Autumnal arrangement A handful of dried Lavender stems and three Zinnias in autumnal shades. Froggie is reaching for the spout, hoping for a drink. It's so dry here!
As the countdown of days to the equinox continues: it's now 31 or thereabouts. We've had a couple of days cool enough to actually get something done, like cutting back Eucalyptus 'Moon Lagoon':
During:
Really a beautiful shrub, 'Moon Lagoon'--it has both pink and green-gold stems:
After:
Also pulling a few weeds, mostly spotted spurge.
The one nice thing about drought: lack of weeds.
Other than that, it's time to consider the experiments of summer and how they fared.
Dahlias in pots? Mostly, fail. Transplanted to the ground too late:
Left in the pot, too hot and dry for them, despite daily watering, even if the pot was sunk into the ground. Porous terra cotta was especially bad.
As soon as August arrived and the weather really warmed up, the potted Dahlias suffered. Flowers stopped and the mildew started:
This pot did the best. It was encircled by other plants that shaded the pot quite well.
Still, the clumps in the ground did far better. All are still flowering and look reasonably good: 'Lover Boy':
'Cafe au Lait':The various versions of 'Funny Face'. A new one: a smear of peach across a field of yellow:
Plus the usual pure yellow, pure red, and the original red-striped yellow:
Making the effort to move and nurture what was left of a failed Dahlia clump from last year: success. See 'Lover Boy' above. Also the little bits and pieces that sprouted this spring, moved to a nursery bed, are all growing well. In the past I would just dig and toss. Next year, they could be flowering clumps. There is a flower bud or two this year:
One surprising Dahlia disappointment--the small, dark-foliaged cultivar. While the flowers were fine and the foliage was fabulous, in this garden they are too short to really enjoy unless in a pot or very raised bed. I want to oooh and ahhh over them close-up.
In the ground, too far away! Are there tall dark-foliaged Dahlias?
Cosmos from a six-pack:
mixed results. Lessons learned: Rabbits find them delicious. They could not handle August heat.
Lovely, though. I'll try from seed next year. This is the effect I'm
after--the flowers peeking up from between other plants out of flower (Iris, Hemerocallis, etc.)
Pretty good from a six pack of plugs: (except rabbits):
Not so good:
Zinnias from seed: success. Learned: they don't have the easy grace of Cosmos, but they hold up to heat. Learned: plant seeds in place if possible: they do better. Learned: they need goodly water and fertilizer to to get going, not so much once they start to flower. Learned: they cheer me up when the I-Hate-Hot-Weather-Blues hit.
Maybe one or two colors, instead of the mix...I like the magenta and red ones the best:
Ageratum from six-packs: success. Easy, plus blue. Speaking of blue...the two 'Tight and Tidy' Felicia did well right up until they both died. I decided Ageratum, not Felicia, next year.
A bit scruffy, but not bad (and blue!):
Growing different cultivars of Agapanthus: success. The 'Indigo Frost' (aka 'Twister') were early, the 'Pruntucky Summer' and 'Queen Mum' were mid, and the Maybe-'Elaine' were late. A whole summer of successive Agapanthus, instead of just the typical for Southern California six-weeks-and-done show. Now we're breaking eggs with a big stick!
Yet another new Maybe-'Elaine' just opened:
Basil: success. Learned: first: easy in the ground...
...easy in pots.
Second lesson learned: we don't use much basil in summer. Too hot to cook.Catharanthus from six-packs: wonderful. Three plants even came up from seed from a plant that grew last year. I'll try from seed next year.
Pentas from seed: 100% failure. I bought several quart size instead. They are also wonderful.
To end, a few flowers that were not in time for Bloom Day, or that didn't make it into the post:
Salvia 'Waverly': nearly year-round nectar for hummingbirds:
Another round of flower from Hemerocallis 'Strawberry Candy': Protea 'Sylvia', unfortunately toasted: And Drimia maritima, amidst the Aloes:Despite the drought and water restrictions, and the dire news of awful weather around the world, this summer hasn't been as depressing as summers past, thanks to the experiments with summer annuals. Learning new things is one of the best parts of gardening. Have you experimented with anything in the garden lately? Was it fun?
My summer garden feels dismal this year but part of that may be a side effect of things that have nothing to do with the garden. I've been very stingy with water, doing little spot watering even of the notoriously driest corners, which was probably a mistake. I found a rabbit in my cutting garden for the first time yesterday morning - and I should probably run out right now to check the cosmos in my raised planters. Something is digging in those planters on a regular basis too but rabbits don't dig, do they? My dahlias seem happiest in half-barrels - I didn't bother to plant any in my borders this year because that doomed every one I planted there last year. Unlike you, the Ageratums I planted from 6-packs unfortunately burned to a crisp.
ReplyDeleteBunny in the cutting garden, oh boy. I have found temporary areas scooped out under shrubs--I think bunnies are doing it, resting there temporarily for a night or two. But those are always under the cover of something shrubby.
DeleteThe wild critters are hungry and thirsty. Summer is tough for us all.
The urn basin is often empty in the morning--creatures come in the night and splash around in there. After a refill this morning there was a Coyote drinking out of the fountain. He looked in pretty good shape, though. Coat looked sleek and he wasn't underweight. My Ageratums are in part shade--maybe that helped.
Educational post. It's nice to see that your experiments yielded so many lessons.
