Oceanside Garden

Success with Leucospermum

Success at last! After several years of growing Leucospermums, I have managed to get one to flower. It did so with great fanfare.

I first started drooling over Leucospermums when I saw a photograph of Veldfire. I was mesmerized by it and had to have it. Eventually, I managed to find one for sale and bought it online for a tidy sum. It promptly died, never making it into the ground. Undeterred, I got another one and this time got it planted straight away and it died.

During the same period, I had plenty of success with Grevillea and Leucadendrons. I also had some success with Protea and Banksia, so it was not soil or weather conditions that were the problem. I tried others with little success, except for one – Spider. It was acquired from Norries (the retail outlet associated with the UC Santa Cruz arboretum) in 2022 and went into the ground in that fall. It survived and put on some growth but did not bloom.

Success

Fast forward to 2026 following a very mild winter. We barely dropped below freezing, and when we did it was only for a couple of hours. Come May, it looked like buds were forming and by June the first flower emerged. This was right before we were to leave on a mini vacation and I was so sad that there was a chance of missing its ultimate display, but when we got back, the whole plant was in bloom. A month later and it still going.

Leucospermum 'Spider' — Leucospermum ‘Spider’

Is ‘Spider’ the only one that will grow and bloom for us? I want to try more, but perhaps I should first see if its reluctance to bloom was the time it took for it to get established, or if following a more typical winter it will bloom again? There is hope, anticipation, but also trying to temper buying everyone I can find and having to deal with failure again. Perhaps I should just declare success and enjoy the blossoms while they last and let the future take care of itself.

Calendar

Winter color and fragrance

For many, winter is a time to stay indoors, perhaps peruse the seed catalogs and make plans for the coming year. It can be cold, wet and miserable. It is easy to justify not working outside with the strong movement towards not tidying up the garden over winter. Instead, leaving the dead and decaying plants for bugs, insects, and other things that may need shelter from the harsh weather. But it is possible to have a vibrant display even in those darkest months.

There is a fairly small area of the garden that I have designated the Winter Garden and right now it is certainly quite colorful.

Starting from bottom front left is some color and fragrance with the Daphne tangutica. Poking between the shrubs are Narcissus cyclamineus ‘Tete-a-tete’ and Leucojum aestivum ‘Gravete Giant’, then a Calluna vulgaris (Heather) ‘Verenka’ and some height from the Acer palmatum ‘Sango-kaku’. The red of the bark plays with the Corea ‘Ray’s Tangerine,’ even though it doesn’t show too much in this photograph. The color is quite vibrant. Moving on to the Hellebore ‘Amber Gem’ and then blending into the background, while also providing fragrance is the Hamamellis x intermedia (Witch Hazel) ‘Aphrodite.’

While not strictly in the Winter Garden, there is a Leucospermum across the path in the Mediterranean Garden will contribute in future years. It is still settling in, but in future years should provide a vibrant splash of yellow. In fact, the showstopper right now is down in Gondwana. It is Leucadendron ‘Safari Sunset’.

This is stopping people in the street, and I really should try and propagate more of those. They really are dramatic. It is such a shame that we are one of the lucky few able to grow anything in the Protea family. I really do have a passion for them.

General

Garden enters a new phase

It has been a long time since I penned a garden blog, but a number of people have prodded me recently to provide an update. Part of the reason why I stopped was due to my back problems. It felt as if garden progress had slowed to a crawl and the monthly updates had little I could report on. As much as anything, it made me sad that for many months there was nothing worth saying.

But – the reality is often a little different. When I look back over that period of writing barrenness, I have achieved a huge amount. By making use of the periods when my back is able, and having taken off the pressure of reporting everything, I can now say the garden paths are basically finished! The second staircase has been built along the south side of the property, retaining walls built, and recently finished hauling the gravel up an average of about 20 steps. There is no longer any section that has bare sand. Sand on paths is particularly bad in winter because it gets stuck to your shoes and gets carried everywhere. Makes an awful mess.

I also completely changed the other front section of the house. Out with the Escallonia hedge, rotten decking and other very tired plants and turned it into a contemporary garden. Oh my! It has quickly become my favorite place in the garden. In the mornings, it captures the sun, it is protected from the wind and provides the most delightful place for morning coffee and taking vitamin D. It also created a lot of extra space for my Aeoniums and succulents. I did this using commercial stainless steel kitchen shelving, and I hope they hold up to the conditions. This allows me to putter without bending down for the days when my back doesn’t want to play.

The other significant thing is that the seasons have changed. My indicator is the Cyclamen. For the garden, this is also the transition from the northern hemisphere temperate plant season to the summer hemisphere plants, which include Mediterranean plants. These are kind of stuck between the two hemispheres (at least in terms of the land masses, with Africa being part of what used to be Gondwana and Europe being on the Eurasian plate.)

