88 Garden’s By The Sea
August 25, 2023
90 Solana Succulents
September 22, 2023
11 Plant Stories
from My Garden
P lants are my life. I’m always maintaining, refurbishing, shopping, ripping out, making over, shopping, designing, redesigning, shopping, and installing. When I’m not actively doing any of that, I am thinking about all of that! None of it would matter much though if it weren’t for plants.
I mean if life isn’t all about plants and grandkids what’s the point?!
To me each plant is unique, like a person I want to know, and each one has a story. So read on to meet some plants in my garden and hear their stories.
ONE
My Little Gardening Friend gave me a wonderful gift card to Pond & Company that’s been burning a hole in my purse for a month. Finally used it…
Pinus densiflora ‘Golden Ghost’ (Golden Ghost Japanese Red Pine)
Now this Pine is a new addition to my holding area until I figure out where it will go in the landscape.
Isn’t it just stunning with its chartreuse shimmering needles?!
The tree will grow to 15-feet tall and wide within 10 years. I asked if it was sold in a smaller container than a 24-gallon.
But NOPE.
Oh, Miiiiike……!!!
TWO
About 10 years ago AP and I came across a plant at Half Moon Bay Nursery that we fell in love with. But the salesperson told us it was for “display purposes only.” Sheesh!
She said it came from Annies Annuals & Perennials so of course we HAD to go visit Annie’s! But it was no longer available there or anywhere, apparently.
But then recently while visiting Cottage Gardens, there it was!!! AP grabbed one and I grabbed two.
Lysimachia congestiflora ‘Persian Chocolate’
Mine
AP’s
THREE
This little boy came from Cottage Gardens, too, 3 years ago…
Thuja orientalis ‘Franky Boy’ (Franky Boy Chinese Arborvitae)
Franky’s foliage is bright chartreuse-green with a weepy nature in growth. He’s supposed to grow 6-feet tall and 4-feet wide. But for 2 years he sat doing absolutely nothing (which is so rare for a boy). Then in year 3 he finally put on 6 whole inches!
Thank gawd I have patience.
FOUR
Ever since I bought this plant, I have been scratching my head…
Pavonia brasiliensis (South American Mallow)
I got it at Plant Delights 5 or 6 years ago and it is very rare, so good luck finding one 🙂
I was attracted to it because it is light and airy. I kept it in my growing area for a year then installed it in the landscape. It definitely grows light and airy with a tad bit of scrappy mixed in.
I thought those black specks on the leaves was poop from some annoying pest. But nope…seeds!
During all the years I’ve had it tiny buds would appear in early spring and then nothing. They’d just fall off.
Finally this year I got beautiful 2-inch flowers…
And I’m not scratching my head anymore over it. Lovely.
FIVE
I got this next plant at Bushnell Nursery…
Sequoia sempervirens ‘Kelly’s Prostrate’
I bought 2 of them 15 years ago, and you definitely need patience for them! They grow maybe 2-inches per year. Maybe.
I have this one in a container because I did not want it to lie prostrate on the ground. I wanted it to hover.
To create my vision of “hovering” I put a piece of 1-by-3-foot trellis under its branches.
The other Sequoia sempervirens is on a slope doing its prostration thing.
SIX
“Roman” came on the market 2 years ago in the Sacramento area.
Podocarpus macrophyllus ‘Roman’s Candle’ (Roman Candle Podocarpus)
It takes longer for new plants to arrive here than other areas. Roman was probably available 2 years earlier elsewhere—which is why I travel.
I’ve been using it in designs ever since for its variegated evergreen leaves. It loves full or part sun and grows to 15-feet tall and 3-feet wide—much like the ‘Maki’ variety.
It’s perfect for subdivision side yards where developers give you maybe 5 feet of plantable space.
As a landscape designer and contractor, I always choose the “right plant, right place,”—unlike my competitors. Well, if you want to call those who regularly install plants in side yards that grow 20-feet high and wide my “competitors.”
Stupid stupid stupid. Or should I say “job security?!” Gawd these people are idiots. Read the damn label.
SEVEN, EIGHT
I love my plant graveyard which is near my growing area and greenhouse. It’s where I dump all my garden prunings, my failed attempts at sowing seeds, or a plant I dug up thinking it was dead but then suddenly…it ain’t!
Like these two…
Euphorbia
Datura wrightii (Sacred Datura)
I love it when graveyard plants pop up and grow beautifully and I didn’t have to do a damn thing except give them a decent burial!
NINE
I bought 2 of this next plant and placed one on each side of the arbor…
Hydrangea anomala petiolaris (Climbing Hydrangea)
That was 15 years ago. It took about 7 years for them to meet in the middle.
Climbing hydrangeas like morning sun—which is contrary to what their label says. I know this because I placed them where they receive sun all day until 3PM. But past noon? They are not happy campers. Just sayin’.
Thankfully the neighboring trees have grown enough over the years so the hydrangeas don’t suffer too much in the afternoon heat.
Unfortunately and for some unknown reason, I lost one of them recently. Probably the damn gopher that’s been active in that area. It’s dead now…the gopher.
I’m a serial killer of all things gopher. As you know, I take pictures of my kills to share with my Little Gardening Friend. Afterwards I fling the corpses into the field. It’s amazing how those turkey vultures know there is death nearby even as small as a gopher.
TEN
The dead hydrangea has been replaced with that beautiful blue pot and Clematis I featured in Blog #79 & #86.
ELEVEN
Back in the day, my husband strung Christmas lights on the Incense Cedar near our old house.
It looked lovely for a couple of seasons and as the tree grew and storms came and went, you could see Christmas lights swinging in the wind.
We have since torn down the old house and built a new one but farther back from that tree.
Where the old house sat, I installed a Chinese Pistache tree.
As a treat to myself this spring, I hired a professional to string quality lights on the tree which you can see from the living room, kitchen and my office.
I was concerned the lights would bust off the branches as the tree continues to grow. So instead of winding the lights around the branches, the guys installed strips of lights on either side of the branches. They were able to cut and splice to my liking at the perfect angles. The tree can continue on its journey of growth and I can enjoy the de-light-ful effect that lights in trees always bring.
Pistacia chinensis (Chinese Pistache)
View from my office.
Now on to my next treat…
Stay tuned.
