Into the Wild

Waking late (unusual for me) I turn my back on the garden and all it's attendant chores and head out into the back country. It's a gorgeous day: cool, windy - and the clarity of the light is unbelievable.

First stop, a cabin in the woods: A warm and friendly smile greets me.


While fleece, gloves, hat, jacket and camera are being collected, I enjoy the view of the coastline from the back garden. Rough life, eh?

Almost more impressive is the well established lemon tree. Even in December it is loaded with fruit - real California gold.




We head over the mountains to the Santa Ynez Valley and Lake Cachuma. Cobalt blue, the water laps ceaselessly along the muddy shore.





Even well bundled up, the wind blowing from the San Rafael Wilderness is extremely cold. The wind brings with it the scent and feel of remote times and places, ancient lands. We cannot resist the Siren's song.

We head up to Figueroa Mountain - not really remote, certainly not wild - but beautiful nevertheless.
Grass Mountain: Not for the faint of heart, it's a quad-busting climb, especially near the summit. Don't do this hike on an 80 degree day with a triathlete friend - you'll regret it.




The colors are sere and faded - and as the afternoon slides toward evening the light softens even more, turning the dry grasses to platinum.


At last we head home, back over the pass, and the evening sky darkens to pink and lavender along the horizon.

Holiday color

Scoff if you must, those of you who find poinsettias pedestrian and cliche, but I love them. The first time I saw poinsettias I was about 12 years old. There was a small Mexican market that we pasted one day. It was painted mango orange with cobalt blue trim and planted against the south wall were 10-12 six ft. high red poinsettias. It was a shocking combination of colors. When I was older and able to drive I would drive by just to see if they were still there. They were there for many years, but long gone now. My gardening friends roll their eyes when I put out the poinsettias, especially this pink variegated one.

Have to have a red one!

Ah, and a Christmas bouquet too.

The variegated leaves of this one go so well with the variegated ivy I just had to get it. I love any flowers that perk up the dull grey chill of winter. Happy Holidays!

A New Favorite Shrub

I'm always on the lookout for the perfect shrub (for this area). A perfect shrub for me would be evergreen, 5' to 8', nice/interesting flowers and will reach it's height within 8 years. Am I asking too much? I have a few favorites-- several vibernums; unfortunately the flowering vibernums can't take our intense dry summer heat (IDSH) but the nonflowering vibernums do very well. The large xylosma and a couple of the pittisporums are nice too, but alas, no flowers.

Hydrangeas do pretty well for the most part and I love their flowers. But this H. Preziosa looks pretty scraggly by the end of summer. This picture was taken in early summer. The following picture shows a xylosma, vibernum japonica (top left to right) a white lace cap hydrangea, lime green hypericum and a variegated weigela (left to right). Also an agapanthus in a pot.

Most of the euonemus are too stiff and slow growing for me. Weigela's are my favorite deciduous flowering shrubs.

One of my favorite shrubs is camillia sasanqua. I like the sasanquas because of their informal shape and the flowers are so sweet. They are very slow growing though. I planted this one 15 years ago and it's just 7' tall now.

This past year I planted the following one gal. leycesteria formosa 'Golden Lanterns' and it stood up to our IDSH (intense, dry summer heat).

No crispy leaves, no drooping or wilting, interesting flowers and that leaf color! Sheesh! This one really lights up the shady areas. That red thing in the center of the plant is the flower. The 'Golden part of the name refers to the leaves and the 'Lantern' part refers to the flower. This is the only flower it got this year but next year it should have a lot more. I like this shrub so much I went back to the nursery and got 2 more. (You know, if one is good, three are better). I don't know if this shrub will grow to be a 'perfect' shrub but for now it's a new favorite.

Warm November

I watched with alarm as several of my ferns put on a burst of new foliage during the month of November. It's usually pretty cold here by Nov. but this Nov. was warm and balmy. We even had temperatures in the low 80s. The reddish/brown fronds on the following fern are the new ones.

A number of plants thought we skipped winter and went straight to spring. One hydrangea put out several new flowers even as the foliage was dying back.

My camellia 'Yule Tide' is blooming a month early.

The Valley Oaks, indigenous to this area and temperature sensitive rather than light sensitive, have not even begun to drop their leaves.

We usually get one or two hard frost (25* or less) each winter that go on for 3-7 nights. I'll cover the new foliage on the ferns, but I don't think that will save them. Hopefully they will come back next spring.