Endless Summer

As we hit the Summer Solstice and the longest day of the year, it may seem like an endless summer is here. Coming in from a long, sweat-inducing garden session, there is another meaning to a phrase that some associate with The Beach Boys. Spring is a hectic season, especially for those of us working in the nursery trade. Long work days and then keeping up with just the daily and weekly demands of one's garden can be a full time project. As we come out of the spring blitz many of us may find that little projects had been piling up and that certainly has been true for me this year. Spurred by the desire to get the garden in good shape for a garden party, I discovered a seemingly "endless" list of To Do's. In some ways, that's almost a "Rite of Summer." Then again, having friends over can give one the motivation to overcome one's procrastination to get to all those little jobs.
Now that I will no longer be writing a weekly column for the Chronicle, I hope to occasionally write about a plant that I find noteworthy. That plant today is Lepechinia hastata. This salvia relative, native to Hawaii, is one tough customer. It gets to about four feet tall, with a spread of three feet, and sports large, lovely, felty gray leaves. The leaves offer the gardener an intense fragrance, very sage-like, and somewhat hard to describe except to say that the aroma is very pleasant and distinctive. Beginning in summer, plants produce striking whorls of magenta-rose colored flowers. If you keep up with the deadheading, plants will flower late into the fall, making for a very long bloom season indeed. And did I mention that this is one tough plant? It likes sun and good drainage but given that it is a very vigorous specimen. Really, it's hard to come up with any negatives for this plant. Bugs haven't eaten mine; it's not suffered any fungal diseases; it uses very little water and it looks good year round (though in colder climates it may go deciduous). That's a short term loss; this plant is hardy down to zero degrees. The only downside is that it can be a bit hard to find, though Annie's Annuals sells it. It was for that reason that I never got around to writing a Chronicle column on it, not wanting readers to get excited and run to their local nursery, only to not find it. It is worth hunting down.
And now here are a few more photos from my nursery, er, garden, taken literally hours before the Summer Solstice.

Here's a new addition to my garden, a charming ground cover or cascader named Mecardonia. It's already making itself at home.

My favorite Echeveria, E. subrigida. Notice the red edge, which is more pronounced in the winter time. Echeverias can sometimes get chewed up but so far so good for this lime green beauty.

A late Clarkia is adding a bit of lavender bloom to a pot that has a Heavenly Blue morning glory.

Some plants just have a certain way about them, a pizzazz. That's true for Gloriosa lilies, which even before they flower produce this tangle of octopus-like "arms." Oh and the flowers are fabulous.

Cuphea llavea Vienco. I realized this year that when this cuphea returned last year, a bit straggly, I hadn't given it enough water. Now, with sufficient water, it is lush, happy and off to a good start on the blooming.

Potentilla. This tough and colorful ground cover isn't as well known as it should be. A sun lover, it needs some water to get established but is drought tolerant afterwards.

Trachelium 'Hamer Pandora.' A customer once came into our nursery asking for a plant, describing it as a "sort of hydrangea, only with tiny little purple flowers." Fortunately I was able to solve the riddle and this is the plant she was after. I love this guy, as it's a no fuss, long blooming perennial.

Most people are familiar with the Evening Primrose oenathera, with its cup-shaped pale pink flowers. Here's a different species, O. versicolor 'Sunset Boulevard.' Love this color!

Here's a plant few have heard of. Trachymene caerulea. Bees and other insects seem fascinated by it, though it is short-leaved.

Pineapple anyone? This Eucomis 'Sparkling Burgundy' is known as pineapple lily and you can see the resemblance. The red buds are the bracts, from which waxy burgundy flowers will emerge.

Here's the mature form of the fabulous Dorycnium hirsutum. The little red buds are the seedpods, providing their own colorful charm.

It's the season for California buckwheats. Here it's a Eriogonum giganteum and the "helicopter" sprays will open to white flowers. The bees will promptly show up, as will other pollinators, who love the nectar rich flowers.

