September surprises

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early September with kniphofia leaves fountaining center left beyond railroad tie

I’m not referring to surprises in the sense of predicted late-season arrivals, but just the generic, built-in unpredictability of plants we choose for our gardens. A plant’s performance can be dramatically different just down the street, not to mention spanning seemingly appropriate climate zones.

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first week of September, Kniphofia caulescens throws its first bloom. A couple more clumps would be ideal but the garden is booked unless something is forced to give up its spot

Take Kniphofia caulescens, for instance. This poker has been contributing its beautifully glaucous presence all year. The writhing, blue, cephalopod-like leaves are so good I almost forgot that it might want to contribute a flower as well. I realistically accepted around the time of planting that it might not be hot enough here to flower — wrong! Even pre-heat wave in early September (two days around 86F), we had bud launch!

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that other writhing mass of strappy energy in the background is Eryngium pandandifolium

At home in higher elevations in South Africa, it’s hardy to at least zone 6, so definitely not a risky gambit here in zone 8b (sliding into zone 9), but there remained the question of whether it could flower in this cool growing season. Mine came from Secret Garden Growers, planted in October 2022.

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The color is deceptively solid in the early stages, but it does age to bicolor. So good with sesleria in bloom too.
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looking to the west, through the fizz of deschampsia, scabiosa, succisella, can you spot the resolute poker?

The strong outline is especially appreciated in September when so much of the garden is a buzzy fizz. Everything bobbing and weaving and looking for a shoulder to lean on — except for the resolute poker. All that fascinating buzzing activity brings out the only wildlife I dread and am always on high alert for in autumn — spiders! (Is there one in my hair? Check my back!) Knocking webs out of high traffic areas is once again the morning routine.

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Amaranthus caudatus ‘Mira’

Unlike the kniphofia, whose flowering was exciting but not the main point, annuals like amaranthus were sown in April for their blooms. To give them the best shot, I potted the seedlings on in increasingly bigger pots, ending with one plant per 3-gallon pot. About five of these pots were plunged into various full-sun spots in the garden. They started flowering late August.

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Blends in well with the buff grasses — or would dark Hopi’s Red Dye be a better choice? The New Zealand Purple castor bean to its left didn’t make much size at all over summer, started from seed in April. Better to bring in nursery-grown plants next year fatted up in greenhouses

The uncertainty over whether the amaranthus would bloom before first frost was nerve-wracking, but they somehow managed it. I imagine they’d be a lot taller with more blooms in a warmer summer than mine. But watching them gain height and then drip those ropes of chenille flowers strikes me as worth the effort — better yet, maybe they’ll self-sow.

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canna ‘Cleopatra’ not only managed to push some leaves up through the jungle but also a bloom

The canna ‘Cleopatra’ had a couple surprises for September. First, that it managed to push leaves up through the dense planting on all sides counts as a triumph.

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with Solidago ‘Fireworks’ just coloring up, left, and Lobelia tupa, extreme left

And then the tomato red flower took a bizarre turn when another flower opened canary yellow. I wasn’t really expecting the canna to bloom either and had forgotten it had this bicolor tic. Helping with the two-tone canna is the surprise echo of Solidago ‘Fireworks’ just starting to gleam near ruddy Lobelia tupa, yellow and red again, bringing some context to the bicolor craziness. But I was tempted to cut the flower stalk off entirely.

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Some plants seem destined to have their flowers sacrificed to preserve their leafy good looks. Seems like everyone I know who grows Argentina lineata cuts off the small yellow flowers as insignificant distractions from the plush basal leaves, finely cut silver brocade.

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Argentina (nee Potentilla) lineata in June. Celebrated as a foliage plant, with the small yellow flowers considered an annoyance by everyone I talk to who grows it.
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Argentina lineata in September

But look at the scaffolding that hoists up those “insignificant” flowers! And insignificant is a subjective value judgment anyway — insects don’t seem to be hung up on size of flowers and throng to the small stuff.

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Acacia cultriformis in the front garden was brought up three years ago from Los Angeles. All the knockbacks by winter have resulted in treating this acacia as a cutback shrub. It has already been surpassed in size by a year-old Acacia pravissima. The latter has the reputation for the hardiest acacia in zone 8-9ish. But how much of its growth will it hold on to after the next winter?

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Acacia pravissima in back garden with Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen,’ both over 5 feet
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Beschorrneria septentrionalis may not ever bloom here, but thank goodness it looks fabulous in leaf only. With the excellent Carex ‘Feather Falls’ in the background.

Making a garden has a lot to do with being able to predict how a plant will perform, and there are countless variables to consider, but still who doesn’t like to take a flier on mystery plants or plants we’ve only read about, or try a familiar plant in unfamiliar conditions? Since I plant so densely, my biggest problem is always with ultimate size, and I’m already running into crowding issues after just a few years.

