A Growing Obsession

shopping for phlomis at Windcliff

Posted on August 28, 2023 by Denise

“What looks good when the garden is just starting to stir in April? In my garden, in one word, phlomis. Unscathed, fully clothed, holding it together all winter. I didn’t expect phlomis could deal with this much rain, hail and snow, but see for yourself.” I wrote that in April this year, and I haven’t changed my mind yet about phlomis, especially now that I’ve seen not only how they handle all that winter rain, but the summer dry season too. I counted maybe three spots where phlomis would be an improvement over the current residents: A large clump of the big-leaved, non-flowering lamb’s ears could be halved, Lychnis coronaria struggling in the dry soil under the neighbor’s overhanging fruit tree could be moved, and a Japanese holly fern Cyrtomium falcatum in too much sun needed more shade. Time to go shopping! But where? What nursery has a great phlomis list?

noID phlomis with dark-leaved pittosporum at Windcliff August 26, 2023

Turns out that the owners of Windcliff appreciate phlomis’ many virtues too. (If you need an introduction to Windcliff, Dan Hinkley and Robert Jones, start here.) Scanning their offerings under Plants To Go, I earmarked Phlomis x margaritae and Phlomis ‘Le Sud’ (the latter sourced from Oliver Filippi’s nursery in the South of France), but there were so many other tempting kinds too. The trick is that Windcliff does not offer mail order; plants must be picked up on site, after e-mail arrangements are made for an appointment. Maps declared this to be a four and half hour trip. Hey, that’s a quick jaunt!

Dichroa febrifuga along the front driveway

But…Friday afternoon Seattle/Tacoma traffic was awful. Accidents, delays, sluggish progress up the 5 north made it closer to 6 hours. Not a day trip! Good thing we opted for an overnight in the town of Edmonds, where you catch the car ferry for a half-hour ride across Puget Sound to Kingston on the Kitsap Peninsula. Windcliff/Indianola is maybe 10 minutes away from Kingston. (Heronswood is approximately 7 miles away from Indianola.)

Finally out of the damn car, settling in for cervezas and Mexican food in the walkable town of Edmonds Friday night, with a Billie-friendly room booked, at that point the trip took on a glow it never lost. Our appointment was set for Saturday at 12 noon.

Detailed instructions from Robert take you from Indianola to the Windcliff gate, where he meets you with advice to see the garden before shopping the nursery and to take photos of any plants about which you have questions. Dan and Robert were both manning the nursery sales table. A few cars were at the gate when we arrived, but very few people are admitted in at one time (I believe maximum is five per two-hour visit — it’s all on the website). I had the garden entirely to myself — Marty and Billie stayed in the car.

private home of Dan Hinkley and Robert Jones

Pretty much any month is a safe bet for visiting Windcliff, though Dan says he doesn’t have as much going on in winter as he’d like. The last two winters have been especially brutal. The zone 8b garden sits on a bluff overlooking the Puget Sound, where the ferry system still thrives — which thrilled Marty, an alumnus of the Catalina Island ferry boats. Drainage at Windcliff is excellent, and the name is no empty poetic turn of phrase. Previous owners named it Windcliff for a reason, and the name was kept by Dan Hinkley and Robert Jones. The fierce winds off the Sound keep the crowns of plants dry all winter…which isn’t as rainy as you’d assume for the PNW. Annual rainfall is under 30 inches.

distant ceramic towers by Dustin Gimbel entitled….”Phlomis”! — and I think that’s a phlomis to the right of the eucomis

The noon visit was hotter than warm. Only mid 80s, but that bluff soaks up and radiates every bit of that sunshine.

What’s so interesting about the summer focus on agapanthus is how despite all the varieties and differences in heights and variations in colors on the blue/purple spectrum, with some white, the overall effect is to unify the garden, like a scene from a South African grassland

Famous for Dan’s own collections of rare araliaceae, the hardy scheffleras, and all the plants ending in the suffix “panax,” nevertheless Windcliff in summer is brilliant with agapanthus. Dan says Agapanthus praecox was on the property when they bought it, along with the huge expanse of sunny, south-facing lawn which is now the bluff garden. Intrigued by the possibilities suggested by that original surviving agapanthus, the plant list has now grown to over 50 varieties of agapanthus on offer, many of them Windcliff-bred exclusives.

Agapanthus at Windcliff are given center-stage treatment, rather than sidelined in narrow utilitarian plantings as they are in Southern Calif. Fully appreciated, they strut and swagger like I’ve never seen them do in zone 10.

