Weekend Wrapup (WeWu) for 3/10/19: rain, flowers, and foliage

As I'm typing this, the sky is much darker than it should be at 5:00 pm, and the rain has started to fall. I don't even bother looking at the forecast any more. Just like I'm sure people further north are sick of the snow, I'm sick of the rain. I'm careful saying it because it seems sacrilegious—not long ago we would have given anything for rain. There doesn't seem to be an in-between anymore, it's all one extreme or the other.

Maybe because of the long cool winter (or spring? not sure what season we're in!), the Grevillea 'Flora Mason' in the backyard has been flowering far longer than it usually does; this is month 4!

Grevillea 'Flora Mason'

Grevillea 'Flora Mason' has finely dissected foliage that looks great year round.

Grevillea 'Flora Mason'

Cape cowslip (Lachenalia aloides 'Quadricolor'), a bulb from South Africa, has shown more floral staying power as well:

Lachenalia aloides 'Quadricolor'

A nice segue to the flowers of Aloe ferox:

Aloe ferox

No flowers here, but still plenty of color: Ferocactus emoryi, with Agave applanata 'Cream Spike' in the background:

Ferocactus emoryi, with Agave applanata 'Cream Spike' 

Sometimes it's all about the foliage: 

Nandina domestica 'Filamentosa' and Casuarina glauca 'Cousin It'

Flowers:

Ceanothus 'Julia Phelps'

Grevillea synapheae 'Picasso'

Foliage:

Eucalyptus gunnii

Flowers:

Felicia aethiopica ‘Tight and Tidy’

  

Grevillea lavandulacea 'Tanunda'

Foliage (and branchlets):

Sophora prostrata 'Little Baby'

Foliage:

×Mangave 'Purple People Eater'

Foliage paired with flowers:

×Mangave 'Mission to Mars' and hellebores at UC Davis Arboretum

Aloe striata and helleborus at UC Davis Arboretum

Speaking of the UC Davis Arboretum: This weekend was the first plant sale of the year. To my surprise, there were far fewer people there than last year although the inventory was a broad as ever. I imagine the fact that it was drizzling had something to do with it. It didn't stop me, but I may be a bit more crazy than most home gardeners.

For the record, as a reminder to myself down the line, here's my haul:

• Arctostaphylos edmundsii 'Big Sur' — low-growing manzanita, said to be particularly floriferous
• Arctostaphylos uva-ursi 'Massachusetts' — groundcover manzanita
• Berzelia albiflora — South African coffeebush
• Delosperma 'Red Mountain® Flame' — I've found these newer delosperma hybrids to be challenging but I'm giving this one a try because the flowers are retina-burning red
• Eremurus isabellinus × ruiter — experimental since nobody seems to have tried eremurus in our area
• Fabiana imbricata 'Violacea' — Chilean heather; actually a member of the nightshade family, not a real heather
• Pyrethropsis hosmariense — Moroccan daisy, only 8" tall, perfect for the very front of the bed along the sidewalk
• Teucrium ackermannii — mat-forming groundcover with gray lavender-like leaves
• Tulipa clusiana var. chrysantha — species tulip from Central Asia

I didn't take any photos inside the teaching nursery, but I grabbed a few walk-by shots on the way out.

Agave americana 'Mediopicta Alba'

Agave americana 'Striata'

  

Meanwhile, the rain is continuing. I keep telling myself that we need the water. But I'd much rather be out puttering around. Maybe next weekend!

Acacia baileyana 'Purpurea' from upstairs window

Bambusa eutuldoides 'Viridi-Vidatta' from upstairs window

Sunday update: All plants are in the ground. Yeah!


© Gerhard Bock, 2019. All rights reserved. No part of the materials available through www.succulentsandmore.com may be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated or reduced to any electronic medium or machine-readable form, in whole or in part, without prior written consent of Gerhard Bock. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States and international copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Gerhard Bock. 

If you are reading this post on a website other than www.succulentsandmore.com, please be advised that that site is using my content without my permission. Please report such unlawful use to me at gerhard[AT]succulentsandmore[DOT]com. Thank you!