In a Vase: A Bit of June

Today's vase had to be put together quickly, and tonight's post the same.  Please forgive the brevity!

Rose "Wollerton Old Hall", Catharanthus roseus, and Berlandiera lyrata make an impromptu combination in one of my stoneware jars.

The Berlandiera was a bit of an experiment, with flowers picked after they had already closed for the day, in hopes they would reopen inside.  They did, perhaps slightly the worse for wear; but nevertheless they make a good addition to the vase.

As I mentioned in my recent post on Berlandiera, the blooms have a curious way of retaining their sepals and centers after the petals drop, with an effect still fairly decorative.

I was pleased to find that some stems on the Catharanthus are now long enough to allow me to cut the flowers.

Today's vase is certainly in the rapidly plonked style, but it still gives a great deal of enjoyment!  I photographed it outside, resting on a bit of broken marble tile.

It is special to have all these flowers available in mid-June.  The garden is far ahead of where it was this time last year, and so far it is handling summer's heat well.  I have a few dried flowers back for lean times but, happily, I have not had to use them so far!

Do check the other vases inspired by the Monday Vase meme at Rambling in the Garden, which has encouraged so many of us to bring a bit of the garden indoors!

Weather Diary: Fair; High: 97 F (36 C)/ Low: 74 F (23 C); Humidity: 7%-24%

The Plants: Berlandiera Lyrata

So who can resist a flower that smells like chocolate...?   A sweet scent, vaguely like a chocolate bar, wafting around the garden on a warm morning breeze...

I planted Berlandiera lyrata for many reasons, and it has proved a stellar plant in my garden, far beyond the charm of the unusual fragrance.  It is tolerant of low-desert heat as well as a good deal of cold, said to be hardy to -15 F/-26 C.  Although I watered it frequently during its first summer, this summer it is thriving on widely spaced, deep waterings.

The rayed blooms are a creamy golden yellow, centered with burgundy.

The petal backs have a tracery of burgundy as well.  When they fall, the central discs remain attractive for some time, framed with the still-green sepals.  Leaves are gray-green, long and slender, with scalloped edges.  Although the width is normally given at around 2 ft/.6 m, mine has spread further in its two years, still remaining about 18 in/.5 m tall.  Overall habit is sprawling, but dense enough to keep it attractive.

During spring the flowers remain open all day, but as sunlight becomes more direct they close early in the morning.  This may not occur in more temperate gardens!  Despite this, the plant is capable of continuing to bloom through very difficult weather, including dry June in the Sonoran Desert.

It is native across a wide region from extreme southwestern Kansas across to Arizona and into Mexico.  This means it is well adapted to dry conditions but can tolerate some moisture though it may get lanky with additional water.  It takes alkaline soils in its stride.  So far as I know, only the species is available.  It is said to start easily from seed as well, though I purchased mine as a young (and quite scraggly) nursery plant.

Now that it has filled out, it makes a wonderful carpet beneath Acacia salicina, with some stems actually clambering up into the nearby shrub Senna nemophila.  Clearly Berlandiera has a good many possibilities in a garden!

This is the second post in my small encyclopedia of plants for the desert garden.  A brief entry is included also on the encyclopedia page (see top of post).

As I have just discovered the wonderful Thursdays Feature at Cosmos and Cleome  I am also linking this post there, where a number of other special plants can be discovered!  Ed.  Unfortunately, apparently I am not linking there; once again I am unable to post on a WordPress blog, this time despite my recent flirtation with Gravatar!

Weather Diary: Sunny; High: 104 F (40 C)/Low: 82 F (28 C); Humidity: 16-40%

In a Vase: Unstoppable

With the temperatures above 110 F/43 C till a few days ago, I didn't know what would still be available for cutting this week.  And in fact, the sweet peas are finally gone, as are most of the other annuals.  My recent plantings of Catharanthus roseus are blooming as profusely as their still-small size permits, but their short stems hardly allow cutting, though who knows what I may try eventually...

But there are a few roses.  These continue to flower sporadically though they are supposed to be resting during the heat sink of June; I am not hard-hearted or heavy-handed enough to cut off buds unless it is absolutely necessary, which I don't think it is.  However, culling blooms for today's vase is another matter.

They are hardly in top form, but still beautiful.  Stems of St. Swithun...