Agapanthus, eucomis, kniphofia and plumes of the dramatic New Zealand toetoe Cortaderia fulvida

Wonderful clump of Acanthus sennii on the left, but then it’s all simply wonderful

Because it stood taller than me, I’m guessing that this may be Eucomis pallidiflora subsp. pole-evansii, the giant among pineapple lilies.

native madrone distant left, yellow poppy flowers look like Hunnemania fumariifolia. Every plant shown here would also grow in zone 10, though I doubt eucomis would grow as well

stunning hypericum from Nepal, possibly H. uralum. Not available currently at the nursery, but Plant World has seeds

Mathiasella bupleuroides flourishes at Windcliff, named in honor of Mildred Mathias, Director of the UCLA Botanic Garden

Gardens can be many things, calming, dreamy, an attempt at an imposition of order that either attracts or repels. Windcliff is an incredibly stimulating garden to visit, and I confess to a partiality for beautiful gardens that provoke discovery and wonder. Windcliff is a meandering, closely planted garden, almost as if Dan is recreating the experience of discovery he felt when first becoming acquainted with many of these plants in the wild.

Sinopanax formosanus, an evergreen endemic to Taiwan, aka Formosa. If my little one survives it may have to be moved!

Salvia with rusty spent blooms of an olearia in background, possibly Olearia cheesemanii

pitcher plants at the man-made pond just off the house, bluff-side

Caesalpinia gilliesii is marginally hardy so has been tucked in close to the house under the eaves, warmer and drier, where it stands the best odds over the winter

All the phlomis I coveted were available and made the trip home, including an additional highly recommended Phlomis ‘Whirling Dervish.’ Disappointingly, the last pot of Dahlia ‘Forncett’s Furnace’ was snapped up by a shopper ahead of me. Dan brought this bright orange single dahlia back from Hadspen House during Nori and Sandra Pope’s tenure, and it’s not easily found elsewhere. One of the hardiest acacias also made the trip home, Acacia pravissima, and a few other odds and ends. I spent Sunday settling the plants into the garden, and now rain has been forecast for the coming week…bliss!

Distant orange flowers are Dahlia ‘Forncett’s Furnace,’ umbellifer on the right is Selinum wallichianum

Posted in garden travel, garden visit, Oregon garden, plant nurseries, Plant Portraits | 13 Comments

Bloom Day August 2023

Posted on August 15, 2023 by Denise

Recently transplanted Salvia ‘Stormy Pink’ weathered the past two days in the mid-90s, a bonafide heat wave here at the Oregon coast, zone 8b

This little Salvia greggii pushing out a few blooms this week is emblematic of how small, well-timed interventions can mean a lot, especially in small gardens. The salvia was getting swamped in a stock tank and it became a case of move it or lose it. So it was transplanted into the gravel in front of the tank maybe a month ago and trimmed back a bit. And that’s how I was gifted with this translucent performance this morning. I’m very curious how salvias like these greggii/microphylla will perform here. I’m hoping til frost, of course. Just a few can make such a difference in late summer. Also growing ‘Nachtvlinder,’ ‘Mesa Azure,’ which wintered over, and ‘~~Amethyst Lips~~‘ — ‘Oriental Dove.’

Second summer, first blooms on Eryngium yuccifolium

The annual Madia elegans is sprawling its 5-foot stems in all directions, over the melianthus and aralia. I say sprawl away, because every day there’s a new association to appreciate by virtue of its clever insinuations into surrounding plants.

Side shoots blooming on Digitalis ferruginea with echinaceas

Crocosmia grows like mad in coastal Oregon. For the most part, they appear to be the dark red ‘Lucifer.’ I skip a lot of easy-going plants I’m seeing locally but made an exception for crocosmia. Nice leaves, nice timing of bloom in mid to late summer. For a homework assignment, I dare you, go ahead and choose a crocosmia. It’ll make you crazy, there are so many cultivars, and to the uninitiated (me) the differences seem slight. I defaulted back to an old cultivar ‘Solfatarre’ I have grown in zone 10. Surprised me by blooming after an early summer planting.

Seeds of the annual Coreopsis tinctoria hitched a ride from the zone 10 garden. It’s a tall, floaty thing.

New salvage in the garden, planted with lewisia, thyme and sempervivums

Second summer for Heliopsis ‘Bleeding Hearts.’ Kind of a thin performance? I like it fine. Sure, helenium has masses more flowers, but that comes with masses of leaves. Heliopsis serenely floats over its neighbors, slim footprint, good manners, not too pushy.

The next photos are from the southeast corner of the garden, that has to contend with the neighboring tree roots just over the fence. Here all the fizzy, floating things congregate, coming into full bloom in August. In addition to the heliopsis, there’s gaura, Scabiosa ochraleuca, Succisella inflexa, Rudbeckia triloba, agastache.

