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Although this could very well be a picture of me finding a new treasure at a favorite nursery, it's actually an illustration by David Catrow for a children's book called Plantzilla.

Friday, March 22, 2013

Bring Out Your Dead


 
 
This is the time of year when we start looking at what made it through the winter and what might be D.Y.K. (Dead You Know.) Here are  a few of the plants that surprised me by surviving and some that shocked me by throwing in the towel. 
 
 I think it's safe to assume that Agave weberi will be compost soon.  Although I'd sheltered it from the rain and the soil was bone dry, it was simply not meant to be.  I loved it's sculptural presence.  There are a couple of pups that look o.k. so maybe I'll have smaller ones to play with.

That brown pile of goo used to be Melianthus major.  I've another in a less sheltered bed that sailed through the winter and has fresh new green growth already. Go figure.

 A big surprise was the sudden death a few weeks ago of this Euphorbia 'Ascot Rainbow' I've others that look fabulous. 

I'm thrilled that Pittosporum 'Tom Thumb' made it unscathed.  I've tried and failed a couple of times with this beauty.  Third try's the charm.  Soon the chartreuse new growth will  cover this burgundy bush.  It's a spectacular foliar show!
 This was the first winter that I tried leaving some opuntias outside.  This cute little chubby guy came from Cistus last year and seems to be very happy.
 This one came from Stephen at Beech Street Gardens.  Other than the fact that I planted it a little too high, it looks great and hasn't paid any attention to the rain.

Opuntia 'Santa Rita' was not amused in the least.  This puppy was too large to lug inside for the winter  and every time I looked at it glochids flew across the garden at me.  I swear the damned thing could throw them.  Just the other day, a hose brushed a pad as I was putting it away and glochids got all over my hands. 
While the bottom is toast, some of the topmost pads look as if they might be viable.  I'll get out some tongs and a knife and take any clean looking pads to the plant exchange.    Much as I enjoy the  good  looks of this plant and it's kin with the cute fuzzy looking tufts, I'd much rather be stabbed by spines than coated by the nearly invisible fur of pain.  I was going to call it the Pear of Anguish but it seems that name is already taken by another instrument of torture.
I've several other opuntias which I love and THEY don't attack me!
 
 
Crinodendron hookerianum looks fabulous and has flower buds.  This is a great evergreen bloomer from Chile

This lovely evergreen prostrate camellia made it through the two Phromium killing winters and bloomed its head off with cute little single shell pink lightly fragrant flowers. I couldn't believe that it died this year.
 
Phormium Guardsman and Cordyline pink passion are looking happy.  They got dragged into the glass room for the coldest month of the year but spent the rest of the winter in this sheltered area.   They're ready to be moved back out into the garden.  Hooray! 
 
Oh well, you gotta win a little, loose a little...
 
 

21 comments:

  1. Winter is always full of surprises! Let's hope the plants that now look dead, will recover. Happy weekend, Peter!

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    1. Hyvää viikonloppua, Satu! Thanks for the well wishes for the plants. Dead plants just give me an opportunity to shop for more!

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  2. You just had to start off with the punch of the dead agave didn't you? So sad. Is this the first year you've had a Melianthus major die back to the ground? It will probably be back to it's "before" stature soon.

    Of course I was laughing with a knowing grimace as you described the "the nearly invisible fur of pain"...so true! Yay for the phormium!!!

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    1. This was the first year for this particular Melianthus. I've had them die to the ground and come back before but I much prefer when they decide to be mostly evergreen.

      Have you found any gloves that those glochids don't go through? I'd be happy to buy some and some stock in the company that makes them!

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    2. I'm really happy with my Atlas gloves (http://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Nitrile-Gardening-Gloves-Green/dp/B001B4G968) rarely does a glochid make it through...the trick though is to put them on before handling the optunia...(something I don't always do)

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  3. I'm hoping your Melianthus will come back from the roots. "I'm not dead. I feel fine. I think I'll take a walk."

    Bummer about all the dead ones, especially the Agave. I have one that looks similar.

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    1. Either it will or it wont. It's all good as there are other plants that would enjoy taking its place! Sorry you have an agave that looks like that one!

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  4. I wouldn't be in too big a hurry to get rid of the bodies. They might surprise you. The ones in pots can go some place out of sight for now.

    Deirdre

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    1. As long as one remembers where the bodies are hidden, right? Being the laziest gardener I know, they'll have plenty of time to revive before I get to them.

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  5. Good thing about the phormium, the rest is quite informative seeing what happens to agaves and cacti in a wet climate.

    We usually count our dead in September. Winter is not nearly so tough on most plants.

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    1. Summers here are so mild. Portland (Danger land) is usually at least 10 degrees warmer than we are during the summer. More homes here don't have air conditioning than do. People start calling it a heat wave if we get more than one day of temps in the 80's.

      I bet if you installed an irrigation system, you too could kill agaves and cacti!

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    2. I could also get hit with a $250 a month fee on my water bill too. I'll keep the agaves and the $250!

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  6. Just about everything still looks dead here and if the snow doesn't melt soon I swear I'm getting out the blowtorch.

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    1. Perhaps you'd like to add your name to this petition I'm starting:

      Dear Jack Frost, Father Time, Mother Earth, and the rest of you winter conspiracy nut jobs, It's sprig already, give it up! Thank you for the lovely blankets of snow and cool weather, we really enjoyed the heck out of it but now it's time to move on! There are lots of people who are looking forward to seeing you in another hemisphere about now so let's just move along. Buh bye now!

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  7. My deepest condolences. But remember that they are not really dead, but live on inside each one of us.

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    1. Jason, this really should have come with a warning! I nearly laughed coffee out my nose! Thanks for the laugh!

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  8. I hate when I see those that are DYK! My lantanas leaf out the last - they always surprise me if they are still alive, and then I'm surprised when some of the are actually dead because I've been expecting them to revive for so long! My euphorbias all bit the dust, too. And I tried several of them, a couple of times. I love them, but I probably won't try again (maybe). Anyway, I was intrigued by the prostrate camellia. I've never seen one of those, but what a wonderful plant! Too bad she's dead.

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    1. Well, we all have to go sometime, right? Camellia was sweet there. I'm thinking that maybe a falling racoon, meteor or UFO might have physically damaged it because it seems kind of loose. Of course, it may have been operator error as the draiage in that pot has bee nreally bad since it fell over one year and I buried it part way in the ground.

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  9. dear tog, my condolences on your losses that are the compost heap's gains. It's a noble thing when the dead one leaves little puppies to succeed it. It's hard to comment on a post when you're dancing around to BM - another song you could have used is 'where have all the flowers gone.'

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    1. It's fun to experiment with plants to see just how far one can push the hardiness envelope! Great song idea! Thanks!

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Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! I love to hear your thoughts.