Tuesday, April 21, 2020

Refreshing the sunny dish planters, and other small projects...

Nothing lulls me into feeling like life is cruising along at speed normal quite like getting lost working in the garden. Thankfully the weather has been cooperating and us Portlander's have been enjoying a lengthy stretch of sunny dry weather (okay, some of us have been enjoying, others seem to think it's torture). Wouldn't you know it, the garden is completely willing to soak up all the time I give it. Never does it say "I think your work here is done, why don't you go binge watch something on Netflix or put together a sourdough starter like everyone else is doing."

First up, the latest version of these three succulent dish planters.

Here's a photo is from last September. They were looking tired as summer wore on...

But even more so after winter spent hunkered down in the basement. For example the yellowing leaves that needed to be removed, and several elongated stems.

I pulled each dish apart, deciding what was worth keeping and what I would replace.

Mangave 'Man of Steel' looked so good that it remained the centerpiece of this dish.

The two agave pups at the back are Agave lophantha 'Splendida' and a reused echeveria (I think?) from one of the other dishes balanced things out.


A new Haworthia tessellata got pride of place at the front of the planting

The long suffering Agave angustifolia 'Marginata' at the back of this planting needs to be rewarded with a larger root run, ditto for the particularly spiny Opuntia erinacea 'Browse Cherry', which went in the ground.

A nice big (new) blue echeveria now anchors this dish, maybe Echeveria imbricata?

I should have gone in the house and grabbed a real camera, the iPhone photos aren't giving the "befores" any love are they?...

Anyway, the agave shown above (a pup of unremembered origin) was still looking fabulous so it stayed as the lead in this dish...

Joined by a trio of dark aeonium...

And Haworthia pentagona.

The difference between the tired and the refreshed is significant, at least in person.

And while I'm not typically a fan of mixed container plantings I do like them here. They're elevated versions of regular in ground plantings, with the advantage of being easy to pull and overwinter, since most of what I used here is not hardy in my winter-wet, Zone 8 garden, over winter.

The Brachyglottis greyi does a great job of leaning in and surrounding the three planters, helping your eye read them as a cohesive unit.

At least that's how I see it.

What else have I been up to? Well Sammy (our oldest/largest Yucca rostrata) got a trim. The old, browning, leaves were removed to reveal a slightly taller trunk.

He and the Trachycarpus wagneriensis are oddly similar in size at the moment. The palm started out a great deal smaller and I imagine will continue growing and in next year's class photo probably be taller than Sammy.

For the next update we flash back to March 16th and our late, wet, snow. This Yucca aliofolia suffered under the weight of the snow and bent over awkwardly.

It had never been placed particularly well (photo from August 2019), right at the corner of this planting bed.

Another photo from last August...

So now, it's gone!

A pair of Eryngium proteiflorum have taken its place.

Everything feels so much more open now.

And the yucca is enjoying it's new home in the front garden. Staked until it has a chance to get some roots established.

I think it fits in much better out here...

Weather Diary, Apr 20: Hi 70, Low 43/ Precip 0

All material © 2009-2020 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

24 comments:

  1. Yay, for what you've accomplished! You're right, moving the Yucca really opened up that space and it looks good in its new spot. Cheers from NJ!
    Steve B.

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  2. Your palms are so beautiful. The growing points on two of my three were damaged by my early hard freeze last fall and I was hoping to find replacements at Cistus, but they don't have any larger ones at the moment. Currently debating if I want to keep trying to find larger ones or if I should just let the other plants in the overcrowded bed fill in. I was leaning toward the latter, but seeing your lovely palms has me reconsidering...and then I'll probably reconsider again...several times.

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    1. I'm so sorry! I love my palms, two of them came from Cistus, one from Portland Nursery. I've heard several people are happy with things they bought at Oregon Palm Nursery, although I've never been there or bought from them. They're a plant lust nursery so no doubt you already new of them.

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  3. What happened to the pittosporum that was near the yucca in the back? Very much enjoying the updates on your garden.

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    1. Good eye! I am impressed. I was going to mention it but decided not to complicate things. My original intent was to move it. The height was annoying me in that spot. But that would have meant digging close to the Lomatia tinctoria and I didn't want to risk it. So I cut the pittosporum off at about 8-10". I know...crazy right? Currently the branches are in the house in a vase and look, well, AMAZING. I did this drastic treatment with my other Pittosporum patulum and it's resprouted with many new growing points, that one was annoying because it only had one stem and it was ridiculously tall. I know this is not a long term solution, but it solved my problem for now.

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  4. The renewed dish containers are lovely! And the undoubtedly happy yucca is in the perfect location for him. I have a question about the eryngium proteiflorum. I have been searching for some for about a year or so. Where did you find yours?

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    1. They are so hard to find! These two came from Xera Plants here in Portland.

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  5. Yes, good move on the yucca! I guess I didn't really absorb the fact that the dish planters were lifted to move indoors over the winter. And that haworthia deserves pride of place!

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    1. Not all of the dish planters are moved, just these as they were intentionally planted up with non-hardy things.

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  6. I am impressed with your editing..it's one of things I never seem to get around to after just keeping up with the basic weeding, planting new stuff, etc.

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    1. I enjoy it, so I think it's a bit of a priority for me. Plus it's a great way to work in new stuff!

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  7. Love those dish planters! I bought the book Potted that features your flying saucer planters and found some old stainless steel salad bowls at a thrift store and I am planning to me make me a flying saucer trio!

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  8. You're spot on about the garden absorbing every hour you give it. The time you put into your touch ups is evident. I admire those dish planters every time I see them so don't be surprised if you see copies in my garden someday!

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    1. I hope I do, with your own spin on them of course. That's the great thing about projects like this, they look different in everyones gardens.

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  9. Your new retrofits look great. Are they growing in partial shade? Just wondering as the dishes look really shallow so would require lots of water. One of the pluses of staying home is there is plenty of time to do all the fun stuff.

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    1. They are in a little shade at the hottest part of the day, but since they're succulents they really don't requite much water.

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  10. Nice changes. Your (new) blue echeveria caught my eye right away. It's a beauty!
    I'm with you about preferring the 'normal' world in the garden to the realities of being a human right now. So less stressful hanging in the garden.

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  11. Good looking dishes, as always. I wonder if Haworthia tessellate will keep it's lovely dark color. And where did the very spiny Opuntia go? Oh, it was good choice to move the Yucca aliofolia. Both back bed and the front look better with the new placement.

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    1. I think it will, there's plenty of light for it to stay dark. The spiny opuntia is now in the planting bed behind where the bent Yucca aliofolia was removed. If you look closely you can see him!

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  12. It makes so much sense to be able to view those special plant groupings up where one can see and enjoy them.

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    1. And because they're "featured" it pays off to keep them looking good.

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