Cornus Archives - Oceanside Garden

Gardener’s Log – September 2021

The first signs of fall are here. I am sure every gardener has a few tell-tail signs that they use, but one of the plants for me has always been the cyclamens, and in particular Cyclamen hederifolum. The bright little pink flowers push through the surface, just as leafless as any of the naked ladies.

A new one of those this year is Lycoris radiata, the spider or hurricane Lily. Its bloom spikes are 10″ to 12″ and much larger. The blossoms are quite a striking red.

As for trees, the first to start turning are always the dogwoods – Cornus ‘Venus’. They start to color up by the beginning of September, putting on their orange, then red and finally burgundy cloak. The only thing that stops their display being magical is that every leaf turns on its own schedule, meaning that the tree is a combination of all colors and not a single bold display.

Start of the Rainy Season

We have still to have the first rain of the wet season and much of the garden is looking totally parched. That rain is expected later this week and they say it could be 1″ to 3″, so quite a soaker. Let us hope that it starts gently so that it can properly wet the soil, because sand resists water.

Update – the rains came and we had 2.5″ – and at least some of it soaked in, but the soil still remains quite dry.

Lots of work over the weekend got the area between the Garden of the Giants / Whimsey Way and the next-door forest area cleared and planted. Some Woodwardias have gone in along with an Enkianthus, candelabra primulas (Primula beesiana), and other plants that should provide some interest throughout the year. They were selected to provide a transition to the more natural area, rather than a last hurrah. Everything was selected as being deer resistant, but our local deer aren’t very smart and cannot read labels. Over time, their aching tummies will tell them, assuming the plants survive.

Update – the deer have decided that they like Onoclea sensibilis – the Sensitive Fern

La Nina is supposedly forming in the tropical Pacific this year and that traditionally means a cooler and wetter winter. Given the dryness this year, that will certainly be a change, and most of the Gondwanan plants will probably appreciate it. It does mean that I will have to take special care to bring sensitive plants in for some protection because it may mean some arctic blasts.

Looking Back

Talking about Gondwana, my Facebook account reminded me about a photo I posted a year ago. The rock walls were still going in. I decided it would be nice to do a side-by-side to show the plant progress in a year.

It looks as if the Banksia specioca, that I grew from seed and was doing so well in Gondwana, has very rapidly croaked. The tips of the new growth curled and then the whole plant has yellowed. I am not sure it will re-shoot from the base when moisture becomes abundant, or if that is the end of story. It will be a shame if that is the case.

The rains did indeed come, and all the plants are much happier. It takes a lot of rain to completely re-wet our soil. After 2 1/2″, one of the outdoor moisture sensors is saying that the soil is at 76% saturation and the other one remains at 12%. My guess is that most of the water ran off in that area rather than soaking in.

Seed Starting

The latest batch of seeds arrived from South Africa this week and so there has been lots of activity getting those started. Most of the seeds are for somewhat diminutive bulbs and will take 3 years before they get to a blooming size. The others are seeds of Protea cynaroides, Protea lepidocararpodendron, and a yellow hybrid Leucospermum.

These need a little more pre-treatment before sowing. Some like a hydrogen peroxide treatment to loosen the other coating and then soaking in smoke water. I am trying to germinate them in a sterile condition by having them against a damp paper towel. That way I can immediately see if they germinate or if there are any fungal problems. That can be a significant issue because they may well take 3 or 4 months to germinate.

Gondwana Extension

Gondwana got a small extension. On the extreme left side, when looking up the hill, the juniper was pushing into the Grevillea and the retaining wall behind that had never been finished. That was corrected and then the nest tier above that was partially put in and the soil dug. Getting rid of all of the Salal root is important because that has a habit of sprouting for many years to come and I don’t want to be pulling out those roots after Protea family plants are in place. Three new plants were added – Protea eximia, which I grew from seed, Grevillea ‘Robyn Gordon’, and Leucadendron ‘Jester’. The variegated leaves of Jester should provide a good tie into the red flowers of Robyn Gordon and the bright yellow of the foliage across the stepping stone path into the conifer forest.

Leucadendron 'Jester' — Leucadendron ‘Jester’

Aloe Plicatilis

What a difference a year makes. I was going through plants looking to see what needed potting up and realized how much the Aloe plicatilis has growth since I got it earlier this year. The first picture was taken in February and the second in September.

This is exciting because I thought its growth was going to be a lot slower. I am not sure if that is its first branch developing in the center.

Weather Summary

This has been the end of a long dry spell and over the last few days of September we picked up about 4″ of rain to give us a total of 5.13″ for the month. However, that still left us with a deficit as compared to last year when we had 6.90″ and 8.99″ the year before. Temperatures were cooler by 3.2 degrees and along with that, winds were considerably higher accounting and more westerly – which explains being cooler.

Calendar

Gardener’s Log – May 2021

May 1st

Well, May 1st is meant to be naked gardening day. First, the likelihood that it would be warm enough for that makes it very unlikely. Second, that may be fine for doing a little weeding, but clearing new ground – probably not a good idea. So, I did the second best thing – I went shopping!

