New Plants June 2024

 

A few garden flowers:   Roses 'Firefighter' and 'Silas Marner', two white Dahlias, a fringe-y Leucanthemum.  The foliage is Eucalyptus 'Moon Lagoon'.  No use leaving the flowers on the plants--Sunday's near-90F temperatures toast many flowers to a crispy brown.  

As for recent plant purchases...

Impulse purchases are sometimes problematic

 Summer plant purchasing in Southern California can be iffy because of summer's dry heat.  There are exceptions.  Warm season annuals can be added if kept well watered until they get going.  Sub-tropicals or true tropicals need warm soil to establish, and some are sensitive to even our modest level of cold weather.   

Otherwise, summer plant purchases are best tucked into shaded, irrigated locations to survive until fall planting time arrives in October, or planted and given temporary shade and attentive care. 

Last week, I could not resist Hibiscus syriacus 'Minsyble9'  (marketing name 'Chateau de Versailles'):

One botanical site describes the species as "weedy" and it is considered an invasive in KY, PA, TN, and VA--far higher rainfall states than here, but certainly a call for caution.  On the plus side, it is said to be beneficial to pollinators.  I'll call it an experiment, not an impulse.

There's a recent new H. syriacus called 'Purple Pillar' which may have been a better choice:  its flowers are sterile.  Even better, Alyogyne huegelii, a species from southwestern Australia, also in family Malvaceae, is far more appropriate to this dry summer climate.  Perhaps 'Chateau' will be a very temporary experiment.

Two other new plants tucked into irrigated shade, one temporarily, one until October arrives:

A tall Pentas lanceolata with lavender-pink flowers, 'Orchid Illusion', and Carpenteria californica 'Elizabeth', a native shrub found in the wild only in small, scattered locations.  'Elizabeth' is a selection of the species with a more refined growth habit and more, though smaller, flowers.  'Elizabeth' will wait until October for planting. 

Tall (once it grows) 'Orchid Illusion' planted in the former location of springtime Sweet Peas:

There are already several compact Pentas lanceolata in the garden:

They grow to a height of 18-24 inches.  The new purchase grows 48-60" tall, with a more open growth habit.   Pentas is native to tropical Africa.  Here in Southern California it is a wonderful warm season producer of butterfly-feeding flowers.  Our winters are just cold enough to make Pentas miserable, blackened with fungal disease.  If a Pentas survives, spring can revive it, but I often pull them in January because they look so awful.  

Planting one in a location with reflected heat from walls or pavement increases its chances of surviving winter.  

IFLAS recommends:

 "Plants can be dug, cut back, and stored in a container of soil over the winter in climates that receive freezing temperatures. Water occasionally to keep roots from drying out and re-plant and fertilize in the spring. Heavy mulch applied over the crown of plants cut back to the ground will help plants overwinter in hardiness zone 8. In most years, plants re-grow from the partially buried stems in the spring."

I'll consider trying something besides throwing the Pentas out come winter.                                                                        

An annual new to the garden 2024 is Cosmos bipinnata:

I now see the advantage of Zinnias over Cosmos for summer color.  Cosmos have prettier foliage and a more graceful growth habit, but Zinnia flowers last a whole lot longer.  Cosmos will need frequent deadheading.  So noted.  Next year the Zinnias may return. 

Other photos from the garden.  I wonder when Agave parrasana's flower stalk will further develop.  The stalk appeared last year but stopped growing for winter and spring:

Another Dahlia starts to flower:

Color now on Trachelium.  The flowers look good with yellow roses like 'Molineux'...

...and red roses, too:

I also note that existing plants in pots need protection from heat as much as new purchases do.  I moved potted 'Tamora' and other plants off pavement and onto moist soil for the summer:

That's what's up here lately, besides spot watering.