Andrew's Top Ten (Today)

After reading the July 2nd post "My Favorite Flowers: A Post By Facilities Manager"—over on the blog Chickadee Gardens—in which Tamara's husband, David, selected his favorite flowers, I asked Andrew if he would consider doing something similar. What, I wondered, would he chose as his favorites? He was able to chose from all the plants in the garden, not just the flowers, because there just aren't that many flowers in our garden! He pointed, I snapped photos, and he made notes about what qualified it as a favorite...

Manzanitas/arctostaphylos, he pointed at A. x 'Austin Griffiths', but said any of the three counted—I photographed Austin, with his little sister 'Monica' photobombing on the right, Andrew wrote: "Trunk color, smooth bark contrasted with cinnamon peels—plus I like how 'arctostaphylos' feels when you say it"

Opuntia species: "Flat slabs stacked at odd angles, memories of parents yard in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico"

Dasylirion wheeleri/Desert spoon

"Thin blue leaves with sharp teeth, domed crown—produces sotol"

Echium wildpretii

"Fuzzy leaf, fast growth to tall height and cone of 1 million blooms"

Tomatoes!  

"summer fun/sunshine for inside of me"

Aloe plicatilis, now Kumara plicatilis: "Bold trunk with giraffe-tongue leaves"

Pitcher plants/Sarracenia species

"Leaves like Dr. Seuss musical instruments"

(what are you laughing at?)

Tephrocactus

"No leaves, no trunk—drawn by a mathematician"

Corokia cotoneaster

"Hanford bonsai—thin angular with tiny tiny leaves, spaced out"

Haworthia tessellata

"Miniature, geometric, dinosaur pattern, pencil-thin bloomspike"

That's it—today at least. I'm sure if I asked him tomorrow I would get an entirely different answer.  Perennial favorites like Clifford (the Magnolia macrophylla) and Sammy (the tallest Yucca rostrata) were passed over, and I think it was a more interesting list because of it. I really enjoyed seeing what he saw, and how he saw it, as we walked around the garden—hopefully you saw something new too! This was a fun exercise that you might consider doing with your non-gardening partner.

Weather Diary, Aug 23: Hi 84, Low 58/ Precip 0

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

Magnolia laevifolia and Asarum maximum 'Ling Ling'—two favorites right now...

If I were going to resurrect my "favorite plant in the garden this week" posts (and I'm not) I'd have a hard time choosing between Magnolia laevifolia and Asarum maximum 'Ling Ling'. The magnolia seems to have put on major growth when I wasn't looking. It's almost as tall as the trachycarpus!

Pretty amazing considering it was just a little guy back in 2014...

Okay maybe not so amazing as that was six years ago. But this plant is not known as a well shaped shrub, it's awkward, kinda draping every which way. I'm happy it decided to send up a tall leader.

Here's a look at the entire plant, in the rectangular outline.

And here's what the dreamy flowers look like (photo from back in 2014), it will be another month at least before they start to appear.

Until then the furry cinnamon covered buds provide plenty of "interest," as they say.

Aren't they cute?

As for my love of Asarum maximum 'Ling Ling' it's all about the flowers right now. Do you see them below? If I told you the common name of this plant is panda faced ginger would that help?

Aren't they fun?

I grow this plant in the ground, but it's doing so much better in the "fern bowl" I put together last summer. As a bonus you don't have to lay in the ground to see the flowers, since it's slightly elevated. Photo from last May...

I think I need to buy a few more of this plant.

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

Bocconia frutescens is my favorite plant in the garden, this week...

I started my "favorite plant" feature back in 2012 because a particular plant was looking extraordinary and I wanted needed to share it with my gardening friends. Walking in the back door the other day I happened to glance at the Bocconia frutescens and realized, "damn! That plant is looking fine"... thus it's being "fav'd"...

The front of the leaves are such a bright happy green, but the backs - with their white powdery flocking - are knock-outs!

Here's what this same plant looked like in January of 2014.

It spends winter next to the back door so in case of a cold-snap I can bring it inside quickly (it's only hardy to 25F-ish). But that particular year temperatures dropped without warning and BAM! no more foliage. I was afraid the whole thing was dead and cut it back hard. It later responded with new growth but didn't look particularly nice for all of 2014 - that's probably why I never bothered to move it into the garden this year - it's spent summer by the back door.

