This Festuca californica is still small, but I like the way it looks with the Santa Barbara daisy (and the argryranthemum Silver Lady). (That's the neighbor's lawn in the background. I'm sure they're thinking, "Oh look, the neighbor's weeds are blooming.")
Jkom - your garden is amazing. Had to point it out to non-gardener DH and show him (again, alas) how green and fresh a yard can be WITHOUT grass. Not that we have any, he just thinks we should have it. I am not a rose aficionado, but that Gingersnap took my breath away. I do appreciate other peoples' roses, just seem too scary to grow myself (and failed at first attempt last year). Is the Squill in the Agapanthus family?
quiltygirl, many thanks. I hope our garden will inspire your DH to maybe just try one bed of all shrubs/perennials? We were careful to prepare the soil beforehand, then set in soaker hoses and lots of mulch once a year. We water every 2-3 weeks in summer, maybe a bit more often if weather is very hot. Overall, growing plants takes much less water than grass. Lawns are lovely but how much longer can everybody afford to have them? That new CA water bill means a mandatory 19% reduction for everybody, everywhere....there just isn't enough clean water to go around any longer.
OK, off the soapbox...the squill is Oncostema peruviana, a member of the Hyacinthaceae family. Sometimes called Scilla peruviana, according to the Plant Files. Pretty, isn't it?
Roses are easy once established but some research and prep is needed. Check with your local chapter of the Rose Society to see which varieties they recommend in your area. In mine, for example, roses with more than 35 petals aren't recommended because our foggy summers are too cool for them to open fully. Likewise, rust-resistant varieties are better because of our high humidity all year long.
Unlike the current recommendations of 'just plant in native soil, don't improve', I do work on the soil. Roses love clay, but ours is the worst slick gray adobe clay around. Compost and aged manure work wonders. Roses, like citrus, are BORN hungry. You must also site them properly. Sufficient sun, good air circulation, are necessities that can't be ignored.
The first year roses seem fairly tender. I've lost several to late frosts that didn't make the established roses even blink. Regular watering also seems to get them over that first year 'hump'. After the first full year, they seem to get acclimated and feel like they're at home. I do not prune them back until the second winter, as I figure they need as many leaves to make nourishment as they can get.
You can feed them rose food, or make up your own mix. I usually mix greensand, alfalfa, humic acid, and Epsom salts for them. Every once in a while if the new leaves are coming in pale green I'll give them a shot of liquid iron, too. Like citrus I feed them regularly, a little bit every month when they're growing.
Roses are great for the water-thrifty garden - in decent soil they prefer deep infrequent soakings to anything else. Pick the right varieties, site them properly, treat 'em nice the first year and then they're pretty much on their own after that. Good luck!
Ahhhh, citrus. I could paper our walls with lists of failures. I even have the sandy soil citrus are supposed to like. No clay here, we are river bottom. The garden we made up that had the rose in it was 2/3 natural soil and 1/3 'aged over a year' horse manure with a good nursery blend of fertilizer/conditioner that goes in at the time stuff is planted. Most other plants love that stuff (so do our dogs since it has blood and bone meal). Who knows, maybe I watered it too much. Thank you for all the rose info. Maybe DD will try again this Mother's Day with another Rose plant. At 16 now, she knows to buy them where they can be returned!! I would like to try them again, or maybe stick with the Lady Banks, since this one is doing OK. Guess I can add photography to the aforementioned list, soft blur technique is supposed to be for photos of us over a certain age!
I went down to the 'back 40' today (actually to check the owl box for signs) and found a little spread of beautiful purple flowers. Too late to get a picture, but I found them in my books and they are Dichelostema capitatum, aka Blue Dicks or Wild Hyacinth. Will try for a picture later.
Here's a picture Kelli posted http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/185657/
I've always known them as Wild Hyacinths. We have a bunch growing in various places here on the farm. I'll be taking a walk this morning and try to get some good ones. Although, kelli, has done a wonderful job, with her photos. : - )
Very good rose info, jkom.