Snapdragons were added maybe a month ago. Like crocosmia, they love the coast. I would never grow them outside a cutting garden in zone 10, but I’ve been persuaded by their health and happiness on the Oregon coast to include them in the garden

portrait of happy snapdragons in August, Antirrhinum ‘Costa Apricot’

A pale mass of froth and foam, static in photo, but a dynamic little corner that draws me in every morning. Dechampsia ‘Goldtau’ has been good here since spring, now casting a gold net through the planting.

Same frothiness, but showing how the dark-leaved Aster lateriflorus ‘Prince’ adds some welcome bass notes. This aster leafs out early and stays dark-leaved all summer, opening small flowers in fall. Another lateriflorus var. horizontalis I grow is ‘Lady in Black,’ which is taller and much lankier, less dumpy than ‘Prince,’ but both have their uses.

A lackluster photo of some plants that deserve better. The grey leaves belong to mountain mint, Pycnanthemum muticum, backed by Joe-Pye weed. Apparently I have the same taste in plants as insects do. I love the buxomy, plush grey mounds of mountain mint and planted it for these attributes, not knowing of its renown for attracting pollinators. Now I know!

Mountain mint with the one that paused long enough for his portrait

Apart from red clover, I’ve never seen another plant bristling with so much buzzy activity.

late-summer blooming Selinum wallichianum, large mass of ferny leaves

‘Dainty Swan’ anemone is a hybrid that supposedly begins bloom mid summer. This is its first flower, not quite as early as advertised, but still earlier than traditional fall-blooming anemones

the white wood aster, Eurybia divaricata, for dry shade but okay in full sun on the coast. Grew for me in zone 10 as well

From seed in spring, Verbascum roripifolium. Except for the flowers, it’s very unverbascum-like — small footprint, thin branching stems give an exceptional floaty quality

Also from seed this spring, tiny starburst flowers on a stemmy structure that builds into a billowing tumbleweed, Verbena officinalis var. grandiflora ‘Bampton,’ perennial zones 7-9, maybe 6

Looking east, Joe-Pye weed in the distance, Rudbeckia maxima, one of about five stems. Performs best when basal leaves are open to sun and air

Hooray for Eryngium pandanifolium, blooming second summer, brought up from the zone 10 garden. Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ just starting to flower, whole plant cut back by half in June

Calamintha ‘Montrose White’ just starting bloom in August. Big billowy plant in zone 10, less so here. For scent, for pollinators, for texture and durability. The big dark leaves are Penstemon ‘Dark Towers,’ beefy as lamb’s ears, planted recently

My zone 10 escapee Echeveria agavoides reddening up in summer, with culinary oregano, agastache, scabiosa, rudbeckia, blue blades of Schizachrium ‘Standing Ovation.’ Salvia uliginosa is also in this corner, very, very late to appear, just now budding up — a perennial in near-constant summer bloom in zone 10

there’s possibly over 30 blooms on this dahlia now, ‘AC Rosebud.’ Over 8 feet in height, long-stemmed, prolific, OTT, it would be a money maker for a market grower

Dahlia ‘Elks Lips on Fire’ maybe 3 feet, not a lot of blooms at once

lining the path in bloom are kniphofia, verbena, diascia

Since I arrived in coastal Oregon, I’ve been determined to find a use for the easily obtained oyster shells that form large mounds/middens along the coast. Huge amounts are consumed from the local bays. Without equipment to crush the shells for pathways, my bags of oyster shells lay idle over winter in the vegetable garden. A mail-order gabion was the answer, topped with a former bridge light shade gifted from a blogger meet-up last fall. I’m beginning to feel like a local now! More August Bloom Day stories at May Dreams Gardens.

Posted in Bloom Day, Oregon garden | 11 Comments

clippings 7/24/23; new views

Posted on July 25, 2023 by Denise

earlier in July, with view of garden from pergola/overhang obscured by pink-flowered anisodontea

Some recent small changes at home. This stock tank held that incredibly generous friend to bees, Anisodontea ‘Strybing Beauty,’ that I brought up from the zone 10 garden. In its second season here, the unexpected girth and height now completely blocked my view of the garden when sitting under the pergola. And in a small garden, every viewing vantage point matters, and most particularly in July.

today’s view after removing the anisodontea

The anisodontea lives on in the garden via a couple more cuttings now of blooming size. Immediate replacements for the stock tank were found of a less obstructive nature. Tall and slim Aristea major and low-growing rosette Beschorneria septentrionalis were in pots plunged in the garden, and I think their chances for surviving winter are possibly improved now that they’re planted in the stock tank, slightly sheltered under the overhang, than in the unheated garden shed. The zone 9 anisodontea flourished in this spot, so hopefully these zone 8 plants will find it to their liking as well. Fingers crossed they make it through winter without becoming too hideous.

First bloom on Dahlia ‘Bewitched,’ second summer in the garden

And a few more new things on view recently.

