Well, some of you may wonder why you haven't seen a blog post from me in quite some time (other than the woodpeckers one). The short answer is that we had the house and studios on our property painted this summer and the prep and follow up loss of plants meant there wasn't much of anything to photograph. The garden is slowly recovering and this week i decided to take my first batch of photos in some time. So, here they are, not a complete 'survey' of my garden but a few nice things to share on a mid-November day.
Begonia variety. Not as golden as when I first brought it home, this begonia is still lovely and the flowers are a deeper red.
Mirabilis jalapa. Four O'Clocks as they are known, are prolific bloomers.
Oops, this photo of Centaurea gymnocarpa wasn't rotated first. Love its intense silver.
We tend to think of bulb season not starting until the end of February but bulbs from South Africa, the first ones, bloom in winter. Here we have a clump of Babianas.
Geranium harveyi. This hard to find evergreen geranium has been one of the real success stories in my garden this year.
The silvery plant in the middle is an unusual Centaurea (C. ragusina). I keep being asked about it and all I can say is that it just showed up in our nursery one day.
Here's my 'recovering' driveways bed, after everything had been cut back hard to accommodate the painters. At least my Laburnum tree (to the right) is leafing out quickly. And that's a new Grevillea to the left (G. Poorinda Blondie).
I've forgotten the ID of this upright succulent with the pink stems but it's toughed it out in its less than ideal location.
My dwarf conifers bed continues to prosper, perhaps too much as plants are beginning to crowd each other.
My collection of bromeliads also continues to prosper. I can highly recommend them, being so colorful and totally easy to care for.
This newly arrived Dyckia (D. platyphylla) was too tempting so brought it home. Love that brownish-green tone to the upper leaves. Below is the bloom spike, filled with tubular orange flowers sure to attract hummers.
An eternally great performer, Oxalis White Pillow makes a dense cushion of vibrant green leaves then soon adds sparkling white flowers.
Rhodocoma capensis. Love this restio and it does a good job of 'softening' this meeting of cement steps and stucco walls.
Rhododendron 'Sappho'. I never know when this Rhodie will bloom. Above is a closeup of the fabulous deep burgundy splash of color and below is a view of the plant's open habit.
Tho a bit in the shade, this shot shows the 'starting over' look of the house wall beds. What once were 3-8' tall shrubs are now 1-2' tall and growing.
My walkways bed is in transition from spring and summer color to the great many bulbs that are already popping up. That includes freesias, Ipheions and Dutch iris up, to be joined by daffodils and later on, several lilies.
Marmalade bush (Streptosolen) is one of those shrubs that also seems to be in bloom, much to the delight of hummers and bushtits.
Speaking of orange, my vining Tecoma x smithii has that color in spades.
Here are a few of my bromeliads, all kept in pots (though they are so successful one can no longer see the containers).
Here's a closer look at my newly planted Grevillea Poorinda Blondie. It won't be long before it's in bloom.
Begonia Belleconia Soft Orange. This Belleconia series of begonias are prolific bloomers.
Aralia 'Spider Web.' This variegated aralia is a new addition.