QG, I've been able to start roses from cuttings. You have to keep 'em wet and I usually put a plastic bottle over the top of the plant to make a mini green house. You can use a rooting compound if you want, but I didn't. Once they are well established in the pot, I put the pot where I want the rose. If it isn't happy there, I move it someplace else. If it is happy there, I plant it.
Succulents love our dirt, and you might want to take a look at some of mine.
You are right our soil is hard to work with, QG. I have several roses and some citrus growing, and jkom, is right they are always hungry! Of course I don't devote much care on them, usually a deep watering once a week in the summer, but they are well established. I fertilize when I remember using a commercial brand.
Let us know how it goes. : - )
WIB!
SW
I probably err on the side of too much water for most of my plants since I chose, generally, draught resistant plants. Anything on the tag that says 'rich soil, keep moist, loamy soil,etc' is dropped like a hot potato.
DH just told me I have to move the plants in front of the part of the house where the black mold is inside, as they will likely need to take off siding there. ARGHHH. That includes where my 'finally doing well' Lady Banks is. Maybe we can loosen the trellis and gently lower it and prop it, so as not to have to move the root ball. The only other plant in ground directly affected is my red salvia, also doing better than previous years. Funny thing about that salvia though. First the tag said it was an annual, but around So CA, we know that is not always true (I have had Dusty Millers the gophers have missed for several years). This salvia seeds itself sometimes nearby or around a corner, under a bush, and I move them. Then after awhile they die. This is the current survivor, now today I have moved it into a giant pot.
I probably err on the side of too much water for most of my plants since I chose, generally, draught resistant plants. Anything on the tag that says 'rich soil, keep moist, loamy soil,etc' is dropped like a hot potato. I find watering relaxing.
DH just told me I have to move the plants in front of the part of the house where the black mold is inside, as they will likely need to take off siding there. ARGHHH. That includes where my 'finally doing well' Lady Banks is. Maybe we can loosen the trellis and gently lower it and prop it, so as not to have to move the root ball. The only other plant in ground directly affected is my red salvia, also doing better than previous years. Funny thing about that salvia though. First the tag said it was an annual, but around So CA, we know that is not always true (I have had Dusty Millers the gophers have missed for several years). This salvia seeds itself sometimes nearby or around a corner, under a bush, and I move them. Then after awhile they die. This is the current survivor, now today I have moved it into a giant pot.
Try taking cuttings of your rose first, then if it doesn't take the move you will have a new one to plant.
Good idea. So far, not disturbing that area.
Thank YOU
I've been away from this forum for a month or so, but upon my return it was so nice to view photos of everyone's spring flowers and gardens. Thought I'd add one of my own. Gazanias are just thriving this year. Amazing what lots of rain will do?!
I've enjoyed all of the wonderful photos and comments, just haven't had much time to take photos or post. But SingingWolf has inspired me, so I took a few shots the other day. This is a weigela, I believe. But I have no idea which variety. A friend and I were visiting her daughter in Capitola just after she 'fledged.' The youngest of my friends 4 children to move out on their own. And I saw this wonderful azalea like flower blooming and snagged a bit to take home and root two years ago. And root it did! Now I have this beautiful bush in full bloom! The bees are loving it!
And here it is showing off amongst all the green of March. I apologize for my neighbors 'rustic' fence. To the left you can just make out the string and poles which will later be a solid wall of Italian Romano beans, yum!
I am especially fond of new leaves in the spring. This maple of unknown variety, came up in my yard along with four others and they are all doing very well now.
If you look beyond the maple, you can just make out my secret to large and cheap planter boxes. Used apple bins! I bought six for just $30 about ten years ago. I lined the bottoms with aviary netting to keep the gophers out. I get my best vegetables out of these bins! Especially since my yard is basically a solid clay slope... The "breakroom" is the two chairs under the Satsuma plum in bloom. Nice, cool, and shady later on.