First bloom on Heliopsis ‘Bleeding Hearts,’ second summer in the garden — excellent dark foliage on this one

Cirsium rivulare ‘Trevor’s Blue Wonder,’ planted in spring. Not an easy thistle to locate in the U.S. You need to act quick when you find it on offer because it quickly sells out

Second year for echinaceas, possibly ‘Sombrero Granada Gold’

Kniphofia in the “Popsicle’ series seemingly shot up overnight, second summer — the slugs love to literally nip these in the bud

And then after all the work was done and plants settled in, we had some light but steady rainfall, the first real rain since May. I sat under the pergola to enjoy the show of unexpected rainfall through my new, unobstructed view of the garden.

I’ll close with a couple recent newspaper articles, one about the town-shaking experience of a blooming agave in Georgia. A reminder that many plants familiar to me are a rare and wondrous sight elsewhere.

captioned “The century plant has become a local landmark in Luthersville. (Doris Flournoy)”

“Jackie Flournoy was leaving her home in Luthersville, Ga., one morning, when she spotted a strange-looking stalk poking out of one of her plants on her front lawn. She had never seen anything like it before.” This recent article in the Washington Post “After 36 years, her plant suddenly grew a towering 25-foot stalk” initially had me shaking my head at such persistent naivete about plants in the era of search engines. And then I came around after reading the comments to a new appreciation of the power of plants to inspire and renew wonder. (If the link is paywell-protected, you can search with the title of the article. Luthersville, Georgia is USDA zone 8a, but nevertheless agaves apparently are a rare sight there.)

Another article, this one from the Los Angeles Times, “‘All the neighbors know who she is’: How one woman built a flower farm across eight yards” brought me back decades ago to when I tried the same thing — in a community garden, a nearby neighbor’s backyard, and at my mother-in-law’s front yard. When I brought fresh horse manure in at my MIL’s to amend the soil for cut flowers, the arrangement turned somewhat dicey…So much fun for very little money providing cut flowers to restaurants. I love reading stories like this of how people somehow make it work.

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, clippings, Oregon garden | 9 Comments

garden impostors and other July blooms

Posted on July 18, 2023 by Denise

The clumps of leaves on these two foxgloves were impossible to tell apart in winter, but in bloom Digitalis parviflora and Digitalis ferruginea are very distinctive. Apart from very different coloration, D. parviflora is the first to bloom, and D. ferruginea is the taller of the two.

In this coastal Oregon zone 8b garden, July brings the first dahlias, more lilies, and…(add intro to Beethoven’s 5th)…dierama.

The first dahlia to bloom by a couple weeks, ‘AC Rosebud,’ is over 7 feet tall and towers over the back fence — the only way to get a decent photo is to cut the flowers for a vase. All dahlias were planted May 2022 and no new dahlias were added for this summer.

A dark strain from Dancing Oaks, dierama hangs and sways with the Golden Oats grass Stipa gigantea.

Two plants of Sanguisorba ‘Red Thunder,’ one over 5-feet in height, the other under 3 feet. I’m assuming the taller is the true ‘Red Thunder’ — the shorter variety would be fine at the front of the border

Veronicastrum ‘Fascination’ — I can either wait for it to bulk up or add a few more plants for a bigger impact

Unlike veronicastrum, one Lobelia tupa is ample! Love the pale celadon-colored leaves as much as the flowers, about 5 bloom stalks in its second summer

Salvia ‘Mesa Azure’ slowly coming back from complete winter dormancy

Sown in spring, about a dozen Lychnis viscaria ‘Blue Angel’ were planted in the garden and in pots. Weak and spindly as small plants, I had low expectations but July turned things around. They are similar in growth habit to corn cockle, agrostemma, but maybe a foot in height.

with variegated oregano and little white flowers of Parahebe catarractae

Viscaria oculata, Lychnis viscaria ‘Blue Angel’

Another annual, this one very tall, Madia elegans was brought in as plants with hopes for resowing. I saw this “tarweed” in bloom last summer, had no luck with seeds, but grabbed a couple plants this spring, very unimpressive in their nursery pots but I knew their potential: grey-green, slightly furry leaves, fringed petals, dark center, tall graceful habit, a beautiful Oregon/West Coast native. It can be grown hard or in luxurious conditions like here, where it will soar up to 5 feet. A couple stalks did break off during a very windy June but it recovered and branched out.