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Best bloom of two clumps of Calamagrostis brachytricha. This one was moved out of the large back border, where the other clump languishes, probably too crowded.
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Cosmos ‘Rubenza’ — statuesque, long stems for cutting

The cosmos started in April added so much to the late garden. ‘Rubenza’ and ‘Apricotta’ were standouts. ‘Fandango’ and ‘Xsenia’ were good but more compact in size. (Thank you to Chilterns for sending ‘Fandango’ gratis!) If I follow the same sowing and planting times next year can I expect the same results? Possibly but no guaranties. Growing conditions are vacillating wildly year to year. I think starting seeds in late May rather than coolish April will bring as good as a result.

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Cosmos ‘Rubenza’
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Cosmos ‘Apricotta’ as good as ‘Rubenza’ if not superior in how long the flowers last on the plant
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Senecia candicans ‘Angel Wings’

I’m seeing Senecio ‘Angel Wings’ in lots of gardens, but it seems to always be just the one clump, as though it’s grown as an annual and replanted in spring. My one clump was planted in this container and survived here last winter. That clump is now several clumps, following the contour of the container, rooting as it goes. Just an observation on what seems to make this inscrutable plant happy and expand in size year to year.

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Repeat-blooming Anemone ‘Dainty Swan’ really took off this summer, blooming from June until the present. Metapanax delavayi on its right
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Surprised this sideritis has survived a couple very wet winters.

Lastly, some notable events. Rain! A whole night and part of a day. Billie blew her ACL last weekend and is recovering from surgery. (We didn’t see the injury happen, but heard the commotion that had to do with a bench Billie uses to keep track of street activity via the large front window. From the barking, apparently a dog strolled by, Billie overreacted, twisted, fell and somehow blew the cruciate ligament.) We forced ourselves to sit through the debate, just as we did the last one, another stomach churner but for vastly different reasons!

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anything better than autumn light?

Hope the weather is becoming more reasonably autumnal for you!

Posted in journal, Oregon garden | 9 Comments

Hoffman’s Center for the Arts: The Wonder Garden

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some phone photos from August 31, 2024. View of the Wonder Garden from the parking area adjacent to the library. Sailcloth is erected in summer over the main seating area. The HCA offices, galleries, and clay studio are housed across the street.

The Hoffman Center for the Arts in Manzanita, Oregon, celebrated its 20-year anniversary Saturday August 31. Out of their many programs — clay, writing, visual arts — I became acquainted with the HCA through their horticulture program. The Hoffman’s Wonder Garden for me was the design lab I needed to become acquainted with plants that grow well on the Oregon Coast. Indeed, this is the goal the WG’s volunteer director Ketzel Levine explicitly embraces as she showcases plants that endure both a very wet winter and very dry summer, USDA zone 9ish. A public garden with this kind of sophisticated planting is a rarity on the coast — actually, in my experience, it’s a rarity anywhere!

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Library in the distance behind the life drawing pavilion which was set up on the parking lot for the celebration. Succulents were added to this berm for a summer display, which gives me a strong sense of SoCal deja vu! (Except for the hebes and scotch moss scattered throughout.) There have been offers of greenhouse space to protect the succulents in winter.
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Evergreen ground cover in foreground is an excellent one for this coast — Baccharis magellanica ‘Inca Point’

Built on a gravel parking lot, the WG’s soil is excessively free draining; great for the rain-soaked winter, tricky in summer. During summer the WG needs thoughtful watering, especially since new plants are constantly being trialed and supplemental irrigation to the manzanitas is to be strictly avoided. The growing conditions are very different from my Tillamook soil which is rich and deep. (Just as an example of divergent plant choices, I’ve watched Lobelia tupa struggle at the WG but flourish in my own garden. Arctostaphylos ‘Ghostly’ survives in the WG but succumbed after last winter in my own garden. Euphorbia griffithii leaves burned in a heat wave at the WG but not in my garden, etc.)

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note the towering snow gum eucalyptus at the far end of this bed, another testament to Manzanita’s propitious microclimate. Leucadendron galpinii and Acacia pravissima also thrive in this berm.

The berms are continually built back as they lose height and are kept carefully mulched. Instead of the usual fine bark mulch, this year yards of compost were spread in spring as a soil boost — but not to the manzanitas, of course! And I’m always surprised at what a heat trap this little garden becomes in high summer. Whether it’s a Manzanita microclimate or the heat absorbed and held by the gravel substrate and paths, shade cloths for the main seating areas are a necessity for visitors. However, on this mostly summer-cool coast, the plants flourish from the good summer baking the WG provides.

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Over the few years I’ve been volunteering here, something else besides a personal horticultural education has crept into my relationship with the WG. And that is, the awareness of the immeasurable value even a small public garden brings to a community. To someone who previously equated gardens with sanctuary and privacy, witnessing a community bond with this little pass-through garden has been revelatory.

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for Saturday’s celebration, a life drawing pavilion with easels was set up, with volunteers posing as models throughout the dayj. Just one of the many activities held on Saturday that also included opening and closing ceremonies, art stations, “plant bingo,” live music, and of course cake!

