This is our Christmas Cactus. We got it six years ago and it's been in a hanging basket next to the orchid bench ever since. I would imagine we should think about repotting it soon.
It's a gorgeous flowering plant, reliably blooming, as it's name suggest, every holiday season.
This post is not about that, however. It's about the alien that came along with it. I'm talking about the volunteer, or weed if you will, Kalanchoe daigremontiana that grew out of the side of the basket.
It's almost taken over the basket but it still let's the Christmas cactus alone. It puts out thousands of pretty little lavender flowers. It also produces little leaflets that drop off to create new plant, giving is the common name of Mother of Thousands.
Funny, though. None of those little leaflets that have dropped off have created any new plants. It seems content to crowd in with the Christmas cactus.
Apropos of nothing, the camellia next to it is also blooming, giving us a very colorful corner of the garden in this California winter.
Darryl
Copyright 2015 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved
After cutting it back to form a somewhat globe shape last year, our lavender never bloomed again. Recently, I saw what looked like buds on the plant but my wife said "no," those were just more leaves.
Proving I can be right sometimes too, the lavender went ahead and agreed with me. Now, the blooms are opening up spectacularly.I like lavender for it's beauty and fragrance. People keep telling me you can use it in recipes. When I ask how, I always get "there are lot's of ways you can use it." OK, please tell me at least one...I'm all ears.My biggest reason for having it, though, is that it attracts pollinators...especially honey bees. While some shy away from these stinger-equipped insects, I want all I can get so they can wander over to my vegetable garden and help me bring in a good harvest there, too.This week, we're also experiencing bud break on our grape vine although it never went completely dormant like it usually does. This extremely dry and warm winter means the plants think it's spring. So do the birds...we saw a jay hunting for nesting material and the first swallow of the season over the weekend.Our camellia bushes are doing well, like this pink one......and this red one at the opposite end of the patio.I'll show you some more flowers popping open a little later this week.
DarrylCopyright 2014 - Darryl MusickAll Rights Reserved
Like an alarm clock, the camellias bloom each January and February reminding me it's time to shake of the winter lazies and get back to work in the garden.
These shade loving beauties, of which I have three bushes, grow great with little to no care. I pretty much ignore them except to severely prune them every 3 or 4 years.
When we bought this house, the backyard landscape was pretty hideous. 95% iceplant and a couple of other items here and there, these are among the very few plants I kept. Everything else was ripped out and started anew.
Now that these and our cymbidiums are coming back to colorful life, it's time to plan this year's garden.
DarrylCopyright 2014 - 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
Our patio thermometer hit 90 this weekend, spring is just about sprung. Here's what's opening up this week in the Cheapskate's garden.
Above, this cymbidium is a cross between tethys 'black magic' and voodoo.
When we moved into this house 17 years ago, I completely ripped out the landscaping, except for three camellia plants. I don't know they names but they bloom reliably every winter, like this red one above.
Here's a pink one at the other end of the garden. They love shade and damp ground.
This yellow rose is the first bloom of the season, it's been about 6 weeks from prune to bloom. Notice the aphids, I'll be doing a post on that soon.
I'll finish up with this lavender plant that I hoped to shape a little bit during the off season but too late now.
DarrylCopyright 2013 - Darryl MusickAll Rights Reserved.
