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No-Palm Sunday, Hello Joy Creek Clematis
Gone!
No more dead fronds falling and hitting me in the head, or snapping off Syzygium branches. No fronds smashing the aloes in the aloe nursery. No more endless, constant pulling of palm seedlings (well, in a few years...). No rats and squirrels running up and down the trunk, jeering. No wondering if the Palms are going to fall on the house due to a Santa Ana wind event. Or catch fire like a giant match. The Syzygium hedge can straighten up and grow right instead of leaning out of the way of the palms leaning over them.
Palmless. That's better.
The garden is starting to dry out. I miss the rain. The tougher flowers are still going strong...
...however yesterday was a miserable 90F. This is what happens to roses:
A cheer-up: new plant purchase. The mailman delivered three Joy Creek Clematis: 'Blekitny Aniol', 'Venosa Violacaea', and 'Moonlight'. Beautiful quality plants with lots of roots. No tiny rooted cuttings they. Thank you, Joy Creek!
The plants must have been amazed to feel the sun (though they are safely ensconced in the shade to recover from their journey). It's still raining in the PNW. Not here. Not here.
Hello Hoover Boo you always bring a smile on my face, the way you are writing, with so much humor. Do I understand well that the palms are not there anymore? Your roses get crispy by the heat and some of my roses in Holland are brown before they even get a change to open because of rain or cold. Clematis is always a great thing to have in a garden. I hope your new ones will bring you a lot of beautiful flowers. I wish you (a little rain) a wonderful sunday.
ReplyDeleteRosehugs Marijke
Yes, the palms along the fence are gone. When will it become warm in Holland? Your roses are very beautiful so it is sad they are still too cold. At least your tulips there will not wilt as soon as they open because of the heat.
DeleteI love the Clematis. They are exotic here. Not many people grow them. They will grow although not to the spectacular size that they do in your country or in our state of Michigan where they seem to be perfect.
Have a wonderful Sunday, Marijke!
Hello dear Hoover Boo. To me a palm always give a tropical feeling. In Holland we are all waiting for warmer weather. But at the moment only 8C Most important to have succes growing a clematis is , to put a plant in front of it so the foot of the clematis stays cool and the soil keeps moistured. I am looking forward to see your photo's of the clematis in bloom. Have a wonderful day.
DeleteThank you for the tips on growing Clematis, Marijke! I hope to post flower photos from the new plants this summer. 8C! That is cold! We rarely get that cold here--only at night, in January.
DeleteThose were neighbor's palms, right? Lots more reflected sky light too -- I noticed that when a neighbor's big tree at the back corner of the yard was taken out years ago.
ReplyDeleteYes the neighbor's palms, and yes, the reflected light from the sky is suddenly and vastly increased. Our family room is there on the north side of our south-facing house, and it is relatively a dark room--much lighter now. The other improvement is a greater sense of space. Because all the palms were leaning far over the fence into our garden, the space seemed much smaller. Opened up now. Wheee!!!!!!!
DeleteLucky Clematis! I wanna go where it isn't raining all the time.
ReplyDelete(btw, wow! They ship big plants, in pots! It's just like walking into the nursery to buy)
Yeah, what's with all the rain? They show the west coast weather on the local news here, and it seems like it's been raining in the PNW since--October?
DeleteAwesome Clematis--happy, happy!
I often like to just go to Joy Creeks website and browse the Clems just for fun. I'm pretty sure I could squeeze in another 4 or 5 here. Were you aware the neighbors were going to give the palms the heave-ho or was it a surprise ?
ReplyDeleteThere's always room for another Clematis--as long as there's enough water!
DeleteI did the heave-ho (with permission) so no, no surprise.
I miss the rain too. How quickly one can get used to having moisture distributed by Mother Nature more evenly and liberally than any man-made irrigation system can manage! My roses (few in number by comparison to yours) have also been withering in place, which is disappointing to say the least. I also feared my sweet peas were done for last Friday but cooler temperatures today and a touch of the marine layer gave them a temporary reprieve. As to your new Clematis - wow! I don't think I've ever seen mail order plants that size.
ReplyDeleteIt was cooler today and it's cool right now and ahhhh....so nice! The sweet peas seem to handle a couple of days of heat okay. The garden was filled with their fragrance this afternoon.
