Friday, January 29, 2016

The Amaryllis Adventure

Hippeastrum Naranja, amy myers, photography, small sunny garden, desert garden, amaryllis, christmas flowers
Hippeastrum Naranja, amy myers, photography, small sunny garden, desert garden, amaryllis, christmas flowers
Hippeastrum Naranja, amy myers, photography, small sunny garden, desert garden, amaryllis, christmas flowers
Hippeastrum Naranja, amy myers, photography, small sunny garden, desert garden, amaryllis, christmas flowers
Hippeastrum Naranja, amy myers, photography, small sunny garden, desert garden, amaryllis, christmas flowers
In good time for last Christmas, I ordered myself a single Hippeastrum bulb.  

This is becoming a sort of personal tradition: first, because I love amaryllis and second, because I've never had any success bringing them back into bloom for a second year.  Leaves, yes, old leaves that never really die, but no flowers.  There is a sort of frustration to it because I will also never admit that I'm using the plant strictly as an annual.  I must try to carry each bulb through to a second flowering; I can't leave well enough alone.  I am sure that many of my difficulties stem from very warm house temperatures and low indoor humidity.  However, I can't change those factors very well.  

So first there is the glorious anticipation, culminating at last (hopefully just at or before Christmas) when the enormous, brilliant flowers burst fully open on their long stems.  Then there are weary months of wondering when I will stop attempting to salvage another bulb for another season.

This time I selected the variety "Naranja" - a very apt name as the flowers are even more orange than their namesake fruit.  The bulb came promptly and was duly planted in a smallish pot as per all advice.  But this time, with the mild winter temperatures here, I determined to try leaving the pot out of doors to enjoy some real, fresh air.

With results according.

The plant grew much more slowly; in fact, it has only flowered in the last week, over a month later than usually expected.  But the stems and leaves (not much from these yet) are also a good deal shorter and therefore sturdier.  As for the blooms, they are spectacular...  

I have little doubt that the plant has been much more comfortable outside than it would have been in, though I did miss the very direct Christmas anticipation of growing it indoors.

The rest of the story involves the previous year's amaryllis.  I kept it in its pot and continued, as described above, caring for it until its languid and floppy leaves made me decide it had better not stay around the living room at any rate.  Then I transfered it out to the patio and continued watering and occasionally feeding it.  Last autumn I decided to try another tack, so I went ahead and planted the bulb, still with lank green foliage, in the garden.  The leaves eventually died off, but a couple of slender leaves came sprouting up from what must be a bulblet.  Well and good.

And then, three days ago, I found a short spike of green leaf coming up from the original bulb.  Whether or not it will bloom this year, it has at least completed a full cycle of leaf to leaf, the thing I could never coddle my amaryllis bulbs to do in the past.  I am told amaryllis can thrive - perhaps even naturalise - in the garden here, and I am hoping it is beginning to happen.

I know where "Naranja" is going once its luscious blooms begin to fade!  (But wait, it has a second bloom stalk!)
Hippeastrum Naranja, amy myers, photography, small sunny garden, desert garden, amaryllis, christmas flowers
Hippeastrum Naranja, amy myers, photography, small sunny garden, desert garden, amaryllis, christmas flowers
Hippeastrum Naranja, amy myers, photography, small sunny garden, desert garden, amaryllis, christmas flowers
Hippeastrum Naranja, amy myers, photography, small sunny garden, desert garden, amaryllis, christmas flowers
Hippeastrum Naranja, amy myers, photography, small sunny garden, desert garden, amaryllis, christmas flowers
Weather Diary: Fair; High: 70 F (21 C)/Low: 42 F (6 C)


Monday, January 25, 2016

Monday Vase: Red, Black, and Silver

It was the idea of the red roses that created today's vase, of course.  Three blooms from "Daniela", the wonderful miniature which had as many as seven available to cut today!
I thought of this very handy little jar I made, with its near-black glaze, and decided to add a couple more reds and a bit of silver.  The additional reds were supplied by a sprig of Pelargonium "Precision"...
...and stems of bedding Dianthus.
Silver foliage comes from Convolvulus cneorum, which has some of the prettiest leaves for cutting.
A small posy in a small pot...
"Daniela" has been a magnificent addition to the garden.  Some stems have grown fairly tall, including the one from which these blooms were cut; but the flowers retain their miniature beauty.  Curiously, this variety is marketed specifically for indoor growing, but it is outstanding in the small, sunny, desert garden!  Not to mention its usefulness for cutting on Mondays!
To see what others are finding to brighten the indoors this week, remember to check Rambling in the Garden.

Happy Monday (and Tuesday)!
Weather Diary: Fair; High: 65 F (18 C)/Low: 42 F (6 C)

Friday, January 22, 2016

Garden Foliage in January

Calliandra californica "Baja Red", amy myers, garden bloggers foliage day, small sunny garden, desert garden, nyctinasty
For those of you who caught my last Tree Following post, you may remember the question of the folded Palo Verde leaves in the afternoon shade.  I received a good deal of response as it was a surprising feature: a tree that closes its leaves at night...  And since I found it a fascinating subject, I decided to look just a little more closely at it for today's Garden Bloggers' Foliage Day.

