Re: Spring blooms just around the corner

In my little patch "south of the equator" - just out of Sydney - fungal
February has started with a vengeance - we had an abnormally dry and hot
January - temperatures often into the mid 40's - normally we have a wider
temperature range, bit of rain - a real mixed bag. The rain didn't come til
the last week of January and then for many too much bucketed down. I had
about 4 inches in as many days, some stormy, but no damage - my dam and
tanks are now full so I'm fairly happy but know that there is going to be a
lot of soft growth - looking out of my office window I can see the new
flower heads of salvia uliginosa drooping a bit - this is our second sunny
day - after a week of overcast skies and the temperatures are climbing back
into the mid 30's accompanied by very high humidity - the way the grass is
growing defies description - what was brown and crunchy 2 weeks ago is now
'spongy' emerald green.......  

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> From: david feix <davidfeix@yahoo.com>
> To: medit-plants@ucdavis.edu
> Subject: Spring blooms just around the corner
> Date: Sunday, February 04, 2001 1:13 PM
> 
> After getting back from a trip down to southern
> Mexico, it still seemed like the dead of winter
> arriving in the SF Bay Area, but a quick walk through
> my garden and a trip to Strybing Arboretum was just
> the ticket to  appreciate just how much is actively
> growing and blooming here at home.
> 
> There are many things showing signs of getting ready
> to bloom, the South Africans such as Aloe marlothii,
> Leucospermum cordifolium, Veltheimia bracteata, and
> Mackaya bella among them.  The Leucodendron 'Safari
> Sunset' are simply spectacular at Strybing right now,
> and I wish I had the room and a sunny border to grow
> them.
> 
> Among bulbs that are already in bloom include Ipheion
> uniflorum, and I. u. 'Wisley Blue'- which now that I
> have seen it bloom is truly a much showier cultivar,
> being a deep lavender rather than washed out sky blue
> color, and Anapalina caffra- a small plant with
> beautiful deep red flowers.  The winter has been mild
> enough that the Epidendron obrienianum hybrids have
> continued to stay blooming for me as well.  The first
> of the freesias are opening, and the Babianas and
> Sparaxis are soon to come.  It looks like the Iris
> confusa 'Chengdu' will be putting on a very good show
> this year as well, with the buds just starting to
> extend beyond the foliage.  This is one of my favorite
> Evergreen Iris, as the flowers are 50 or more to a
> bloom spike, and appear more like orchids from a
> distance than Iris.  The plant is incredibly easy here
> in the Bay Area, but the slugs and snails do love to
> chow down on the foliage.
> 
> The early blooming bromeliads are also in full swing,
> with the showiest of the lot being a bright pink
> Billbergia sanderiana- which develops an 18" long
> spike that arches down, and the various Aechmea
> recurvatas in shades of red, purple and blue giving a
> good show right now, as are some of the Acehmea
> caudata and Aechmea gamosepalas as well.  These all
> make great low maintenance and low water requiring
> shade groundcovers for me in the garden, and give that
> subtropical touch while also being undemanding in a
> mediterannean climate.  They are so undemanding that I
> can get away with only watering them twice a month in
> summer, and just a quick spray  to wet the foliage and
> fill the cups is all they need.
> 
> The vines that are in  full bloom now are the
> Hardenbergia violacea, Hardenbergia comptoniana,
> Jasminum polyanthum, Rhodochiton astrosanguineum, and
> remnant blooms on Dalechampia dioscoraefolia, which is
> a vine that I think deserves more use in Mediterannean
> climates(if you like vivid purple bracts-color equal
> to Tibouchina urvilleana).
> 
> So, spring is just around the corner, it appears my
> part of Berkeley will escape winter without a major
> frost(only two plants have been burnt, and neither
> badly;  a Heliconia spp and a Justicia aurea ready to
> bloom.  Other things which are usually wiped out by
> now are still alive, such as Strobilanthes
> dyeranus(purplish and silver foliage) and Iresine
> herbstii(beet red foliage and softly herbaceous
> foliage), which in most years had given up by
> December.
> 
> So I hope that other people's gardens have come
> through winter okay, and have special sympathy for
> those in England and the southern USA trying to grow
> tender mediteranneans/subtropicals this winter, who
> had some really severe winter lows and rains.  The SF
> Bay Area's has been fairly normal, abit on the dry
> side and cold but not freezing, except in all the
> usual locations.  I wouldn't mind it warming up a bit,
> but may just have to wait until mid March. Summer must
> be keeping many people busy as well, seems like less
> than ususal amount of postings from south of the
> equator...
> 
> Hope everyone has a great beginning to spring or fall! 
> 
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