Scabiosa ochroleuca just opening this week — like knautia, it’s all about the clouds of bobbing dancing flowers which endlessly entertain me and pollinators. Similar is Succisella inflexa, very pale, almost white, not yet in bloom

Teucrium ‘Summer Sunshine’ spreading mat in bloom

Bought in bloom, the sublime purply/green/blue Mendocino Reed Grass, Calamagrostis foliosus, maybe a foot to 18 inches in height and width. Apparently not easy to propagate or grow so not a sure thing for surviving winter here

Salvia ‘Amante’ wintered in a stock tank with Verbena bonariensis, the salvia just now coming into bloom

Solanum laxum — I thought I stumbled onto a new-to-me vine especially suited for the PNW, but turns out it’s the old potato vine Solanum jasminoides with a new name. To zone 8b, it came through its first winter in the ground, under the awning, growing up a supporting beam.

the cardoon Cynara cardunculus hardy to zone 7

the best I could do to show the height of Peucedanum verticillare, over 8 feet — its enormity defies capture by my point-and-shoot camera and what looks here like a mad jumble is an elegant architectural presence surprisingly resistant to heavy wind

And now I get to set the record straight and correct a misidentification. I thought I was digging up Angelica stricta ‘Purpurea’ from the Long Beach zone 10 garden in autumn 2021 to transport to the Oregon garden. Prior to this post, I’ve referred to photos of this plant as an angelica. It is not. I’ve puzzled over the enormous height and lack of purple color to the umbels but assumed seed variation. Browsing a catalogue the other day, I found photos of Peucedanum verticillare — boing! Instant recognition — this is the plant! And I was growing it in the Long Beach garden in October 2020, so must have dug this one up instead of the angelica, which I also grew down south (see post here). If that’s not weirdly confusing enough, this spring I planted a Peucedanum ostruthium at the base of this plant when I thought it was angelica…

Peucedanum verticillare Giant Hog Fennel June 2023. For the record, it’s also known as Angelica verticillaris!

biennial or short-lived perennial with amazing rose-flushed seedheads

I love the drama of big plants so wasn’t too bothered by this one tripling its anticipated size when I still thought it was Angelica stricta…

And lastly, I’m not impulse-buying many shrubs, but the colors on this podocarpus reminded me so much of the coloring of the leucadendrons in my zone 10 garden that I couldn’t say no. To zone 7b, it appears to be trademarked and heavily marketed. (Some of the photos may show as links only, not sure why, but clicking will bring up the image.)

Posted in Bloom Day, Oregon garden | 7 Comments

July surges

Posted on July 10, 2023 by Denise

On drives through the coast range I note the prominence of naturalized foxgloves in bloom is being replaced by fireweed (epilobium), the color and shape so similar that I didn’t notice the change at first. Around town rhododendrons are done, hydrangeas, dahlias and Shasta daisies are up. In my garden, July brings the penstemons and agastache into bloom, the first dahlias, Digitalis parviflora (but not D. ferruginea yet), the cool season grasses, sanguisorba, the double-flowered sterile form of Lychnis coronaria in screaming magenta, gaura, Watsonia pillansi, Lobelia tupa, patrinia, Rudbeckia triloba. Oregon Sunshine, Eriophyllum lanatum, has been cut back just as the echinacea are budding iup. Geum is having a second flush of bloom. Needless to say, July shows how I like plants in concentrated doses, where juxtapositions of leaves, shapes, and colors fire off each other.

in the furthest stocktank looking east, Cassinia leptophylla subsp fulvida aka the Golden Bush, one of my fav shrubs in the garden. No luck with cuttings yet.

Anisodontea ‘Strybing Beauty’ and the hummingbirds are having a lovefest. A runner has escaped the tank and is growing in the strip of soil between tank and patio. A cutting is being trialed in the open garden to see how it handles winter there

Between the cool-season grasses and the warm-season grasses like miscanthus now filling out, the garden is heading into grassland territory. There’s some formula out there that says no more than 30% grass — I may have exceeded that ratio a bit. The giant with the red stems behind the phormium is a eupatorium, also budding up.

Never saw blooms on Anemanthele lessoniana in zone 10, another surprise

Only one bloom stalk from two clumps of Eryngium ‘Big Blue’ this year — it bloomed better in its first year.

fasciated bloom on Digitalis parviflora showing some love

A foxglove I’ve long wanted to grow — very exciting to watch its development

Lysimachia ‘Beaujolais’ showing staying power into July

and now it’s surrounded by some good leaves like melianthus and astralia which are just now making size

Dianthus barbatus ‘Oeschberg’ and sanguisorba hitting the same color notes

Achnatherum calamagrostis arches its plumes outward with a vase-like symmetry

Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ in front of achnatherum was cut down by half in June — the “Chelsea chop”

Deschampsia ‘Goldtau’ is a disorganized fizz of bloom.

Purple spikes coloring up are Teucrium hircanicum. Big leaves are an unnamed species of salvia from Szechuan from Flowers by the Sea

Penstemon ‘Cha-Cha Purple’ is one of the best dark-colored varieties I’ve grown. Healthy leaves, strong growth. Penstemon ‘Raven’ is still way behind in growth.

