It feels normal out there. It scares me. Yes, our springtime has been abnormally normal. No premature heat waves, no scorching of tender foliage, no freak hail storms nor rain nor cold records. Just days of mild sunshine and temperatures mostly in the 70s with a bit of rain thrown in to keep it green.
This reminds me of springs of my youth. It all looks so lush and so full of life. Much of the damage caused from the horrid January storms is being swallowed up by all that lushness, and Hooray! for that. However, I cannot help but wonder when the unpleasant weather will arrive. We’re so used to bizarre weather patterns that mild feels deceptive. So, for now, I hold my breath loving what the garden and weather are telling me: It’s all okay. For now.
Here then is a mid-June peek around the garden.
Some of the plants in this border feel as if they are coming on later than usual, but it’s hard to tell any more. There were a couple setbacks here including an Ozothamnus ‘Silver Jubilee’ that died last year and just visible on the far right a Hebe diosmifolia (we’ll see it later on in this post) that also had a rough winter. So did a Leptospermum lanigerum ‘Silver Form’ that we will also see later in this post. Even with setbacks I really enjoy the foliage combinations here.
Arctostaphylos pumila looking smart, but there were a few large branches on the opposite side, bottom, that died. I noticed a few HUGE mole mounds in there so that could have played a role. Otherwise, it looks pretty happy.
The Kolkwitzia amabilis occupies the majority of the view. This now huge shrub has been in bloom for weeks on end and still has a lot of bumble bees visiting. You can just make out the pavilion in the background shadows.
Moving away from the shade garden to sunnier areas, the California poppies have been on fire this year reaching a couple feet or more in height. Every year they come and go where they will, I do take them out when they flop all over everything including pathways.
Sidalcea campestris still blooming in the meadow area and well-visited by pollinators. This started blooming in mid-April and will keep going for a couple more weeks.
Most of the arctostaphylos have grown fresh new leaves, this one included. Arctostaphylos ‘Saint Helena’ with a now rather muscular trunk that is just beginning to exfoliate.
Sedum kamstchaticum ‘Variegatum’ with a visiting bumble bee.
Clematis recta ‘Purpurea’ which really is upright until its weight makes it spill over the edge of the retaining wall.
Baptisia ‘Wayne’s World’ has never looked better. This very upright and small clump has been slow to establish but oh my, the smoky stems with white flowers is a striking combination and worth the wait. I spied a hummingbird drinking its nectar earlier this week.
Wide shot from the edge of the labyrinth garden, the baptisia is visible in the center, slightly left. Two other baptisias – one blue purple and one yellow are also in this shot. They are really fantastic plants for drought tolerance and a dry garden as they form a rather substantial tap root that helps them sail through dry periods.
Olearia lineata ‘Dartonii’ has rebounded after a complete defoliation this winter.
Eschscholzia californica with Heuchera ‘Firefly’ in the background makes for a hot combination at the edge of the labyrinth garden in full hot sun.
Eucomis ‘Oakhurst’ looks great this time of the year but is shy to flower and flops open mid-summer. But for now it’s pretty dramatic with Achillea ‘Terracotta’ foliage in the foreground.
Itea ‘Henry’s Garnet’ flowers ready to bloom.
Eriogonum heracleoides, parsnipflower buckwheat, has spread to form a rather large patch on the edge of the labyrinth garden where again, it’s very hot and dry and sunny.
Arctostaphylos manzanita ‘Saint Helena’ doing her thing.
Checking in on the crow garden (we feed the crows nearby) where FM added wood chips to cover the now bare soil (I had spread several inches of fallen leaves to decompose over the winter which mostly killed the grass). The yellow flags are where I planted several more Teucrium chamaedrys as the Dorycnium hirsutum that were there did not like being covered with leaves and died. The chickens scratching this area all winter (they LOOOVE going through leaves) during FM’s “let the chickens out” outings (grrrrr) didn’t help either. It will take a couple of years for the teucrium to get up to size but that’s okay. Now the ground is covered and weeds won’t be such a big problem here. I enjoy looking at this and seeing clearly the triangle that was, a year and a half ago, grass and weeds is now bursting with color and flowers for pollinators.
Dianthus deltoides ‘Flashing Lights’ is very impressive. Low foliage, only an inch or so tall is topped by wiry stems with really electric red-pink flowers. No scent on this carnation but the color and form make up for it. I never water these and they are in the hottest driest edges of the labyrinth garden.
Unknown white salvia – has been here for years and has been super forgiving, coming back year in and out in a most difficult site. The bumble bees love this one.
Wide shot of the gravel garden with many hebes, a couple arctos and grasses.
PLANTS ON THE MEND
Leptospermum lanigerum ‘Silver Form’ which should be evergreen had crispy, black foliage following January’s deep freeze. I left it in place thinking it would recover and indeed it is just starting to grow new foliage.
Phormium tenax ‘Atropurpureum’ turned all shades of brown and for the first time I cut all the foliage off at once a couple of months ago. I’m glad to see it rebounding.
Hebe diosmifolia was a gorgeous, emerald green hebe that also turned black/brown and fried in the cold. I saw a couple of small green bits at the base so cut it back several weeks ago. While it’s not been fast to rebound it’s an experiment at this point but admittedly is very painful to look at for the time being.
Acca sellowiana, syn. Feijoa sellowiana, also completely defoliated this winter but look at it now. Honestly, I did expect it to rebound as it defoliated in the same way a year after I planted it and totally recovered.
Not a winter casualty but a hard prune because of its size and where it’s located in the garden, this Hebe ‘Karo Golden Esk’ got a hard haircut earlier this year. It is filling in nicely and the new growth should overtake the stubs of sticks pretty soon. This experiment has been successful so far.
Finally Ceanothus ‘Italian Skies’ with a severe pruning has rebounded beautifully with bright green leaves and it even bloomed (you can just make out the last of the flowers in the center). I am SO glad I didn’t rip these out as they took some time to get this large and would be sorely missed. But it was all an experiment and I’m glad I did cut them back hard. The bits I did remove were clearly dead and quite brittle, so by removing them more air and light can get in there and help it along its way.
Am I jinxing myself for saying it’s been such a mild and lovely spring/early summer so far? We have been extremely fortunate as so much of the world is experiencing record heat waves and storms. Our hearts go out to you. It’s rough out there. For now, in our region, we’re truly enjoying mild temperatures, gentle rain and some good sunshine too. For this we are most grateful. And a little skeptical that it will last. But we have today. I’ll take it.
That’s a wrap for this week at Chickadee Gardens. As always thank you so much for reading and commenting, we do love hearing from you! Happy gardening!
