OK, I made it

Glaucium grandiflorum

Back from Mendo with lots of plants!

Matt's dad has been taking care of a load of plants for us up there, and this weekend we brought some back to plant in the garden. Some? "A whole load" is more like it. And we also brought a few items from our patio, currently undergoing a planty renovation. Here's what went in the ground:

In the middle front bed:
Aeonium "Kiwi" (3)
Aeonium canariensis (2)

In the middle back bed:
Lantana "Samantha"
Phormium "Alison Blackman"

Before...

On the terraces:
Aeonium arboreum "Zwartkop" (a dozen)
Agave americana "Lemon Lime"
Agave angustifolia variegata
Aloe "Goliath"
Aloe sp.
Graptoveria (a dozen)
Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi (3)
Kalanchoe pumila (3)
Nassella tenuissima (Mexican feather grass)
Yucca whipplei

After!

In the meantime Matt was busy in the middle back bed, rearranging some plants. After planting the Phormium "Alison Blackman" and the Lantana "Samantha" behind the Agave filifera, he removed the Echium that was there. Another Echium bites the dust - a casualty of root rot. Gah!

Next Matt moved the Cordyline "Red Star" from the corner back to the other green Cordyline in that bed, making a nice grouping, and rearranged the Aloe arborescens too. I cut back the lavender and rosemary there, and I think once we add another Cordyline and sort out the crusty-looking Opuntia and a few other items we might have a nice look going on.

Spring Rains Bring Spring Flowers



Heuchera micrantha

 I know that it can be a little dreary when it rains, but put on your boots and check out the floral display at Pennsylvania Garden. Just to name a few, in pictorial order we have flowering with Anemone coronaria, Heuchera micrantha, Ranunclus , Euphorbia , California poppies and Prunus cerasifera (fifth pic). Even the tree Dahlia is still putting out a few blooms!

So stomp in some puddles on your way to the garden and check out the flowers. There is also a new Kalanchoe blossfeldiana (also in flower!) added to the middle bed.



Anemone coronaria

Euphorbia

Kalanchoe blossfeldiana



Prunus cerasifera



California poppies



Plant profile: Kalanchoe tomentosa

Dino and Jason gave us our lovely specimen of this plant, so cute and fuzzy that I want to pet it every time I see it. "Tomentosa" means "wooly," and the plant is indeed velvety to the touch. "Kalanchoe" could mean anything, but it's one of those tricky to pronounce genera I used to mumble when people asked about it. Kallan-KO? KALLAN-cho? Ka-LANCH-o? KAL-an-sho? Finally I figured it out - future embarassment averted!
Latin name: Kalanchoe tomentosa ("ka-LAN-ko-eee toe-men-TOE-sah")
Common name: Panda Ears, Pussy's Ear
Originally from: Southern Madagascar
Blooms: Very rarely – ours is about to bloom now!
Light: Full sun.
Water: Nothing extra required - seasonal rain will do.
Where to see in P. Garden: We have a large specimen in the center back bed.

Regular Panda Ears (like ours) has mostly silvery-white fuzz all over the leaves that makes them appear grey to blue-green, with only a few dots of brown at the slightly serrated tips of each leaf. The cultivar “Chocolate Soldier” has much more brown all around the edges. It also grows a bit faster than the plain form, with more of a clumping habit. Its individual leaves are thinner and longer than for some of the Panda Ears cultivars. Another cultivar is “Golden Girl” with golden yellow leaves.

However, none of them really look like panda ears or cat ears – see illustrative panda, above! In fact they don't look like cat ears either. Maybe dwarf rabbit ears? Fuzzy slugs? I doubt you'd make a lot of money selling a plant called Fuzzy Slugs, it's true...

Plant swapping

I removed the Hyadrangea and Wisteria last week, after giving them almost a whole year to make a go of it (sorry Kepa!) but they didn't like life at P. Garden. So I put them on craigslist.

This resulted in Matt and I driving to El Sobrante yesterday and trading the plants for other plants owned by a woman called Shanti. Namely, some Yuccas, Aloes, Opuntias and other succulent cuttings, including some Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi. Neato.

I also spent some time in the garden with Emily and her mum discussion options for plants Emily's going to add to the garden. She knows more about annuals and flowers than me, so I'm enlisting her help to plan a few extra spots.

Also, almost forgot to mention that lovely Josh propagated several Dipogon lignosus (aka Dolichos lignosus) - the Australian Pea Vine or Cape Sweet Pea! I had researched the prefect vine to grow on the arch at the front of the garden, and decided on this one. It had to be evergreen, flowering, hardy and scented, and this one checks all the boxes!

