It's springtime in Southern California. Last year we had nothing you could call winter at all. This year, well, maybe a couple of weeks. We did have two nights of freezing at the beginning of January.
Now that we're in March, however, the cold is just a memory. Flowers are bursting out all over (see our orchid bench, above), veggie seedlings are coming along fine, and now the concern is making sure everything gets enough water for the 90+ degree heat wave we have coming this weekend.
Mr. Lincoln, our bellwether rose, has some fine maroon foliage popping up after pruning.
Grape clusters are already showing on our vine.
The bletilla orchid has not only awoken from its dormancy, it's now in bloom.
Unfortunately, the bougainvilleas can't get their blooms synchronized. Only the red is showing off, while the others are only green.
I'll live with it somehow.
DarrylCopyright 2015 - Darryl MusickAll Rights Reserved
Not a lot of words today. Just sitting and enjoying the fruits of my labors.
I'm sitting in my patio chair, listening to some tunes, and enjoying a cool cocktail. I've got a camera with a nice zoom lens. Let's see what I can see from here, starting with the hanging basket at the top.
The grapes will be ripe soon, I can't wait to taste them.
This red bougainvillea is on it's second bloom...
...as is our newest bougainvillea member, this coral colored guy.
Finally, as usual, the yard is surrounded by these fragrant, white plumerias.
DarrylCopyright 2013 - Darryl MusickAll Rights Reserved
My bougainvilleas seem to be real popular among visitors to this blog. I don't blame you, they're very beautiful and, if contained, can be pretty easy to maintain.
This week, it's a quick and simple chore for the bougainvilleas...just a quick haircut.
These tropical plants get shocked each winter even by our mild Southern California winters and end up with a lot of rangy, dead-looking wood. When the plants come back from their shock, it's a good time to trim up the worst of it for nothing more that asthetics (the dead-looking wood is actually alive but will still be rangy when it comes back).
Once I know that the plant is growing vigorously again and won't get shocked by cutting, I just snip back to the first growth I see on the stem.
Once I'm finished, I have a pretty and neat looking patio plant.
You can also see this plant in background of last week's Cocktail Hour video at my other blog, The World on Wheels travel blog.
DarrylCopyright 2013 - Darryl MusickAll Rights Reserve.
It's a light gardening weekend in the Cheapskate's patch this weekend. Starting with weeding. First, is an interesting one. One that some people would value as a volunteer. Above is Nicotiana bigelovi, also know as Indian tobacco. It's a California native and was used to smoke (still is in some places) in ceremonies or just to pass time.
It has fairly showy white flowers and can grow 6-7 feet tall in a gangly, thin bush. Some people want it but I don't want it in this hanging basket so out it goes.
I don't have a lot of weeds this week, thank God, so it's just hand-pulling the little buggers out, mostly just grass sprouts.
A couple of weeks ago, when I was talking about cymbidium cultivation, I mentioned you could tell the flowers were done blooming when the center lip turned red. Above, is an example of this. Some of the earlier cyms are starting to die back now.
I also planted a few more lettuce, corn, and squash seeds because I really wasn't happy with the poor germination on those plants, plus some critters are eating some of my seedlings. Guess I'm going to have to deal with that some way too.
I have this unused spot to put a dripper for a hanging basket so I ordered some cherry tomatoes today and will plant them in a basket here when they arrive.
I do my bi-weekly fertilizing and plant some feverfew around the front rose garden to try to dissuade the bugs from eating them.
Last chore is to fill in the potted plants where the mix is degrading. I simply grab a big bag of Gromulch...
...and fill in to the top of the container. Now our bougainvilleas...and other container plants...have a topping of fresh, nutritious mix to start their season.
Happy Spring, everybody!
DarrylCopyright 2013 - Darryl MusickAll Rights Reserved
Sometimes I surprise even myself. Just as I predicted last week, our grape vine had bud break this week. Got that netting on just in the nick of time.
Grape vines are the deadest of dead looking plants with they go dormant for winter. If you don't know better, you'll think you've lost it. Reminds me of the last scene of that great wine movie, "A Walk in The Clouds," when, after the vineyard burns, the hated son-in-law redeems himself to his wife's father by finding the green cambium under the burnt skin of the vine.
It's always a pleasure to see the brilliant new green leaves of the grape vine when it starts another year's worth of growth.
In addition, our plumeria is also pushing new growth out of the end of its branches. Won't be long before we'll have those lovely, fragrant blossoms sprouting out of these plants.
That means our short little winter is really over.
With the warmth, it's also time to put our phaleanopsis orchid back on the outdoor bench. On the left is what is was looking like in December, when it started showing signs of cold-shock. Every leaf with even a tinge of yellow was lost. The two big leaves on the right are the two tiny leaves in the center of the picture on the left. Everything else is new growth.