Unlike myself, many visitors are not always motivated to come to closely inspect plants and labels, but instead gather to meet up with friends for coffee or a picnic, knit under the shade awning, end a beach walk or shopping trip here, stop in after a library visit next-door, bring their dog to the always-full water bowl. Without fencing, and sited on a busy corner, it is a backdrop to daily rituals, an essential “third place” — somewhere to go outside of home and work. I overheard a woman exclaim about the WG on Saturday, “This is the best thing about living in Manzanita!”

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Salvia reptans ‘West Texas Form,’ orange spire from Lobelia ‘Bruce Wakefield’ on left

So why doesn’t every town have a great third-space option like the Wonder Garden? A singularly fortuitous event set it all in motion. In 2004 an artist couple, the Hoffmans, gifted their home and land to found the HCA. So there’s that bit of foundational luck, followed by decades of strong community support. (If you think donating a small house and parcel of land to your town is not a worthwhile gesture, think again!)

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Newly acquired from Ketzel’s buddies at Windcliff, no plant tag yet, possibly a leontodon?

Under the HCA umbrella, I think the Wonder Garden program at the Hoffman was started around 2014. Garden savvy journalist Ketzel Levine moved into town a few years later, volunteering decades of experience and contacts.

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“Manzanita Moongate” screen by Indio Metal Arts installed this year — to make way for the screen, Marty grappled with removing the Mugo pine that did not want to leave! Lots of new planting in evidence, Acanthus sennii extreme right.

An enthusiastic base of volunteers is another incalculable asset to the HCA. As far as I can tell, the HCA has been run from inception by volunteers. It was just two years ago that the HCA acquired its first paid director.

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And at the Wonder Garden, not every volunteer needs to bring a lifetime of plant knowledge, because there are so many other skills required to keep the garden flourishing. Plant sales run by volunteers provide funds for more plants and commissioned art work, like the new screen of salvage metal made by Indio Metal Arts.

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Dahlia ‘Forncett’s Furnace’ with leptospermum, melianthus and lomatia

I have to emphasize that I am writing about the HCA as a non-resident newcomer, and I have to own any mistakes of omission as far as history and unfamiliarity with the many volunteers who have made this little slice of heaven possible. In my short experience there, the Wonder Garden proves that public gardens don’t necessarily need large tracts of land and paid staff, just a community that recognizes and rallies around their little oasis at the east end of town.

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(photo from HCA’s Facebook)

There is an upcoming plant sale to be held on September 28, 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., including work for sale from Indio Metal Arts. Head’s up, sales are brisk, so try to be there as close to 10 a.m. as you can manage.

Posted in garden travel, garden visit, Oregon garden, plant sales, succulents | 7 Comments

Late additions

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Dahlia ‘Windcliff Peach’ in a 17-gallon galvanized “bushel basket” under $30, a roomy container option

I love my new single dahlia so much I had to post another photo. Blazingly hot but fresh color is a nice look for an August that feels autumnal already. A cool August has brought the small herd of elk down from the mountains to the coast earlier than usual this year to their favorite winter grazing, a farm field off 101 about 5 miles north of me. I have a feeling the herd will magically disappear again by Thursday, headed for cooler mountain haunts, with temps predicted for 85F — not terrific heat but uncomfortable enough if you’re wearing a fur coat. The garden glistened from overnight rain this morning, but my potted dahlia will need vigilant watering in the coming heat later in the week to keep floating those saffron daisies through September. I love the sensation of the garden serving course after visual course through fall.

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Just behind the phormium is where a lot of the late show is happening — selinum, joe-pye weed newly blooming against the established, long-blooming backdrop of Sanguisorba ‘Red Thunder,’ dahlias, patrinia, Persicaria polymorpha. I’m thinking about thinning the burgeoning phormium next year, depending on what this winter has in store. Maybe it will do some of the work for me. (Not in photo — Eryngium pandanifolium has three bloom stalks this year, taller than joe-pye weed so 7ish feet. And on the subject of eryngos, E. yuccifolium has just one bloom stalk, possibly diminishing from too much shade from the maturing tetrapanax. I’ll move just about any plant other than this touchy, tap-rooted eryngium. Better to start again from seed.)

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The white and purple umbels of Selinum wallichianum and joe-pye weed are a great match for August
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The joe-pye weed was lightly cut back around June so is possibly not as tall this year — 6 feet is a more than adequate height! Cirsium ‘Trevor’s Blue Wonder’ still throwing the occasional thistle bloom
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another big presence, Lobelia tupa rubs shoulders with the joe-pye weed, about 14 stalks this year, screened in this view by Stipa gigangtea
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Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ was moved into the southeast corner last year and was also lightly chopped back in June. (Unseen in photo, Salvia uliginosa nearby started blooming at the same time — always a surprise how late this salvia is here at the coast. But at least the bog sage ultimately delivers — Salvia patens is not worth growing here at all.)
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In August Persicaria polymorpha’s white panicles begin to blush pink. This is not the invasive Japanese knotweed and doesn’t spread by underground runners — or seed, for that matter. Just a really good, easy shrub-like perennial all summer.
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Lunaria annua ‘Chedglow’