ReplyDeleteFor taller dark-leaf Dahlias, look for the 'mystic' series: Mystic Enchantment has the red flower.
Eucalyptus 'Moon Lagoon' has fun colored branches; did it all end up in the yard waste bin?
chavli
Thank you for the tip Chavli, I will look for 'Mystic's this winter. 'Moon Lagoon' clippings did end up in the bins this time. I ran out of energy so "chop and drop" was just too much. It was cooler, but not that much cooler!
DeleteAlso look into Dahlia 'Bishop' series, as in Bishop of York, Oxford, Llandaff, Canterbury etc.
DeleteBishops, yes, have been wanting to try those. Thanks again!
DeleteBishop series really easy to start from seed.
DeleteOh, thanks for that idea luv2garden. Growing Dahlias from seed will be one of my next new experiments!
DeleteEnjoyed your Summer recap and all the beautiful dahlia blooms. Had to laugh at your basil analysis! Exact same here, basil in a pot is huge now, used 3-4 times. Keep saying I'll make pesto, hasn't happened yet. I'd plunked some lobelia in the pot with the basil and did enjoy the color. I agree, as hot as it's been the garden has done surprisingly ok, and with limited water. Just went out and found several spots where the skunk had rototilled, the current challenge. Our bunnies seem to stick to the dymondia.
ReplyDeleteMy neighbor gave me a recipe that sounded delicious--involved tomatoes, basil, onions and a few other things roasted in a slow oven until the ingredients turned into a wonderful caramelized flavor filled dish. Sounded so good, but no way I'm going to run the oven for several hours in August.
DeleteThe bunnies here actually do one good thing: they eat the spouts of fescue that emerge from the Dymondia. They do not eat the Dymondia. A bit annoying because the fescue never wanted to grow when it had the area to itself, ha ha!
Skunks, yikes. Be careful with those around.
Hmmm, my big take away from this post is that you must have found someone doing nefarious with your image, thus the watermarks?
ReplyDeleteNot too interesting? I tried...sorry. No, I was futzing with the watermark thing and didn't have the energy to go back and remark them on the edge. But I have found some photos out there used without my permission used on commercial sites. Annoying but not unexpected.
DeleteMost of my dahlias are in pots and they have been good. One thing I've learned is that bringing home throw-away annuals almost never works. Even some marigolds have failed to get going. I suppose that starting earlier is essential.
ReplyDeleteI'm terrible at growing in pots. One of the goals for this dahlia-in-pots thing was to get better at it---another fail. The potting mix--too free draining? Will try again with something else.
DeletePurchased six-packs of annuals--yes, hit-and-miss. Also grown from seed so much less money, plus you can grow a whole lot. Worth doing!
No experimentation here. I left my garden in the care of a friend's son. He did a great job once before, so I have faith most of it will still be there when I return. All I know is that I will have to find new homes for a lot of my beloved plants. I won't be able to bring them all to Sweden. That said, I have been heartened by some of the things I've seen growing here, so I'd have to start over again with a new garden. Nowhere near the abundance of the PNW, though... sigh!
ReplyDeleteMoving to Sweden? Best wishes! There will surely be new beloved plants in your future. :)
DeleteLove the Dahlias! Mine are taking forever to bloom this summer, mostly because of limited sun in my mostly shaded garden. I tried to pick sunny spots, but they're still limited. Don't you just love all the caging you have to do to protect the garden from rabbits? That reminds me, I need to cage...
ReplyDeleteI got some screening--hoping if I screen two or three of the gates securely and completely it will keep the bunnies out. I can hope, right? The cages are not pretty!
DeleteDahlias do need quite a bit of sun--but they'd like it without a lot of heat. Warm, not hot. Too hot here in August.
Given my rabbit battles I think I am going to save myself more frustration and skip Cosmos. It has been on my list to add to the garden. I loved it when I first started gardening — when there were no rabbits and it rained gently at night. My experiments were a couple of new shrubs that died quickly. Too hot? Too dry? Too something else? But I had great luck with Gladiolus murielae. Now the question is whether to try to overwinter them indoors or assume I will be able to find them easily next spring. Loved the look of them and the ease of growing them in pots. So tall and so skinny they'll fit in anywhere.
ReplyDeleteI think you can just overwinter the bulbs--or rather corms? I tried those too this year--my pot was too shallow, maybe(?) or they should have been more shaded(?). They got too hot (maybe?) and the flowers toasted. I agree the totally vertical growth was not only space saving but very attractive.
DeleteScreening the gates securely this winter is a top priority to keep the various rodents out of the walled areas. The gates are the access points. All the rabbit cylinders around everything--cringe.
Having only grown the common type, I didn’t know that the various agapanthus cultivars bloomed at different times - that’s good info.
ReplyDeleteRe your basil glut - what about making pesto and freezing it in small batches? You just leave out the parmesan and add that in later when you defrost it.
I didn't expect the difference in bloom moment for Agapanthus either--it was a wonderful surprise. Most everyone (including every gas station and convenience store) has the same kind and they all bloom together in early June and then they are gone by mid-July.
DeleteI went and looked up some pesto receipes, I'm going to try what you suggest. Good tip about leaving the cheese out to freeze. Thanks! Lots of recipes for Walnuts instead of pine nuts--more easily available, plus California walnuts are yummy.