Welcome

For those of you who may be visiting this gardening blog for the first time, after seeing the article on Tenant gardening in last Sunday's Oakland Tribune or one of the other Bay Area Newsgroup papers, welcome! I use this space to discuss a variety of topics -- the last one was on the controversy over planting milkweeds to help the struggling Monarch butterfly population -- to talk about a particular plant or group of plants or sometimes just to ponder the current state/experience of city gardening. There is no set format. I write about what is on my mind that day or week. I post nearly every week.
The other thing this blog allows me to do is share my garden by way of photos and descriptions of those individual plants. I have an extensive collection of plants in my Lake Merritt area garden and it is a year round hobby for me. As with any avid gardener, I'm continually working on it, trying to keep pace with everything that needs attention and sometimes, like today, having the free time and motivation to rework an entire bed. As was mentioned in the article, my garden is a collection of smaller beds, divided by sidewalks, driveways and walkways and that has necessitated working with small and especially narrow beds. That provides both a challenge and an inspiration.
For those of you who are indeed new, you can scroll back through older entries. I've been doing the blog for quite some time so there's lots to explore if one is motivated to do so.
One other feature of note. On the right side of the blog is a list of all of the columns I've written for the SF Chronicle in the last ten years. You can use that list to explore any one or number of my columns.
So, I hope you'll enjoy the blog and check it out from time to time. Anyone who wishes to receive a link to the blog every week can write me at: enickel9@live.com and let me know to add you to my list.
And now this week's photos ...

Eccremocarpus Tresco Gold. This smaller sized vine is gradually getting its due. Sporting red or gold flowers and finely textured leaves (not the clematis leaves seen here), this is one vigorous, long blooming vine. 

Here are two shots of my newly blooming Clematis 'Belle of Woking.' True double clematis flowers are uncommon and this one is one of my faves. 

Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Nugget.’ This golden-leaved Ninebark has already finished flowering and is starting the process of producing its colorful seedpods. The white flowers are certainly lovely but in a way the dark red seed capsules are an even more dramatic combo with the gold foliage.

Grevillea 'Bonfire.' This grevillea certainly earns its name, with the crimson red flowers seeming like for all the world as if the shrub is on fire.

I seem to accumulating Mimulus species this spring. Here's a newly arrived M. bifidus 'Apricot.' It's one of the drought tolerant, "sticky monkey" flowers. Love the color and, for now, the way this stem is 'ascending,' with opposite flowers 'climbing the ladder.'

I haven't always had the best luck with Passion flower vines, surprising perhaps as they tend to be ... umm ... vigorous. Case in point is this showy Passiflora actinia. It took three years to bloom but wow once it got going it's unstoppable. It has one of the showiest flowers; if you like dramatic filaments that is. 

There ought to be a term (perhaps there is) for keeping a plant tightly pruned while not actually bonzai-ing it. That would be the case for my lovely Viburnum plicatum, which I was forced to keep small due to it being in an 18" wide bed. This and my Viburnum opulus (Snowball viburnum) are my two favorite viburnums. 

Flowers don't come much redder than Ruellia elegans. It's such a saturated red in fact that cameras have a hard time handling that occurrence. Not so for us gardeners and the butterflies and hummers that will take an interest.

One look at this and the viewer may kind of squint and think 'What the heck is that, exactly?' It is in fact a Philodendron leaf getting ready to unfurl. And there be a whole lot of unfurling, as the leaves on this mature specimen are often two feet long and a foot wide!

Hydrangea quercifolia (or Oakleaf hydrangea to you non-plant geeks). In our mild Oakland climate this shrub is almost never deciduous, starting to put out new growth as the old leaves are finally dropping to the ground. Very quick to leaf out, though it takes a little while to bloom.

Though this shot of my Nandina domestica (Heavenly bamboo) is more in the shade than I wanted, it was looking so full and robust I decided to take a photo anyway. As is true with a lot of common names, this plant is neither a bamboo nor a guarantee to get you into heaven. Sounds nice though.

This simple little flower is Anomatheca laxa, also known as False freesia.  It likes the shade and self seeds like crazy, which in this case is a good thing.

Although this isn't a great photo, I wanted to record the opening of the first flowers on my Albuca spiralis. Albucas are South African bulbs and this one (A. spiralis) belongs to a curious group of plants that all have twisting or curling leaves. Someone has dubbed this group 'Twirls and Curls.' I've been sufficiently intrigued to possibly do an article on the subject for Pacific Horticulture magazine (which BTW is a great quarterly magazine).