First of all, many thanks to those of you who gave me the name of this feature: nyctinasty.  Varied hunts across Google tell me that the term applies to both leaves and flowers.  Botonists remain uncertain of the advantages of this activity.  In the case of leaves, the action occurs particularly in the Legume family, of which the Palo Verde (Parkinsonia florida) is a member, along with a number of other useful desert species.
parkinsonia florida, blue palo verde, amy myers, garden bloggers foliage day, small sunny garden, desert garden, nyctinasty
Parkinsonia florida exhibiting nyctinasty, the folding of leaves for the night
As Kris mentioned in her comment, it also occurs in Calliandras; here is my new Calliandra californica "Baja Red" as afternoon shade falls across my east-facing garden.
calliandra californica baja red, amy myers, garden bloggers foliage day, small sunny garden, desert garden, nyctinasty
But it also occurs in species from more temperate zones.  One article referred to such common plants as French beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) and clover (Trifolium repens).  So I began to wonder, what else am I missing?

At present I am growing one legume more normally associated with cooler climes, namely, sweet peas.  Here are the leaves in afternoon shade.
sweet pea foliage, amy myers, garden bloggers foliage day, small sunny garden, desert garden, nyctinasty
I am not sure whether this is nyctinasty or not.  Certainly the lower leaves are still wide open, so the upper may be merely new growth?  Looking at the pictures, I suspect so although my impression was otherwise out in the garden.
sweet pea foliage, amy myers, garden bloggers foliage day, small sunny garden, desert garden
Any opinions and other observations welcome!  I will have to go out in the morning and double check what the upper leaves are doing then.

That is about the best I can do at the moment!

Elsewhere in the garden...

Yesterday I made a trip to Elgin's Nursery - a real 50 minute one way trip to a real nursery.  And most of the plants I came home with are worth looking at for their foliage alone.

Aloe "Blue Elf"...
aloe blue elf, amy myers, garden bloggers foliage day, small sunny garden, desert garden
...the young tree (or large shrub) Vauquelinia californica, known as Arizona Rosewood...
vauquelinia californica, arizona rosewood, amy myers, garden bloggers foliage day, small sunny garden, desert garden
...and especially Opuntia "Gumbi" - not something on my to-buy list, but I simply couldn't pass it up!  So far as I have noticed, this is an Opuntia with few spines and few or no glochids, and look at those wonderful colours!  I dug a hole for it this morning, meaning to get it in the ground immediately, then remembered that I have been advised to give cactus species a week's drying out before planting.  Gumbi is now sitting in his hole - still in his pot, waiting.
opuntia gumbi, amy myers, garden bloggers foliage day, small sunny garden, desert garden
In addition to yesterday's purchase, there is another small aloe in the garden now.  This is the very small "Crosby's Prolific".  Sure enough, I can already count three pups on this tiny plant, which can't be more than six inches high at present, if that.
aloe crosby's prolific, amy myers, garden bloggers foliage day, small sunny garden, desert garden
And a final set of leaves that I am intrigued by at the moment: Cerinthe major "Purpurea", which I managed to grow from seed (never my strong point) and am wishing well and floriferous.  I've never seen these before, let alone seen them in bloom, but I've loved the pictures for years.  High time I tried growing them!  The foliage feels rather succulent and is a lovely greeny-grey colour in full daylight.
cerinthe major purpurea, amy myers, garden bloggers foliage day, small sunny garden, desert garden
Nyctinasty and assorted succulents for this month's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day!  To see what foliage others have been looking at this January, check out Christina's My Hesperides Garden...
sweet pea foliage, amy myers, garden bloggers foliage day, small sunny garden, desert garden
Weather Diary: Partly cloudy; High: 72 F (22 C)/Low: 41 F (5 C)


Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Wordless Wednesday: Nectar

small sunny garden, eremophila valentine, desert garden, amy myers, photography
A bee discovered the very first (and only) open bloom on Eremophila maculata "Valentine"...
small sunny garden, eremophila valentine, desert garden, amy myers, photography
small sunny garden, eremophila valentine, desert garden, amy myers, photography
small sunny garden, eremophila valentine, desert garden, amy myers, photography
Weather Diary: Partly cloudy with slight chance of showers; High: 68 F (20 C)/Low: 40 F (4 C)

