In a Vase on Monday: collapse

No matter what local weather forecast I looked at (and believe me, they vary widely) it was guaranteed the temperatures were soon dropping lower than what was safe for leaving non-hardy succulents outside, and so I grabbed these succulent dish planters to escort them into the basement. That's when the large echeveria in the lower right hand corner fell out of the soil and into my bent elbow where it collapsed into a very pretty mess of stems and leaves.

What's a gardener to do? I put them in a vase.

A very heavy vase that is, the work of artist Claire Bansfield, aka apotspot who works in cast stone.

Unfortunately (fortunately?) this is the time of plant abundance—some people harvest flowers or vegetables, I harvest plants, bringing them indoors to safety—so I didn't have a great place to put this vase of succulent beauty. It just got shoved in front of the gas fireplace logs that we can't use because of all the plants...

It looks great there, even if it's not getting the spotlight it really deserves.

I would have put it on the mantle, but it's full...

With plants and just a few Halloween decorations, like this vintage paper owl...

And the black skull. Everyone needs a heavy metal skull this time of year...

Weather Diary, Oct 25: Hi 48, Low 35/ Precip 0 

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

For a moment I was in SoCal...

Driving home one afternoon I suddenly got it in my head to do a take a quick detour past a garden I've visited a few times. Wowsa!

Will you take a look at that Agave americana 'Variegata'!

I'm not sure when it was I last drove by this garden, but things were not nearly this heavily planted on the back slope. Way back in 2015 the owners, Dale and Marilyn Latham, invited my then plant lust partner Patricia and I over for a look see and discussion (blog post here) about exactly what they might do on that extremely steep bit of land. Here's an image of what it looked like then, I'd say they've made some serious progress!

Since I was there I decided to drive around to the front of the property and take a look. My first visit to this garden—in 2013—was so stunning I figured it was probably worth checking out. I was not disappointed.

Not many Portlanders have a sago palm (Cycad) this large in their front yard.

I appreciate their steps to camouflage the plastic pot by wrapping it with burlap.

Isn't this extraordinary!?

Aloe marlothii

That's a sizable street-side container collection. 

Nice to see there are still aeoniums.

A sibling Agave americana 'Variegata' to the one on the back slope.

So many good things! 

Surely you can understand why I might have been thinking I'd taken a step through some strange (but welcome) travel portal and ended up in SoCal? And to think most of these plants are lifted and moved in the winter. Makes my efforts look like amateur hour.

Seriously amazing... 

A row of flawless Agave attenuata at the back, Agave multifilifera in the lower right hand corner. Dale if you're reading this your garden continues to impress!

Weather Diary, Aug 20: Hi 84, Low 64/ Precip 0

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

Gardening under lights

The weekend before last I spent with my friends Erin and Matt up in Seattle. I've known these two since, oh 1994? Good lord, that's almost 25 years!? I must be figuring wrong (quick math and I realize no, I'm not figuring wrong, I'm just old). Anyway...since I had last visited (Nov 2017) Matt has become a little obsessed with succulents. I'd gotten email updates from Erin but this was my first chance to actually see the collection in person, they did not disappoint...

Mangave 'Bloodspot'

Since the wet season in the PNW was fast approaching these all had returned to the house, I understand many of them summered outdoors, on the patio (sounds familiar).

Mangave 'Lavender Lady'

Echeveria subrigida

Echeveria 'Autumn Flame'

Matt has bought a few of these plants in person, but many of them have been mail-ordered. I'm in awe of how good they look. I asked if he has any recommendations, a vendor he really likes, Leaf & Clay fits that bill. He's had mixed results with plants from Esty and Ebay, but Leaf & Clay ships quality plants well. Of course I should also share that he said some best purchases he's made came from Etsy and Ebay so you never know.

Agave 'Blue Ember'

This one was bought as Aloe striata, but Matt says he wonders if that's actually correct. I don't currently have A. striata but I remember when I did the small (immature) plants didn't look quite like this. Whatever this is though, it's beautiful.

Prior to becoming a succulent-lover Matt raised and bred reptiles. Their exacting needs prepped him well for taking care of plants. I'm in awe of how well tended everything is. My poor plants only wish they might be treated this well.

Haworthia venosa tessellata, in the front there. Look at those reptile-like scales and that color! (I did find this one on Leaf & Clay, but it's green, not that fabulously stressed color)

Here's where I should admit the title of this post was unintentionally borrowed from a Timber Press book Gardening Under Lights: The Complete Guide for Indoor Growers, by Leslie F. Halleck. I haven't read it — I don't think my brain has the room to absorb the details — but Matt has obviously researched lighting and made some beautiful choices.

There were a few plants I briefly considered packing up in my bag before I headed for home...

Echeveria 'Blue Heron' (variegated) was one of them...wow!

This little guy had a similar "wow" factor going on, but then I wondered if what I initially thought was variegation might actually be sunburn? I didn't ask...but lord knows it's happened to my plants more often than I care to admit.

This, like so many of the plants, perfection!

Echeveria 'Afterglow' (I have a horrible memory of friends who'd had a little too much to drink rubbing the powdery glow off my 'Afterglow'...)

This small table and light combo is where it all started, just a year ago. How the collection has grown...(I wonder what the next year will bring?).

One more cutie before we leave the plant room, Canis domesticus 'Lucy'...

A few of the early plants have gotten kicked out from under the lights and made a home on window sills around the house.

Crassula "Moonglow"

These stylish matching pots were traded in for the terracotta you saw earlier.

Glazed pots keep the soil so much wetter, I often wonder how much happier my plants would be if I'd never said "au revoir" to terracotta?

Since we're here I wanted to share a couple of phone-photos from Erin's garden. My basement green-wall was still forefront in my mind when I saw this bamboo screen and the Cotoneaster growing through it. Doesn't it look like a few really green Tillandsia were mounted on the screen? And check out that monster huge Eucomis flower...

Out in the front garden the Eupatorium capillifolium 'Elegant Feather' is looking elegant indeed, and the Yucca aloifolia 'Purpurea' brings out the purple tones in the Eupatorium's blooms.

And check this out! PKW's be damned (*), those are some fabulous Halloween-esque seed pods from what must have been spectacular summer Phormium flowers...

*PKW = Phormium Killing Winter, the years 2008/09 and 2009/10 when virtually every Phormium in the PNW melted into a rotting clump. The years 2013/14 and 2016/17 were similar. Phrase coined by The Outlaw Gardener and not yet copyrighted.

Weather Diary, Oct 29: Hi 58, Low 46/ Precip .05"

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