Josh came over and constructed some bamboo trellis to assist it up the smooth arch sides, and planted 3 vines on each side (photo above.) Can't wait to see it in all it's hot pink glory.

Scorcher!

First mistake of the day: deciding to start gardening at 11am when it was already 85 degrees out. Second mistake: not wearing a Camelbak of iced coffee!

Smart Josh started at 10am (!) when it was presumably a few degrees cooler, and weeded and mulched like a trooper. I barely walked to the top of the garden and had to have a sit down! I'm so grateful to Josh (and patient pup Cosmo!) for helping me in the searing heat today. What a guy!

I planted a bunch of Agaves, Aloes and Opuntias on the succulent slope, and the gorgeous Kalanchoe tomentosa  (Chocolate Soldier) that Dino and Jason gave me in the top middle bed. In order to make room for the Kalanchoe I moved a clump of grass I can't ID right now to the red bed. I also planted loads of small Arctotis I grew from seed my dad sent me by the Wrong Way sign. Good luck little guys!

I also pruned and watered the bamboo, sprayed the succulent slope, tidied the Kniphofias and did a bit of weeding. One of the red California poppies had its first flower - excellent orangey red color. Emily and her sister Sabrina (from tropical Portland) dropped by too - a pair of dyed-in-the-wool gardeners.

I didn't get everything done that I wanted to but I was overheated, and had to stop around 2.30pm. I'll start early tomorrow like a sensible person.

Donation moratorium

Today John came over with some plants donated by Channing. What great guys these two friends are - they give me plants and then thank me for taking them! No guys - thank YOU!

I am so, so backed up on planting but I put in 4 hours and managed to do the following:

- Planted 2 Kalanchoes, 2 Aeoniums, several small succulents, a dozen asters, two rows of Agapanthus and a Mock Orange (Philadelphus) "Belle Etoile."
- Moved several wheelbarrows of mulch
- Watered the cactus wall and steps.
- Weeded.
- Moved a couple plants around and asked them nicely not to die on me.
- Watered the lavender hedge.

And I still have 17,642 plants waiting to be planted. Aaahhh! So I have decided to call a moratorium on plant donations for a few weeks until I can get caught up. I feel really bad because I love getting donations and hate to disappoint people, but it's awful if plants have to sit around waiting to get planted - they do suffer. If you have a plant for the garden, just email me at djxjs at yahoo dot com and we can figure the best time to donate it so I can get it in the ground ASAP. Thanks :)

Many hands make light(ish) work!

Saturday was a volunteer day and I got a LOT of help, and a LOT done as a result!

First came Josh. He and I have chatted via email and he brought with him some great plants: Bromeliads (Aechmea), Aeoniums and poppy seeds of some exotic red/purple type! Not only that but he planted the bromeliads on the spot. Being the cheeky type I asked if he'd help me rearrange the rear succulent bed and boy did he ever! We removed about 8 plants and replanted them in better spots, as well as adding Opuntias and Agaves. It looks about a million times better, as you can see from the before and after, above. Then his partner Andrew came by with their parrot Dexter and dog whose name begins with a "C" but I can't remember it due to being bowled over by his cute spaniel-ish ways! After that, Josh planted a Mahonia aquifolium and did some weeding. Awesome.

Rick came by and ferried a lot of water down to the sunflowers, which I know is a real pain. I feel horrifically guilty for planting them down the block, and grateful to Rick for tending to them. They are looking amazing though... I must get some photos of them. I also prepared the rest of the lavender hedge area for his lavenders, and watered the entire hedge.

Next came Billie who got stuck in to the weeding and also Maria who did the same, both filling an entire wheelbarrow with weeds. Rock on! Finding knowledgeable weeders is hard: it's not fun work all the time, so I really appreciate anyone who can pull weeds :)

Stalwart plant hunter John also dropped by with some exotic Opuntias. I made him plant one right away as unless I do things like that I will never stop having plants to plant. On the other hand, what a nice problem to have!

So between all this, chats with Sage, Robert, and Gary, and watering, deadheading, weeding, and all that stuff... it was a busy day!













Sunday was a little quieter: I arrived in the garden to find some lovely big lavenders from Rick waiting in the shade of a tree! I had one Lavandula stoechas "Boysenberry Ruffles" (Spanish Lavender) from the Lowes sale rack and that, combined with the many Lavandula pannata var. buchii (Jagged Lavender) and other unlabeled (probably French) lavenders combined to make exactly the right number to complete the hedge!

