Fall Bloomers in a Berkeley, Ca. garden
- To: m*@ucdavis.edu
- Subject: Fall Bloomers in a Berkeley, Ca. garden
- From: d* f*
- Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2000 11:52:11 -0800 (PST)
Even though the days are getting shorter, the nights
colder,(so far only down to 45F), and the rains have
started, ( over 2" already, over 200% of normal), fall
does not need to mean the end of the season for bloom.
As I wander through my own garden, dressed warmly in
a sweater to keep warm, some of my fall favorites are
just starting to bloom. These are perhaps lesser
known and grown than the typical fall/winter bloomers
here in California, such as Camellia sasanqua,
Hellebores, Flowering Quince, Cymbidiums, etc.
A large clump of Nerine bowdenii is a dazzling
irridescent pink contrast to the green foliage all
around it, and the lavender pink towering Tree
Dahlia/Dahlia imperialis is soon to join it, with its
18 foot tall stems somehow, against all odds, having
survived our recent bout of 70 mile an hour winds.
Sedum spectabile and Schizostylis coccinea continue
with this same late summer/fall pink theme, but have
both finished blooming for me in September. The also
towering,(to 18'), Tree Daisy/Montanoa grandiflora is
in full bud, and was much less damaged in the winds.
The Ruellia macrantha/Christmas Cheer, is in full
bloom now, and the rose flowers remind me of a
southern indica azalea. This will continue blooming
all winter if protected from rain and frost, and is
great for a sunny porch.
Amongst the blooming vines, the Mandevillea 'Alice
Dupont"' is still in full bloom as well, and the
satiny pink flowers combine well twining amongst the
deep purple papery like flower bracts of another vine,
Dalechampia dioscoraefolia. It is hard to believe
that this vine is related to Poinsettias and
Euphorbias, as it doesn't have milky sap. Also
scrambling into this mix, is a cool growing, small
vine of Rodochiton astrosanguineum, whose deep purple
bells are a great accent for close up viewing in a
hanging basket. My plant self sowed into a pot
already containing an Aporocactus flagelliformis/
Rat-tail cactus.
In another part of the garden, the Thunbergia
grandiflora/Blue Sky Vine is heavy with its large
medium blue flowers twining amongst Senecio tamoides,
with its large clusters of clear daffodil yellow
bloom. These are both rampant growers in the warmer
parts of the Bay Area, and will bloom through
Christmas if located in a warm sheltered spot.
For fans of large growing, winter blooming Salvias,
Salvia madrensis is worth considering. This
herbaceous shrub will grow to 8 foot tall, with bloom
spikes up to 3 foot long of lemon yellow bloom,
starting in September through January. S. wagneriana
is another one of my favorite winter bloomers, but is
much more tender to frost. Both of these make
excellent espalliered shrubs against a sunny wall or
fence.
Some of my most tropical appearing plants are also
starting to bloom, with the Heliconia latispatha just
now pushing its delicate Bird of Paradise like bloom
spike out from its tall 8 foot tall banana leaf
foliage, a more delicate version of the Strelitzia
reginae which is also in full bloom. Unfortunately I
don't know if I will ever get my Strelitzia juncea to
bloom, it seems ever so much slower growing...Juanaloa
mexicana is another orange blooming plant, epiphytic
in nature, with waxy light green foliage and clusters
of tubular orange blooms, which blooms almost all year
for me. I saw an especially vigorous form of this
plant being grown in Crete, at Janet Blekinship's
garden. Brugmansia 'Charles Grimaldi' and B. 'Frosty
Pink' are both still in full bloom, and can continue
year round if planted in a warm protected spot. Not a
flowering plant, but with showy new foliage is
Blechnum brasiliense. This small tree fern, (to 3
foot tall), is hardier and easier to grow than B.
gibbum, and the new fronds are a beautiful coppery
red, which is retained for several months before
turning deep green. This fern gives good color in
fall/winter, when it continues to push new growth, and
will recover from temperatures down to 25F.
The Brunfelsia pauciflora 'Floribunda' and B. p.
macrantha 'Royal Robe' are both continuing to bloom,
with waves of blue flowers. Royal Robe is abit more
difficult to keep blooming, as it demands heavy
feeding to look good, but the true blue flowers which
do not fade to white seem worth it to me. The various
Abutilon hybrids have also been blooming all summer,
and will continue through Christmas. Another plant,
Pavonia multiflora, has been blooming all summer and
now into fall, with brilliant red sepals, deep purple
petals and exerted blue stamen. The effect is much
like a hibiscus which is clasped rather than open. I
wasn't sure this plant would like it this far north,
but it appears to be doing well.