Hard to believe but I have a few last flowers on my fabulous Leucospermum 'Veldfire.' The Proteas book we have at Ace has a closeup photo of this pincushion bush and wehen I show it to customers I say "You can't always trust photos in books. But this is exactly what my flowers look like." Nothing like it in my garden.

Here's a front view of my Australian shrubs bed. The plant with the red stems in the foreground is a Cunonia capensis, otherwise known as a Butterknife tree.

Everybody's plant of the year, here's a photo of my unstoppable Digiplexis. This one flower spike is still putting out flowers, even as smaller lower branches are already producing their own. It's one of those plants that seems to good to be true and yet somehow is.

Datura Blackcurrant Swirl. Okay, right off, one of the great variety names in the world of gardening. It reminds of Raspberry Swirl ice cream. Still, I've had so much better luck growing this specimen in the ground than a previous attempt out of a pot.

Ditto for this Echeveria, which was struggling in the pot but once in the ground has taken off.

My crop of Lilium regales is beginning to bloom. There's nothing quite Regal lilies -- the size, the pure whites, the anthers and the intoxicating fragrance.

Sometimes small is beautiful. That's true for this ground cover Veronica. V. penduncularis 'Waterperry Blue' is all charm all the time.

One of my three succulent bowls in my garden, this one featuring broader-leaved succulents.

Hibiscus trionum. This charmer would make my "Ten Coolest Plants Nobody has in their Garden" list. The soft buttery flowers have intense burgundy centers and a prominent nectary. And they bloom and bloom and bloom. Then reseed. Easy and fabulous.

Begonia boliviensis. So many cool begonias, so little space. This one is particularly showy, especially if you like the orangy-red colors.

Want cool blue? Nothing beats Clematis integrifolia's pure blue flowers. Their simple nodding flowers aren't fancy but they are ever so sparkling.

Though this shot is sort of soft focus, I had to include this shot of a new variegated Calamintha. Looking forward to it spilling out of the pot.

Happy Father's Day and Summer Solstice

Though I'm not a father, I was reflecting this morning how much parenting has changed today from what it was 50 years ago. That's a reflection of more modern times but also, hopefully, of men being more willing and keen on sharing the parenting duties. Men are much more a part of their children's lives these days and that's a good thing. Of course it's a lso a good thing that we have embraced non-nuclear models of parenting, be that gay and lesbian, single parent or multi-generational arrangements.
Next weekend is the Summer Solstice and thinking about that part of the yearly cycle is a reminder, as human beings and gardeners that we are still very much a part of Nature. We live according to her rhythms, no matter the dates on our calendars. The long days now are welcome to just about everyone and our level of activity picks up in tandem with this basic fact. For gardeners, it means we can putter in our gardens much later if we choose. Now if these long days could only last a little longer ...
Here are a few more photos from my early summer garden. It is definitely transitioning from spring to summer -- I've yanked out most of my short liven spring annuals and replaced them with summer plants -- but there are constants in the garden that lend a welcome feeling of continuity.

Neomarica caerulea.  This iris relative is sometimes called the "walking iris" due to the tendency of its tall flower stems to eventually lay flat on the ground and tip root. This photo is from a clump I broke off the mother plant and stuck in the ground. It quickly formed a nice big clump and has produced a nice crop of flowers this mid-month. One of my favorite irises!

Here's my Calceolaria 'Kentish Hero' co-mingling with a lovely variegated Philadelphus (P. cornonarius). A nice contrast, even though I couldn't get both flower and leaf in perfect focus.

Nope, not a Campanula but the lovely CA native bulb Brodiaea. In this case, B. Blue Ocean Blend. There aren't many CA native bulbs but this is one of the easiest to grow.

To Asarum or not to Asarum, that is the question. The shiny leaves are a give away that this is not A. caudatum (B.C. or wild ginger) but Asarum maximum, otherwise known as Panda-Faced ginger. That's on account of the strange waxy two-tone flowers that to some resemble pandas.

IT came from the nursery!! This Hebe speciosa is gradually taking over the mailbox, like the swamp thing. I like how it looks though.