I immediately dug holes and planted them and voila! (above) ! I must say I think it looks great, and when the lavenders grow it will be quite a sight (and scent) to behold. Thanks Rick for your fantastic donation!

Then I moved some mulch, deadheaded Cannas, Dianthus, Osteospermums, and admired our Scarlet Flax (Linum grandoflorum var. rubrum, left) , and was in the middle of planting a row of gorgeous ginger roots sneakily left in the garden the night before by Kepa (thanks Kepa!) when Dino and Jason came over to ask if I wanted some plants. I was reticent - I am backed up on planting but my simple greed and excitement overcame that pretty quickly as I remembered the amazing Haemanthus bulbs they gave me before.

Pretty soon they were wheeling handcarts full of containers over to the garden - and gorgeous big ones at that! I don't have exact IDs on all of them but they included a nice big Crassula "Golum", a large Kalanchoe tomentosa (Panda Ears or Chocolate Soldier)
Aeoniums, big tall lilies of some type underplanted with Muscari and daffodil bulbs and two actual apple trees. These last two sadly may need to be rehomed as I explained to them Caltrans' rules about trees and edibles, but the rest are fantastic and I am going to place them carefully for best effect. Thanks guys! What a treat!

Moon over P. Garden

Last night the moon and clouds converged behind the P. Garden arch to create a stunning picture. Sadly my camera phone was not up to the task of preserving the moment but you get the idea (left).

Leah left me some plants yesterday. I popped out this morning to see water some needy plants, see what she'd left and rub my hands together while cackling in glee. Aeoniums, Phormiums (variegated!), violets and some citrus fertilizer! Someone (Leah?) also left three lovely looking Kalanchoe luciae (Flapjack Plants) at the front. I have long wanted some of these, so thank you Leah and/or whoever you are!

I have a big backlog of plants to plant right now, and am still moving house late into the night each day. It has to end soon!

New menu, Sloat sale, and minor drama

Let's get straight to the minor drama - you know you want to hear about it more than some Latin plant names!

Yesterday while I was at work Matt called me. "There's someone in the garden, with a shovel" he said. *gasp* Apparently our neighbor Barbara spied some Caltrans workers in the garden, pointing and looking dangerous... She called her hubby Sage. He called Matt. Matt called me. Immediately I called Annelle (Didn't we used to play a game like this when I was a kid?) and she said she would go out and see what was up. Maybe next time we can cut out the four middle men and I can give Barbara a megaphone so she can yell at people right out of her window, like a booming voice from the sky. "Drop that shovel, mortal!" :P

Anywho, Annelle went out and gave them men a death stare. Apparently this worked, and they scampered away. She called me to fill me in the situation. I was jittery. Would Caltrans find some reason to punish me for gardening incorrectly?

After work I scurried home to inspect everything. Plant roll call. Is everyone OK? Did they hurt you? (tears, hugs) Looks like they dug out one of the water junction boxes which I had carefully not planted anything on top of just in case. They dumped the dirt on top of a scared Gaillardia, but I rescued it. Aside from that, they seem to have been very careful. H'mmm...

Then this morning Gary sent me a picture of the lot from before the garden, and pretended that Caltrans had scraped P. Garden off the face of the earth, as a joke. Waaah! Shortly after, he emailed to say "Ricky from Caltrans" dropped by, and apparently:

"He is working on getting the watering system in place. In the mean time he showed me how to turn on all the bubblers on the lot. I'll show you. He also gave me some fittings to set up a hose by the trees. He is very impressed with the garden. He was thinking of using sprinklers on timers. I mentioned drip hose. He said you should contact his boss to discuss what Caltrans should put in."

Stupendous! So I have ceased palpitating, and am now experiencing gardening joy again. *phew*

In other news, recently I had been wondering if I should buy and host a domain for the garden. Sadly www.pennsylvaniagarden.com is already taken (by some people in Pennsylvania! Who garden! Pshaw!) and to be honest, yet another website to design, build, maintain and pay for is not high on my wishlist. So, the blog stays - it's free and easy to use.

Yesterday I rearranged the info on this site so it performs a little more like a website, and somewhat less like a straight list of blog posts. I added a menu to the top of the right column, with sections that hopefully will answer questions people have about the garden. If you have suggestions, additions or corrections, let me know.