We're looking forward to seeing how this plant does in 2013 too.
I meant to post this picture with the bougainvillea pics from last week but better late than never. Our red bougainvillea is really showing off this week. I think it's time to trim a little of the dead wood off of it.
Finally, I did a severe pruning of the camellia in the hardest to reach corner. If you're asking as my wife did, it's because I don't want to prune this one again for a looooong time.
DarrylCopyright 2013 - Darryl MusickAll Rights Reserved
A few chores and more blooms. As the heat is getting up there...91 degrees today...more plants are coming back to life...
I had wanted to shape this lavender plant during the off season but never got around to it. For now, it'll just be a free form shape.
When we first bought this lantern vine, the nursery told us "full sun." It never really did well there.
We've since seen other lantern vines in shade gardens, so my wife transplanted this one to the shade. We'll see how it does.
More camellias in bloom. With this heat, they'll soon be done.
This burnt-copper color bougainvillea is a newcomer to the garden, we're hoping it'll do well. It's first flush of flower bracts is promising.
And we'll end it with our bright red bougainvillea. In a couple of months, these thorny vines will provide most of the background color to our back wall garden.
DarrylCopyright 2013 - Darryl MusickAll Rights Reserved
People in Southern California have been trying to delude themselves for over a century. Palm trees, sandy beaches, tropical flowers, lush lawns...the dirty truth is that we're not tropical, we're almost desert.
The area only looks a lush as it does because we import tons of water and splash it all over our yards in a desperate attempt to fool ourselves we're in Hawaii or some other island paradise.
In the summer, we get hot. Very hot. Our thermometer peaked at 117 last summer and regularly flirts, or goes steady, with 110.
In the winter, we get cold and the temps can dip below freezing.
One key factor in my garden plan is to keep plants that can tolerate a little cold so, other than our house plants and our lone phalaenopsis orchid, the tropical plants in my backyard can tolerate a day or two down to 28 degrees. Longer than that and they start dropping like flies.
It's not to say that they like it down there. Lately, the temps have been dipping into the low 30s. Our lowest temp so far is 32. I keep a thermometer in the backyard that I can see through our kitchen window. Each morning I check it to see how cold it god and then watch the weather forecast to see if its' supposed to get cooler.
The plants still react. At the top of the page is our plumeria at the height of its summer glory. The next picture down shows what it looks like during a cold spell (with a rogue Mr. Lincoln bloom poking fun at it). The leaves will all be off soon and the trees will go dormant for awhile.
Our bouganvillea looks a little ragged in the cold, as does some of the euphorbia and the guava tree leaves react with a purple hue.
The grape vine is just about to drop the last of its leaves.
If I see that we hit the magic number of 28, and it looks like colder weather will be coming, the potted plants (mostly cymbidium orchids) are moved to the garage until it's passed.
I'm watching those cymbidiums closely, there's too many buds waiting to open to ignore.
DarrylCopyright 2013 - Darryl MusickAll Rights Reserved
Bougainvilleas are gorgeous plants. They bring a touch of the islands to your home and are seen throughout the world climbing over tropical ruins (like above), swallowing them up in a riot of color.
That's the problem...it doesn't take but a moment of inattention and they will go wildly out of control. Not far from where I live, the largest of these plants in the United States has established itself over three blocks of residential Glendora, California.
Still, they can be grown and kept under control in containers. I get a lot of compliments from my bougainvilleas...I have four different varieties with four different colors...but I keep a short leash on them.
Originally, I just planted like I did every other plant and then I noticed they will root right through the drain holes in the pot. Not good...that's how they escape.
My solution was to get plastic pots without drain holes and drill holes in the side of the pot for drainage instead of the bottom to keep the roots contained.
We now have some very beautiful, well mannered bougainvilleas adding tons of color to the Cheapskate's patio.
DarrylCopyright 2012 - Darryl MusickAll Rights Reserved
It's the Day of Rest and we're enjoying the fruits of our labors. Garden chores were pretty much limited to mowing the lawn this week. Here's what's happening in our garden today. Mr. Lincoln (above) is giving us one final show before shutting down for winter.
As is Moonstone, not one of my favorite roses but it's looking pretty good today.
The bougainvillea is giving us great splashes of color.
Our hot chiles are loaded with flowers. Hope to have a lot of spice in our lives soon.
Some can't wait and are ready now.
Helping in our goal of having something to eat out of our garden year round, our little citrus grove is getting closer to harvest too.
The Meyer lemons are starting to show their colors...
...as are our tangelos.
DarrylCopyright 2012 - Darryl MusickAll Rights Reserved
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