Nature abhors a vacuum

Euphorbia characias

According to the ancient philosopher Aristotle, “Nature abhors a vacuum.” Aristotle based his conclusion on the observation that nature requires every space to be filled with something, even if that something is weeds.

According to my philosophy, weeds must go. And then nature once again takes over and requires the newly empty space to be filled with a plant I perceive to be a non-weed.

Nutshell version: today we weeded and planted.

Agave salmiana on the way out

After Emily set up the hose to water the PRG trees today (Thank you Fregosi Paints for donating water!) Matt and I went up to PG and set about our tasks.  First order of business: clean out the terraces, by planting lots of plants.

Naturally this resulted in minor despair, as we have a lot of plants. So we started by taking 6 Agaves down to the PRG/MCG area and planting them. Two Agave parryi, an Agave lophantha and two Agave americanas. I also popped in a Dendromecon harfordii.

I pruned the Salvias and cataloged many of the leftover plants on the terrace so we can sell them on Craigslist. Matt planted an Agave desmetiana and an A. "Sharkskin" down at the bottom of the terrace.

Agave salmiana rehomed

Next Matt moved to the cactus wall. There we had several large plants in one area competing for attention, with nobody winning. At least one had to go, so Matt selected an Agave salmiana - out it came, and into the front border. "The front border!?" you ask, shocked as this has long been an area filled with fluffy flowers and constant weeding and annoyance. Yes. We are going to add Agaves to the front border. And lo, it will be awesome.

While Matt was busy I ripped out the last lavender in the middle back bed, cut back the Plectranthus argentea there, moved a Tulbaghia violacea (Society Garlic) and weeded a lot of grass out from around things. I planted another clump of Calla Lily (Zantedeschia) from Michele there and yes, it all looks a bit sad but it'll perk up before you know it.

I also planted some sort of wavy-leafed Yucca that John gave me ages ago that had 2 Verbascums in the pot too (or somesuch) in the left bed, an Agave bracteosa and an Agave attenuata "Ray Of Light." Phew.

We got some rain

Well it's fairly cold and wet in the Bay area right now as a strong cold front passes through. Nice for the garden though - a little rain, even though it didn't penetrate more than 3" into the bone dry dirt, is better than nothing.

Today Matt and I had planned to be out of town but due to an unforeseen set of circumstances, ended up coming home early. A spot of gardening was in order, so we popped out and accomplished a few tasks.

I weeded the steps area and planted a few specimens that had been waiting for a while:

4 Leucophyta brownii (Cushion Bush)
4 Euphorbia amygdaloides "Purpurea/Rubra"

I also sadly noted that almost all of the Sisyrinchium californica (Yellow-Eyed Grass) and Calla lilies by the steps are gone - probably weeded out by a volunteer who mistook the former for grass and the latter for...dead stuff? I also found three piles of dog poo in the steps area - disgusting. Come on people: keep an eye on your pets and pick it up! The majority of dog owners are cool - it's the one or two lazy ones...

I cut back the lamb's ears (Stachys) and the yellow Crocosmia in the left bed, and Matt transplanted a Verbascum from behind the wrong way sign to be with the other Verbascums in the left bed. He also weeded the area behind the wrong way sign, and moved two of the Asphodeline lutea to be next to the third one, as they were being engulfed by Artemisias.

Matt also moved an Agave filifera to the front of the middle back bed (digging up the remnants of the deceased yellowjacket colony) Lastly, he worked on flattening the new shed area, which is (slightly) easier to do when the ground is wet.

Lunchbreak

I popped over to the garden at lunchtime today to eat my sandwich. Noticed a few new plants looking a bit wilty, so I watered them (mostly the Nicotiana and Scabiosas) and took a few photos.

We have an Arctotis "The Ravers: Unmellow Yellow" at the top. I planted three in the front border and they were a bit sprawly from the start, unlike the nice bushy one on the cactus wall. Still, you can't beat that color with a stick!

Next there is a very plush Verbascum (which one? I went on a Verbascum spree recently and now I don't remember who is who)  which looks like it's about to shoot up a massive flower spike. Hurrah! It means the end of this plant, but what a finale - well worth the loss. And perhaps we wil get some seedlings?

