- To: Philip Edinger
- Subject:
- From: J* M*
- Date: Sun, 05 Mar 2000 16:45:40 -0800
Phil,
Yes, I'd love to have the irises now, including 'Jaunty Texan'. I'll try to
send you the ones I promised in a week or two.
The Victory Garden segment will be shot in Judge Hall's garden on Monday.
The crew is expected to arrive about 10:30, with filming until sundown, or
as long as it takes. The plan is for Bob Smaus to interview Chris Rosmini
and me as we walk through. I have no idea when it will run. In case you
missed it, the garden is featured in the current (Jan, Feb., Mar. 2000)
issue of Pacific Horticulture, pp. 30-36, but the pictures hardly do it
justice. Most were taken during a hot spell last October, when things were
looking pretty seedy.
I have not finished pruning all the roses, but I did manage to cut back the
rest of the perennials and shrubs that had last year's dead growth. It
wasn't at its best, but the garden looked very good on Thursday--a gorgeous
day! It is just on the cusp between winter and spring. Fortunately, a
great deal of attention has been paid to plants with handsome, colorful
foliage, so the planting design holds up well even whhen there is very
little in bloom. There were a few daffodils--mostly 'Ice Follies' and
'Carlton'-- and good bloom on the big separate-color drifts of 'Wonderland'
Iceland poppies, as well as pansies and Johnny-jump-ups, 'Pomponette'
English daisies, Linaria maroccana in separate drifts of white, yellow,
blue-violet, and red-violet, nasturtiums (Tropaeolum majus' Alaska' in mixed
flower colors), Iris X albicans and 'Crimson King', sparaxis, freesias,
Chasmanthe speciosa and C. floribunda var. duckittii, a few tall bearded
irises (especially 'Corn Harvest' and 'May Goodan'), and various perennial
geraniums (particularly G. macrorhizum and G. X magnificum), the soft
orange, white, lilac, and magenta cane-stem epidendrums, and a gorgeous
clear yellow early Cymbidium (no name) that has been in full flower since
November. Most of the other cymbidiums (all in pots) are still in bud. The
most spectacular plants in the whole garden are Kniphofia 'Christmas Cheer',
a 4-5 foot tall hybrid of K. rooperi introduced by the Huntington Botanical
Gardens in the mid-1970s. It blooms nonstop from late October to early May!
Almost as long-lasting but far more subtle are the several elegant
hellebores: Helleborus argutifolius, H. foetidus, H. X sternii, and several
selections for H. orientalis and its hybrids. Surprisingly, all the
daylilies are in bloom, but their blossoms don't open well when the weather
is as cool as it has been recently. I have no idea whether this will
prevent them from flowering at the normal time in May and June.
Buddleia asiatica is in full, fragrant bloom, as are Acacia baileyana and
Prunus 'Krauter's Vesuvius', and Tabebuia chrysotricha is trying to open,
although the blossoms were damaged by rain. Various plants of Hardenbergia
violacea are at their peak, as are many of our abutilons, azaleas, and
camellias. There are still a few odd blossoms on the Montanoa, and its
large seed heads have turned dark gray and unsightly, but the birds love the
seeds, so I left them. The blossoms on the Melianthus major, staked up to
10 feet tall, are starting to show color. Other vines in good flower
include Pyrostegia venusta, Senecio confusus, Gelsemium sempervirens, and
the big Rosa banksiae 'Lutea'. There is even a single umbel of blossoms on
the Stephanotis floribunda under the skylight of the back patio. Colorful
fruits include citrus (lemons 'Eureka' and 'Meyer Improved', Nagami kumquat,
variegated calamondin, and 'Minneola' tangelo), as well as the hanging
clusters of yellow-orange seeds on the Duranta.
Otherwise the color comes from foliage; white and yellow from several
Helichrysum petiolare forms (including 'Limelight' and 'Variegatum'), and
other variegated-leaf plants like Hedera helix 'Goldchild' and 'Glacier',
Eleagnus X ebbingii 'Gilt Edge', Ligustrum japonicum 'Variegatum' and L.
vulgare 'Aureum', Duranta erecta 'Variegata', Pittosporum tobira
'Variegatum', Osmanthus heterophyllus 'Variegatus' and 'Goshiki', Westringia
fruticosa 'Morning Light', the variegated hydrangeas, and perennials like
Scrophularia auriculata 'Variegata' (this is gorgeous all winter long!);
blues from various cacti and succulents and from Leymus condensatus 'Canyon
Prince', Leptospermum laevigatum 'Reevesii', Melianthus major, and several
dianthus cultivars; bright chartreuse from Carex elata 'Aurea' (Bowles'
golden sedge), Millium effusum 'Aureum' (Bowles' golden grass), Acorus
gramineus 'Ogon', Tanacetum parthenium 'Aureum', and Pittosporum tobira
'Cream de Mint'. Silvers are added by the more than 20 Buddleia davidii
cultivars and B. fallowiana and its cross 'Lochinch', Artemisia 'Powis
Castle, Westringia fruticosa (a silver-and-white cultivar that I can't
recall the name of), Senecio cineraria 'Cirrhus', Centaurea gymnocarpa,
Plecostachys serpyllifolia, Teucrium fruticans 'Azureum' (the hummingbirds
visit it regularly all winter and spring), Helichrysum petiolare (regular
and dwarf forms), and Marrubium rotundifolium. Phormiums give both color
and structure; we have 'Yellow Wave', Bronze Baby', Rainbow, 'Guardsman',
'Dazzler', Pink Stripe', 'Duet', and a couple of large plants of P.
cookianum ssp. hookerianum 'Tricolor'.
This describes the garden before Friday night, when we had a terrific
downpour with some hail, and before last night, when it rained all night.
The poppies are shot and the iris, azalea, and camellia blossoms have turned
to brown mush, but the rest has held up reasonably well. Wish us luck for
tomorrow!
John C. MacGregor IV
Horticultural Consultant
jonivy@earthlink.net
