Callistemon Archives - Oceanside Garden

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.

Weather Chart - July 2023 — Weather Chart – July 2023

Calendar

Gardener’s Log – June 2023

As quickly as you find the help, you can lose it. That is unfortunately what seems to have happened and all garden progress is back to being on my shoulders. The hunt for new help will resume.

Garden Progress

The major progress this month continues to be on the Fairy Garden, its stream and now that has extended to getting some of the steps in for the Woodland Walk. As a reminder, this is what it looked like last year.

Oceanside Garden - Fairy Garden before shot — Oceanside Garden – Fairy Garden before shot

Fairy garden - progress — Fairy garden – progress

There remains some work to be done on the top section of the stream, but we now have some really nice river rock to put in place there. The colors in some of them are quite fantastic. A few planting pockets have been made on the sides and these are planted up with ferns, Hosta, and Bletilla.

Fairy Garden - Arthur — Fairy Garden – Arthur

The last of those is the ground Orchid and I was surprised to see some of them in the water garden section at a local nursery. Given that I have a few, I decided it worth having a try.

Fairy Garden - vignette — Fairy Garden – vignette

What’s in Bloom

Sometimes, nurseries get it wrong and sometimes you are quite happy about that. One Gladiolus was meant to be ‘Galaxian’ but turned out to be Gladiolus nanus ‘Albus’. This is a much better white than the ‘ The Bride’ that we have in Tuxedo Lane. It has more blooms that are a purer white.

Gladiolus x colvillei 'Albus' — Gladiolus x colvillei ‘Albus’

Another mistake, but this one is all mine. I planted some Callistemon down at the bottom of Gondwana a couple of years ago. They did not bloom last year as they were settling in, but to my surprise, it appears I got my cuttings mixed up and this was the result. Again, I am not unhappy with the result.

The final plant I am going to highlight for the month is a new plant in the Fairy Garden – Anchusa azurea. This plant has settled in so quickly and done amazing, putting out several bloom stalks that are such an amazing blue. The bees also love this plant and it is rare for me not to find at least one enjoying it whenever I sit there.

Weather Summary

It has been a cold, windy, dry month – almost typical for June. Our high for the month was 71.1 and we only managed to get above 65° three times during the month. The low was 43.9 and the average was 54.3. That compares to a high of 90 last year, low of 45.1 and average of 56.6 – so 3° cooler on average.

Again, it is the rainfall this year that is the problem. After being almost dry last month, compared to an average of about 12″, we only managed 0.49″ this month, compared to 6.88″ last year. The garden is not particularly happy, but thankfully, large portions of it are planted to be drought tolerant. However, that does not mean they can go for months without any moisture at their roots.

Calendar

Gardener’s Log – May 2023

There are some notable things for May. The first is the weather, which continues to change beyond belief. This month we were, on average, 4° F warmer than last year. While that is quite remarkable, it pales into comparison when we talk about rainfall. Last year we had 13.22 inches of rain during May. This year 0.51 inches and most of that was in a few hundredths here and there. There was no significant rainfall all month. I have never had to start watering the garden in May before!

The second thing of note is that while my back continues to get worse, I have found a garden helper – Mary – who has been doing some amazing work helping to get the garden back into a semblance of order and enabled me to make progress on a few project, including one in which Mary and Jesse both helped make a huge advance.

Fairy Garden Progress

The most notable change has been in the Fairy Garden. I built a cover for the large water storage tank so that it is now safe for people and should stop critters getting in there. For those small ones that do, I have a little wooden ramp to help them get back out. While it is just a bit of wood at the moment, I will construct something a little better later.

With that done, and plants planted and barked, the whole area is looking more finished. The spill rocks for the stream have been mortared in place and the pipework finished. There are two valves controlling two water insertion points. The one at the top will likely become a small bog area and I hope it looks like an artesian spring that erupts from it, while a larger amount of water comes in just before the waterfall. Its entry point is hidden by one of the large basalt boulders. Those will get mortared in place as well and the bottom covered with the rounded river rock. The reason for so much mortar is that I have had problems with raccoons in the past who have managed to shred the rubber liner.

Other Progress

The new portion of deer fence was planted. Six vines have been placed along here, which is rather dense, but this has proven to be a difficult area for plants given the amount of moisture that the neighboring pines suck out of the soil. In part it is an experiment to see what survives. There are two Honeysuckles, two Jasmines, a Kadsura and a Periploca.

The final update is some planting in the native area. With Mary having cleared out a portion of it, many plants have gone in. Again, it is quite densely planted, but they will have a much better chance at survival in the ground than in pots. Most of them will be fine being moved later if necessary. The area is anchored with one of three vine maples that are destined for the whole area. This one is the purple leaved ‘Burgundy Jewel.’

Perhaps I should say a word about my definition of native. I am fine with cultivars so long as they provide the same level of interest to wildlife as the species would have. I am also willing to go slightly out of bounds in where a species originates. Northern California natives are fine in my book because in a warming World, these are likely to naturally spread here over time anyways. Finally, I have included some plants like the Pacific Coast Hybrid Iris. They still attract pollinators and provide a food supply, but do add some additional interest to the planting.

