have room for such a stately giant.

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  6. Those Opuntias are lovely! I used to not like them but after seeing so many really stunning specimenss in Palm Springs I now have an appreciation for the entire genus. I've been meaning to tell you there's a stunning Opuntia hedge near me, on SE 55th just south of Johnson Creek, which I think you'd appreciate.

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    1. I'm glad you've come over to the prickly side! And thanks for the tip, I hope to check it out sometime.

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  7. Opuntia make good substitute for a guard dog; no one in their right mind would contemplate scaling that balcony. I'm envious of anyone who can grow cardoon, it makes for an impressive display every summer. Not sure if its the same as artichoke or not but both have those magnificent leafs.

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    1. Cardoon leaves are better IMO -- slightly less spiky. Both great though!

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    2. On a Cardoon it's the leaves you eat, right? Makes sense they'd be less spiky...

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  8. Hmm. So maybe I should give up my despair at my failure with peonies and plant Opuntia? That actually makes some sense. I've let my artichokes on the back slope bloom this year but I think even they want more water than they're getting.

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    1. I posted an Opuntia bloom on Instagram, several people thought it was a Peony!

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  9. Why didn't these get crushed (toppled?) by your snow/ice? I envy those who can grow opuntia that are taller than 2 pads high! (stupid climate...)

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    1. I think their position, next to the house, had to help a bit, but ya...that's Andrew's fascination with this clump, that it's so tall. My tallest plant is currently 5 pads tall.

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  10. I can't believe how far behind my yuccas are compared to Portland. Mine might start opening with these next few warmer days. That is an impressive patch of Opuntia! My ellisiana is growing 3 new pads this year, causing big excitement after only making one last year (3 times as exciting, in fact).

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    1. 3 times the excitement! How do you stand it? Interesting your Yucca are so behind. Mine are definitely at peak right now.

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    2. The days here have been significantly cooler than in Portland, with many days at least 5 degrees cooler here. I also think mine are a little different from the common form around Portland. They have wider leaves and don't seem as densely clumping.

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  11. That's an impressive clump of opuntia for sure! You find the coolest gardens!

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  12. Hi Loree. I've been enjoying your blog for some time now, as well as most the blogs of those who comment here. (And like you, I once gardened in Spokane). The sedum is Sedum album, a favorite of mine.

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    1. Thank you for the name! And for reading.

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