A Quiet Celebration

Even here in the balmy climes of the Bay Area, the end of the year is a time when many parts of the garden are at rest. I spend more time weeding, mulching and pruning/deadheading than actually planting. Spring is just a twinkle in our eyes but the garden still has beauty to offer us this team of year. There are winter blooming shrubs such as Camellias, all manner of succulents (many of which show their best leaf color in the colder months), early bulbs such as Dutch iris, Freesia, Sparaxis, Ixia and Lachenalia sending up shoots, whetting our appetite. And there is some winter color to be had in pansies, cyclamen, primroses, nemesias and snapdragons.
So here are a few photos of my late December garden. I'd take photos of all my bulbs that are up but, well, I'm afraid they would make for boring photos. That's why if you buy bulbs in packages you can haul them out, look at the glossy photos and kind of envision the real thing on its way. Sometimes anticipation is half the pleasure.

A little winter color, with a pot of Nemesia, some colorful pansies and the golden ground cover - Veronica repens.

My Calluna 'Firefly' just keeps getting a darker and more striking red as the winter progresses. This heather is one tough plant but is finally ready to go in a larger pot.

Though Phlomis lanata is usually a summer and fall bloomer, it's in full bloom right now. As I've mentioned, a lot of my garden denizens are either early or late in their flowering. 

"The Wooly bush that ate Oakland!" Not an actual newspaper headline but my Adenanthos sericeus is now about 20' tall. It's only supposed to get 6-8' in height but, well, happy, happy, happy.

Another shot of my suddenly happy Melianthus pectinatus. This dwarf African honey bush only gets 4-6' tall and wide and the flowers are much smaller. The smaller size made it a good choice for a median strip. And it still possesses that wonderful peanut butter fragrance.

 Is it a bird ... a plane ... no, it's Crassula muscosa, otherwise known as the Watch chain plant. This vigorous succulent scrambles and then scrambles some more. 

Euphorbia 'Glacier Blue.' I love the variegated Euphorbias and especially this grayish-blue and white one. 

Speaking of less common Euphorbias, this E. atropurpurea isn't always easy to find. I love its brick red flowers and the glaucous leaves.

One last shot of my Dicentra scandens. This yellow-flowering Bleeding Heart is a vigorous climber and after being hacked back to the ground in late June has already rebounded, grown six feet tall and is blooming again.

I was after a bit of drama here, showing this Camellia reticulata 'Bill Woodruff' flower against the darkened background. One of the showier reticulata flowers.

What is this you might ask? It's a Haemanthus albiflos seed fruit. Haemanthus, better known as Blood lily, produces these seed capsules at the tips of flowering branches, after the flowers are done of course.

Pelargonium crispum 'Variegated Golden Lemon.' In this shot it almost looks as if the branches are golden columns of flames, reaching up to the sky. One of the most intensely fragrant plants you'll ever grow.

Finally, a shot of my Magnolia 'Butterflies.' I know, it's bare, but the flower buds are already getting fatter and this coming February promises to be its best blooming season ever.

Full Moon Fever

It's another crazy full moon in these parts, with things going at breakneck speed and many lingering things coming to a head. Not many of us are out in our gardens I know but actually the peacefulness of that experience is a nice counterbalance to the hectic XMas shopping and socializing. Of course that's going to happen in between the series of storms, making gardening at best a part time endeavor this month.
So it's a time to rest on one's laurels and if you have bulbs in your garden, to watch as they poke their heads up one by one.
Here's a few photos from my winter garden. In some small way, these photos -- shared by a few local friends with friends of theirs living in much colder climates -- are a way to remind those gardeners that there is life happening, that spring will eventually arrive and they can resume their gardening ways.

I'm getting some of the best color on my Cotinus 'Royal Purple.'  Smoke bushes can offer reds, burgundy, but if your lucky you get these fantastic golden-oranges. Everything about this bush/small tree is great but fall may be the best show.

This variety of Teucrium fruticans - 'Gwen' - is proving to be a hearty and healthy variety. I'm not sure if its fall/early winter blooming will prove to be typical or this is just it maturing at this late stage in its first year or whether this will prove to be normal for it.

Echeveria species. I've noticed that it's getting a deeper blue hue as the temps have gotten cooler but I like the change. Echeverias are good succulents for colonizing a sunny bed.

Euphorbia atropurpurea. This spurge has gotten big and seems to be one of the 'octopus' types - developing twisting branches, with lotus-like leaf clusters at the tips. 