Monday Vase: Very Desert

I am making this a very short post tonight - as indeed the whole Monday Vase project has been today, slipped in between planting a young lime tree and leaving for a trip to town.  It's a pity, really, because I am rather pleased with the combination of materials.  I will have to revisit it when I have more time available.  The contents comprise two very drought-tolerant species, plus marguerite daisies from happily blooming Argyranthemum frutescens.
The somewhat dishevelled look is not only due to the speed with which today's vase was plonked together; it is also the result of using foliage from Acacia salicina, the Willow Acacia.  As graceful a tree as it is, the foliage does go every which way in a vase.   I wanted to enjoy the arrival of its flowers so I decided to use it in any case, as the very modest little puffballs don't show up that strongly in the garden.  Here are a couple of them...
Just beneath the tree, Senna nemophila is finally growing well.  It took months to establish, and over its first summer I half-expected to lose it altogether, but now it looks to be a permanent fixture in the garden.  Like the Acacia, it is an extremely drought-and-heat-tolerant plant from Australia.  Its miniscule yellow buds have been present but closed for weeks.  I thought perhaps bringing some inside would encourage them to open, but so far they remain adamantly closed.
And of course, there are the daisies...
These are from the now heartily blooming Argyranthemum frutescens in the East Border.  I liked the way their brilliant yellow combined with the spare foliage of Acacia and Senna.
As there were not many stems, I used my smallest-mouthed earthenware pot, hastily popping the stems in and photographing them.
So there is one hurried Monday Vase; as I say, I do like the combination and I'm wondering whether there is any good way to use the untamed exuberance of the plants involved - especially the angular Acacia stems...
...with their unusual little blossoms.
So there is a particularly "exotic" job for the Monday Vase meme, so kindly hosted by Cathy at Rambling in the Garden!

It's too late to wish anyone happy Monday, so...
Happy Tuesday!


Saturday, January 16, 2016

Garden Bloom in January

rose, miniature rose, daniela, Kordes und Sohne, small sunny garden, desert garden, amy myers
Taking a look at what is in bloom in January in the small, sunny garden...

This is a good time of year for plants here in the desert, and the garden is fairly well stocked with blossom at present, though there are a number of spring blooming plants that are biding their time.  I decided to present the flowers by colour today.  As my borders are mostly planted with closely related hues, this still corresponds generally to the layout of the garden, or almost!

Red and Pink

dianthus, small sunny garden, desert garden, amy myers
Dianthus
russelia equisetiformis, coral fountain, small sunny garden, desert garden, amy myers, garden bloggers bloom day
Russelia equisetiformis "Big Red"
salvia greggii, autumn sage, small sunny garden, desert garden, amy myers, garden bloggers bloom day
Salvia greggii "Flame"
rose, daniela, miniature rose, kordes, small sunny garden, desert garden, amy myers
Miniature Rose "Daniela"
salvia greggii, autumn sage, small sunny garden, desert garden, amy myers
Salvia greggii seedling
pelargonium, ivy leaved, geranium, small sunny garden, desert garden, amy myers
Pelargonium "Precision"
salvia greggii, autumn sage, small sunny garden, desert garden, amy myers
Salvia greggii "Autumn Moon"
ermophila, maculata, valentine, small sunny garden, desert garden, amy myers
Eremophila maculata "Valentine", still in bud
small sunny garden, desert garden, amy myers, rose
Rose "The Alnwick Rose"

Orange

chrysanthemum, small sunny garden, desert garden, amy myers
Chrysanthemum
hippestrum, amaryllis, small sunny garden, desert garden, amy myers, winter bloom
Hippeastrum "Naranja", almost open...

Yellow

tetraneuris acaulis, desert bloom, winter bloom, small sunny garden, desert garden, amy myers
Tetraneuris acaulis
argyranthemum frutescens, marguerite, daisy, small sunny garden, desert garden, amy myers
Argyranthemum frutescens
senna nemophila, drought tolerant, small sunny garden, desert garden, amy myers, desert shrub
Senna nemophila, still in bud

Purple

viola, small sunny garden, desert garden, amy myers
Viola, purple and orange!
viola, small sunny garden, desert garden, amy myers
and another Viola
ermophila hygrophana, australian native, drought tolerant, small sunny garden, desert garden, amy myers
Eremophila hygrophana
lavender, lavendula, goodwins creek gray, bee, photography, small sunny garden, desert garden, amy myers
Lavender "Goodwin's Creek Gray", with friend

White

cyclamen, small sunny garden, desert garden, amy myers
Cyclamen as potted plant on the patio
Not shown are a scarlet geranium at the top of the new North Border and a pink cyclamen on the patio, as well as some quiet little white and lemon puffballs on Acacia salicina.  But it is a good time in the garden, with a great deal of anticipation (one of the enormous joys of gardening!) over what will be in bloom by this time next month.  Or rather, one day earlier...  Here's hoping this dilatory blogger can still link to Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day at May Dreams Gardens to join in with the monthly look at what's in bloom in gardens around the world.
dianthus, small sunny garden, desert garden, amy myers
Dianthus beneath The Alnwick Rose
Weather Diary: Partly cloudy; High: 60 F (16 C)/Low: 36 F (2 C)