The Tibouchina heteromalla put on a very good show,
with deep purple flowers and large silvery foliage,
which was abit roughed up by all the wind last week.
(It sounds like regular strong wind is a much bigger
consideration in gardening for you in Australia, South
Africa and new Zealand than it is here in The San
Francisco Bay Area. Our damaging offshore windstorms
are infrequent, and seem to hit in fall, similar to
the more familiar Santa Ana winds of southern
California. This last windstorm was similar in timing
and force to the winds that caused the spread of the
last Oakland Hills firestorm, of 10 years ago. The
weather wasn't as hot, but the winds were warm
compared to our normal winter winds). The Tibouchina
granulosa has been in bud for 2 months now, and still
has yet to open a flower. Worth waiting for, however,
as the deep green jewel like leaves and fuzzy red
stems are beautiful even without flowers. Neither of
these Tibouchinas is a match for the ease of culture
and pure abundance of flowers of T. urvilleana, which
probably explains why they are not as commonly grown.
Amongst the proteas in my garden, only the Protea
'Pink Ice', a hybrid, is blooming now. This is so
easy to grow here in the Bay Area, taking our
frosts,(down to 25F), regular garden conditions and
having almost year round 6 inch long blooms of a soft
pink color. Leucadendron 'Safari Sunset" is pushing
new growth, and is absolutely glowing red when
backlit. The Leucospermum cordifolium hybrids are in
bud now, but won't bloom in my garden until spring.
They also have proven to be less cold hardy for me.
Among the bromeliads, the Portea petropoliteana has
sent up a 3 foot tall bloom spike with large
purple-blue buds an a rose stem, and will retain this
color all winter. Several Vriesia hybrids are in
bloom, and many of the Neoregelias are still blooming
or retaining flushed foliage color as well.
Billbergia nutans is sending out multitudes of pink
arches, with hanging blue-green flowers, and will do
so all winter. The various Aechmea recurvata hybrids
are also all in full bloom now, ranging from alpine
miniatures with foliage which colors up red/purple or
orange/red,(A. r. var benrathii and A.r. var
cardinallis), to larger 12" tall types with vivid
spikes of bright orange. Various other Achmeas are
also in full bloom; A. calyculata-red spike with
yellow petals, A. blumenavi- starting out apricot
orange in spike, fading to dull red with blue green
petals, and A. gamosepala, with violet spikes and blue
petals. All of these are being grown outdoors without
cover.
The earliest bulb to bloom here is probably Paperwhite
Narcissus, which is already in bloom. Ipheion
uniflorum is also likely to start blooming in
November. My Veltheimia bracteata are in bud, and I
look forward to their salmon pink/apricot bloom
starting in November. (These also keep better if
sheltered from heavy rains).
The Acacia podalyrifolia/Ghost Tree Acacia is a vision
of steely blue foliage, similar to Elymus arenarius
'Glaucus', and will start blooming in November, with
lemon yellow flowers. An adjacent A.
cultriformis/Knife Acacia shrub is also in full bud,
but generally doesn't start blooming until January.
Another small tree/large shrub which is sometimes
blooming this early is Gordonia axillaris. The plant
is related to Camellias, and has showy white flowers
with yellow stamens, and is a winter blooming version
of our Matijilla Poppy/Ramneya coulteri. Even when
not in bloom, I treasure the refined character of this
shrub, and love the way it lights up the winter
garden.
Well, these are some of the highlights of my own late
fall/early winter garden, which is probably more
cloudforest than mediterranean in appearance. I feel
that I need to say in my defense, that I don't really
use that much water in my garden, and use
mediterraneans and drought tolerant succulents in the
full sun areas. The water loving plants are grouped
together in the shadier parts of the garden, and the
drip run off from hanging baskets in my trees for
epiphytes is further utilized by draining onto the
plantings below. Many of the groundcover plantings of
Bromeliads are quite content with weekly to bimonthly
irrigation in summer, although our occasional hot
spells can burn unacustomed foliage if not wet down.
I think that parts of Berkeley and San Francisco are
very similar to Sintra, a town just outside of Lisbon.
The lushness of the vegetation growing without
summer irrigation struck me as being very similar in
climate and appearance to the wetter/foggier parts of
our San Francisco Bay Area, with similar types of
gardens.
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