{"id":31547,"date":"2012-07-16T16:26:22","date_gmt":"2012-07-16T20:26:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/?p=31547"},"modified":"2019-10-29T17:43:52","modified_gmt":"2019-10-29T21:43:52","slug":"bloom-day-july-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/?p=31547","title":{"rendered":"Bloom Day July 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m taking the last few weeks of July off work, which means sitting at a computer is the last thing I want to do. But miss a Bloom Day<\/a>? Never! Since I’m heading out on more adventures this week, I’m going to rush through a few photos of my garden and then add in a few from last week’s trip to the Bay Area.<\/p>\n

Papaver rupifragum and the Broom Fern, Asparagus virgatus (zone 7-10).<\/p>\n

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No vase required for this arrangement.<\/p>\n

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Helenium puberulum — of all the knockout heleniums to grow, right? I do like knobby stuff, though. I thought perhaps less petals meant less water requirements than fully petaled heleniums. Silly logic and not at all the case. A one-summer experiment.<\/p>\n

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Dahlia ‘Chat Noir’ — trialing a couple peachy dahlias this summer, too, and am not at all enthused. Done with dahlias. Except for this dark beauty. Saliva canariensis and Persicaria amplexicaulis in background<\/p>\n

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‘Monch’ asters are making a reappearance this year. Amazing long period of bloom, consorts well with grasses.<\/p>\n

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Disclaimer: Bloom Day post effectively ends here. All photos after this point are not of my garden.<\/p>\n

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I paid a visit to Annie’s Annuals & Perennials on 7\/14\/12. Very excited to report that I successfully transported six 4-inch pots in my carry-on bag from San Francisco International to Long Beach. Only possible within California state boundaries, of course, where quarantine rules aren’t an issue. After my bag was X-rayed, there was a tiny, heart-pounding moment when I was singled out for a special re-check and had to follow a stern-looking woman with rubber gloves out of the line, who I was certain was about to lead me into a lonely, dark basement room. Instead we went to a nearby table a couple feet away where the bag was re-examined by X-ray, not even opened<\/em>, and no questions were asked. Success! Here we are safely heading home.<\/p>\n

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Back to earth. Sizable clump of Helenium puberulum at Annie’s nursery in Richmond.<\/p>\n

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Coreposis on fire, possible C. tinctoria ‘Roulette’<\/p>\n

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Regal lilies and roses wafting scent at the entrance<\/p>\n

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I’m guessing a Salvia involucrata hybrid, not the straight species. Maybe S. puchella X involucrata. Commanding attention near the entrance.<\/p>\n

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The little garden at the back of the shop of Paxton Gate<\/a>. Treasures and oddities on the natural science spectrum. Taxidermied mice in stylish outfits, steam punk lamp creations. They give a great browse here.<\/p>\n

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Built-out planters were a nice touch to this vertical garden.<\/p>\n

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Striding through Big Daddy’s Antiques<\/a>. Note the man’s coat I had to borrow. July in San Francisco: Brrrr.<\/p>\n

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The glory that is the University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley. More on the triumphant opening of Natural Discourse<\/a> later. All botanic gardens should be open at twilight during summer, even if only for one incredibly memorable night. Magic hour indeed.<\/p>\n

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Agave polianthiflora in bloom<\/p>\n

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Eryngium maritimum<\/p>\n

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The gorgeous glare of Kniphofia triangularis<\/p>\n

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Aloe capitata var. quartzicola<\/p>\n

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A herd of agaves impersonating hedgehogs, possibly A. striata.<\/p>\n

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Agave xylonacantha, Tamaulipas State, Mexico<\/p>\n

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With Agave parryi and the native Fairy Duster Calliandra eriophylla<\/p>\n

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Agave species, no name provided, leaves soft like attenuata but much paler, edged in red, with flowers like eucomis on stilts. (Edited to add possible ID of Agave celsii var. albicans ‘UCB’)<\/p>\n

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Agave colorata<\/p>\n

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Ginormous Cussonia paniculata, South African Mountain Cabbage Tree<\/p>\n

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Closing with an epic curbside spiral aloe, Aloe polyphylla, seen on a chilly walk through the Lower Haight in San Francisco.<\/p>\n

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I’m taking the last few weeks of July off work, which means sitting at a computer is the last thing I want to do. But miss a Bloom Day? Never! Since I’m heading out on more adventures this week, I’m … 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":[28,63,33,850,112,842,27],"tags":[2513,2159,528,2153,2161,1898,58,2152,2163,2155,2158,1531,1441,2156,2162,2157,2160,20,2154,285,593,1892],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paNJ2E-8cP","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31547"}],"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=31547"}],"version-history":[{"count":101,"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93524,"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31547\/revisions\/93524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}