{"id":103185,"date":"2023-09-17T21:39:10","date_gmt":"2023-09-18T01:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/?p=103185"},"modified":"2023-09-17T21:48:03","modified_gmt":"2023-09-18T01:48:03","slug":"late-but-great","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/?p=103185","title":{"rendered":"late but great"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Some of the feelings about my late summer\/fall garden this year can be broken down into two categories: 1) What took you so long?<\/em> and 2) Wow, you look so fresh!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Selinum wallichianum definitely falls into the “Wow, you look so fresh<\/em>!” category. Thistle is Cirsium rivulare ‘Trevor’s Blue’<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I’ve been both irritated by tardiness and appreciative of late-summer beauty, and that’s because there are straightforward, reliable fall bloomers like selinum in my garden, but there are also cases where it’s possible more time is needed to settle into a reliable rhythm\/performance. And there are undoubtedly instances where the garden is straddling a zone which the plant is hesitant to commit to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And in the “What took you so long?”<\/em> category, Salvia uliginosa is just getting going in September in zone 8b<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The worst timing anxiety is when it’s weather-driven. Some winters knock plants back hard and mess with normal growth cycles, and then predicting what a plant will do is just a crap shoot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Solidago ‘Fireworks’<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Whereas, reliable late-blooming plants like solidago are nothing but a treat when they arrive and are never a cause for early-season worrying. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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reliably fall-blooming kaffir lilies — my rummage-sale schizostylis<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Bigelowia nuttallii behind the concrete tube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And then there are the plants you’ve never grown before and don’t know what to expect. Nuttall’s rayless-goldenrod is either in bloom midsummer or late summer, depending on who you read. Obviously more toward late summer\/fall here…this year<\/em>. Sometimes it takes plants a few years to settle into a predictable cycle…that is, unless winter throws them a curveball. And I think it’s safe to say we can expect a lot of curveballs ahead…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Calamintha nepeta — if it reseeds I’ll know it’s not the sterile selection ‘Montrose White’ — I had expected this to begin blooming in early summer. Maybe it needs to settle in another year. Could be a lack of heat. Fabulously long-blooming\/pollinator plant in my zone 10 garden.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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unnamed salvia species from Szechuan from FBTS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One plant that was causing a fair amount of anxiety is an unnamed salvia<\/a> with a glowing recommendation from the now-closed nursery Flowers By The Sea. For them in Northern California, it blooms all summer. That was therefore my expectation, too, so having it open flowers in September felt like a fail. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Intricately marked flowers, growth habit similar to the clary sage. For a small garden, initially I felt it wasn’t pulling its weight. But…I’ve been won over. It doesn’t have monster star power, but it is a fresh if subtle sight for September. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Great leaves, tall and branching to 3-4 feet, lots of flowering stems. And I have to say another factor in its favor is that, with FBTS going out of business, it’s unlikely to be easily available commercially again. FBTS says it doesn’t set viable seed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Salvia pulchella x involucrata<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And then there’s the exasperating category: Will they or won’t they bloom before the first frost?<\/em> The genus salvia is filled with such borderline quandaries. This is the second year for a cross of Salvia involucrata with pulchella by Martin Grantham of the San Francisco Botanical Garden (n\u00e9e Strybing). It didn’t bloom before first frost last year, but I took a cutting (and will need to do so again this year). The leaves are bright green and fresh, and that alone is a rare sight in September. I’m not saying I wouldn’t welcome flowers but am not holding my breath. It seems fairly settled that the best chance for flowers from an involucrata selection in zone 8b appears to be with Salvia ‘Boutin.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Aster lateriflorus var. horizontalis ‘Prince’ budding up with Parahebe perfoliata<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another virtue of renowned late arrivals is how they hold it together all summer. The lateriflorus asters like ‘Prince’ and ‘Lady in Black have had a strong presence since early summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Calamagrostis brachytricha, Korean Feather Reed Grass<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Late but beautiful, my only problem with Calamagrostis brachytricha is I can’t see it. Reputed to grow to a height of 4 feet, mine are maybe at 2 feet. (The photo above is from a dwindling clump that was dug out of the garden and repotted to fatten up again.). The clump in the garden has plenty of room, has made good size and is nearing full bloom — and at another 2 feet in height it would be a gorgeous asset to the late garden. At its current size, planted in the back tier of my stadium seating layout, it’s invisible, screened by Lobelia tupa and solidago. Maybe the small size is an immaturity issue?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Achnatherum calamagrostis, Silver Spike Grass<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I can give the Calamagrostis brachytricha another year to see if that improves their height, or move them to the front garden, where they can be appreciated at whatever height they attain. A worthy replacement for them is the Silver Spike Grass, Achnatherum calamagrostis (aka Stipa calamagrostis) — silver fading to tan, it’s been fabulous all summer long.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some of the feelings about my late summer\/fall garden this year can be broken down into two categories: 1) What took you so long? and 2) Wow, you look so fresh! I’ve been both irritated by tardiness and appreciative of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[551,550,5119,36],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paNJ2E-qQh","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103185"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=103185"}],"version-history":[{"count":63,"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103249,"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103185\/revisions\/103249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=103185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=103185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=103185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}