This display of characterful leaves that’s extended all summer may be a one-off, so I’m hesitant to talk about them because I don’t fully understand what’s going on. They are carpeting the narrow border on the north side of the house. Lunaria is a biennial, so when these plants bloom next spring this show of leaves will be over. Somehow the timing of when I sowed and planted them resulted in big lush leaves all summer. It’s probably just a fluke that will be impossible to replicate. (The same lunaria in the back garden shows spindly leaf growth.) Lots of seed-grown aquilegia planted here are now buried under the lush growth of the lunaria (A. viridiflora, atrata, oxysepala) — oof! Like all lunaria, ‘Chedglow’ reseeds like crazy, so there will be plenty of opportunities to experiment again. Hopefully the baby columbine buried under those leaves have a survival plan they’re working on…

Posted in Oregon garden | 11 Comments

August keeps its cool

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August means standing room only, playing all the cards, smoke ’em if you got ’em

August can be a rough month. In either of my gardens, I’ve never had to deal with summer rainfall, flooding, plants getting pummeled by rainstorms like some of the East Coast and South are suffering under. And coastal Los Angeles gets relatively mild heat compared to some of the numbers cities are posting this summer. But August was still a dreaded month in my Los Angeles garden, one of the world’s five Mediterranean climates zones. By August the soil no longer wants to play garden and seems determined to reassert its hydrophobic, summer-dry chaparral nature. By August, moody and beneficent early morning marine layers are pfffft, and all the pots and containers now feel tethered to the gardener with a ball and chain. No doubt I have too many Los Angeles Augusts to blame for the skin cancer recently removed. Ants in the house are a feature of August in LA, and now newcomer mosquitos are the latest summer harassment.

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Here on the Oregon coast there’s none of that sense of a doomed, relentless march into the cotton-mouthed maw of August. Barring wildfires, as in 2021, August at the Oregon Coast, 45th parallel, is no sweat. It reminds me a lot of San Francisco summers, also cool, misty and rainless. But if you do hate overcast skies til early afternoon, a cool ocean that demands wetsuits for swimming, and feel the same way about 8-9 months of winter rain as an Oregon expat I recently met who fled to Arizona, the summer bargain might not be enough of a payoff for you.

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Silver Spike grass (Achnatherum calamagrostis) would be flattened in a rainy summer climate, fronted by Penstemon ‘Dark Towers’ still looking great when going to seed — photo by MB Maher

But gardens? Summer at the Oregon coast is easy on the garden. I’m finding that August skips along pretty much like July, temperature-wise, except August signals the summer annuals that now is their moment.

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Cosmos ‘Apricotta’ in right foreground

August activated the cosmos and zinnias I sowed in April for a small cut flower garden. Every sign of plant life in April is hyper-celebrated, so of course I saved all the seedlings. The cut flower 4X8′ area could only handle so many, but the cosmos slip into the main garden unobtrusively, billowing upward from a narrow, V-shaped footprint.

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Cosmos ‘Apricotta’ with Persicaria ‘Summer Dance,’ also new this summer

If August in my LA garden was a time to lie low and not make any sudden moves, on the Oregon coast fine tuning and planting continues into July and August, with the first frost in fall the hard backstop. I’ve been playing around with the dozens of cosmos, some planted into the garden, some plunged in pots. I love having new plants to mess with, new growth to watch for, deadheading to prolong bloom. The castor bean is still making size, and the amaranthus are just budding. The zinnias I’ve kept to the cutting garden.

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‘Apricotta’ is tall and billowy, 3-foot now, the darker ‘Xsenia’ a foot shorter
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Cosmos ‘Xsenia’ working with shrubs and perennials
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Cosmos ‘Xsenia’ with Podocarpus macrophyllus ‘Mood Ring’ in foreground
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Cosmos ‘Rubenza’ sown in June opening fast on the heels of cosmos sown in April. Great velvety substance to the petals, long cuttable stems
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Dahlia brought back from Windcliff, a seedling of ‘Forncett’s Furnace’ Hinkley is calling ‘Windcliff Peach’
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planted spring 2024 Dahlia ‘Verrone’s Obsidian’
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Dahlia ‘Camano Sitka’ reliably returns in spring — vigorous is an understatement, with very strong stems
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Ricinus communis ‘New Zealand Purple’ — from weed status in my LA garden to coveted late summer annual in Oregon
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Zinnia seed from Floret Farms and their pastel-centric breeding program. Flowering beginning in August from seed started in April, slow growth June and July then jumping into action now. This is either ‘Alpenglow’ or ‘Dawn Creek Pastels’
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Joe-pye weed budding up, none the worse for the slug attacks that persisted through June then abated in July
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Helenium ‘Sahin’s Early’ — bought budded up. The trick will be getting it through slug season next spring. I hear it’s a favorite.