The important difference is that plants from the northern hemisphere treat winter as being the harsh season (cold being the major enemy,) while plants from the south treat the summer as the harsh season (heat and dry being the major enemy.) So, all of the Australian and South African plants are now going into their major growth period. We can expect blooms from them until spring when the bulbs take over the show (many of those are Mediterranean or South African). They need to finish their cycle before it gets hot next year (not that it ever gets hot here, but it does get dry.)

With all the good, there is one bad that I have to talk about. The risers for the stairs, the fencing, the portal and other structures are all constructed using ground-contact pressure-treated wood. I have found that it is basically pathetic. It is rotting out after about 5 years, even in our very free-draining soil. Some of the risers have already been replaced, all of the wood around the tea house had to be replaced, and many other areas of the garden are showing that they will need to be replaced by next year. If I have to replace the posts in the portal, that will be a huge task! I am looking for alternatives, including stone risers, even though the additional costs will be significant. For the contemporary garden I decided on no wood – all of the planters and edges for the raised beds are Corten steel.

On the plant front, there have been a few trips down to California and each of those provides the opportunity for more new and exciting plants. I have to admit, I am slowing down in that regard because – well basically – the garden is full. I can only plant something new by taking something else out. That makes me think long and hard before I do it, but there are a few plants that are showing that they are not happy. If a plant does not like the soil or the climate, then it is time for it to leave. I will not significantly change the soil or provide huge amounts of water to keep them alive.

Well, I am going to leave it there and hopefully it will not be so long before I write another update. I really need to get some of the maps updated now that new paths and garden areas have been created. So little time…

Calendar

Gardener’s Log – July 2023

July has been the first month for quite some time that has been behaving normally. A typical day is light clouds in the morning that start to push offshore around midday and the wind picks up a little. Temperatures climb into the mid 60s and the wind gets to about 15mph to 20mph. Very little rain is normal for July and we only really had one day of precipitation, plus a couple of other days when the morning clouds would give us 1/100 of an inch.

Garden Progress

The progress this month has been on the Woodland Walk that has progressed all the way to what will become the intersection with the lower Mediterranean path and the secondary path up to the winter garden and what will eventually be the workman’s staircase up the side of the house to the greenhouse.

To the left of the Woodland Walk is Nature Island, where most of the plantings are native and the mix of plants is intended to attract as much wildlife as possible. I am hoping to put a mass planting of Trilliums in here along with Camassia.

Three Vine Maples are already in, although the deer have been giving them a hard time. Additional fencing has been built and some of the gaps plugged with old branches while the new trees and shrubs get settled in and provide the necessary barrier.

Welcome Quin

A new statue has taken her place up the Woodland Walk. When we bought her we were told her name was Willow. How wrong could they be. First, she is sitting on an acorn, so her name must be Oak related. Quercus is the botanical name for Oak, and to maintain word form Quin seemed to be appropriate. As to her surname, oak is in the Beech family, whose botanical name is Fagus. So, she is Quin Fagusson or a son of a beech and that is why she has been ostracized from the fairy garden. She really does look quite mischievous and I wonder what she got up to?

Visits

July saw us taking another road trip down to California. A slower journey on the way down allowed us to spend time in a couple of new parks and gardens. One gem that was found was a park and botanical garden in Dunsmuir, a tiny community only ½ hour from the Oregon border. It is nestled in the shadows of Mount Shasta. While only 10 acres, and attempting to serve many needs of the local community, it really was a very pleasant garden. I highly recommend a quick stop there if you happen to find yourself on I5 and need a break.

There were several other parks we visited on the way down and a few more on the coastal journey on the way back, some of which I will cover in future blogs. Unfortunately, the drive up was a very cold and foggy day, preventing us from enjoying many of the places.

What’s in Bloom

Three plants are in focus this month. The first has been stopping traffic and that does not come as a surprise because of the size and intensity of the flowers found on the Romneya.

Romneya coulteri 'Butterfly' — Romneya coulteri ‘Butterfly’

Less impressive from a distance, but very bold in its coloring up close is Anigozanthus ‘Harmony’. This Kangaroo Paw is performing well for us.

Another vibrant flower color is found on the Callistemon pallidus ‘Eleanor’. This time it is magenta and the bottlebrush flowers look stunning, tipped in yellow.

Weather Summary

With a high of 74.8°F, a low of 46.4°F and an average of 58.4°F, July performs according to what we have come to expect. Last year saw a high of 79.3°F, a low of 47.8°F and an average of 58.8°F. Rainfall was also typical with this year receiving 0.33″ and last year 0.44″. These figures are also in line with several previous years. In that regard, July is one of the most predictable months of the year.