I needed some edging material to go around Whimsey Way so decided to pay the Oregon Decorative Rock company a visit. Even if I didn’t find something suitable, there was other research to do there. I always need basalt for retaining walls, so I knew the trip would not be a waste. As it was, I picked up some quartzite blocks. They are about 1 1/2″ thick and has some nice colors. I think it will do fine. I also needed something for the mulch that will go in the row of succulents along the boardwalk. For that I selected a white crushed rock that is less than 1/4″.

Now, there is not way that the car is not coming home completely full! Even after getting food from two Asian grocery stores and some stuff from home depot – there was space on the back seat and so had to stop in a nursery. Picked up a couple of small banana trees (already planted), a staghorn fern – see if I don’t kill this one, and some other wonderful additions to the collection.

May 18th

Finally, in the middle of May, April has arrived. Temperatures in the low 50s, showers, but mostly sunny, no wind – this is what gardeners have been waiting for! It is planting time!! That, plus the local hardware store may be calling any minute to say they have two yards of bark dust on their way for me. Nothing like a deadline to make you get something done. A Callistemon ‘Cane’s hybrid’ has been planted in the Garden of the Giants. It will be the anchor plant in the first main detour that the boardwalk makes. In years to come, once it has matured a little, it will look obvious why the boardwalk makes a detour rather than going straight. Some Artichokes that Jesse grew from seed have gone behind the giant Alliums.

In the cutting garden, a couple of Sunflowers have gone in – Red Courtesan and Lemon Queen. The dahlias continue to get eaten every time them manage to grow a bit. Poor things. I am wondering if I should cover them with some light fabric until they become a little more established.

Gondwana had a couple of casualties over winter. The Protea repens that I grew from seed disappeared. I think deer probably took a munch on it and uprooted it. It has been replaced by Protea neriifolia x magnifica. A little lower down by the steps, Helichrysum coralloides (just learned that this is no longer its correct name – it is now Ozothamnus coralloides) now occupies an awkward spot in the steps and wall. A new Banksia replaces Birthday Candles that was struggling. Banksia spinulosa ‘Stumpy Gold’ now commands that front row seat.

May 30th

Unfortunately, not a lot has been happening in the garden this month. Each weekend has been wet – which has been great for the garden, but not so much for the gardener. In addition, getting a house ready for sale is a huge time hog, especially when everything in the house has to go.

But there are a number of things blooming in the garden and the dogwoods are putting on a nice show. We look down on them most of the time which maximizes the coverage of the blossoms – which are technically bracts. The blossom is that small bit in the middle and those large white ‘petals’ are modified leaves.

Weather Summary

Unfortunately, Weather Underground is showing a large gap in our May data, so it is difficult to get a comparison. Last May, the high was 89.4, low 41 and average temperature 54.8. We had 5.39″ of rain, 1.4″ of that came in one storm at the beginning of the month and the rest was evenly spread.

This May was definitely cooler with many fewer days where we reached 60F. The high of 70.3F was on the last day of the month and the average was 51.5F – more than 3 degrees cooler. Total rainfall was 2.65″, only half of last years total. Winds were much higher all through the month, which is partly the reason for the cooler temps as the on-shore winds picked up much earlier this year.

General

Happy Accident

There are times when I would love to say that something was 100% intentional. Perhaps there was some sub-conscious thing going on, but the most probable explanation is I got lucky. The happy accident became quite clear today when three plants started to shine individually, but it was the combination that was quite remarkable – especially since it involved a combination of bract, leaf and flower – all in a somewhat acid yellow. The picture looking down on the scene does not do it justice.

Anchored in the middle is a flowering dogwood ‘Venus’. While the flowers on this finish up white, they initially take on a yellow color and then grow in size until they are in full ‘bloom’. They have really settled in this year and have more than doubled in size and even more in the number of ‘blossoms’ on them. I put bloom in quotes because it is not actually a flower, instead it uses a few leaves that it colors up to look like a huge flower, when the actual flower in small and insignificant in the middle – yup, this tree is a faker! The good news is that bracts last much longer than petals and so we can expect them to continue their display for at least a month.

To the left is Picea pungens ‘Gebelle’s Golden Spring.’ This is a form of Blue Spruce that puts out this amazing new growth color. Eventually it fades to a blue/green. When Jesse and I saw this in a nursery, we knew it had to be one of our Christmas trees. That was 2017. Just like the dogwood bracts, the leaf color on this lasts for about 6 weeks before fading. This is a dwarf and probably will not get much larger than it currently is – perhaps a few inches per year at most.

The third plant in this happy accident is Rhododendron yakushimanum ‘Gold Prinz’. While it did bloom last year, it put on a much better display this year. Many plants in the upper streambed garden have really settled in this year and this Rhody got to be big enough to participate in this triumvirate. In future years it will get to be even more impressive.

The fact that the color match on these three is so close and happens at the same time makes for an amazing sight that just cannot be properly reflected in the picture. This is an accident that I would love to take claim for, but thank you Mother Nature for your inspiration.