DeleteI was wondering why the shipping was so expensive--until the plants arrived. Clems do so much better when they are well rooted, and these are very well rooted!
For the first time in years, there's more Moderate Drought on the Virginia map than the California one -- but we're in the middle of four days of good off and on rains, so should be bouncing back at least one category.
ReplyDeleteI'm as giddy as if someone had cut down three looming palms! And celebrating by placing several plant orders...
Is that Salvia discolor? Love "black-and-white" plants.
Four days of off-and-on rain sounds lovely. Enjoy it for us, please!
DeleteYes, Salvia discolor, which is a 365 day a year bloomer here. It was the big favorite of the hummingbirds, until Grevillea 'Superb' stole their hearts.
Stuck weather pattern...we've had a few 90 highs and 50-ish lows, but dust storms all this week. Maybe I'll check out a new nursery in town even though there is a p*lm area...there must be some plant hope! Joy Creek sends large plants...I bet they are happy to be in So Cal.
ReplyDeleteStuck weather patterns are not good. The Ridiculously Resistant Ridge of 2014-2015 was dreadful. Hope your pattern passes. Dust storms don't sound good.
DeleteI like palms, just not neglected ones hanging 10 feet over the property line dropping crap everywhere.
I think the Clems are happy about the warm and the sun...hopefully they won't be too disappointed in the amount of water they get.
I am also missing the rain. I've been watering lately. I have a rose that looks exactly the same! What is the name of yours? Is it incredibly fragrant? I inherited all these roses from the prior owners and would love to guesstimate what they could be. So happy to hear about the palm removal! :)
ReplyDeleteThat is 'Twilight Zone'. It was a pretty rich purple color before it got toasted. It has a mild fragrance. Thanks, I'm happy the palms are gone.
DeleteJoy Creek is a top notch nursery for mail order as your plants show. It sounds like you have a nice rapport with that neighbor. These kind of palms excite tourists and do make for our iconic skyline, but living under them can be hell. My mom hate, hate, hates the big one outside her living room window, where only the trunk and mess is visible, but HOA rules prohibit removal. Congrats on new light and space!
ReplyDeleteThe Clematis are the best I've ever gotten. I'm very happy with them.
DeleteYour Mom is right--the Washingtonias are awful. I spent some time this afternoon pulling out seedlings.
There are some extraordinary palms to grow in the garden, but Washingtonias are not one of those. There are some extraordinary Eucalyptus to grow in the garden, but E. globulus is not one of those. Why did 19th century Californians pick the two worst possible examples of Palm and Euc?
How thirsty are your clematis? Everytime I walk by clematis in a nursery, I want to grab some. But I'm never sure how much water they actually need. I'd love to have some growing on the north fence behind the vegetable beds, but because the vegetable beds have been fallow since the beginning of the drought, there's little irrigation going on.
ReplyDeleteIrrigation mandatory! Not a xeric plant. Even with irrigation in CA they don't get huge as in Michigan, Illinois--places with summer rain and rich, deep soil.
DeleteOh, never say never. Check out this xeric clematis! (not a fence climber, tho!)
Deletehttp://www.highcountrygardens.com/perennial-plants/unique-plants/clematis-scottii
Seen on this blog:
http://tmhgarden.blogspot.com/2017/04/second-clematis-scottii.html
How about that?
Oooh, this is very promising. I like High Country Gardens, too.
DeleteI watch the care that goes into shipping on our end so it does my heart good to hear all this praise of Joy Creek plants once they arrive.
ReplyDeletePraise very well deserved!
DeleteBye-bye palms. So you're saying that you don't like palm fronds stabbing you in the head? Go figure. Those Joy Creek babies will love your warmth as our highs are still in the 50's and 60's here.
ReplyDeleteThe Clems are already sprouting new growth, so I guess they like it here okay. On the other hand, your PNW garden shows are waaaaay better.
Delete50's and 60's sound good right now, it was near 90F over the weekend.
Oh - you got some good ones! Since I'm there several days a week, I'm constantly drooling over a new favorite Clematis. The temptation is constant... Luckily for me, they don't take up a big footprint - otherwise I'd be doomed!
ReplyDelete