Re: Pics of my garden
Dave:
I so much enjoyed the photos of your garden, and the narrative was my
favorite part!
< The bright blue flowered vine is the 'Blue Dawn Flower' - Ipomoea
indica (learii) (Click here for close-up) which is a pan-tropical
'weed', but in this country a cherished climber for slightly heated
greenhouses and very sheltered spots out of doors in the mildest of
areas.>
This vigorous vine is seldom seen here in the Central Valley, but is
ubiquitous in the San Francisco Bay Area and along the coast. I love it and
would like to try growing it, but I was afraid I didn't have room for it
until I saw how you were able to squeeze it in. I think our winter frosts
would cut it back to the ground every year, so that would probably help keep
it under control.
<To the left is a fabulous 'Angel's Trumpet' which I have labelled as
Brugmansia insignis 'Golden Queen' (Click here for close up), but it
could easily be something else. Currently it is a mass of pendulous,
immense butter yellow trumpets each over 32 cms. long and 25 cms
across. It will carry up to 80 or so of these extravagant creations at
a time and the intense fragrance as it spills out into the evening air
is intoxicating.>
I've only recenty started growing these, and have fine specimens of x candida
"Double White," and x insignis "Pink," the latter of which is really putting
on quite a show right now. I also have vigorously-growing cuttings of
peach-flowered and yellow-flowered cultivars. (Thanks Kemberly!) The
taxonomy of Brugmansias is anything but tidy. There are many "naturally
occurring" hybrids, and their distribution (and, presumably, hybridization)
was influenced by native Americans, who used infusions of the highly toxic
plants to induce trances and visions. That said, I believe that the flowers
of x insignis hybrids are usually "nodding," or somewhat outward-facing,
while those of the plant in your photo are definitely "pendulous." Where
that leaves you in its identification, I can't really say. Perhaps a
versicolor hybrid? There are so many hybrids and cross-hybrids out there.
It's a beautiful plant, though.
<The 'banana' here is Musa basjoo which was planted in February. The
overall height is just under 4 metres at the moment although by this
time next year it could easily be nearly twice as large. Horrendous
winds earlier ripped many leaves apart and the plant had just been
tidied up when this picture was taken. This is the same form as those
grown at Overbecks near Kingsbridge and it would appear to be a
particularly vigorous form which fruits regularly when established.>
Bananas can be grown out of doors here in the Central Valley, but they seldom
fruit, and they freeze and look just awful every winter. Also, as you
mentioned, the wind shreds the leaves pretty badly. I love the way they look
and the tropical air they lend to your garden, though, and when I found a
specimen of Musa Zebrina (sumatrana) "Rojo" at Orchard Supply Hardware the
other day, I just had to have it! It only grows to 2 meters in height and
has the most gorgeous leaves--red mid-ribs, maroon undersides, and green tops
wonderfully splashed and mottled with maroon. I have it in a large
terracotta pot on my patio, and I just love it. I keep going out to look at
it, like it was a new baby, or something. It's a strictly ornamental
variety, although one source I found online said it occasionally produced
small, sweet fruit. I found a banana nursery online here in California (San
Clemente) that offers 51 varieties, for those adventurous souls around here
who would like to give them a try:
http://www.pe.net/~maxson/jdaban.htm
Thanks again, Dave. Your garden is an inspiration to all of us who have to
squeeze large garden ambitions into small garden spaces.
Kurt Mize
Stockton, California
USDA Zone 9
