February scrapbook

Tracing the trajectory of enthusiasms on the blog since 2010, one month at a time…

2/26/10 — a wildflower meadow was a fleeting, transitional feature of a local medical center.

February 25, 2011, this weird aroid had my attention. It has since disappeared from the garden.

2012 was one of the years I planned for potted tulips. Here in zone 10 tulips require chilling, so it’s not a last-minute kind of deal. And the vegetable crisper gets real crowded for 8 weeks or so. Nice cameo by little Evie! I’m fairly sure she’s standing on a potted Cussonia gamtoosensis, one of my favorites cussonias, which grew to 6 feet in the garden then toppled. Very shallow rooted! Much sorrow and regret. This week I’ve just found a source locally at Desert Creations! If all goes well, I should have it by the weekend.

February 28, 2013, I documented a conversation about the number of bees on Euphorbia rigida. Lovely to see our corgi Ein and Joseph aka Joe B. Tiger! Sedum nussbaumerianum is another succulent I haven’t grown in a while. And we are currently on the trail of another corgi, but it’s slightly complicated so no date of arrival yet…

February 2013. This scrapbook idea is helping me notice planting patterns. Every fall/winter I rediscover the annual linarias like it’s the first time ever. Obviously, it’s been a standby winter annual for years…that never reseeds!

February 2013; I want to smell Michelia doltsopa again. (Anyone reading Ken Druse’s The Scentual Garden?)

This was a lively and inviting family garden to visit back in February 2013, and Sadie was such a gracious host!

Euphorbia lambii from February 2013 which started sporting weird fasciations. But now I miss this plant! Still have the indestructible Homecrest chairs though…

February 2014 included a visit to the Moorten Botanical Garden in Palm Springs, Calif. during Modernism Week, which is now an online experience February 1st through the 28th, 2021.

February 2015 I visited Rancho Los Alamitos with Shirley Watts — so much fun touring this historic rancho with her. I believe her brother Harvey attended the tour as well.

Also in February 2015 Banksia ericifolia briefly graced the garden. Current banksias in the garden are Banksia caleyi and Banksia repens, both very young. Say no more…

In February 2015 I was growing gerberas with Elymus ‘Canyon Prince.’ There are still gerberas in the garden but this beautiful grass is not suited for a small collector’s garden. I planted this elymus in the hellstrip of our neighborhood park, where it’s survived on just rainfall to the amazement of the neighborhood. I believe that’s an isoplexis leaning in on the right, which was an exciting plant in its own right for frost-free gardens before the digiplexis phenomenon eclipsed it. All of the “plexis,” species and crosses, have been short-lived in my garden — which is not necessarily a bad thing to my way of thinking but it might be frustrating for some.

February 2016 I had promising cushions of santolina, and then the cypresses grew and grew and this end of the garden became too shady. I actually enjoy that pungent, acrid scent when clipping and shaping it into orbs. For a similar smallish cushion effect, I’m currently growing Westringia ‘Grey Box.’

In February 2017 Mitch and I visited Jeremy Glatstein and family’s garden (#bixbybotanicals), which was covered in the Los Angeles Times in 2020 for Dustin Gimbel’s design work on their back garden.

In February 2018 I documented the discovery of Euphorbia lignosa (or maybe it’s Euphorbia stenoclada?) in a local parkway. I still have the cutting the owner gave me, which is growing into a handsome plant, and the OG mother plant is still flourishing in the parkway. Nice bit of continuity for both plants!

In February 2019 I was concerned about decluttering the garden (ha!).

February 2020, before the fence was rebuilt and the cypresses removed.

Onward with February 2021!