I’m hoping to check in on family and friends in LA this winter, help the garden recover from my extended absence, and maybe catch some of my aloes in bloom. Hope you’re finding something to enjoy this August!

Posted in climate, Oregon garden | 5 Comments

thank you, Garden Fling 2024

A quick thanks, a few photos, and a short introduction to the Garden Fling, in the off chance a reader of AGO has never heard of this special garden tour.

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a beach at Vashon Island

Since 2008, the garden tour now known as the Garden Fling has changed names and broadened enrollment, but its basic premise remains the same. A tour of a region’s gardens, plant nurseries, and botanical gardens is developed, curated and hosted by those that know them best, the local gardeners. As far as I know, this grassroots familiarity with a region makes these garden tours unique.

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Hydrangeas were one of the signature plants on the tour, along with lilies, clematis, ferns, conifers and an amazing array of rare plants sourced from the many excellent regional plant nurseries supported by a vibrant PNW garden culture

Last weekend (July 19-22) our two buses visited 23 Tacoma/Seattle gardens in four days, and included the PNW twist of a ferry ride to visit gardens on Vashon Island. Thanks to the hard-working local hosts, the logistics and travel details were handled cheerfully and flawlessly.

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This entirely volunteer-led effort is an outgrowth of a deep love of gardens and plants and the desire to share them with other enthusiasts, via blogs and other social media (and, through the tour, IRL). Sponsors step in to help grease the tour wheels — thanks to all of you as well!

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dieramas and eucomis shine in a complex planting at Heronswood

The Pacific Northwest continues to loom in the public imagination as an eternally overcast land of misty forests, which is true for some of the year, but it also contends with very dry summers and, now, record heat waves. And increasingly winter brings uncharacteristic, zone-regressing cold events, like last winter’s January ice storm. If the tour gardens sustained winter losses, it was apparent only to the owners — it all looked glorious to me.

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To me many of the gardens, intentionally or not, evoke a wander through the coastal forest. Narrow paths instead of broad walks, changes in levels, switchbacks, carefully layered understories, hidden pools — garden-making in response to, and inspired by, living in the world’s largest temperate rain forest. There were plenty of sun-loving plants and spaces allowed for them, but the forest was an undeniably magnificent presence in the gardens we visited.

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a water fern blanketing a pond, Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden
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a formal water feature PNW-style, filled with sarracenia/pitcher plants (Heronswood)
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the Heckler garden on the Kitsap Peninsula brought out paper parasols to protect hydrangeas from recent 90F temps. Tour days were warm but fortunately ranged in the 80sF.

Because I traveled by car, I was able to indulge in some ferocious plant shopping at Windcliff, and the bus handily absorbed my flat of plants thanks to our friendly bus driver. Many of us have attended several Garden Fling tours, but there’s always new faces aboard the bus. And meeting online friends for the first time is so much fun — printed words can’t compare to freewheeling conversation with observant, sardonic, witty, opinionated plant people. It was such a good time, many thanks to all who made it happen!

Posted in climate, garden travel, garden visit | 10 Comments

July 2024 Bloom Day

It’s like a switch was flipped and a jolt of electricity hit the garden. July is potent stuff. Things are really starting to move and shimmy and shine now that the grasses are blooming.

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Achnatherum calamagrostis, Kniphofia ‘Timothy’ and phormium
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Verbascum roripifolium on the right. Two plants overwintered, grew very tall in early summer, wind broke a couple feet off one plant and it’s branched out horizontally. This unbroken plant pictured is more tall and graceful of the two.
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Kniphofia ‘Timothy’ and Teucrium hircanicum
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Heliopsis ‘Bleeding Hearts’ is so good — great leaves, long-lasting zinnia-like flowers, doesn’t need staking in heavy wind, slugs mostly leave it alone, doesn’t beg for water either
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heliopsis with deschampsia
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A couple of blooming agapanthus were dropped into the garden this July. ‘Xera’s Cobalt’ replaced some struggling echinacea which didn’t make much heft in three years. Love the agapanthus with Euphorbia griffithii.
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Persicaria affinis new this summer
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Patrinia is getting squeezed by sanguisorba and Persicaria polymorpha — decisions for next spring
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Cirsium rivulare ‘Trevor’s Blue’ stretching as tall as Sanguisorba ‘Red Thunder’ and matching its intensity in color
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Eryngium paniculatum, cotula, salvias
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Morina longifolia
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Eryngium variifolium
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The cosmos started from seed in April just opening first flowers, three varieties, ‘Xsenia’ and ‘Fandango’ and ‘Apricotta’ — this is probably ‘Apricotta,’ Making note for next year to not expect much from annuals until July. A second sowing of zinnias and cosmos in June are nearly catching up to those sown in April.
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a bright fuchsia pink dierama blooming for the first time this July — misplaced the label
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dark seed strain from Dancing Oaks, five flowering stems this summer
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Allium ‘Millenium’ was moved out of the border and into the gravel area
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couple phygelius in the garden, this one ‘Strawberry Blonde’

More July bloom reports are collected by May Dreams Gardens.