This morning I got up early again to head out to the Sloat Garden Center sale. We arrived at 7.55am and got in line. It was buy one, get one free 4" perennials and succulents, and we got eight additions to the garden:

- Artemisia x absinthum "Powis Castle" (Wormwood) (shouldn't that be "Powys"?)
- Sedum rupestre "Lemon Coral"
- Lantana montevidensis "New Gold"
- Crassula pellucida
- Adromischus cristatus (Crinkleleaf plant)
- Kalanchoe bracteata "Silvermint"
- Osteospermum "Margarita Yellow Improved" (we got two - one is cream, the other yellow - wonder how they'll turn out)

I managed to resist buying Cupheas, Pennisetums, Kniphofias, all manner of clever Salvias and of course could have come home with several dozen cute Aloes and so on... but I am trying to keep the spending down (honest!). 4" plants certainly take a while to grow big, and are more prone to damage from feet and paws, but they're in our price range. Note To Self: Stay strong!

Matt also got three big glazed ceramic pots for the three cactus tips we have rooting in the living room. Once they are rooted, I warned him, you will have to let them go into the garden. I think he thinks we can talk about that when the time comes... hah!

Heatstroke

It's hotter than a hot thing. Hotter today than yesterday - feels like 90 degrees in the garden!

Matt, John and I went to Pacifica to a plant sale. Picked up loads of massive pots of succulents that need to be divided and planted. Don't know what half of them are, but the prices were reasonable.

Among them:

Half a dozen orange Calendula daisies
4-5 Echeveria (the pink, ruffled kind)
Several Crassula corymbulosa “Red Pagoda”
Opuntia of some sort
Sedum rubrotinctum "Jelly Beans" or "Pork and Beans"
Aeonium "Zwartkop"
Euphorbia tirucalli "Sticks on Fire" (Red Pencil Tree)
Assorted little Aloes and suchlike.
Crassula lycopedioides (Watch Chain)
Kalanchoe tubiflora (Chandelier Plant)

So we planted some of those, as well as the little fuzzy Opuntia microdasys albata "Angel Wings" which split into two so there you go. So hot, so sweaty, so full of cactus spines - I'm knackered. And I still have to water! I think I'll work on propagating more Lavenders from cuttings in the house for a while...

Later:

So far I have 36 Lavender cuttings in. 72 cells of Aster seeds, about 50 Gazania and some Foxgloves and assorted other stuff - all from a friend in Tasmania! I've had mixed results with Lavenders (I kept them too dry) and seeds (too wet) in the past, with my main successes being sunflowers and Gaillardias.

Matt came back from his softball game and we went over to meet Emily at the community garden at 22nd and Connecticut. She saw the sunflower strip we planted, and emailed offering a massive 15 gallon tub of red Cannas, and more than a dozen paperwhite (Narcissus "Ariel") bulbs. Sweet! Two of my favorites! We admired her plot at the garden, and enjoyed talking with a fellow enthusiast. Thanks Emily.

Then we went to Flora Grubb Gardens for a bit of eye candy. Phew - it's like Whole Foods for plants! Managed to get away with only:

- Gazania rigens "Talent" (Treasure Flower)
- Cynara cardunculus (Cardoon) (I had been admiring our neighbor David's specimen just yesterday!)

So, quickly we planted the above, plus Cannas and paperwhites. The former in the "red bed" and the latter all around the bench area for a fragrant Springtime effect.

It's dark now - too late to water. We're going to get up extra early and do that before it gets hot, allegedly...

Prickly issue

John, who is P. Garden's Official Plant Acquisition Specialist, came by tonight, with his assistant Harold, as I was emptying my fourth muck bucket of weeds onto the compost heap (only about 20 more to go...) and brought me an almost embarrassing quantity of succulents! Among them:

Three huge prickly pears (Opuntia) now situated by the chain-link fence to hopefully deter people from climbing over it.

Dozens of Aloe nobilis (Gold-Tooth Aloe) to add to the Aloe hedge along the storm drain, some in pots.

Two big juicy Kalanchoe blossfeldiana (I think - with white flowers) whose name it turns out I have been pronouncing incorrectly all this time. It's ka-LAN-ko-ee, not "um, uh, KALLAN-cho? mumble, mumble" as I have been butchering it.

And two gorgeous big blue Agave americana that are dying to get out of their pots and grow even bigger.

To get back to the fence problem though, last night someone drove their shopping cart into the garden, crushing a few smaller succulents along the front edge of the storm drain. No doubt they hopped the fence at the back and spent the day under the freeway bridge doing whatever they do. I really hope the prickly pears deter them - they don't look very spiny, this type, but believe me when I say the spines get under your skin and cause you misery later on. John was kind enough to help me tie the cactus up to the fence so they're not kicked aside while they root: hope it works.