As someone once said about a hyperactive child ("I think she took too many of the pills that make a kid a kid"), this Helleborus 'Amethyst Gem' is blooming as if its life depended on it. It's still in its gallon pot, yet to find a home in the ground, but it does look elegant against the gray stucco backdrop.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy fans will remember the line about the Deep Thought computer - "they built a stupendous super computer which was so amazingly intelligent that even before the data banks had been connected up it had started from 'I think therefore I am' and got as far as the existence of rice pudding and income tax before anyone managed to turn it off...".  This Salvia elegans 'Golden Delicious' is kind of like that. Very enthusiastic and more or less indestructible.

Although it hasn't bloomed yet, my Begonia luxuriens specimen has grown quickly and hasn't been bothered by all the rain or the cold.

One plant that has LOVED the recent rains is my Iochroma coccinea. I'm appointing it as my Christmas tree, the cascading orange-pink flowers being either the ornaments or icicles depending on your POV.

This orange Nemesia is prospering, liking the rain and sun (when it appears).

Leucospermum 'Veldfire.' It hasn't begun flowering yet but the leaves are awfully pretty I think, both the color and the pink tips.

Salvia 'Love & Wishes.' This Wendy's Wish hybrid is a lovely new addition to the world of sages. 

The bright green leaves in the upper left belong to one of the 'shamrock' oxalis. It appears every fall and will soon sport masses of orchid pink flowers.

Primroses are a great way to add winter color to a part shade area. And remember that they are actually perennials, though in the summer they can go semi-deciduous. 

Cyclamen 'Salmon.' Though the bright colors of the flowers are a major draw, the leaves are just as beautiful to me.

Beauty and the beast? Well, not quite but the orange nodding flower is from my Canarina canariensis and the speckled leaves are from a Helleborus argutifolius 'Pacific Frost.' They make a nice combo, don't you think?

Best of Nature photos 2017

I recently came across a fabulous year end collection of nature photographs from the BBC (www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures) and thought I'd share a few of them with you. The explanation underneath each photo is taken verbatim from the site. Make sure to click on each photo so you can see the larger versions (where they are much more impressive).

Cold temperatures on Shodoshima Island, Japan, sometimes lead to monkey balls, where a group of five or more snow monkeys huddle together to keep warm. Thomas Kokta climbed a tree to get this image.

These snow geese almost seemed like ghosts in the pink early morning light as they landed among Sandhill cranes in the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico, US.  (Gordon Illg)

Stephen Belcher spent a week photographing golden snub-nosed monkeys in a valley in the Zhouzhi Nature Reserve in the Qinling Mountains, China. The monkeys have very thick fur, which they need to withstand the freezing nights in winter. This image shows two males about to fight, one already up on a rock, the other bounding in with a young male.

 Andrea Marshall was snorkeling off the coast of Mozambique when she came across hundreds of large jelly-fish. Many were covered with brittle stars - opportunistic riders, taking advantage of this transport system to disperse along the coast. Delicate lighting makes the jelly glow, so the viewer can focus on the subtle colours and textures.

Sabella spallanzanii is a species of marine polychaete, also known as a bristle worm. The worm secretes mucus that hardens to form a stiff, sandy tube that protrudes from the sand. It has two layers of feeding tentacles that can be retracted into the tube, and one of the layers forms a distinct spiral. (Marco Gargiulo)

The bird's wing acts as a diffraction grating - a surface structure with a repeating pattern of ridges or slits. The structure causes the incoming light rays to spread out, bend and split into spectral colours, producing this shimmering rainbow effect. (Victor Tyakht)

It was a crisp, clear day in January when Annie Katz saw this Colorado red fox hunting in her neighbour's field in Aspen, Colorado, US. The light was perfect, and she took the photo as the fox approached her, looking right into the lens of her camera.

Reinhold Schrank was at Lake Kerkini, Greece, taking pictures of birds, but the conditions were not ideal, so he looked for other options. He saw this caterpillar on a flower and encouraged it on to a piece of rolled dry straw. He had to work fast because the caterpillar was constantly moving.

The kingfisher frequented this natural pond every day, and Mario Cea used a high shutter speed with artificial light to photograph it. He used several units of flash for the kingfisher and a continuous light to capture the wake as the bird dived down towards the water.

David Maitland photographed the crystallized chemical salicin, which comes from willow tree bark. Salicin forms the basis of the analgesic Aspirin - no doubt this is why some animals seek out willow bark to chew on.