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

long summer days

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9 p.m. looking west at Eryngium agavifolium, asphodels simultaneously with blooms and seedheads, a fun look, Hebe ‘Western Hills’ lower right. The long dusks are a cool respite for the garden, for all of us.
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this photo was brightened a bit, but not much

After three years, these long summer days still amaze me. These photos were taken at 9 p.m. last night! On the 4th fireworks were useless until well after 10 p.m. — but that didn’t stop the neighbors. Loud booms are effective day or night. My neighbor reported one small brushfire at the coast that was quickly put out. What price fun, huh? Temps did top 90F Friday, into the low 80sF yesterday, and that’s the end of our portion of this extended heat wave. Nothing compared to the continuing ordeal faced by those living further inland. I’m very grateful for everything this administration has done to engage with carbon emissions, an effort that will always get my vote no matter who is on the ticket. If only minority rule aka the electoral college had not prevented us from getting a jump on heat-trapping gases in 2000…

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Digitalis parviflora with Miscanthus ‘Flamingo,’ left, one of the last miscanthus in the back garden. I can easily understand how Miscanthus giganteus is used in biofuel production. Unsure if Digitalis ferruginea will bloom later, the rosettes are still small. Digitalis parviflora seems to be the more reliable of the rusty summer-blooming floxgloves

[Sidebar: On the subject of necessary regulations, I will add one observation to the ongoing discussion of the divergent voting habits of rural vs. urban voters. It’s a personal theory, one of many! Rural industries (“blue collar”) — here it’s farming, fishing, logging — compared to most “white collar” jobs are necessarily carefully regulated in ways that are immediately and personally impactful. For example, when the local small fisherman temporarily can’t clam, crab, or harvest oysters due to high microbial activity, it is an undoubted hardship to bear. Health of consumers is of paramount concern, so oversight agencies don’t mess around. Public health issues can’t be left to the honor system. (And resource management left to vested interests can result in no resources to manage at all. The last sea otter, a keystone species, was killed in Oregon in 1907 out of an estimated population of a million pre-fur trade.) But for small rural towns, and this is an international problem, in addition to an aging population, loss of tax base revenue, “big box” monopolies (on-line and brick-and-mortar), I do think the regulation issue is prime for exploiting and inflaming by outside economic interests that operate at a much larger scale than the small town sole proprietor — hence, the recent unfortunate Supremes decision gutting authority of regulatory agencies, the beginning of the long-sought dismantling of the so-called “administrative state.” Yes, there will always be examples of regulatory overreach to rally indignation, but my vote will always go for prioritizing clean water, air, and safe food. As far as struggling rural towns, my fever dream is the rise of remote work allows these beautiful places to repopulate and emptying urban office buildings become converted to housing,…]

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Lots of descriptions of Sanguisorba ‘Red Thunder’ caution to stake if your garden is windy. (Raises hand.). Couple windy afternoons literally knocked this big burnet sideways, so some of the heavier branches were pruned to lighten the weight. Makes amazing cut flowers!

Seguing to slug control (ha!)…this morning I decided to throw down some snail bait pellets. Beer traps were effective primarily if I carried the mollusks to the traps and dropped them in the Guinness bath. (And Marty strenuously objected to use of Guinness as pest control.) The dahlias were “Chelsea-chopped” in early summer, and the slugs and snails also did their part in restricting growth, so buds are now forming on leafless stems. For next year, even though dahlias overwinter in the ground here, I may lift the dahlias and grow them in pots to protect young growth.

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mostly, no mollusk control needed

But it is surprising how many plants escape the mollusks’ notice. Dahlias and joe-pye weed have been the primary targets. Annuals like zinnias and cosmos too, but not calendula. I’ve been hesitant to use snail bait, even though the pellets are proclaimed to be “pet and wildlife safe” — I guess it’s a matter of trusting the labeling. Let me know if you’ ve heard otherwise.

Hang in there, cooler days are coming.

Posted in journal, Oregon garden | 7 Comments

Three years in a zone 8 garden (toddler phase)

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As Metapanax delavayi in the center fills in, many of the surrounding herbaceous plants needed relocation. Tetrapanax towers over the patio roof now, changing light patterns under its canopy and running at the root into the gravel. Stipa gigantea has an enormous footprint but is indispensable. Extreme right, a glimpse of 5’x5′ Persicaria polymorpha . Its shrub-like enormity will most likely have to be thinned out next spring. For now branches are pruned to allow sunlight on neighboring plants.

I broke my shovel yesterday, the trusty decades’ old one I brought up north. There’s a metaphor there somewhere. It’s seen a lot of action, especially this spring/early summer. The back garden has left behind that deliciously expectant phase, like being pregnant really, and entered the sobering reality of caring for a rambunctious toddler. Margaret Roach’s excellent article on the High Line was a reassuring and timely read for me. (“Change is the only constant.”). My 3-year-old garden now requires many of the same maneuvers, interventions, and relocations to settle land disputes and preserve air and sun rights as the 15-year-old High Line — on a vastly different scale, of course (and without having to contend with only 16 inches of soil!)