July ramped up growth on a cardoon planted in spring

Two 5-foot stalks of Watsonia pillansii came up in July

A seedling from Malva sylvestris ‘Zebrina’ that was miserable in the garden last year, much happier in a stock tank

A closeup of the leaves would have been more helpful — maple-shaped, red venation

Hebe ‘Western Hills’ — new to hebes and still thinking of them as foliage plants, the flowers are a surprise!!

Bulbine abyssinica looks like it’s going to seed, but it does this before opening blooms!

Posted in journal, Oregon garden | 8 Comments

Bloom Day June 2023

Posted on June 15, 2023 by Denise

Not to be duplicative of recent posts, but just a few things that caught my eye this morning. I actually lost track of the Bloom Day timeline (15th of the month) but was out with the camera this morning to document a few things — nothing splashy, just documenting what’s up and growing and flowering — like the fabulous shrub-like quality of Persicaria polymorpha. (Side note: nearby Dahlia ‘Rosebud’ is nearly as high as the persicaria and in bud, so that will be representing for July. All four dahlias were left in the ground over winter and all returned. A local grower, Old House Dahlias, said that’s how he’d handle them here in a home garden. His operation is offline this spring/summer, don’t know why. Mine all came from OHD. I did cover them with branches from the Christmas tree, if that explains anything! But locally, in front gardens, it’s apparent that the dahlias are all treated as perennials and left in ground. Rainy zone 8b.)

Second year in the garden and first bloom for Iris x robusta ‘Gerald Darby,’ a naturally occurring hybrid of two native species, Iris versicolor x Iris virginica. It is especially celebrated for its plummy-colored new growth and season-long good looks. Not for dry soils, it can even be grown in standing water but does fine in retentive garden soils like mine.

Purple coloring to the soft, arching leaves mostly gone now. It was flooded under a drainspout all winter. Very exciting to find yesterday the potted francoa has a bud too! One of those unforgettable horticultural moments was seeing francoa growing like weeds in Mendocino.

Lysimachia atropurpurea surprised me by returning this spring. It is very short-lived in zone 10, one summer only in my experience.

Osteospermum ‘Voltage Gold’ — a color I couldn’t resist. Planted this spring though I’ve noticed they do overwinter here, at least the pale lilac color. And these daisies are said to bloom til frost in cool-summer climates like this

Another photo of Kniphofia pauciflora, such an impressive performance in its second year. In flower about 18 inches tall. Biggest danger with diminutive plants like this is getting swamped by growth of surrounding plants. ‘Millenium’ allium is budding up, and these two are in perfect scale for each other and would make great mates

Euphorbia ‘Copton Ash,’ planted in spring. ‘Dean’s Hybrid’ did not return after winter. The peachy diascia just started blooming this week, overwintered in stock tanks and garden. ‘My Darling Tangerine’ maybe?

In its second year evergreen Bupleurum fruticosum is throwing its first bloom and making good size and shape

Textural treasure Cassinia x ozothamnus in flower

Cotula ‘Tiffendell Gold’ opened blooms this week

When nearby Origanum ‘Xera Cascade’ starts blooming, these two are going to be best buds! If you stopped by Xera’s shop last summer and saw this flowering oregano displayed in a container, you probably are growing it in your garden this year too!

A couple seeds from last year’s Orlaya grandiflora grown in the stock tank made it into the rocked area and liked what they found

I must be subconsciously attracted to sisyrinchiums because I have a few now. This is ‘Quaint and Queer’

We had light rain for a few minutes yesterday morning, the first since…the beginning of May? Daytime temps mostly in the 60s, nights in the 40s. Hope you’re having a fine June! May Dreams Gardens collects bloom day reports the 15th of each month.

Posted in Bloom Day, Oregon garden | 7 Comments

Flora Grubb Takes on LA

Posted on June 12, 2023 by Denise

Memorial Day Weekend was the official launch of Flora Grubb Gardens’ new location in Los Angeles. When I heard Mitch was going to take advantage of the opening 20% sale, I pleaded for a few photos. With the recent closing of the beloved Atwater Village shop Potted, the opening of another design-forward, cool-plant nursery in LA comes not a minute too soon.

