'Thunder Cloud', with Aloe pseudorubroviolcea on the left:
Also 100% love for elegant, understated Aloe reitzii, the Aloe harbinger of all the Aloe blooms to come this fall and winter:
Dahlias, sigh sigh, love, but they've failed miserably here the past 2 years. My failure? Theirs? They are unhappy, and so am I, because they are unhappy. No hate, really.
I read in my info-reading wanderings there's a species of Coleus that is somewhat more cold-hardy than others--this one must be a member of that species, or else has a lot of it's DNA, because it survived quite easily last winter and has grown and sprawled happily this summer. So: love, pretty much, especially with that also completely lovable Hydrangea, the flowers of which open white, pink up, fade to green, then turn burgundy as the nights cool in November. Love them both. Not a bad thing.
Then as I took a break from this post, I saw another trunk of the same Pitto had also snapped. P. tenuifolium is now P. tenuifallen Another mess to deal with Gardeners have their fails, and the Pittos are mine--though--they were promoted with enthusiasm and were sold everywhere here fifteen or so years back--many different selections. How was I to know they belong farther up the Pacific Coast, with more rain and less heat?
Another mix of love, but and hate--I love Cuphea purpurea, but the Hummers far prefer 'Vermillionaire'. I want to support hummers and other pollinators, but not every plant works for them that works for me. Just a little guilt, I guess.
Leucadendron, yeah, 100% love...
..except Leucadendron 'Ebony', which I adore, but which hates where I plant it, and dies on me. Here's this year's victim:
Agapanthus 'Storm Cloud', another love--it's the other Agapanthus in the garden I don't love nearly so much, mostly because they are not 'Storm Cloud'.
Catharanthus--they along with Cosmos, Pelargonium peltatum, save summer for me.
The white ones just appeared this summer from seeds fallen from last year's Catharanthus. Who couldn't love that?
The variegated Farfugium seems very happy. It looked bedragged last winter. Happy it's happy this summer.
Photo intruder, that orchid that I made happy moving it off concrete and under the Acer:
Keeping my mood up with those, and Zephyranthes.
Must find a tree trimmer this week to come in and remove the the Pitto tenuifallen mess, and to chop back the many screening hedges. Sometimes I want to give up gardening, and then I see this:
I wonder if the Golfball pitts are struggling as well. It was a summer for love/hate, good/bad plant lists for sure! That white catharanthus is so cool, nice surprise. I'm thinking my newly planted 'Ebony' probably looks like yours, sigh...
ReplyDeleteOr maybe your 'Ebony' is just fine. Some plants just don't like me. (Lookin' at you, Acacia 'Cousin Itt'.)
DeleteRe the Catharanthus: they placed themselves better than I could!
What a fun post! At this time of year, I definitely have some love/hate situations. But my main love/hate, depending on the conditions is Hydrangea macrophylla. When we get enough rain, no plant is more beautiful--from the blooms to the lush foliage. When we're in a drought, I'm tempted to pull it out of the ground and replace it with something else, and then it rains again...sigh.
ReplyDeleteH. macrophyllas get a little toasted here but they are long established and handled the years long drought we got quite well. East side of the house, morning sun/afternoon shade.
DeleteYou have them in shaded areas? Then is winter cold an issue?
I can only dream that Japanese anemones could take off like that here - it barely survived as a small clump in my back garden after dying elsewhere but, as best as I can determine, this summer seems to have killed it outright. I've recently grown to appreciate Catharanthus and I can't tolerate summer here without dahlias even though I have to coddle them and I've had my bouts with the dahlia virus. My remaining Pittosporums are living on borrowed time while Leucadendrons are the backbone of my garden. And a small patch of Zephyranthes has reappeared, which made my week!
ReplyDeleteEriocapitellas do like water. So do Zephyranthes--that rain we got a few weeks back might have woke them up (oh no! "woke" plants! ;^) ). Give them enough they'll flower.
DeleteLeucadendrons, yes, awesome! Except I kill the 'Ebony's.
Years ago I resisted planting Japanese Anemone although it was offered several times because I'd heard it was aggressive. I've seen beautiful photos of it this year and my resistance was waning. Thanks for making me strong again.
ReplyDeleteWell, in a planter isolated by concrete, they'll be fine... Right now, I'm enjoying the flowers. I'll get mad at them again when they're finished.
DeleteI would happily grow Leucophyllum if they would put up with our wet winters. I'm glad to see them gaining popularity - there were only a few plants in the trade when I lived in NM many years ago.
ReplyDeleteYeah they are awesome! Tough to find here--they were around here for sale for two or three years--now they're gone again, but I'm sure they'll be back with the next drought.
Delete