The Garden Writ Large

I had an opportunity yesterday to take a day to go with a friend to Coyote Hills Regional Park near Fremont. The visit not only reminded me that it's good to get out of the city and to be in peaceful environs -- certainly true of this wonderful and singular park -- but that as gardeners we sometimes forget about the larger natural world surrounding us. My garden keeps me busy and it's full of wonderful and interesting plants but at the end of the day it's a man-made creation. It's nice to get away from the city to see what Mother Nature has been up to in the plants department. Normally this time of year the hills would be full of wonderful wildflowers but the lack of rain has somewhat hampered their blooming. Still we found clumps of Mimulus aurantiacus in bloom, plus Blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium), Blue Dicks (Dichelostemma) and Hairy Vetch. And CA poppies, something that will eventually cover the hills surrounding the marshes here.
Coyote Hills, for those that haven't been, is a large wetlands area that hosts great numbers of cattail reeds and is home to a great variety of birds. Lots of ducks, geese and occasionally pelicans plus a ton of swallows (there are swallow boxes all along the far side of the marsh), hawks and other songbirds. If you go at the right time you'll find Redwing blackbirds nesting among the reeds. Despite being a stone's throw from Fremont, this nature preserve is so large that you forget you're even in the city.
We are blessed with having a multitude of inviting ecosystems in Northern California, offering many choices for day trips in nature.
And now the photos.

Helenium 'Mardi Gras.' Back for a repeat performance, this star performer is in bloom about eight months of the year! File under: Party on!

Physocarpus 'Nugget.' Though shot in the shade so not catching the sparkle of the sun, here is one of the flowerheads. Notice how symmetrical it is, how each little flower seems perfectly placed next to those beside it. This is one aspect of Nature that we tend to take for granted, how when things are operating normally there is a perfect blueprint followed by every flower.

Phacelia campanularia. Known as Desert Bluebells, this CA Native annual offers the most scintillating blue flowers and willingly spills over a low rock wall or a container. A favorite destination for bees.

Mimulus Jeff's Tangerine. This CA Native sticky monkey flower is loving its location and is doing its best to politely take over this front yard bed. 

To paraphrase "So many Mimulus, so little room." Here's one called Ethan and wow I love its garnet red color! It's just getting going so looking forward to seeing it fully in bloom.

Here are two shots of my new Leucospermum cordifolium 'Salmon Bud.' You can start to see its color already, though it has yet to open. Sort of a salmon-orange. The moth on the lower photo is clearly showing interest.

Another shot of my lovely Dietes bicolor. Sometimes simple is good and I love that butter yellow palette. As noted before, the plant is back from the dead and nothing has made me happier!

That's an unknown Leucospermum in the center (probably a Scarlet Ribbons), with the arching branches of my Chamelaucium behind. 

Papaver atlanticum. This Moroccan poppy has been as advertised -- a true perennial, tough and long blooming. Sporting pastel orange blossoms (this one a semi-double), it forms clumps in the sun or part shade. 

There are quite a number of deciduous shrubs that start producing flowers within weeks of leafing out. One of them is Viburnum opulus, better known as Snowball viburnum. Here is the very beginning of the flowering sequence, where the flowers are mostly green and more a  spray than the big balls they will become. Still pretty at this stage.

Kerria japonica. It looks as if this deciduous shrub is a vine and a leafless one at that but is in fact just the nature of this shrub (sometimes). It will soon leaf out, providing rich verdant foliage.

Salvia splendens 'Sao Borja.' Mine struggled in the winter but didn't go completely dormant. Now with warmer weather it's starting to fill out (and bloom).

Amorphophallus kiusianus. A smaller relative of the huge Titan arum (the world's largest flower) this arum starts off sporting this intricately patterned shoot. As to the body parts included in both the genus and species well, umm, the less said the better.

Speaking of the slightly weird, here's a new flower on my suddenly floriferous Passiflora actinia. Really, it has one of the showiest filament clusters of almost any passion flower vine. Love it!

One last flower on my Camellia 'Jury's Yellow.' The yellow is in the center, very subtle, easily seen with this microscope lol.

Continuing with the unusual theme, here's a less common Dyckia called marnier-lapostle. Not as deadly as most dyckias (who have the sharpest throrns of just about any plant), its outer "teeth" are nonetheless a bit sharp. 

Papaver 'Crimson Feathers.' One of the peony style breadseed poppies, it's deep red and intensely ruffled petals make it a real treat.

Though a bit hidden right now, here are the delightful orangy-apricot blooms of an Exbury azalea hybrid. Known commonly as "deciduous azaleas" because they are not evergreen, they feature oranges and golds not generally found on the evergreen types.

Scabiosa 'Harlequin Blue.' A success story in the making (it took three years to really be happy and bloom like this), I'm loving this low growing, lavender flowering Pincushion plant.

Though I didn't catch my Clematis 'Belle of Woking' flower in the sun (thus its color isn't fully evident) I thought I'd include the photo anyway. It's just such a beautiful flower.