Mimulus cardinalis 'Santa Cruz Gold.' While cardinalis varieties are thirsty little guys, they do put on quite the show! In front is an orange Diascia, which I've had trouble in the past keeping happy. This guy seems to love his location however.

Teucrium 'Summer Sunshine.' Though the flowers are small, their burgundy colors really offset the chartreuse foliage quite wonderfully.

It's hard to get a good photo of my Luculia but I keep trying. Though not an especially beautiful flower, it is one of the most intensely sweet flowers you will ever smell. Heavenly.

It's almost a cliche, a honey bee on a Gaillardia flower but I couldn't resist.

My new favorite plant -- Ozothamnus  rosmarinifolius 'Silver Jubilee.' This Aussie native's main feature is its silvery foliage, though it does produce small red flowers at the tips of each branch. I just love its look.

Here's a moth foraging for nectar on my Buddleja 'Cran Razz.' Okay all you Pink Panther fans. Give us your best Inspector Clouseau impersonation. "I just noticed this mooth' on the butterfly bush."

Love the way the sun illuminated the flower on my Monardella villosa plant. I've found a home for it in the ground so hopefully it will be happy there and go forth and prosper.

Though one Lilium regale stem is obscuring the flower on another plant, I thought the shot was interesting. Regal lilies are to die for. Well, okay not actually die for but worth the labor and encouragement when they do eventually bloom.

Sometimes a simple plant can be quite striking. This New Guinea impatiens will make a colorful addition to an otherwise sedate shady bed.

One last shot of my Neomarica. I'm not quite sure why this iris relative isn't in everyone's garden. The flowers are large and showy and you get lots of them; it's much more reliable than other irises, returning faithfully each year and its height (to ~ 3 feet) makes for a striking vertical addition to the garden.

The Lost Worlds

No, the title doesn't refer to Spielbergian dinosaurs but rather to the very opposite -- to the ways in which our gardens can in the best sense swallow time and encourage us to lose ourselves in their tranquility. By a bit of magic, we can "close the door" on the outside world and let ourselves wander within the invisible walls of the garden. Apart from the transparent joys of immersing ourselves in a creation of our own making, the garden is a shelter, a place to fully relax and quiet our minds. It's not uncommon for me, as it happened today, to come in from a morning session and be "shocked" to find it's two pm not noon. I usually laugh at myself, knowing how often it has happened before. For those of us living in cities with full time jobs, this escape into the 'lost world' is even more important.
Of course it's especially nice when this time corresponds with getting things done in the garden, even if that's as simple as some weeding, fertilizing and a bit of trimming. And sometimes, one acquires energy to tackle a long delayed project.
I always allot time each week to take note of what is new in my garden and to take photos. Although the photos have a practical use, sometimes used in one of my columns or posted here, I would take them anyway, as they offer a visual journal of my garden through the years. I encourage everyone to do so, even if you only use the camera in your phone. There is no substitute for experiencing the first opening of a flower but photos offer their own beauty and you have those images for time immorial.
So that's a good segue to a new batch of photos from my garden, taken on this glorious Oakland morning. As I type, a male and female hooded oriole are coming to a kitchen window hummingbird feeder for a sip of nectar.

Arisaema speciosum var. magnificum. I do appreciate that not everyone finds Jack-in-the-Pulpits beautiful or interesting but I find them to be both. This is one of the prettier ones, with the deep wine spathe marked with white ribs. 

This may look like a little Campanula flower but in fact it's a Brodiaea laxa 'Fabiola Queen.' Brodiaeas are CA native bulbs that like part sun/part shade and typically bloom around this time of year. The colors range from whites to blues to lavender shades. Simple but pretty.

A part of my "Golden Corner" leading into the back yard, this Agastache foeniculum 'Golden Jubilee' is one of the loveliest of all hummingbird mints. This species, with its anise scent, is also called Anise Hyssop. Beautiful foliage, pretty flowers and fragrant. What's not to love?

I call my Hydrangea 'Nikko Blue' "old faithful." It returns every year, full and bursting with true blue flowerheads. In fact I usually have to prune it during the growing season as it wants to overrun everything close to it.

