Tidy/Skills/Miracle Rain Consequences

 My favorite part of the garden at the moment is the area on the west side of the driveway.  It looks, above all, tidy.  Orderly.  The Leucadendrons and Leucospermums are tidy plants, the Aloes and Agaves the solitary forms, also tidy, the Dymondia ground cover, extremely so. 

Unhappy Aloe circled:

Solitary Aloes and Agaves are favorites, because clumpers are, visually, chaotic.  The elegant symmetrical form of a single rosette is lost. 

The Lessingia is gone, a perfectly fine native plant.   I should try another in a less trafficked location. 

Better than fine, very nice, actually: 

 It has been replaced with a Rhodanthemum, which I simply like better.  Rhodanthemum fits the same functional niche of silver-foliaged low ground cover, but it's tidier.  

Even the Rhodanthemum up on the harsh west slope, trimmed back once a year, looks far more rigorously maintained than it is.

Of course the Dark Side of Tidy is the Plant-As-Green-Furniture, prevalent in non-gardener owned properties.  The original shrubs planted more than 20, 30, 40 years ago, buzzed ever since into lopsided cubes, sagging globes, top heavy rectangles.  The flowers cut off every spring, before they can open.  Mostly dead sub-shrubs, their branches mostly bare tangles, their surviving tips neatly sheared.  A dark side, indeed.  

Of course there are gaping holes in my TidyLove.  As plants in the landscape, roses are often painful to look at.  But, we love what we love.  

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When you live in a very forgiving climate, gardening just isn't as difficult.  The drawback to is that  developing expertise is less necessary, so it doesn't always happen.   Lately I'm making an effort to develop more expertise.  The effort is two-fronted:  first, to give every plant in the garden what it needs to be its most beautiful, and second, to be able to grow plants from seed.   

The pandemic eliminated most shopping trips and the resulting impulse plant buys, which proved to be relief, not sadness.  Wandering the garden, new plant in hand, searching for a place for it, subsided.  That energy went instead to closer examination of plants already here.  Recent example:  an unhappy Aloe capitata, circled in photo 2 above.  Dug out, the root system proved a mess.  Decapitated, re-rooting in progress.  

It can't thrive this way: 

Very stressed, just barely photo-synthesizing by the slight green in the center:

Into the Aloe nursery for a fresh start at a new root system.  Fingers crossed.

Another thing prompted by the pandemic:  dealing with, instead of ignoring,  drought-damaged shrubs:   Boxwood and Pittosporum tenuifoliums.  After much consideration, long term, the Pittos need to go:  this is not their climate.  Boxwoods--some are beautiful and thriving.  Others, drought-damaged--can they be rehabilitated?   I've been working at it.  

Sad to say, this looks vastly better than it did two years ago.  As it sloooowwwly sprouted new undamaged growth, I've cut off more and more of the damage. 

Drought did this to the stems:  just a bit of life left at the tips, the rest of the stem dried and badly damaged:

This one recovered quite well, because it didn't get so damaged in the first place. 

This one never got much damage at all. 

As for seed-growing, skill has been difficult to acquire.  Volunteer seedlings moved and nurtured have been iffy.  Lavenders are best when left to grow where they appear.  Trachelium need rabbit protection.  Sweet peas:  success, if rabbit-protected.  Tomatoes, Cosmos, Zinnias, failures.  Dumbfounding success:  Leucospermums!   Two seedlings became mighty plants, a third appears to be headed that way (first flower buds have appeared), and now, 'Tango' seedlings.  

One to the right of that errant Freesia bulblet:

I attempted an Acacia glaucoptera for fun:  got one.

After some experimentation, specific areas to start and grow seedlings seems necessary.  I've been dithering about buying or building a potting table for years--they are expensive to buy, but building is iffy, too.  Still dithering.  

***

In the garden, a few delightful surprises this past week or so.   0.17" (4 mm) of rain last week, from a rip-roaring thunderstorm that shook the house. 

First flower stem ever from not overly happy Aloe speciosa.  "Speciosa" means "showy"--the flowers are gorgeous.  It's that miracle December rain we got.

The plant itself has been vulnerable to Aloe rust since planting.  I've noted a couple at the Huntington that have died in recent years. 

Another benefit of the December miracle rain, flower buds on Hippeastrum papilio.  Moved last spring at exactly the wrong time they looked simply awful all summer and fall.  Miracle December rain transformed them, and now, flower buds!

Continuing to enjoy the very early Dutch Iris flowers paired with 'Embers Wish' Salvia and Aechmea blanchtiana with more flowers to come.   Orange and purple, a perfect color combo.

Ditto enjoyment of the Magnolia stellata.  It has, to an extent, made up for the lack of Camellias in the garden. 

The area emptied a couple of weeks back is now replanted.  Moving the path will be left for now.  The two new Felicia 'Tight and Tidy', a spare Cuphea 'Vermillionaire' that will need regular cutting back to fit into the space, and a double fan of the deep indigo Agapanthus got the space.

So, that's wazzup here. 

Have you worked to develop particular garden skills during the pandemic?  Which ones?