Sun and Shade

 Here is another view of the white climbing roses from the last post showing just how beautiful and full they are during March facing the early morning sun! I don't even think they get fertilized!

I have been struggling with trying to fill in this bed under the fast growing California peppers trees.  The trees prefer not too much water or they get root rot, so shade and dry loving perennials were my only choices. There is some late day sun that creeps into one side of the bed in the afternoon which evidently is enough to sustain the purple lantana, the tagetes lemmonii and an 'Easter Basket' rose bush. The plants facing the other way have to be shade lovers or, like the daylilies from years ago that linger there, they may hang on, but never bloom.

My garden helper does not really pay any attention to sun and shade requirements and propagates plants all the time and puts them in where ever they are needed like these Margarete daisies. They need full sun, but seem to be blooming like crazy in this dappled shade. Years ago this bed was filled with beautiful calla lilies that I thought disappeared during the last few dry years, but it looks like they are making an appearance again after staying on the low down until the rains came back. What do I know?

Spring Awakenings

Green Agave

 With this rain we've been having has also come some crazy weather. A couple weeks ago he actually had hail, thunder and lightening, an event that takes place rarely around here. It has happened once before while we have lived in SJC with the same results - damage to the green agaves in the form of pits. It will take a few years for it to completely disappear.

Rice Flower

 I have forgotten how many wonderful spring blooming shrubs I have like this rice flower plant in the Moonlight Garden. I have to confess that I have been to a number of nurseries in the past few weeks and have left with nothing in my car. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed at what needs to be added or replaced in the gardens. I finally decided I have to get busy before I am too crazy busy with other projects in my life to focus on the gardens so I did load up the car last week with a few basics that I can always tuck in somewhere.

Milkweed

 Milkweed is a must to keep the monarch butterflies happy. They struggle through after being decimated by the caterpillars every year, but a few more never hurts.

Right now the scents from the gardens at sunset are amazing and this combination of pink jasmine and Indian hawthorn are partly responsible along with the citrus blooms. Makes me giddy!

The white roses (rosa spinosissima) and wisteria are waking up in the front driveway. I was afraid the hail would ruin the blooms, but there were enough new ones opening up that they took it all without missing a beat. Even though the roses only bloom for about one month out of the year, I couldn't ask for a more prolific rose with no disease or bug problems.

The wisteria here is about a month behind the wisteria in Laguna, probably due to different micro-climates because they are the same hybrid.

When Plants Get Stressed

 Different plants respond differently to stress (much like people). Many plants, like this brilliant 'Santa Barbara' bougainvillea, think it's best to send out as many flowers as possible to help spread seeds before it may expire. Although it is considered a tropical plant, and I think of tropical plants as ones coming from lush, rain forest-y places, many are extremely drought tolerant. This is probably why the most beautiful and prolific bougainvilleas are usually found in the most desolate places like abandoned buildings or deserted parking lots and yet we can't get them to bloom in our own backyards.

 Every year I have the queen palm trees at our SJC home trimmed in the fall when they put out their flowers and annoying seeds. They cover the ground with scrappy little flower petals then cherry-sized seeds that make a big mess when you have 100 of them. This year I have already had to bring my tree trimmers out once in the summer because they were uncharacteristically blooming and seeding all over the place in July, I'm assuming due to the lack of water. We removed the seed pods, flowers and any dying branches. As you can see here it is almost time to do it again.

 Although it is impossible to remove established acanthus, they do not like the drought at all. I have lost a whole bed of them in Laguna and the ones I have placed here and there in the shade in SJC are not fairing well. As you can see, this one has lost all it's leaves but is desperately trying to establish its legacy by expending every last bit of energy in putting out this lone flower stalk. I'm sure it will survive and I hate to say it, but I have never seen them sprout from seed in my gardens yet.

 The good news is that a bit of stress can force a stubborn non-bloomer to finally bloom like this little banana tree! I have grown bananas in Laguna for many years and planted a couple trees as soon as we moved into SJC, but they never bloomed. This week I was delighted to see the first flower on my little 'Ice Cream' plant. Hopefully by the time the holidays come I can show the grandkids how bananas grow.

