There's a time to be ruthless

Jupiter's Beard, centranthus ruber. It's pretty, the bees love it, it's drought-tolerant, wet-tolerant, loves any kind of soil, is easy to grow and it must go. It reseeds prolifically and it's a thug, I tell you. There are hundreds of new baby plants all over the garden crowding out the things I love like dianthus, penstemon and clarkia. I've enjoyed all the centranthus I can stand and now it shall die. Gotta get it out before it seduces me by blooming.
It has rained (and rained & rained) and the soil is soft so I'll be out digging up large, stinky centranthus tubers. Walk a wide berth. See ya when it's over.

(It might get to live in the back yard where it can't get loose on the neighborhood.)

Upcoming excitement

Are the rest of you excited about the upcoming May Garden Bloggers Bloom Day? The gardens in Napa are crazy right now and a few more folks in my neighborhood are taking out their lawns. Generally speaking, on this side of town lawns still tend to rule, but change is on the wind. I've been walking the neighborhood snapping photos with my cell phone of gardens that are moving more toward native & drought-tolerant. Some people are even planting edible landscapes. I've started giving away plants I've propagated to people who stop to chat while I'm gardening.

It's time for me get a real camera.
Folks, I'm lovin' this.

(all photos are of my streetside garden)

GBBD - April 15, 2009

Too lazy to label plants right now. Later.

Introducing Bloom Day Super Gardener Ginger Harness

This is not fake, exactly. I saw these calla lilies with my own eyes and took these photos today. The gardener, Ginger Harness, was on hand to talk about her annual Easter tradition of painting the hundreds of calla lilies that grow outside the door of her apartment at Rolff's Manor in Napa. Rolff's is a senior residence facility which is better described as a village. Many of the residents have small gardens outside their doors. Part of Ginger's garden happens to extend the length of one of the facility's entry driveways. You can read about Ginger's calla lilies here in the Napa Register. By the way, more than five dozen of the painted blooms were stolen over several nights before Easter. Ginger wouldn't want me to tell you that because she'd rather have the more honest folks enjoy viewing the flowers without knowing about the thefts. She's a love, so kudos to Ginger.

Garden Blogger Bloom Day

This photo is especially blurry, but this is the first bloom on one of my Pacific Coast hybrid irises. This is a naturally occuring hybrid. The photo doesn't do the colors justice.

Tulips and daffodils from neighbors Paul & Terry's garden

These violas are from my neighbor Irene's garden. Irene bakes me cookies.

A California native wallflower; very fragrant

I don't know what this is, but my best guess is Bridal Veil viburnum and a bird-sown wild cherry.

Linaria 'Flamenco' forrest, self-sowers from last year's garden

An opportunistic golden feverfew

Camelia

Narcissus (unknown cultivar) & linaria 'Flamenco'

Narcissus, Thalia (white) and Barrett Browning

This is one of the many wallflowers native to California.

Mary Ann, I'm posting this one for you

This is what agastache (hummingbird mint) looks like in the curbstrip garden. The agastache is the tall, airy plant with peachy-pink flowers.

You can click on the photo to see a larger image.

Congratulations, newlyweds!

OK, it's off-topic but I saw this truck while leaving the Rutherford Grill after lunch on October 17. Kristen and Joyce were married in California on October 16, 2008 and graciously allowed this stranger to take photos to post here. They were on their "mini-moon" in the Napa Valley.

Please help guarantee equal protection under the law for all married couples. Vote NO on PROP 8 in California on November 4, 2008. The voter registration deadline is October 20.



[UPDATE: Californians voted by a narrow margin to amend the state constitution through Proposition 8 to ban same-sex marriage.]

August garden dog days

Hollyhock "Creme de Cassis"
Red buckwheat & Snow-in-summer What a blooming cottage garden looks like when it's not blooming
Penstemon 'Hildalgo.' This thing is a skyscraper, as far as penstemons go, over 5 ft.

Hot, hot, hot and not much blooming. The cottage-y area of the garden is green with a few blooms here and there. The exceptions are catmint, Cleveland sage, agastache, hollyhocks, a few penstemons and the occasional rose. I'm preparing another moderately-sized planting bed next to the driveway for this fall and have been doing my pretend pre-ordering at High Country Gardens. You know the kind of orders, where you fill your online shopping cart and then can't quite bring yourself to the checkout page.
Becauses this is a realtime garden, here are a few photos of what a hot and tired garden looks like at the end of summer. If anything looks OK it's only because it's a closeup that excludes the surrounding blahs.

San Miguel Island Buckwheat

The rich pink flowers in this photo are that of Eriogonum grande rubescens, or red buckwheat, planted in the curb strip I share with the neighbors, which is blasted in the baking sun all day. My plants came from Mostly Natives Nursery in Tomales Bay. Since their demonstration specimens were nothing short of splendid and this buckwheat is native to the Channel Islands off the coast of California, I made some assumptions and tried a little experiment by placing some plants in this sunny curb strip and some in my part-shade strip under a maple tree.
Here is what I learned.
This is one tough, beautiful and un-thirsty buckwheat, it does not appreciate shade and it's a generous bloomer. The spoon-shaped leaves are sturdy, a nice green and glaucous on the undersides with a slightly waxy feel, perfect for its native salty, windy coastal island where it is dry most of the growing season. However, my plants did just fine in Napa's uncharteristically hard freezes this past winter. They do prefer a lean soil but I have mine planted in a bed that's mostly clay amended with lots of organic matter. So far (just one growing season) they've done great. The mason bees, skippers and hairstreaks love the nectar. I even see the wasps going after it. When the seed heads dry later in the season there will be food for the neighborhood quail. I didn't bother taking a photo of the plants under the maple tree because they didn't perform nearly as well. Those will be replanted in full sun this fall in a roasting, dry-ish bed next to the driveway. It makes a good companion plant for yarrow, Cleveland sage (both of which grow on the Channel Islands) agastache and mullein. The photo was taken before it reached full bloom. It looks even better now, especially with the plants around it having filled in. The plant is full and not unattractive even when not in bloom.
You don't have to live on a windy island to enjoy this plant. My climate in Napa is decidedly Mediterranean, with dry summers and wet winters. Red buckwheat is a winner here.

Smokey skies over Napa

Not a garden topic but here's what's happening in my neck of the woods. These aren't exciting photos but our usually crisp, bright hillsides are covered in this smokey haze.

The photos were taken from the Maxwell Bridge, the first looking due east, the second slightly north-east toward the fire (not visible in the photo). Photos taken with my cell phone, through the car window! Safe, huh?

I lust for chicken house

I was exiting the garden center in St. Helena recently and saw this. Be still my heart. I want. Beautiful, no? I have a new appreciation for the time, effort and cost of materials, because the next thing I saw was the sign in the window. Three grand, baby. I don't know the builder. Probably never will since I live just slightly within city limits, I'm concerned my neighbors would be offended and there is no way I can afford this chicken house. It's a handsome chicken house but what do you all think of the wire floor? Is that OK for chicken feet? I'm not that familiar with chicken culture so I have no idea.

The Boot Tree is in bloom - visual pun

My niece Kanishia was driving through Oregon, spotted this rare Boot Tree in bloom and stopped to snap a photo. There are other boot trees but I suspect this one is definitive. I'll let you know if the cuttings take.