Visits

A trip into Salem gave us the opportunity to visit a garden and nursery located in the northern outskirts of the town – Sebright gardens. This is a highly focused nursery that specializes in Hosta, Ferns, and Epimedium. The gardens exceeded our expectations, and a full report is available here.

What’s in Bloom

One of the welcome blooms during May are the two Dogwood trees (Cornus ‘Venus’). Normally, the large bracts are seen from the underside. We see them from above from the house. It has large bracts that open up yellow, turning to cream and then white. They are tinged with pink as they fade. The display usually lasts for a month, but this year may be shorter because of the lack of rain.

The Iris are one of the spectacular blossoms of late spring, and for the first time, Hello Darkness lit up Tuxedo Lane.

Iris germanica 'Hello Darkness' — Iris germanica ‘Hello Darkness’

While flowers are often the most obvious plant spectacle, there are frequently other more subtle things of beauty. Case in point are these growth buds of the Callistemon ‘Dark Red’. I find these almost as beautiful as the flows themselves.

Callistemon subulatus 'Dark Red' — Callistemon subulatus ‘Dark Red’

Weather Summary

As already stated, the amazing thing about the weather this year is the almost total lack of rain for May. This, along with being 4° F warmer would make you think it has been a good month. Apart from two days when we were well over 90°F, warmer even than Portland on those days, the onshore breeze has been almost constant. This normally happens in June and July, but started early this year. That is probably the reason for the warmer conditions because it sets air temperature to be the same as the water temperature, keeping the nights warmer.

General

Defy the Rules

One of the supposed rules of gardening is to take a look at other gardens and what plants they are having success with, and then emulate them. Sorry – but I call bull s**t. That is what you do if you want to copy them, to create the same garden that everyone else in the neighborhood has. If you are looking for a low maintenance, safe garden, perhaps this is the way to go. Most gardeners do want some reassurance, especially if they think they have brown thumbs – and there is certainly some truth to this.

But don’t think that just because the local grocery store or hardware store or even nursery stocks a plant that it will actually do well in your garden. Most plants are grown by huge national nurseries that are interested in things that will do well across most of the country. Many of those plants are not well suited to our local climate or soil conditions. We live in one of the most “different” climates in the world, one that is drastically different from the majority of this country and is matched only by a few areas in the entire globe!

There are some plants that you will see growing next door – for good reason. Some plants, like Camelia, Rhododendron, Photinia and many others almost grow better here than in their native locations.

The first step I took when I first moved to my Oceanside garden was to plant a few of everything that I have loved and trusted from previous gardens. I agree that this creates a little bit of a mess of a garden – it was not planned to be permanent, it was deigned to learn what does and doesn’t do well here for myself. Some plants may have been suitable for the climate and the soil, but could not handle the grazing of the deer or the winds, others languished because the summer heat was not enough, others wanted more moisture retention than I could provide, or was prepared to provide given that I see water as a precious resource. Sure, some plants just got placed in the wrong places and I have started to move some around, trying to see if they like it better in other places.

But I also want to find out the plants that I can grow that were never possible before. Local nurseries are often not adventurous enough, and who can blame them. They are scratching out a living serving a small community, many of whom want what is growing next door. I do try and support them as much as I can, but I cannot limit myself to what they provide.

Garden tours can be great source of ideas. Of course, many of them are going to be the ones who look like all of the yards next door, but still you may get ideas about grouping, or combinations. In the Tillamook area, Jesse and I went on a tour of gardens put on by the local master gardeners. From one garden, we loved the little stories attached to the major plants they had in the garden – where they rescued it from, the back story of that particular plant. It gave the plants more meaning and showed the thought that went behind them and the history contained within the garden.

Another garden contained a few plants that I had never seen before – now that got the wheels in my mind turning. Interestingly, I think it was the only garden in the tour that was not owned by a master gardener. They had broken all the rules. At first, I wanted to acquire all the plants they had and to emulate the look and feel they had created. But then I stopped and thought about why they were being successful with those plants and what others might be possible given their success.

That led me to consider the plants of Australia and South Africa. I was familiar with some of them from exhibitions in Key Gardens in England and when I found out there was even a slim chance that I could grow some of them I knew I had to try. First step was to find out which ones might be hardy here, and then to quickly find out that almost none of them are available from any nursery in this country. They are still being “discovered” and because they haven’t been heavily hybridized yet, many of them are not considered showy enough or suitable for sufficient numbers of people in this country.

So – I was left with one alternative – find seed abroad and import them. Many of them will take years before they bloom, but I am willing to wait and then to know I will have plants in my yard that will not appear “next door.” But the hunt also shows me that there are some nurseries that really do strive to be different and attempt to bring novel plants to market. I want to give a shout out to Xera nursery in Portland. They have a small retail outlet in SE Portland and do their own growing in Sherwood. They have brought many of their own introductions to the market and have supplied me with several wonderful Grevilleas and Callistemons, as well as other interesting plants. Their online site is also very useful, but do not expect the retail outlet to contain everything they list online – they only bring them in for sale when they are in their prime – meaning they are blooming etc.