Not all plants respond to stress with prolific blooms. My roses have been almost non-existent this year. They seem to pull in and reserve all their strength to withstand the cut back in water and when they do bloom they are small, sad flowers. I have fertilized same as usual, but they prefer to wait it out until more water is available. I have noticed that the vacant lot down the street where a gentleman grows dozens and dozens of rose bushes for his hobby of showing roses in contests is as prolific as usual. He does use synthetic fertilizers which stimulate the blooms no matter what is going on with Mother Nature. Of course along with that he has to use lots of sprays and lots of water, but he does have glorious flowers!

Blooming

Iochroma

 I have to admit that my garden is looking pretty pathetic right now. Even though most of the plants are rather drought tolerant and I don't think it is necessarily the water restrictions that are causing the havoc as much as the erratic summer weather combined with my lack of attention. It is cool and overcast for a few days, then hot and humid for a while, then dry and windy.

Asiatic lily

 I have very few things in bloom when this should be the peak season for things like roses and lilies. Most of my lilies have disappeared over the years and I still have the new bulbs waiting to be planted. 

Disneyland Rose

 The roses have been cut back hard due to looking very shabby from sawfly larve, an ongoing problem. I need to make a trip to the nursery for some organic treatments and keep up the spraying. There are a few blooms here and there.

Duranta

I am getting concerned because I have a big event coming up here at the house and only about six weeks to get everything in shape. But this week we have our four oldest grandchildren coming for their special week with us so everything is just going to have to hang in there a little longer - I have more important things to do right now!

Five Petaled Roses

  The cool, damp, overcast days we have been having make me glad I have so many simple five petaled roses in the gardens.

 I love them just as much as I love the big, full, old fashioned English roses, maybe a little more this time of year!

 The roses with lots of petals need the heat to encourage them to open fully and they often start turning brown before they are fully open. 

 Many of them rot before they open at all. Add to that the limited amounts of water they have been getting this spring and they also have weak stems causing some of them to hang their blooms down. Not pretty at all.

There is a lot to say about diversity in the garden and how it enhances the beauty in many ways!

High Praise for Bonica

These 'Bonica' roses in Laguna have not been fertilized in probably ten years but they continue to produce a ton of blooms every year. I must say they hardly miss me at all! I would highly recommend this rose for a low maintenance - high performance pink rose that performs all summer long! It would make a lovely shrub.

Distractions

 I have been crazy busy doing everything but getting ready for the big Master Gardener Tour I have coming up early next month in SJC. However things do go on without me and I was able to pull together some lovely bouquets from the gardens for a party we had for some friends visiting from Hawaii. Roses, alstroemeria, buddleia, clematis, heliotrope and scabiosa combined to make this shades of pink, rose and purple fragrant and pretty display.

We finally had some overcast skies that resulted in a little bit of rain, but not much. I had a sprinkler guy come and put on a new box in the Laguna garden a few weeks ago and he said he set it but I'm not sure for how often because when I went by there this week it was terribly dry. The roses were blooming like crazy, but the trees and everything else were showing signs of distress, so the clouds were a welcome relief. Watering on a hillside takes a certain finesse. A little water at a time and let it soak in, then a little more. I didn't have time to read the directions to re-adjust the settings, but I will get over there this week to figure it out. Drought or not, I can't just let everything die and turn into a fire hazard!

Climbing Wild Roses

The first of my climbing wild roses are blooming on the front arbor. They are the earliest of the spring roses to bloom and are finished by the time everything else wakes up. You can see they are all tangled up with the wisteria which is just starting to bloom. Unfortunately the best view is from the bedroom balcony looking down on them. This is the curse of an overzealous garden helper that keeps everything trimmed neat and tidy. Somehow I haven't been able to convey the beauty of the juxtaposition of control and free form to him and as soon as he sees me trim one thing he takes over and trims everything within an inch of its life. Oh well, someday he will understand...

If I Had To Choose

  My gardens are full of fat, full, sensuous roses with dozens of petals, but...

 ... I  love the simple, five petaled rose just as much. If I was forced to chose between the two...

... I just wouldn't. You couldn't make me!

Wisteria and Roses

 I just can't get enough of my wisteria and roses.

 When they start blooming I actually get a little sad because I know they will only last a few weeks.

 Their beautiful scent, the buzzing of the bees, the sparkling of the sunshine peeking through the flowers will only be fleeting for the first few weeks of spring.

 They seem to be the first signs that winter is on the way out and the warm weather is on its way and soon all the other flowers will be appearing.

I really need to learn to spend more time just sitting under this pergola enjoying the beautiful arrival of spring and less time regretting how quickly it passes.