FGG’s history is briefly this: With financial partner Saul Nadler, Flora Grubb opened her first shop in the Mission district of San Francisco in 2003, a neighborhood that was at that time still one of the most affordable neighborhoods in SF (before the Google bus regularly made stops there and rents became unaffordable to teachers, nurses, chefs, etc.) A series of very smart business moves quickly followed. A wholesale growing operation was acquired in San Diego in 2005, a frost-free climate ideal for growing agaves and aloes and the other beautiful dry garden plants FGG loves to showcase in their nursery and designs. In 2007 FGG moved from the Mission to Jerrold Street in the Dogpatch neighborhood, which is where I first became acquainted with FGG. At that time, Dogpatch had an industrial, tumble-down vibe and was just starting to become filled with interesting, brave, pioneer businesses like FGG. But cool things have a way of following in Flora Grubb’s wake — Dogpatch was recently named the 36th coolest neighborhood on Earth by TimeOut.

The LA branch of FGG is located on the site of the former Marina del Rey Garden Center, a nursery I routinely visited whenever court reporting work took me out that way to the conference rooms in the office towers with distracting views overlooking the glittering marina. The 90 freeway that takes you to this very upscale coastal town pretty much ends at the nursery.

From Marina del Rey Garden Center’s Facebook post of 4/23/23: We’re so happy to announce that Marina del Rey Garden Center is now Flora Grubb Gardens! We are open daily 9am-6pm at 13198 Mindanao Way in Marina del Rey. Come visit us! We can’t wait to see you.

Marina Del Rey Garden Center has served the community since 1977. In recent years, as they became more focused on sustainable gardening, they turned to Flora Grubb’s farm, Grubb & Nadler, for rare and exceptional drought tolerant plants.

When Flora Grubb heard they were ready to pass the nursery along to a new owner, she was thrilled! In 2022, the Flora Grubb Gardens team began operating Marina del Rey Garden Center and updating the site.

At Flora Grubb Gardens we believe that gardening makes people happy, brings peace into their lives, and offers a powerful antidote to the stresses of life. We believe in creating lavishly beautiful gardens that require minimal water and chemicals to maintain.

Welcome to LA, Flora Grubb Gardens!

Posted in MB Maher, plant nurseries | 4 Comments

June takes over

Posted on June 7, 2023 by Denise

February 2023 — June is such a startling transformation, a resilient, resurgent renewal — words fail!

June is happening. Whatever garden plans you made, whatever winter took away, June is here, right now, and blots out everything else. The job now, as I see it, is admiring the incredible architecture of plants in all their phases, leaf, stem, bud and flower.

Broom-handle stem on Angelica stricta ‘Purpurea’ — actually, bigger than a broom handle and reaching over 5 feet. It’s been able to withstand Incredibly fierce afternoon winds.

Nepeta and hesperis have made a huge difference this year, providing an enveloping color wash and early flowers for the pollinators that adds a dynamism I was missing last year. The nepeta is planted in the second-tier border right up against the retaining railroad tie, where it has room to billow but not smother neighboring plants. The hesperis is biennial and will reseed, and there are a few young plants established for next year. It’s a simple field of grasses and flowers that I can easily manage. The horticultural heavyweights are conspicuously absent — I can admire the roses and peonies, the Japanese maples, rhodies and lilacs around town.

Parahebe perfoliata aka Veronica perfoliata, Digger’s Speedwell

Oregon Sunshine, Hebe ‘Karo Golden Esk,’ Yucca linearifolia, Eryngium pandanifolium arching over it all

Yucca rostrata with sisyrinchium, erinus and sedum

Festuca arundinacea ‘Glow Sticks’ living up to its name

The rusty foxglove, Digitalis ferruginea in spike

green leafiness with the white midrib is Euphorbia stygiana, to its left Clematis stans x heracleifolia, backed by Persicaria polymorpha with white plumes. Intense honey scent from this euphorbia

Trying another asphodel, a gift from Ketzel/the Wonder Garden in Manzanita where they likewise haven’t flourished so far. ‘Italian Gold’ is either dead or taking summer off

Nepeta ‘Blue Dragon’ looks like a chunky agastache. A yunnanensis hybrid from Terra Nova

Kniphofia pauciflora reminds me of a miniature K. thomsonii. The little black stakes are to flag the presence of small seedlings nearby like Verbascum roripifolium

Euphorbia ‘Silver Swan’ flowers in much looser heads than E. characias, a very different effect that I like quite a bit

Just beginning to flower are the dark-leaved ‘Oeschberg’ dianthus started last summer from seed. A biennial, right? Not so fast — they often can live up to three years. And the darkest flowers and leaves can be selected by taking soft cuttings of nonflowering shoots

Posted in journal, Oregon garden | 5 Comments

late May 2023

Posted on May 23, 2023 by Denise

Fresh clumps of healthy new leaves covering the ground, strong clear colors — I really like the direction the 2-year-old garden is taking in May.