The C&H show

No, the title of this blog (C&H show) doesn't refer to the sugar company but rather to Camellias and Hellebores, two genera that are in bloom now (or getting ready to). Four of my nine camellias have already begun blooming and the fabulous C. reticulata 'Frank Hauser' is well underway. Though my established Hellebores are still filling in and yet to bud, it won't be long now. And I just brought home a fabulous new H. orientalis called 'Amethyst Gem.' It's a pink-veined double hellebore and it's in bloom now (photo below).
Since these are both 'shade' plants, let me offer a few thoughts on the subject. First off, at the risk of making things too complicated, there are five kinds of shade. Full, darker shade that gets no direct sun and not a lot of indirect light either; bright shade (no direct sun but bright light); an hour or two of morning or late afternoon sun; full morning sun and finally mixed sun and shade (caused by buildings or overhanging trees). Add in whether the spot is dry shade or will get regular water and you can see that calling something a 'shade' plant is rather like describing white stuff on the ground as 'snow' to Eskimos.
Hellebores can handle more shade and be fine than Camellias, which in my experience benefit from a greater intensity of light or more morning sun. That's not to say that Hellebores won't be happy in more sun. They will. Both plants have a well-earned reputation for toughness, making them valuable additions to anyone's garden. And there's no need to sacrifice beauty or variety with either of these plants. They come in all colors and forms. So go ahead and treat yourself to these 'shade' denizens and liven up your winter garden.

Name this camellia! Well, that's not as odd a request as it seems as this new selection from Nuccio's, Winner's Circle, is so new there's barely any photos of it on the web. When I looked last year there were only the two I posted of my specimen. This flower is large and offers a lovely salmon-pink color. I'm looking forward to a fuller crop this year.

Camellia 'Jury's Yellow.' Okay not the greatest shot but this gives an idea of the lovely butter-yellow shades at the ruffled heart of this camellia. This year that center is showing a bit more color than from last year's crop.

Every year I pick one or two plants that are my success story of the year. This year one of those is my Helichrysum bracteatum 'Monster Red.' This plant has been nothing short of amazing, flowering nonstop since June. It's supposedly an annual but it's showing no sign of dying off. 

Okay why am I including this 'ugly' photo? It's my Magnolia 'Butterflies' and the yellow leaves are of course an indication that the tree is going deciduous. Did you know the explanation for fall color on deciduous trees? At this juncture, the tree is pulling the remaining chlorophyll back into its branches, to store up for next year, and the removing of this green pigment leaves the remaining color in the leaves for that short period before the leaves drop.

Say the word 'Heather' and many will no doubt think of the Scottish moors or some other specific place but in truth the diverse collection of plants with that common name take all forms. This is Calluna 'Firefly' and it's doing what it's supposed to at this time of year - acquire more red tones (brought on by cooler weather). Callunas are closely related to Ericas, a genus more commonly thought of as a heather.

Fantastic! No, that's not my description of this Kalanchoe but the actual variety name. With its large planer leaves and intriguing combo of greens, creams and pinks, it's easy to see why it has acquired such a name. Mine is still a 'baby' but these plants can get to two feet tall and wide.

Beschorneria albiflora. These sturdy plants have yucca-like strap leaves and when in bloom tall, arching spikes of red and green tubular flowers. Native to Guatemala and the Honduras.

I know it's early but my Magnolia stellata already has its first finger-like, pure white flowers. If we have the White Rabbit in Alice decrying "I'm late, I'm late!" we need another creature to represent the way early blooming plants ("I'm early, I'm early!").

Speaking of fall color, here's one of my Exbury azaleas showing some lovely red tones. Exburys are a type of deciduous azalea that offers up flower colors you rarely see in evergreen types, such as golds, peaches and oranges. 

Here's a Gulf Fritillary butterfly resting on one of my Passiflora citrina leaves. In the lower left are two unopened yellow flowers. 

Abelia 'Kaleidoscope.' This variegated abelia falls in the category of beautiful yet tough. It's a mystery to me why abelias aren't more widely used in local gardens. They're evergreen, easy to grow, resist diseases, flower readily and are a manageable size. 

Salvia elegans 'Golden Delicious.' I know I've taken plenty of pictures of this vigorous salvia but I swear it's almost the perfect plant. Super easy to grow; grows quickly; holds onto its golden/chartreuse color; blooms prolifically in the fall and doesn't mind being hacked back. Oh, did I mention that hummers dig it and the leaves smell like pineapple?

Here's a photo of the Hellebore I mentioned in the opening (H. 'Amethyst Gem' ). The sun wasn't out so you don't see how sparkling the reddish-pink colors are but this gives one an idea.

On the other end of the spectrum, this Helleborus argutifolius 'Pacific Frost' has pale green flowers (which certainly are pretty in their own right). The white-speckled leaves add another design element, holding the gardener's interest long before (and after) the flowers are gone.

Thunbergia 'Arizona Red.' This variety has the deepest reds of any Black-eyed Susan vine. It is scrambling along my fence and I think complements the earthy tones of the wood fence.

Ajuga 'Burgundy Glow.' Not sure how this variety got its name - umm, where exactly is the burgundy color? - but no matter, its combo of greens, grays and pinks makes it a lovely way to add cascading interest to a container.