Speaking of Strange Plants...

While I love common and dependable plants I'm also smitten with unusual ones.  Do you remember these lyrics?  "Make new friends but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold."  It applies well to plants as well.  Anyway, here are a few of the strange plants living in my greenhouse.  In some cases, the plants aren't that strange but they're doing strange things.

New to me this year were three members of the Sulcorebutia clan.  Here's S. rauschii

Sulcorebutia rauschii f. violacidermis.  Oh that purple color...

Sulcorebutia heinzii

Astrophytum asterias

Euphorbia suzannae sort of sat around doing nothing for a year or two but this year decided to put out some side growth.

Since this Lophoceres schottii came home with me from the Portland Garden Bloggers' Fling in 2014, it's slowly grown taller.  This year, it got a little plant food in the spring and what I thought might be a flower bud appeared.  It's not a flower bud.  Very unusual for this particular plant to put out a side shoot.

This little pup was listed as Agave 'Joe Hoak' mediopicta.  I think it must be Agave desmettiana mediopicta.  Although in looking at pictures on the interweb, 'Joe Hoak' makes bulbils that look just like this.  Time will tell.

I'm pleased as punch that Begonia sizemoreae with it's huge, textured, hairy leaves is happy in the greenhouse and is even blooming this year.  Seems this one  likes to dry out between waterings.

Here's a puzzler.  Both of the following plants were labeled Pachypodium but one has really long leaves

while the other has short foliage.   Different varieties or just variation in the same kind of plant? 

One last strange plant that I thought was dead this winter but must have just been dormant  is Euphorbia decaryi spirosticha.

Lots more strangeness to share but that'll do for this post.  Any strangers lurking in your collection?

Wednesday Vignette - Spring Stirrings

It's that time of year again when daily work in the garden has given way to occasionally running out to water dried pots after work and trying to keep up with everything else during the few free hours of the weekend.  It's kind of messy right now with leaves beginning to fall, branches, once tied back, now flopping into paths, pruning needing to be done, squirrels and racoons continuing to dig up some newly-planted things.  Yikes.  In addition, there are many powdery mildew-infested begonias in pots on the patio awaiting their fate.  Should I continue spraying, keep the tubers and hope for the best or just throw the whole lot away, keeping only the ones that avoided the summer of mildew mania?    On the bright side, soon everything will be covered with fallen leaves, including the koi pond that also needs to be cleaned again already.  The heaviness of the garden presses in as the daunting task of relocating so many plants for the winter looms.   At the moment, I'm not thrilled with the garden and think that if a nice Californian showed up with a Uhaul, I'd let them take most of the tender plants away, to live out their lives happily planted in the ground instead of cooped up in pots.   At such times, it's fun to think of the growing season to come and stir up ideas for spring.

 

Some years, I remember to Order early from bulb catalogs and, truth be told, it's not too late to do so but I'm not sure I'd have the time or energy to plant several hundred bulbs in the next few weeks.  I tend to order way too many bulbs from catalogs when there are quantity discounts.  No, this year I'll just add a few locally-purchased bulbs to those already in the garden.  That'll be enough to stir up some excitement for spring.  This year I'll plant Narcissus 'Tête-à-Tête' because you can never have too many of them, Orange Monarch and Yellow Monarch crocus because there are swaths of purples but the yellows have dwindled for some reason, and Tulips 'Christmas Orange'  and 'Gavota.'    There may be a few more bulb purchases once these are planted.  We'll see.  What spring blooming bulbs will you be planting this fall? 

Wednesday Vignette is hosted by Anna at Flutter and Hum.  Click here to see vignettes from other participating bloggers. 

Bloom Day Leftovers, Foliage Follow-Up, and a Question

On Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, I skipped showing a couple of blooms out in the front garden that have been making me smile all summer.

The first is Salvia 'Amistad.' While the plant itself has not been extremely vigorous this year, the fact that it made it through the winter and returned this spring is what makes me happy about it.  The color is lovely and reminds me of when I first saw the plant at Sunset Magazine's former test garden in Menlo Park, CA.

Next up is Alstroemeria isabellana, a plant with which I'd had less than stellar success in the past.  A couple of years ago, I decided to try again.  Last year there were a couple of bloom spikes but this year the plant has really taken off, spread out quite a bit, and has produced these interesting blooms for at least a month now.

From the Far Reaches Farm description: "A hybrid by noted California breeder Fred Meyer between the vining Bomarea and the non-vining Alstroemeria. We have sold it in the past as Alstroemeria x Bomarea 'Fred Meyer' and more recently as Bomarea 'Fred Meyer."   And all this time I thought it had something to do with the plant being discovered as some sort of mutant at a  Fred Meyer store.