Here's my tropical corner, circa June 5th. That's an Hydrangea quercifolia on the left, in the front are shoots of Red Ginger (Hedychium greenii), hiding a bit to the right is a red banana and in the back is a black bamboo. Underneath the Oakleaf hydrangea is a Hedychium gardnerianum.

Rhodochiton. This delicate climber with the curious burgundy flowers is called Purple Bell Vine, though I'm not sure how the open-face nodding flowers can be thought of as bells. Still, it's one of the prettiest small vines you'll ever grow.

Corydalis 'Chine Blue.' After almost killing this herbaceous shade loving perennial (letting it dry out in the pot), I finally got it in the ground and six months later it's rewarding me with lovely and delicate blue flowers. I liken them to seahorses. However you 'see' them there's no denying their exquisite robin's egg blue color.

That's a Begonia boliviensis in the hanging basket and the charming Canary Creeper nasturtium that's taken over the lattice. A nice color combo.

If this foxglove looks a little different, it is. It's Digitalis 'Pantaloons' and the sides are split, giving it that "familiar but different" look. It also has the virtue of producing straight and sturdy flower spikes.

Schizostylis coccinea. This so-called Kaffir lily is a summer and fall bloomer. Vigorous, some don't plant it in the ground as it may self-seed everywhere (hello, crocosmia). It has a "waiting-for-a-joke" name. (As in "I can't figure this plant. One day it does this thing and the next something completely opposite." Well, what can you expect from a Schizo-stylis?

Here's my Dicentra scandens slowly taking over the world. Well, okay just the east wall next to the mailbox, but I have to keep cutting it back. In front is a red Salpiglossis, trying to fight off the army of yellow bleeding hearts.

For you blue lovers out there, how about this royal blue flowering Lupinus pilosus? Add to that color, the shimmering, silver-edged leaves and it gets an 'A' from this teacher.

Cuphea llavea 'Vienco 'Burgundy.' Despite its la-de-da name (Vienco? Come on!), this is another tough and vigorous Cuphea member. It sports pinwheel shaped flowers, not the "bat faces" of some of the other llaveas. One of my favorite plants in the garden.

Caryopteris 'Hint of Gold' and 'friend.' I thought this single purple petunia looked particularly fine against the golden foliage of the caryopteris. 

Fans of arums will regonize this leaf. In this case it belongs to the ominous sounding Voodoo lily, Sauromatum venosum. It has the mottled stem of many arum members and a dark purple spathe that is quite a sight to behold. Despite it being unusual, like many arums it is very vigorous.

One look at this striking flower and you may think "I know this flower but can't put my finger on it." It's a Mimulus cardinalis, only not with the red flowers of the straight species. This one is Santa Cruz Island Gold (Santa Cruz Island is part of the Channel Islands just south of Santa Barbara). I love the color here, sort of a golden orange, plus there's the throat markings for additional appeal.

Here's the front yard driveway, now taken over by potted plants. 

The plant with the big leaves in the foreground is a Datura Blackcurrant Swirl. It has the blackest stems and then swirled double flowers with the richest purples. Behind it is a Papaver 'Lauren's Grape' so I've got my "fruit salad" ready.

Teucrium 'Summer Sunshine.' I bought this unusual teucrium for its golden foliage and in that regard it hasn't disappointed. But today I noticed little dark red dots and sure enough there are unopened flower buds all along the stems. Very cool. Can't wait to see them open.

I wasn't going to take another photo of my Felicia amelloides (Blue daisy) but then this black bumblebee came calling and I couldn't resist.

Scabiosa ochroleuca. Not many have heard of this yellow pincushion flower but it has a soft beauty. It doesn't begin flowering until June, but it makes up for the late start by blooming till late fall.

Fuchsia 'Firecracker.' I noticed something interesting this morning with this plant. It has variegated foliage but on the forward most leaf, the left half is entirely green while the right side is entirely a cream color with some red veining. Nature sometimes does funny things.