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Things are tight! Persicaria polymorpha does not run at the root but it’s still a beast, a beautiful one

The dreamy phase of contemplating a future garden has had a hard stop this third summer, where harsh judgments must be meted out — which plant is the more valuable and which needs to move elsewhere. Even after three years some plants are still getting settled, while others have doubled or tripled their footprint (Sucissella inflexa, a pale knautia-like bobblehead, I’m looking at you!). It’s engrossing and fascinating to watch the maturation process, but admittedly unnerving to be flung out of the design department and moved to a management position. I have nothing but respect for the 10 full-time gardeners managing the hard work of maintaining the High Line’s complex plantings.

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astilbe has been one of those slow to establish
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Euphorbia griffithii will want more ground, but I’m willing to work with it

What’s really centered me again and reinvoked that dreamy, expectant state of mind is starting lots of annuals and biennials from seed. Many of the annuals like cosmos, castor bean and amaranthus are getting popped into newly vacant soil as permanent plants are thinned. I’m more than willing to perform the daily triage an overplanted garden requires, but I’m a born nurturer and love the caretaking of young plants. I need to take care of plant babies!

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And my preference for big bodacious plants only exacerbates the challenges of managing a quickly maturing garden. For now, I wouldn’t want to part with any of them. The big shapes that dominate the border closest to the back fence include, left to right, a 5×5 Euphorbia stygiana, Persicaria polymorpha (both not pictured), Sanguisorba ‘Red Thunder,’ and Selinum wallichianum, center in above photo. Its ferny leaves are great cut — discovered after trying to relieve some pressure and congestion off nearby plants. Huge umbels in late summer. The Silver Spike grass, Achnatherum calamagrostis, has started to bloom, and the garden finally feels like summer because of it. Deschampsia started to bloom this week too. Most of the miscanthus have been moved to the front garden, as has Festuca ‘Glowsticks.’

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for now new purchases are limited to small stature stuff like clove-scented Dianthus ‘Key Lime Pie’
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doesn’t get any easier than a bowl of semps
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Digitalis parviflora — right at its feet two Kniphofia pauciflora were dug up and relocated to the front garden. A great little kniphofia that deserves the best home possible
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Solanum laxum, Iris ‘Gerald Darby’ — not all of the garden is threatened by imbalance. Some things are just right. Malva ‘Zebrinus’ and Darmera peltata in the stock tank
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Zebrina Mallow in the stock tank with Corokia ‘Sunsplash’

For those who’ve been having trouble commenting, deep apologies. Again, management is not my favorite task, and that applies to the blog as well, which barely limps along. Thank you for your patience! Enjoy the long holiday weekend — temps in the 90sF expected here for Friday…

Posted in journal, Oregon garden | 6 Comments

June 13, 2024, Oregon Coast

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Oregon Sunshine, Eriophyllum lanatum, lights up June

Even without much heat, it feels as though we’ve reached that turning point when spring finally retreats and summer growth gains the upper hand, if only by virtue of sheer day length. It’s light out til 9:30 p.m. now!

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short path looking toward the fence. Gabion with oyster shells is a great critter habitat…especially for snails!
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corgi-sized access paths are shrinking under summer growth. ‘Silver Swan’ euphorbia against the fence was wind-pruned recently, all blooming branches splaying out were cut back
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anisodontea stumps just visible near the post

In a couple instances the garden has reversed course and thinned somewhat, a case of wind pruning. We’ve had some recent sessions of ferocious wind, the latest yesterday afternoon. Incredibly, most plants can take the beating, but there’s been lots of pruning and some removal. On a previous occasion a week or so ago, the anisodontea planted behind the stock tank was completely knocked to the ground (patio). Initially planted in the stock tank, a root migrated out, so the original plant was removed from the stock tank, with the opportunistic root left to flourish, and did it ever! It’s been a remarkable plant capable of blooming all year, even withstanding ice storms! Even though it blocked my view of the garden from the patio, I left it alone. When the wind did the job for me, it was a relief. Besides having a full view of the garden from the patio restored, the beschorneria and other stock tank plants are much better for it.