After that we have the orange-yellow rose, name unknown, but, for a rose, fairly well-behaved at Pennsylvania Garden.  In other words, it only requires water, deadheading, defoliation, spraying with chemicals, pruning and so on about once a month... It only gets infested with aphids and blackspot occasionally, and flowers almost all the time to make up for it.

Gah - now that I type all that out I realize what a pain in the butt roses are. And we have three! It's possible that one day I will take a mad fit and remove them... but when I think of that I remember their lovely scented flowers and I stop myself. *sigh*

I also noticed many large Yucca cuttings left in the garden. Channing donated them and John delivered them. Oh, thank you both! They are superb!

Plant profile: Verbascum

Latin name: Verbascum  ("ver-BASK-um")
Common name: Mullein
Originally from: Mostly Europe but also Asia.
Blooms: Tall spikes of flowers are usually yellow, but can also be white, pastels shades, blue, purple, red or orange.
Light: Full sun
Water: Rain is plenty
Where to find in P. Garden: In the left bed across from the cactus wall we have several: Two Verbascum olympicum, and a Verbascum hybridum "Banana Custard." In the middle back bed we have three Verbascum sp. "Cotswold King."

Most of the plants at P. Garden are perennials - they live many years. We have a few annuals for one-year fill  in jobs too. But biennial plants - what's to love about 'em? Year one, they are small and weedy. Year two they go berserk and look great! Then they die. Pah - one year of amazement but a year of the blahs too... and then a hole in the bed after it dies? It's not worth it.

Or is it?

Let me introduce the Varbascums. About 250 species in the genus, several with a long history of use as a medicine, and treatment for asthma and respiratory disorders. It’s common name is mullein which sounds very old-fashioned to me. The name "mullein" has two possible derivations: It either comes from comes from mollis, which means soft in Latin, or the Latin word mulandrum, which comes from melanders - a disease of cattle this plant was used to treat. Verbascum derives from the word barbascum, which means "with beard."

HerbCompanion.com also says:

The leaves also are referred to as bunny’s ears and flannelleaf. The dried down on the leaves and stem ignites readily and once was used for lamp wicks; candlewick plant is another old name. The name hag taper refers to beliefs that a torch made from a mullein stalk dipped in tallow either was used by witches or would repel them. The custom of using mullein stalks as torches (by ordinary folk) dates back at least to Roman times. Jacob’s staff, Jupiter’s staff and Aaron’s rod are references to the tall flower stalk.

Until recently it was somewhat of a weed in some parts of the world. And then in 2000, people started hybridizing the mullein and the genus got a whole new lease on life!

They start out with a rosette of, commonly, silvery-furry leaves with wavy edges (left). In fact you might be tempted to plant the little low-growing thingies at the front of a bed and forget about them, like I did. Sort of like lamb’s ears in a spiral – dizzy lamb plant? Anyway, take your eye off them for a minute (actually a year) and suddenly one day you will notice to your shock and awe that they have grown to be eight feet tall overnight (bottom photo) and covered in yellow flowers! (Top photo.)

Hummingbirds will be bumping into them – that’s how suddenly they come up.  Last week a hummingbird flew up to me, over to the Verbascum that’s flowering now, and back to me, hovering right in front of my face as if to say “Have you seen that thing???”

Although this plant is a recent arrival to North America, Native Americans used the ground seeds of this plant as a paralytic fish poison due to their high levels of rotenone. So need I warn you not to put them in your goldfish bowl? I hope not.

The "Banana Custard" is flowering in the garden right now in the left bed. Check it out!

UPDATE June 2016:
After their 2 years of joy the Verbascums died out.  They were lovely - if we had funds for planting non-perennials I'd get more!

Panic planting, part 2

Yesterday Leah weeded the cactus wall. Today I also set out to the garden with the tools needed to Do Lots of Work and Make a Difference! Namely: an extra large coffee, and Matt.

Together we weeded the paths from archway to almost the top of the garden (just the left side path/steps to do) and watered the front and red beds pretty thoroughly.

I managed to squeeze in chats with Sharon and her daughter and friend, Gary, and Jim. In the meantime, Matt was busy making a water catching bowl around the tree dahlias and weeding other areas.

Tomorrow I've got to finish the weeding, repair some twig borders, and empty the storm drain ditch - all before noon!