That location meant plenty of water since the veggies grow there too. I think it likes the water along with our summer heat.

The darn thing produces copious amounts of seeds. I've had many germinate in the container itself, but have had difficulty removing them and potting them up to live on elsewhere.

If it were in the ground this native to South America would be 10-16 ft tall and 8-12 ft wide.

I'm just happy to have it alive here, in a container...

All material © 2009-2015 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

Correa backhouseana is my favorite plant in my garden (this week)

Why is this Australian fuchsia my favorite this week? Because of those great little buds, I think it might be fixing to bloom...

Funny how the words “Frost hardy at least into the mid to upper teens” sound completely different in the springtime, when summer is in the future and winter is so far away it’s not even a consideration. Read those same words in late August and it doesn’t sound like such a sure thing. I'm second guessing my decision to put it in the ground, which I did last May when I removed a strip of lawn...

It's grown a lot since then, as has the Euphorbia polychroma (and everything else in the area).
That mention of the mid to upper-teens comes from the Cistus Nursery description: "One of the largest and most frost hardy of the Australian fuschias, this 4-5' pyramidal shrub has dusty green, felted leaves replete with creamy pale undersides and is adorned with creamy flowers, ever so slightly blushed pink, from mid fall to mid spring. Frost hardy at least into the mid to upper teens °F, if not prolonged. It has been one of the most rewarding species in our garden where temperatures occasionally take a dive. All Correas make wonderful container specimens or front-porch plants that can be brought inside temporarily if temperatures plummet. Frost hardy to the bottom end of USDA zone 8."

And then there's this, from the Wiki: “Correa backhouseana is a species of flowering plant in the family Rutaceae. It is a coastal shrub, endemic to southern Australia. It grows up to 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) in height. The ovate leaves are up to 3 cm long and 2 cm wide and are glossy dark green on top and pale grey underneath. The drooping, tubular flowers are pale yellow-green to white in colour. The species was first formally described in 1834 by botanist William Jackson Hooker in The Journal of Botany. The type specimen was collected by English botanist and missionary James Backhouse at Cape Grim in Tasmania in 1833.”

Have you grown Correa backhouseana? I'd love to hear about your experiences if you have. Oh and next Friday (the last Friday of the month) is the wrap-up for any and all of your garden favorites for the month of August. Please come back then and share links/comments about plants that were the stars of your garden in the hot month of August!

All material © 2009-2015 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

Opuntia polyacantha is my favorite plant in the garden, this week…

I was out doing a bit of the ongoing winter clean-up when I noticed the Opuntia polyacantha was upright again and showing off it's beautiful spikes.

This is what it looked like back in November when we had our first cold of the season. Rather deflated.

I've got other opuntia which get the bends and never seem to snap out of it.

I proped this one up but it's still trying to lay down.

In fact one section got so heavy it popped off. Here it is rooting and waiting to be planted in the spring...

The pads planted in the container by the front door are also leaning, hopefully as spring progresses they'll come to.

I know these sad looking characters will (and as you can see I have plenty more clean up to do).

Every year the Opuntia humifusa flop and look all pathetic (a reaction to the cold) and every year they perk up and reliably bloom.

So back to this guy, my favorite plant this week...

I bought this bad boy at Cistus Nursery last February, the label reads..."Opuntia polyacantha – dark pink flowers. A Tim Harris collection from the amazingly diverse hybrid population near St. George, Utah, this is a very furry-padded creature with white and hay colored spines and cherry colored flowers in mid-spring. Vigorous, forming 2 ft clumps in only a few short years. Easy both in containers and garden with easy drainage and bright sun. Frost hardy to at least -20F, USDA zone 5."

It was just a single pad when I bought it, it's grown three more...

But wait, what's this and what does it have to do with opunita? On our way back from the Northwest Flower and Garden Show we stopped at the Ft. Lewis Army Museum just south of Tacoma. Andrew has wanted to check this out forever and the opportunity finally presented itself.

I was surprised to find an opuntia pad encased in acrylic as part of the Lewis and Clark display ...

Poor guys.

But back to my feature plant, ain't she pretty?

Any favorites in your garden this week/month? Please post about them (anytime), then come back here next Friday, the 27th, for the end-of-month favorites wrap-up and share a link...

All material © 2009-2015 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.