...The Generous Gardener...

...and Daniela...

...provide color against a backdrop of Artemesia "Powis Castle", accented by a sprig of Salvia (noID, probably a type of Clary Sage).   And I had the fun of using a newly completed vase, handbuilt in stoneware and finished with a dark glaze.

Linking quite late (though I made the vase on Monday, I simply could not get this post up, aargh!) with the Monday Vase meme at Rambling in the Garden... with a big thank you to Cathy for hosting it!

Weather Diary: Sunny and hot; High: 106 F (41 C)/Low: 81 F (27 C); Humidity 9%-38%

The Plants: Chrysactinia mexicana

This is the first post for my small plant encyclopedia here at the blog; and for this, I am looking at the very first plant that went into the garden here.  Or rather, its replacement!  More on that in a moment...

Chrysactinia mexicana, commonly known as Damianita, is a small, woody subshrub with delightfully aromatic foliage, blanketed with yellow daisy-type flowers in spring and sporadically at other seasons.  Being native to the Chihuahuan Desert, it adapts well to the intense sunlight and heat of the low desert.  Its needle-like foliage is deep green and dense and can be lightly spotted; it is handsome year-round.  Straw-colored seedheads follow the flowers but are not very ornamental.  It is a small plant, normally about 1-2 ft (30-60 cm) high and 2 ft (60 cm) wide.

In my own garden, it seems capable of enjoying a great deal of sun.  Though I have not grown it in full sun, it is one of few plants to lean toward light here, rather than away from it!  My first plant was in very well-drained soil next to the patio; the current specimen is down in much tighter clay soil at the bottom of the garden.  So far both positions seem to have been acceptable.  In both cases I amended the soil by about half at planting time.

A note on the loss of my first plant.  I decided it was in the wrong location and attempted to move it.  Like some other desert species, it deeply resented the attempt!  It wilted within minutes of being dug and never recovered, despite a fairly good (I thought!) transplanting job.  I read afterwards that it is, in fact, a very difficult plant to move successfully.  Very!

A few more facts, mostly from the Wildflower.org site, in matters which I can't test in my own garden!  Damianita is said to be hardy to 0 F (-18 C).  In the wild it is found on limestone and caliche, which would make it a gem for some very difficult gardening situations.  It is undoubtedly extremely drought-tolerant and grows well in alkaline soils.  As with many plants with fragrant foliage, it is deer and rabbit resistant.

I wish I knew the background of the common name.  Any information out there?

So far as I am concerned, this is a staple plant for a desert garden.  Despite its small size, it supplies year-round structure and intense seasonal color, besides being as carefree as a plant could well be!  A little supplemental water will be necessary in the low desert, being careful not to overwater as seasons change; and it will look neater if seedheads are trimmed occasionally.  Other than that, it needs little attention -- other than admiration!

Celebrating Sweet Peas

An initial note to apologize for my failure to reply to comments over the past week or more, not to mention my general absence from the blogosphere!  We live on "borrowed time" with the internet out here in rural Arizona, e.g. data caps must be kept an eye on; and somehow we found ourselves approaching the max well before the end of the billing period.  It's just possible that a full blog redesign helped run the count up, of course!  While it is pleasant in some ways to be away from the internet for a while, it is not so pleasant to have it happen unexpectedly! At any rate, I am back and looking forward to catching up as much as I can over the next few days.

Meantime, the sweet peas put out a luscious burst of bloom.  It will probably be the last since summer is now here in earnest (the temperature as I type this is 111 F/43 C), but they have bloomed over a much longer period than I anticipated, so no complaints!  I thought it would be a shame not to have some pictures, so here they are...

These are from the old heirloom strain known as "Old Spice", preserved for its intense fragrance as well as the classic flowers.   I started them indoors last winter and planted them out to grow up through rose "Wollerton Old Hall".  As the rose is growing just below the patio eaves, this meant they received quite a bit of shade, which I feel slowed their start and reduced the number of flowers initially, but I suspect it has allowed them to continue longer as days heated up and sunlight grew more intense.  So perhaps it's an either/or decision.  I'm trying to decide now where to put next year's batch - planning for next time is one of the pleasures of the off season - which is June here in the desert!

Weather Diary: Sunny and very hot; High: 111 F (43 C)/Low: 75 F (24 C)