Today Is World Naked Gardening Day. No, Really.

No, really, it is.  It is the 10th annual World Naked Gardening Day.  Look it up.  It's not something I'm planning to celebrate.  But while I'm not celebrating, I'll update the flowering process of the Dasylirion.  The actual flowers are beginning to emerge.  They look like green corncobs, and I guess you could say they are naked. 
 The flower stalk is about twelve feet tall (~4 M).  Oh, my.
I considered removing Aloe camperi last summer.  It must have read my thoughts--it decided to show off.  Okay, you are safe.
 
 Tomato seedlings just appearing.  Our five straight days of near or over 90F helped them sprout. 
 Remember the "it" plants of 2014?  That seems like a million years ago.   Alstroemeria 'Rock and Roll, Digiplexis 'Illumination Flame', Stachys 'Bello Grigio' were the three I remember.  The first two were for sale everywhere, the third was coveted but not so widely available.  

 I bought all three.  The Alstroemeria is thriving and blooming like crazy.  Yet another plant popular with the hummers. 
 I pulled out the mealy-bug covered, bare-stemmed Digiplexis 'Illumination Flame', and the Stachys very abruptly died during one of our brutal heat waves last August.  One out of three is not bad as new plant introductions go.  I have not seen the Alstroemeria for sale this spring.  The Digiplexis is here and there in garden centers, ignored and forgotten.  

The Stachys I wanted to try again.  One was almost free due to getting 3rd place at the Roger's Sweet Pea show--the prize was a gift card.  The other was 50% off.  Perhaps with two they won't be lonely and die. Update: they died in the first heat wave
  The washing machine water appears to do the Hemerocallis no harm.
I celebrated World Naked Gardening Day in my own way, clothes firmly in place.  It's about the plants.  It's all about the plants. 

Comments

  1. I've been doing Serious Plant Collecting* for twenty years-ish, and the concept of It Plants or Plants of the Year have always escaped me (or, rather, I've escaped them), but the digiplexis thing: that hit hard out my way. You couldn't move for digiplexis. Front borders, previously devoted to bedding plants, and hell-strips were lousy with them. The enthusiasm's died out a bit inland, I think, because of the water situation.

    Re naked gardening: if it landed later on, at the height of summer when we're all feeling particularly sadistic, I might subject a neighbor or two to such horrors.

    (By the by, I was reading back when you switched cameras, and I've been meaning to compliment you on your photographs. You've really mastered this one, haven't you?)

    *gardening involves design, or so I am led to believe

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    1. Re: photos. Practice makes...less incompetent. Thanks!

      Re: design. It certainly does involve design, just not in my garden, which is mostly a matter of "Oooh! Want that plant! Buy!"

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  2. Your flowering plants are infinitely much more interesting than that naked gardening thing...

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  3. Naked gardening? No with my skin tone under the Spanish sun? Does pulling weeds in my jammies count?

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    1. Pulling weeds in jammies = "real gardener"!. I was distributing greywater this morning in mine!

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  4. Dear Gail, thanks for your comments on my blog!
    I am a faithful follower of yours and always enjoy my visits. Your clematis is just looking wonderful!
    It is kind of a wired thing with the "it" plants, isn't it? I love the stachys 'Bello Grigio', it should be planted because of the name alone ;-). This plant would be such a good addition to my White Gardening Bed, hmm...
    Wishing you a lovely weekend with hopefully a little cooler temperatures.
    Christina

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    1. I enjoy your blog also, always enjoy roses! I don't remember any other year being quite comparable as 2014 when it came to "it" plants--what is this year's? Have not noticed one in particular...

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  5. There will be absolutely no naked gardening here today I can assure you. The weather's bloomin' awful.
    I can see, however, that your Dasylirion is particularly well endowed. Do people stop and stare?

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    1. If they don't stop and stare, they need a vision examination.

      The weather is bloomin' awful here today also, but in a different way--it feels like August.

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  6. I've seen lots of Stachys 'Bello Grigio' this year, so far I have not taken the plunge. Nor will I be "naked gardening"....

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    1. I'd go so far as to recommend one, but not the other.

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  7. I expect this means that another flush of naked gardener photos will be making the rounds...I finally gave up on my original Digiplexis for the same reason, although I did put in 3 new plants, in a fit of early spring foolishness, in March. My guess is that they'll follow the same pattern - the mealy bugs afflicted my Digitalis 'Polka-dot Pippa' last year too and I've pulled all but one of those as well.

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    Replies
    1. There's naked gardener photos? Thank goodness I've managed to miss them. May my luck continue.

      Spring euphoria does affect plant purchases. I will say the Digitalis did bloom straight for something like 6 months. Then the mealies.

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  8. Are you using soap especially designed for graywater yet? If so, what is it called and does the label say it works in a regular machine or is it only for HE?

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    1. The one I see often recommended is Oasis Biocompatible laundry detergent. There's a reasonable list on a reasonable site from up in the bay area that lists:

      Oasis laundry liquid
      Bio Pac Laundry Liquid
      Biokleen Laundry Liquid
      LifeTree Laundry Liquid
      Ecover Laundry Wash (some salt)
      Mountain Green Laundry Detergent
      Vaska Herbatergent

      Liquid detergents are supposed to have less bad stuff than the powdered. I think the Oasis is ok for HE.

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    2. Thanks. I take a look around and see which of those are available locally in retail stores.

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    3. There's one called Ecos that Ralph's carries. The Ecos is sometimes recommended, not always. I've used it, it works fine on the clothes.

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  9. Beautiful flowers dear Hoover especially the Aloe Camperi and the Day Lily.
    xoxoxo ♡

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    1. Thanks. I thought the day lily was so lovely--plain and simple but elegant.

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  10. Well, that day went by without spotting as much as a single naked gardener. You'd think Portland would be all over that one, with the annual Naked Bike Ride coming up soon... That Dasylirion flower is quite the thing - wow! As for "It" plants, I have noticed that people seem to be asking for more tropicals this year. No specific plant, but palms and big-leaved wonders seem really popular.

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