A One Woman Tour

News out of this little corner of paradise is that for the very first time my garden is being photographed for an upcoming Oakland Tribune article on encouraging renters to plant gardens. I was first consulted by the writer and when she said "Can I send a photographer out to take a few pictures?" I said okay. Well, that turned into an hour visit by the photographer and a million photos taken (ahh, the luxury of digital cameras). Okay, so only a few will be used but it was fun (except for the part where she wanted me in the photo. Yikes). I keep telling myself to put my garden on one of the garden tours but it doesn't easily fit into any of the regular tours. If they had a tour for "Greatest diversity of plants in one garden" then mine would certainly qualify. Or a tour for "Small-sized Gardens" mine, which is really a collection of smaller gardens, would fit the bill. In any case, the article is due to run April 5th so keep an eye peeled.
I didn't attempt to make it a perfect looking garden, though I did weed the front bed that has lots of color now, to make it at least presentable. I was a bit jealous of the photographer's expensive cameras, which will no doubt result in some very nice photos. Hopefully, some will be posted online, assuming the story will also appear online.
Meanwhile her are a few more of my humble photos. I don't pretend to be a good photographer but I do like to photograph plants in different stages and occasionally go for an 'arty' shot. Mainly, the photos are a way to share my garden and to write a bit about each of these plants. Here they are:

Clematis 'Belle of Woking.' Possibly my favorite clematis, both for its large, double pale lavender flowers and its fat leaf 'buds' (shown here). I like photographing the bud phase of plants as there's a vital expectancy bursting forth. Also, I love the way the downy hairs on this bud glisten in the sun.

Sometimes, having only modest equipment and skill, plants with saturated color are hard to photograph well. A good example is this Sedum 'Lemon Coral,' which has yellow flowers against chartreuse foliage. The camera does its best but sort of freaks out at the same time (ack, too much yellow!) Still, it's my favorite sedum these days.

Speaking of hard to photograph, this sun-kissed Physocarpus 'Nugget' is my favorite of the many shrubs I have in my garden. And when it's in bloom, with the fuzzy, spirea-like flower clusters, it's ... well ... stunning!

Speaking of stunning, isn't this 'redwood' colored Dutch iris just a beaut? It's called 'Red Ember' and the lower falls are almost a reddish chocolate color. Never seen a Dutch iris this color. Can't wait for its brethren  to flower.

Everyone that visits my garden while this Leucospermum 'Veldfire' is in bloom always sorts of ogles it and asks "What is that?!" It IS pretty spectacular I'll admit. Before I could get it in the much larger pot it needed it rooted down through the bottom of the pot and I didn't want to risk severing that root, even though it had done so in literally an inch of soil on top of the driveway. So I finally got organized enough to construct a little raised bed around the base of this pot and the Eriogonum giganteum next to it. Hopefully they'll both be happier now. 

Speaking of Leucospermums, here's an unidentified one that I brought home from Ace. It came as a 'houseplant' and without any ID. I honestly didn't expect it to survive but it is now prospering. 

Among the many reasons to recommend Chamelauciums (this one is Purple Pride) is the fact that their flowers stay open and vital for weeks on end. This makes for an especially long blooming season for this tough Australian native. I suspect that its common name, Waxflower, owes more to each flower's durability than to it being waxy (which it isn't).

To paraphrase those milk commercials -- "Got weird?" You do if you have a Calothamnus villosus. Here's a closeup of the flowers which are, no your eyes are not deceiving you, sprouting from the branches themselves. And then the flowers are sort of odd too. That and their fire engine red color make them a real showstopper.

The garden can't be all hot colors so the more subtle tones of this Aloe striata are most welcome. Everyone knows that aloes grow slowly, except for a few like this not-fast-but-not-snail's-pace aloe. It has turned out to be surprisingly unfussy, though I'm still waiting for it to bloom. It will and the flowers are what lend this plant its common name (Coral aloe).

Leucospermum cordifolium 'Salmon Bud.'  Yep, it's Pincushion shrub season. This is a new addition to my garden and due to its small size I wasn't certain it would bloom this year. It must like its location as it's been forming new flower buds every week. Can't wait to see what their actual color is.

Dicentra scandens. I never get tired of photographing this plant. Vigorous to a fault, pretty yellow flowers dangling from slender vines and a very long bloom season. So why has it disappeared from the trade?

Arisaema thunbergii var. Urashima. I included a photo last time but here the spathe has fully opened. Notice the patterning on the tube of the spathe and then the spotting on the inside. These Jack-in-the-Pulpits mostly hail from China, Japan and the Himalayas, though there are a couple native to the U.S. They have always seemed very primal to me.

Azalea 'Mangetsu.' Simple but I like the combination of pink and white.

Speaking of 'buds,' here's a photo of my American pitcher plant (Sarracenia) putting out two new 'flower' stalks and buds. Of course they are carnivores, getting their nutrition from digested flies and tiny insects which get trapped inside the 'pitchers.'

Abutilon 'Lucky Lantern Red.' Though they are common, flowering maples are still lovely and they seem to bloom nearly year round.