New growth on Olearia x mollis ‘Zennorensis’

Foreground shrub is Corokia x virgata, possibly ‘Frosted Chocolate’ — takes to clipping well so will join the box balls in the clipping regimen. I’m on the hunt for an Eleagnus ‘Quicksilver’ to plant roughly in front of the green chairs

Pagoda spires of plush-leaved Marrubium supinum with blurry white flowers in foreground of Libertia ‘Nelson Dwarf’

Omphalodes linifolia obligingly reseeded into the rocks — wonderful grey-green leaves too

Stipa gigantea in its second year, such a strong early presence. Looking east, the biennial Hesperis matronalis was sowed last summer and transplanted all around the garden, and the effort has paid off — loves the wet soil, is sweetly scented, and covers the ground and blooms early in spring.

A few clumps of Eriophyllum lanatum ‘Oregon Sunshine’ started blooming this week. I’m thinking the dark-leaves are Lysimachia ciliata. Fence was painted black last weekend. The geums did not like recent temps into the 90sF but have recovered like it never happened — same for me!

I’m a fool for beschornerias. This one was plunged into the garden, pot and all, to be lifted next fall/winter

Milium effusum ‘Aureum’ is an early blooming, moisture-loving grass that I’d like to spread around. Lanky silvery leaves are of an overwintered Senecio candicans — maybe a spring cutback would have produced compact growth? I didn’t expect it to survive at all…

I’ve got a couple potted hostas and doubt I’ll be adding more, but they are fascinating as they unfurl their leaves from tight, pirouette-cookie shaped tubes into soft and beamy agave substitutes

Faced with so much bare ground last spring as stuff slowly filled in, several clumps of fast-growing golden oregano were deployed

tetrapanax making size. I like the leaves close to the ground and prefer that it doesn’t trunk

Have a relaxing long weekend (Memorial Day in the U.S.) and see you in June!

Posted in journal, Oregon garden | 7 Comments

covering the ground in early spring zone 8b

Posted on May 9, 2023 by Denise

every morning Billie and I inspect the garden, each with a different agenda of course

Dead or alive? Since April I’ve circled the garden carefully every morning, spine at a right angle to the ground, and posed that question to the plants…or the empty space I remember growing plants. Looking for signs of life in Salvia uliginosa (no-show as yet/dead); Salvia nutans (growth from one clump out of two); Aloe cooperi (strong growth from one plant, new nubbins from a second plant.). I inspect the garden daily both for signs of survival and also for what makes an early presence in spring.

Aloe cooperi, a grass aloe, showing new growth, second winter, zone 8 hardy but iffy as far as all the rain. No blooms last summer and most likely none this year. Just had to have an aloe! Another hardy aloe. A. boylei, came thru in a stock tank. Plant on left with blue flowers is Wolfenia x schwarzii with evergreen leaves in winter

the dog fennel last summer. The shrub Rhamnus alaternus ‘Variegatus’ is looking a little peaked this spring and may not be a good fit for the excessive winter rain

There’s visible growth on veronicastrum, on eupatorium. But one of my favorite plants from last year, the dog fennel Eupatorium capillifolium ‘Elegant Feather,’ is so far a no-show. Too early or dead? Canna ‘Cleopatra’ is showing growth. I had no idea if planting this last fall was sane. I left the dahlias in the ground more out of neglect than planning, and surprisingly two are showing growth. All the Sideritis oroteneriffae in the ground perished, but one planted in a bottomless container slightly under the eaves is producing new growth at the base.

At least this year there is some growth to inspect. Last year, the first spring in this Oregon garden, was an agonizing time without much to look at in May. Since then I’ve focused on early growth from mostly herbaceous, sun-loving plants after a cold, wet (rain forest wet!) zone 8b winter. I’ve sown biennials like sweet william and hesperis for their early presence. It’s a vast subject, to get a wet 8b garden in sun up on its legs in early spring, so if you have any suggestions I’m all ears! I’ve been adding bulbs but avoiding peonies and early flowering shrubs for now.

Italian buckthorn this spring. The grass behind it is Anemanthele lessoniana, which looks decent all winter but because it shouldn’t be cut to the ground looks a little shabby by spring. I’ve been thinning out the old growth. Carex testacea in foreground is flawlesss. The phormium came through the winter OK, and Eryngium ‘Big Blue’ has strong spring growth

Sanguisorbas are a strong early presence

Not afraid of orange, both in wallflowers and geum. Other early silver leaves come from several clumps of Lychnis coronaria, a sterile strain called ‘Gardener’s World’

The wallflowers, erysimum, thrive here and ignite the May garden. The large-leaved lamb’s ears is scruffy all winter but rights itself early for some gorgeous clumps. Foreground left is a miscanthus, late to bulk up, but behind the wallflower is a treasure, an Oregon native, cool season grass Deschampsia cespitosa in the very good form ‘Goldtau.’ I’m also growing quite a few clumps of the older variegated variety ‘Northern Lights’ which is easier to find.