The Languishers

 

'Queen of Elegance', anti-langisher

Languish:

 

1. (of a person or other living thing) lose or lack vitality; grow weak or feeble.

 

2. suffer from being forced to remain in an unpleasant place or situation.

 There was a recent much-discussed article in the NYT about humans languishing due to Covid-19 restrictions.  This post is not about that.  

It's about plants languishing in the garden.  Mostly, but not all, victims of place or situation.

Trachelospermum, of all things.  A common plant that took a decade to cover fence topper and trellis.  Partially my bad--insufficient water  (planted at the start of the long drought with water restrictions that I took very seriously and followed) and no fertilizer.  The long drought, however, was not my doing.  

At long last, doing what was intended

Just what I wanted!  The little vertical succulent planter was a bit of privacy while we waited and waited for the Trachelospermum to fill in.  I suppose I could remove it now, just as it, too, finally looks decent. 

Certain roses -- 'The Prince', victim of place, finally given a different spot, took off after languishing for at least a decade.  Its ability to survive, and finally thrive, after my black-thumb treatment makes it all the more special.  

'Petal Pushers' went from poor soil to rich loam (again, victim of place).  Moved, it thrived.  When I finally realized it needed a little trellis and gave it one, it looked wonderful.  The languish in this case is all on me. 

'Ascot'. rose:  given fertilizer for the first time in its life, it produced ten times the flowers.  Just.  Like.  That.  Duh!  My bad.  (Though again, the drought helped 'Ascot' to languish for years.)

Grevillea 'Superb'--is it planted in soil too cold for it?  A move will kill it.  I try to help via iron chelate and nitrogen.  And try.  And try.   

 Grevillea 'Kings Fire' never ever got going.  I'm inclined to blame the grower, as most all the Grevilleas planted in the garden, after variable sitting-doing-nothing time periods, grew rapidly and beautifully.  

'Kings Fire' burnt out

 Sometimes it is not the gardener's fault, nor is it the garden, nor even the commercial grower.  

Some cultivars simply have no vigor.  Certain roses, like very beautiful, very weak 'Ebb Tide' come to mind.  I complained about Protea 'Mini King' ,  to a fellow gardener, who thought 'Mini King' simply lacks vigor.   I think that's it.  'Mini King' must have heard that comment, because it almost immediately sprouted its first new growth since planting.

Maybe the solution for lack of vigor is to invite people over and complain about the vigor-lacking, perhaps holding a large shovel.   However, I've tried that a few times, and in the end, the shovel won.

Even this is an achievement:

Do some plants need friends?  Clematis 'The President'  began to wake up last year when I planted Callistemon 'Slim' adjacent-- did it make a sorely needed Aussie friend?  A decade of one single flower per year from 'The President' became a handful last year, and over a dozen this spring.  

Happy now you have a buddy to lean on?

Then there are the years-long-drought-damaged.  The boxwoods have been slowly recovering for a long time.  Some look decent again, some need yet more time.  

This took years to grow new foliage:  

While the boxwood continue to recover, the Pittosporums, equally damaged by the drought, worry me.  I begin to think that long term, this is not their climate--the rain too scarce, the summers too long and too hot, our Santa Ana winds too desiccating.  They drop considerable foliage, and cannot regrow it. 

Bare stems and branch death.  Not good. 

Wince.  Sigh.  Yecch. 

I planted native Toyon seedlings between each of the 'Marjorie Channon' Pittos down in the gully.  As the Toyons grow, the plan is to cut back, and cut back, and cut back the Marjories, to gradually let the much tougher Toyons take over. 
 

It has become apparent that while Syzygiums like Southern California, they don't perfectly like this particular part of Southern California.  They are badly damaged by strong Santa Ana winds.  

Looking the best they have for a long time: 

 I note the best looking Syzygiums are not in our windy neighborhood, but in areas more sheltered.   Our Syzygiums have improved lately--finally--the three years of good rain we've had over the last decade helped them recover from the brutal drought and from the neighbor's overhanging trash Palms.   I had the tallest of them topped last year, which was always the intention, as they are meant to be a tall privacy hedge.   Topped, they grew more densely foliaged.  In addition, another move seems to have done them great benefit:  they are soaked whenever possible with ALL the rainwater I can collect.  It this dry winter, it helped them recover and re-sprout the foliage one particularly bad Wind Event stripped away. 

Things happen to plants.  Sometimes its our fault, sometimes not.  What is languishing in your garden?  Why?