Later on Matt and I drove down to Half Moon Bay and dropped by a nursery there. Oh dear - panic plant buying ensued! I picked up:

Agastache rupestris (Mexican heather)
3 Verbascum sp. "Cotswold King"
Penstemon strictus
Leucadendron "Safari Goldstrike"

My theory is a) you can't have too many Verbascums, b) we need something tough and bright to go on the corner of the red bed (Agastache, Penstemon) and c) I have been looking for a large yellow Leucadendron for ages, and this one seems perfect. It's not as golden yellow as I wanted but it gets 6-7' tall and I have been holding a spot for it for ages.

And now I have to plant them all. Ack!

Photo shows a Peruvian daffodil (Hymenocallis festalis) flowering. Smells like fabric softener!

Happy Birthday Pennsylvania Garden!

Emily, Josh, Matt and Bonnie joined me in the garden today, and we enjoyed a little pizza (thanks Matt!) and a little gardening. Gary and Carrie were by too - Gary has plans for the side of his building, and Carrie made a great contribution (below)!

- Planted several Alstroemeria "Third Harmonic" in the red bed, and an Arctotis "The Ravers: Unmellow Yellow" in the left bed
- Planted some Aloes and various succulents in the succulent slope
- Moved some Phormiums around
- Planted a Verbascum olympicum in the left bed
- Carrie added a city wheelie bin for dog poop (thus making emptying much easier - THANKS Carrie!)
- Emily planted a slew of bulbs and seeds she brought:
Plants: Anemone "Blue",  Anemone coronaria '"His Excellency" (red), Ranunculus tecolete "Red"
Seeds: Delphinium 'Black Knight", Nicotiana '"Tinkerbell"
- Watered some areas in advance of the rains due next week: got to get the ground damp so the rain will penetrate the mulch.
- Deadheaded some Cannas
- Moved the big pile of orange tree branches left for us by Jo (Thanks Jo!)

It was really fun. I couldn't have imagined such a great group of friends working on the garden when it all started last year: I really though it would just be a few plants and nothing else. Just goes to show - when you keep your expectations nice and low, anything can happen ;)

Autumn - it's the new Summer

Here in Frisky Town Autumn (or Fall as you may like to call it) is warm and sunny, with the odd brisk or rainy day to shut you up when you start to get complacent.

Today was warm, as you can see from the view from the bench, left. Matt, John and I drove to Burlingame to buy coats. No, I mean get plants. At the crack of 9am. Craigslister Lisa was giving away 8 lavenders ("Hidcote") and 6 Limonium (Statice, or Sea Lavender) which she'd had a change of heart about, and it took mere minutes to dig them up and drag them away.

After that, John and I went to the garden to plant those, a whole load of other plants he gave us, and a few I bought up in Mendocino recently. Here's what we put in the ground:

Behind the Wrong Way sign:
6 Limonium
I also transplanted several corn marigolds and a red Pelargonium to fill in the area directly behind the sign, and deadheaded the cannas.

In the left bed (where we recently lost two Echiums to wind damage):
1Berberis Thunbergii F Atropurpurea "Royal Burgundy"
1 Verbascum olympicum
1 unknown yellow Verbascum
1 Buddleja x weyeriana "Honeycomb" 
2 clumps of Stachys byzantina (Lamb's Ears)
1 Nicotiana with green flowers - not sure which one

Along the steps:
2 Achillea "Moonshine" 
4 Achillea millefolium (white)
3 Achillea millefolium - might be "Terra Cotta"?
1 Silene coronaria "Alba" (Rose campion)

We also planted John's Fremontodendron californicum (California flannelbush - a native).

We also weeded, deadheaded, pruned and all the other tidying up you do as you go around the garden. John left, and Matt came back from surfing, and we finished up with some watering of the new plants. I got to visit with Jess, Adolfo, Sofia, Jim, and Carrie today.  You couldn't ask for nicer neighbors!

For Pulgita

Today was a sad one - my little cat suffered a blood clot that cost her her life very early this morning. After we returned from the vet in a state of deep gloom I decided to spend a little recuperative time in the garden. I picked up some bright, sassy, not to say garish flowers to plant in her honor.

- Pelargonium x domesticum (Geranium) "Martha Washington" - it's very deep purple.
- Marigolds - 6 deep red ones
- Verbascum hybridum (Mullein) "Banana Custard"
- Lantana camera x monetvidensis "Gold Mound" - 2

Got them in the ground, threw a few buckets of water on them, and retreated to the house to ponder the mystery that is death.