{"id":98269,"date":"2021-04-28T18:02:08","date_gmt":"2021-04-28T22:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/?p=98269"},"modified":"2021-04-30T16:21:31","modified_gmt":"2021-04-30T20:21:31","slug":"clippings-4-28-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/?p=98269","title":{"rendered":"clippings 4\/28\/21"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Melianthus ‘Purple Haze’ — when it is good, it is very, very good…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For Southern California gardeners: Melianthus ‘Purple Haze’ was spotted at Plant Depot in San Juan Capistrano this month, a single plant. After planting, try not to move it around too much; in zone 10, placement that avoids afternoon sun is the best shot at countering the end-of-summer doldrums. This compact selection by Roger Raiche is worth trying to make happy. Right now mine continues a long, frustrating sulk after moving it one too many times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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local landscape with mature, multi-trunked Yucca rostrata<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

H&H Nursery has 3-gallon Yucca rostrata for $50, which strikes me as a good price for relatively large plants (though young and nontrunking, of course) .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Far Reaches Farms is currently offering seed-grown Nolina hibernica ‘La Siberica<\/a>.’ (See the plantlust<\/a> page for photos and descriptions.) This selection with the wider leaves and curvy urn-like silhouette is unique. When it very infrequently becomes available, be ready to move fast. The Nolina nelsonii in my front garden has made me a big fan of the bear grass tribe. Here’s Dan Hinkley’s introduction to the bear grasses from his book Windcliff; A Story of People, Plants and Gardens<\/em>, in which the incredible plantswoman Linda Cochran gently nudges him in the direction of the invaluable nolinas. This short account of humility ending in generosity brought a smile: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“That first year in my new garden presented a very steep learning curve. Accustomed to a landscape of shade, I was in shock and awe from a blustery site in blistering full sun and was in desperate need of good scaffolding. While visiting my fledgling garden for the first time, my friend Linda Cochran, a celebrated and adventurous gardener then on Bainbridge Island, suggested I try the razor grasses, as from her vantage the conditions seemed perfect. I knowingly nodded in agreement while attempting to not betray the fact that I had never once heard of razor grasses or the genus Nolina. Linda, sensing my ignorance on the matter, kindly brought two species to me the following week; I’ve been hooked ever since<\/em>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Garden friends and I recently discussed Hinkley’s book, and while I enjoyed the opportunity for Hinkley to unfurl his elaborate prose style again, just like the old Heronswood catalogue days, some felt the vocabulary was a bit overwrought. I can see their point, but I am also reminded that he built his legend and seduced so many of us into buying his plants by prose alone, without photos, and that’s a considerable achievement. I doubt Hemingway’s terse approach would have sold many plants. I have my own struggles with writing and tending to favor compound sentences, and will only add that a book I’m currently finding useful is Several short sentences about writing<\/em> by Verlyn Klinkenborg. (Sample from Prof. Klinkenborg, Page 13: “Most of the sentences you make will need to be killed. The rest will need to be fixed. This will be true for a long time<\/em>.” Apparently good writing has a lot in common with good gardening.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Laurus nobilis ‘Aurea\/Aureus’ coloring was never uniformly gold and always slightly sickly looking<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Heronswood trivia: my last order was made in June 2006 and included the now-sulking Melianthus ‘Purple Haze.’ The previous order in 2005 included Kniphofia caulescens ‘Helen\u00a0 Dillon,’ \u00a0 Crambe maritima ‘Purple Blush,’ \u00a0 Laurus nobilis ‘Aurea,<\/a>‘\u00a0 Persicaria ‘Silver Dragon,’ Dianthus ‘Chomley Farran,’ Geranium phaeum ‘Taff’s\u00a0 Jester,’ Francoa sonchifolia, Beschorneria yuccoides x\u00a0 septentrionalis.\u00a0 No Heronswood plants other than the melianthus are extant in the garden today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Periodically, as in again yesterday, I investigate what’s up with getting Tropaeolum polyphylum to grow. Linda Cochran’s excellent account with ravishing photos (here<\/a>) is a must-read on growing this poorly documented native of Chile. Currently, there does not appear to be a source, and Linda explains the deep-dive behavior of its tubers as the problem with propagation. I do realize documented success is only coming out of the PNW. Still, I’d like to give it a try in zone 10, as I did with so many Heronswood plants. Derry Watkins of Special Plants<\/a> says fresh<\/em> seed is the answer and currently has seed on offer after summer 2021 bloom.            <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local Plant Sale Alert<\/strong>: Those images of Aloe camperi from Ray Valentine’s garden in the last post are unexpectedly timely. Ray is having a plant sale this weekend, May 1st and 2nd, 8-4pm. Contact tierra13 at sbcglobal.net<\/a> for the address. Wear a mask. Bring cash. Maybe there will be divisions of Aloe camperi for sale!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Solanum pyracanthum, you would think, demands a hot summer to rouse itself to a display like this. Yet in my zone 10 winter garden, it grew to such proportions in a pot placed at an often-traveled corner of the garage (where we keep the fridge with the cold drinks), that Marty laid down an ultimatum. Arms were getting scratched; the plant had to go. As in total removal. I said I’d handle it — which in garden speak meant staking it and cutting it way back until the complaints ceased, and this approached worked. I should have been brutal with this solanum all along, because this is the best it’s ever looked for me. Thank you, Marty!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This week the fringe tree takes a bow. And a shout out to Plectranthus argentatus for handling the dry shade\/patchy sun under the acacia tree so beautifully. I’ve been pinching that back as relentlessly as the Solanum pyracanthum, with equally good results. Some worthwhile goals: Practice shorter sentences. Ruthlessly pinch back plants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For Southern California gardeners: Melianthus ‘Purple Haze’ was spotted at Plant Depot in San Juan Capistrano this month, a single plant. After planting, try not to move it around too much; in zone 10, placement that avoids afternoon sun is … 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":[1549,2281,842,4495],"tags":[18],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paNJ2E-pyZ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98269"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=98269"}],"version-history":[{"count":39,"href":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98338,"href":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98269\/revisions\/98338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=98269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=98269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=98269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}