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Anisodontea cutting near the fence, where it won’t block the view!
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nice to see old friends again like the variegated figword Scrophularia aquatica
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Argentina lineata is back, but with a new name. I bought it as Potentilla lineata
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new to the garden, planted August 2023, Penstemon ‘Dark Towers’ is approx 4 feet, self-supporting in some heavy wind, and unbothered by slugs. Without even seeing it in flower, it’s earned its keep
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June expands!
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Gillenia trifoliata is effortlessly beautiful and fresh — aka bowman’s root. There’s a story there somewhere with that common name that I’ve yet to learn.
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Digtialis ‘Illumination’ something or other (a cross with digitalis and Canary Islander isoplexis) — very sturdy but severe wind did knock a couple stalks down that were saved for a vase
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like the Illumination digitalis, this aster is another plant “engineered” to bloom longer. ‘Dainty Swan’ didn’t bloom til mid-July last summer, but as the plant makes size it seems capable of blooming earlier, “as advertised”
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The sweet williams are as good as alliums for height and rich color
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lots of alliums have been planted too
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pale bloom of Allium karataviense on a very short stalk rising out of leaves as impressive as the flower
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‘Guinea Gold’ was in bloom June 15, 2023, too, so its timing is consistent
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Alstroemeria ‘Third Harmonic’ took a while to settle in but seems on its way now — orange and burgundy seem to be a theme with me lol
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Phytollaca ‘Silberstein’ seems poised for a good summer of growth too. Very slow to establish, and the slugs are all over new growth
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Eryngium ‘Big Blue’ did great the first year, dwindled the second year, and after being moved out of the border and into the gravel, with more light and better air flow, it seems to be back on track
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In the front garden Cistus ‘Jenkyn Place’ basks in sun all day with extra heat radiating off the sidewalk causing that unique resiny scent’s release. There should be a cistus-scented candle.

The cosmos and zinnias I sowed in April are finally making good size. Not much top growth yet but root growth is strong. I sowed a ridiculous amount and nurtured every single seed that germinated — good thing too, because the slugs and snails demand their tribute, and the attrition has been significant.

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with growth this slow, pinching back to encourage branching is psychologically very hard to do…you gotta do it anyway and have faith summer sun is coming!

The cosmos will be grown in pots because there isn’t any bare sunny ground available in the garden, and dozens of plants have been donated to a community garden. I’ve never had to watch frost dates when sowing seeds before, so this has been a very engrossing endeavor, just trying to raise some simple summer annuals. Hopefully, there will be more photos to come…

Posted in journal, Oregon garden | 10 Comments

a couple promising zone 10 dry garden plants

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Centaurea ragusina and Salvia ‘Savannah Blue’ by Native Sons — in my experience, ultimate size is at least double suggested on their website

Domino’s garden in Los Angeles is slowly taking shape, with everyone pitching in to keep it weeded, mulched, and watered while new plants settle in. (We have availed ourselves of mulch from Griffith Park’s generous compost facility, carload after carload, even despite the numerous tree seedlings it includes. Can’t argue with free.)

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A couple plants I gambled on have really impressed me. Salvia ‘Savannah Blue’ seemed full of promise in my Long Beach garden but didn’t really get a fair trial, squeezed in among agaves and succulents which it quickly overran. The soil had been serially enriched over the years with compost, and I suspect life might have been a little too easy for this South African hybrid salvia. In Domino’s garden the soil is simply awful, unamended clay, only approachable for planting after a rain, and mercifully there was lots of that last winter to get the garden started. Already I can see the salvia growing much more densely. Reputedly hardy to zone 8, I did try this salvia in Oregon, but fall planting was not a success. It melted away in the rainy winter. But its overall vigor would suggest a spring planting might be successful, if only as a summer annual or protected in a container, and I’m hoping a couple cuttings root to allow for some more experimentation on the rainy Oregon coast.

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In Domino’s garden, luxuriating in full sun but somewhat constrained by unamended soil, I feel that this is a fairer trial than I could give this salvia in my crowded Long Beach garden. Finely cut, leathery, scented pelargonium-like leaves, small violet-blue flowers on slim tapers, it’s really shown what it can do here. Healthy, weed-smothering growth. I anticipate this will need a cutback like, say, Salvia leucantha in late winter/spring. It really is unlike any other salvia I’ve grown, with a remarkably good leaf tailor made for a hot dry garden. Along with its small shrubby habit, it strikes me as very worthy of attention, and I’m excited to track how it performs in Domino’s new garden.

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But what’s that silver plant? My thoughts exactly when I found it unlabeled at a local nursery. Lacy like the typical dusty miller but with very thick, succulent-like leaves. The subsequent yellow thistle flowers indicate Centaurea ragusina, the Silver Knapweed, endemic to Croatia. Possibly hardy to zone 7, I grabbed a cutting to try in the Oregon garden — in a well-drained container, of course. It’s been around a while, described by Linnaeus in 1753 and mentioned as worthy by William Robinson in the late 1800s, but it seems to have been superseded in the trade by other centaureas/dusty millers. So far it’s kept a compact profile, not a sprawler. A couple friends have grown it and have only nice things to say about this centaurea, apart from it being hard to find.

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Personally, I’m a fan of the lemony yellow thistle flowers, in bud or bloom, but do realize that some may prefer to cut them off to showcase its form and leaves — but then you’d be left with a Victorian bedding plant, right? That’s so 19th century…

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I do think if you get the chance, that either of these are worth trialing for a zone 8-10 garden on the dry and sunny side. (The centaurea is hardier than the salvia, down to 0° F.)

Posted in Plant Portraits | 7 Comments