You Read the Blog, but do you know....

You may read the blog, but do you know:
a) we have a mailing list - you should join it to get updates about events at the garden (think of what you're missing!)
b) volunteer workdays are the first Saturday of every month from 10am-12pm. There is one this Saturday April 2nd (yes, it's April already!) volunteer here
c) it's officially Spring and the garden is already putting on quite a show (check out that photo - Anemone coronaria)

In other garden news I weeded for awhile yesterday after work and a bunch of lovely neighbors stopped by to say hello. I was asked for name of the Kool-Aid bush and blanked on it, but Annie knew it (of
course) when I asked her: Psoralea pinnata.
I look forward to seeing everyone at the workday this Saturday!

Sun!

Red bed makeover
part deux.

After the last week of perishing cold, rain and hail, we are back to sun. Matt and I met Emily in the garden today and knocked a few tasks off the list.

First we removed all the plants from the south end of the red bed and rearranged them. We had too many red colored planted there (hazard of calling it the "red bed" I suppose!) and too many tall plants at the front/short ones in the back.

First we pulled out the giant clump of lavender Watsonias out - about to start flowering, their subtle color is lost in that bed. Matt took out a clump of Dianella tasmanica in the left bed and replaced it with the Watsonias.

Osteospermum and lavender

We brought a yellow variegated Phormium to the front, added a yellow Santolina virens, a lime green Euphorbia characias and a purple and lime green Salvia mexicana "Limelight" to one group. Next we uncovered a group of three Kniphofia uvaria "Flamenco" from the front middle bed for a dose of orange hues, and rearranged the purple bearded Irises there.

Blue skies and daffodils!

Next we replanted three Dianthus "Fire Star" and five burgundy Gazanias at the very front, and rearranged the Anemones and Ranunculus too. After Emily left I planted a Plectranthus argenatus and a Salvia curviflora too.

Matt propagated from Cortaderias and I mulched and watered things in.

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



Spring Bulb Prep and other News

People who visit the garden are awfully nice. Today Jamie and her two dogs stopped by, and later Dino and his two dogs came by. They gave me moral support (We love the garden, it's beautiful!) and I gave them the 10% donation cards for Jamba Juice (email me if you want to pick up your own card). I'm so glad everyone enjoys the garden, it makes being out in the cold and wet to take care of the garden even more rewarding. Pics are of the new red bed extension, and one of the rose bushes - yep that's a flower bud!

So what was done today. A quick run down:
1) Extended out the red bed around the sprinkler a bit, need more sticks. Put in a grouping of deep pink and purple Ranunculus with blue, purple and deep red Anemone. Also put the purple coneflower (Echinacea) in same area
2) Planted Daffodils (variety "Erlicheer") around the lambs ear (Stachys byzantina) under the Prunus.
3) Planted the Allium neapolitanum around the Cosmos under the Prunus
4) Moved the leggy red Ranunclus to the sunny side of the red bed, and added more red Ranunclus bulbs to fill in around the existing ones in that bed.

Jetlag begone!

Well today I was WIDE AWAKE at 5am (thank you very much Greece) so I went to the garden and watered the sale plants, and Matt helped me tidy the front bed. I also got some valuable assistance from Jess and Sophia which was great because it got hot and I was starting to become incoherent.

I swear I talked to some people in the garden today (Juana... Chris... John... Ummm...) but I am too sleepy to distinctly recall all the details of what I have no doubt were scintillating conversations on their parts.

After that I went home and drank tea, which was insufficient to perk me up... and now it's 6pm and I am READY for bed. Gah. Must stay awake and finish the labels for the plant sale on Saturday!

Pics show (above) Anemones - amazing color! And (below) the front strip, going bonkers.

The Plant Sale Cometh

With so much going on at the garden it is hard to focus on just one thing!!! Roses, Columbine, Anemone, Ranunculus, Dianthus, Watsonia, Iris ... on and on... the list is practically endless of plants that are putting on a stellar spring flower show.

But enough about what the botanical members of the garden are doing, on to the volunteers! Over the weekend Josh pulled a ton weeds, including ivy and 'god-knows-what out of the aloes on the slope' and much of the ever present bindweed. He even watered the asters for the plant sale. Double gold star for you Josh!

After work today Ryan and I stopped by Janet's house to pick up a plethora of wonderful plants she has donated for the Plant Sale on May 1st. As a sneak peak, the photo is of two absolutely giant Amaryllis for the sale. Many thanks Janet! Tomorrow I will catalog the new plants, and do some additional weeding in the garden.

Plant Profile: Anemone

As if the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae) didn't do enough for us gardeners! Some are used as herbal medicines (goldenseal!), spices (Nigella sativa), and then there's the flower power: buttercups, larkspur, Delphinium, Helleborus, Trollius, Clematis, and the subject of today's post Anemone! The particular Anemone we grow in the garden is Anemone coronaria, also called the Poppy Windflower.

Latin name: Anemone ("ah-NEM-o-nee")

Common name: Windflower

Originally from: North and South temperate zones. Anemone coronaria is native to the Mediterranean.

Blooms: Spring - dormant rest of the year. Flowers in blue, purple, red, white and bicolors above a whorl of 'claw footed' leaves.

Light: Full sun

Water: Some summer water needed, but otherwise our climate is perfect.

Where to find in P. Garden: Blue colored flowers are in with the daffodils by the bench, and red colored flowers are along the path in the bed by the dog run. They are starting to flower in full force this week so be sure to check them out.

UPDATE Sept 2016: All the Anemone died out due to lack of water. I'm afraid they're not drought tolerant.

SF False Pre-Spring

Over the weekend I noticed a ton of new growth in the garden! Much of the growth is just plants freaking out because of, what I like to call, 'False Pre-Spring.' You may call it by other names, like the 'Pre-Fog Season', but we really don't have what FEELS like Winter or Spring in SF, and the plants sense this too, and start doing all sorts of wonderful things in February, during the dead of Winter.

Here is my False Pre-Spring photo essay, exhibits 1-5.

1. Daffodil bloom
2. Flowering Trees (shown is Cherry Plum, Prunus Cerasifera)
3. Spring Tubers/Bulbs going like ganbusters (shown is an Anemone)
4. Sweet Pea (Lathyrus odoratus) takeover of nearby trellis
5. Herbaceous Perennials in flower (shown is Knautia Macedonia, in non-whacky climates it flowers July-Sept)

Emily strikes again!

While I was off gadding about looking at horses at the weekend, Emily was in the garden working! Here's what she did:

1. plant the Dahlias in the red bed
2. add more red Ranunculus and red anemone to the frontside of the red bed
3. add yellow Ranunculus around the columbine
4. add yellow Ranunculus around the knautia macedonia
5. transplant an Arctotis to the sidewalk bed on the path side
6. add compost/vermiculite to the upper succulent slope bed, moved the ground cover (Ajuga) to a better spot, and put in more blue anemone.
7. confirmed the ranunculus from before is sprouting leaves!!!!!!

I can't wait to see all her additions flowering - these are plants I've never grown so they all seem very new and exciting to me!

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 ;)