Equally interesting is the fun seed pods the plant makes. 

The monster brugmansia in the greenhouse has overcome a two year battle with spider mites and for a short time is filling the space with fragrance. This was in the GBBD post but since the blooms are so short-lived, I couldn't resist sharing a couple more shots.

Although Pam at Digging ceased hosting Foliage Follow-Up on the day after bloom day, I'm still featuring some foliage that's bringing me joy at the moment.   Last summer, the weedy sod in this bed at the intersection of the sidewalks out front was covered with cardboard and manure and a few plants put in.  There is a fire hydrant to the right of the picture so plantings had to be low and be able to withstand some foot traffic should the hydrant need to be used or tested.  Because the main plants are Carex testacea and Acaena inermis ‘Purpurea,'  I call this the New Zealand bed. (Both plants are native to that country.)  It's filling in nicely and the orange and purple evergreen combination is a delight.  Please ignore the weeds.  The Romneya coulteri has sent roots under the sidewalk and wants to take conquer New Zealand.

One last look at this year's Danger Gardette before the annual autumn migration begins. 

This cloud-pruned topiary, looking very shaggy at the moment, (definitely ready for it's autumn haircut!)  has been a structural focal point of the back garden for many years.  It's grown very large for the space, some of the "clouds" are getting a bit scraggly, helped by squirrel traffic and the foliage from the surrounding beds leans in to take advantage of the little sunlight in the space making the paths around the sides a bit tight.  There are several options:  1) Remove the topiary completely and replace it with a non-organic structural element or with a huge pot containing a structural plant (both of these already exist in other parts of the garden where they're not fully visible) 2) Cut back a lot of the surrounding foliage and let the topiary have more space. 3) Severely cut back the topiary which would sulk and look really ugly for a year or two but would eventually recover.  What would you do?

In a Vase on Monday - Vegging Out

No, not this kind of vegging out! (Photo from the internet)

Although after the annual beginning of the three jobs, this sure looks appealing!  

Last week was my birthday and to celebrate, Kim, one of my creative coworkers (the one who had her brother design and make the cross stitch that is the header of my blog) came up with a creative way to help celebrate the day.  Since I no longer eat sweets, and pretty much anything else necessary to make cake, I'm not the easiest person for whom to bake.  This was simply to wonderful not to share.

Lovely and edible: who could ask for anything more?

Unfortunately, it didn't last long as the cucumber slice and radish roses were eaten fairly quickly while the other blooms, including the head of cabbage used as a base, became part of a delicious pot of soup.   Perhaps not the longest-lasting but definitely the most tasty and thoughtful Monday vase I've shared.  

In a Vase on Monday is hosted by Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.  Click here to see what others have brought inside to enjoy this week. 

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day September 2018

I'm a little later than usual as yesterday was a 14 hour work day and I had an early morning appointment today.  Nonetheless, I got up literally at the crack of dawn to see what was blooming in my zone 8 Northwest Washington State Garden.  No one  wants to miss Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, the delightful meme hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens!

Most of what's blooming this month was also blooming last month with a few exceptions:

Crinodendron hookerianum bloomed heavily this spring and is putting out a few blooms this fall as well.

It's hardy cyclamen time!

Colchicum autumnale

Tricyrtis AKA toad lily

Now, for the repeats...

Despite a continuing battle with powdery mildew, there are still a few tuberous begonias.

This Begonia boliviensis must have seeded itself   because I certainly didn't plant it in a pot of pelargonium wintering in the greenhouse last year. 

Russelia 'St elmo's fire'

Fragrant cloud decided to put on the heaviest show of the year just in time to be battered by the rain.  Neat.

Some other roses.

Angelica purpurea AKA Aphid Magnet.

My one dahlia that simply won't die despite being treated horribly, left outside in an unsightly plastic pot.

Petunia 'Starry Night'

Meanwhile out in the greenhouse, Brugmansia 'Charles Grimaldi' has decided to cover most of the greenhouse with a curtain of glorious and fragrant blooms.  The plant always times this spectacle to occur after all the garden tours are over. 

I have to take pictures so that people know that this actually happens.  

Fuchsias and abutilons continue. 

Cannas are mostly finished. 

Roscoe

Hydrangeas are taking on their autumn tones. 

Japanese Anemone

There are a few more begonias hiding out here and there. 

Aloe somethingorother (also spelled toolazytolookatthetag.)

Bromeliad 

Kalanchoe.

There are a few more stragglers out in the parking strips but nothing you haven't seen before.  Hope you have a fabulous GBBD!