Bloom Day February-Pitchers and Catchers Report
This week in the world of sports, major league pitchers and catchers will report to spring training facilities to begin early workouts. Baseball fans look forward to this as the overture to the show to come, when all things are still possible and the upcoming season glows at the end of the tunnel. And so it is in my garden. In February, the pitchers and catchers of the plant world show up
before the rest of the squad to set the table for spring. To be honest, this winter was almost disturbingly mild, with no frost til January and few casualties. It's tempting to think of the things I would have planted if I'd had a crystal ball.
I had left this sweet little vine ,Eccremocarpus scaver 'Tresco Gold' for dead last fall . Purchased at Annies in the spring , it sulked and shriveled into a brown blob, and only to rise again with the first rains. At this point it appears to be another in the 'Tresco ' series, for the red stems are nowhere to found and the flowers are paler than seen in 'gold' Needing rain does not bode well for its survival in my garden , but I'll enjoy it til summer drought arrives . It's damn cute !
Another from Annies, Geranium pyrenaicum 'Bill Wallis' , has proven to be a robust reproducer. Easy enough to dig or pull the extras .
And of course the Hellebores..I remember when they were hard to find at the local garden center and travel was required to purchase one.
For a time I collected Pulmonarias however the mildew that often ruined the foliage in summer put me off of them. There are still a few stragglers around.
Camellias , the no-maintenance plant. No water, no fertilizer , no pests . Just cut some branches off every few years to control size.
This Gallardia put out a flower here and there all winter.
This noid echeveria is my only blooming succulent at the present.
Be sure to visit May Dreams on this and every Garden Bloggers Bloomday to see the flowers of gardeners around the world...
I had left this sweet little vine ,Eccremocarpus scaver 'Tresco Gold' for dead last fall . Purchased at Annies in the spring , it sulked and shriveled into a brown blob, and only to rise again with the first rains. At this point it appears to be another in the 'Tresco ' series, for the red stems are nowhere to found and the flowers are paler than seen in 'gold' Needing rain does not bode well for its survival in my garden , but I'll enjoy it til summer drought arrives . It's damn cute !
Another from Annies, Geranium pyrenaicum 'Bill Wallis' , has proven to be a robust reproducer. Easy enough to dig or pull the extras .
And of course the Hellebores..I remember when they were hard to find at the local garden center and travel was required to purchase one.
For a time I collected Pulmonarias however the mildew that often ruined the foliage in summer put me off of them. There are still a few stragglers around.
Camellias , the no-maintenance plant. No water, no fertilizer , no pests . Just cut some branches off every few years to control size.
This Gallardia put out a flower here and there all winter.
This noid echeveria is my only blooming succulent at the present.
Be sure to visit May Dreams on this and every Garden Bloggers Bloomday to see the flowers of gardeners around the world...
Oh, your camellias are lovely! Mine seems to be way behind everyone's, lots of still tight buds. Happy GBBD!
ReplyDeleteI grew up in Socal , where they are as common as Rhodies up your way. I used to have a lot more of them, but the white ones are my faves and have been kept.
DeleteYay for what's in bloom this month, gives cheer and promises spring!
ReplyDeleteCheer is good !
DeleteNice work with the eccremocarpus, another of those tricky vines like rhodochiton that need to have it exactly their way. Good luck with the 2015 baseball season!
ReplyDeleteHa, I'm not even going to try Rhodochiton-if I lived in Mendo it would be another story . I think it likes Fuchsia weather.
DeleteIt's always wonderful when something you thought was dead and gone returns for another round. Your Camellias are well ahead of mine - I have just a few blooms, which didn't even warrant sharing this Bloom Day. It's hard to know what to do in the garden as the weather norms seem to continue their warming shift, isn't it? Winter here has been virtually non-existent - I hope that doesn't bode excessive spring heat.
ReplyDeleteI must say this mild winter has made me feel a bit of anxiety about the summer . I just don't go for the heat thing. I grew up in coastal Socal and always said I'd never be caught dead in a place with weather like the Valley ..and here I am inland ! Happily we have SF Bay influence which tempers the heat .
DeleteHappy GBBD! Your eccremocarpus is sweet! I've had these surprise me by coming back, dying, showing up somewhere else. Mine get treated as annuals and if they come back, hooray. I've heard that once the mildew hits pulmonaria leaves, if you cut all of the foliage off, it will sprout new, un mildewed leaves that will stay that way for the remainder of the summer. Don't know if that works or not as, luckily, mine haven't been mildew victims!
ReplyDeletePeter , yes cutting back the Pulmonarias will give new clean foliage .. for a while. We get more mildew in fall than any other season , so there is a second wave.
DeleteOur local newspaper had a few pages dedicated to the pitchers and catchers expected to perform in this upcoming season. It caught me by surprise, so early. It really must be spring...
ReplyDeleteNice. Just enjoying your photos. I'm so wiped out from mulching my mind is a blank.
ReplyDeleteNever seen an Eccremocarpus before... what a cool plant! I hope it survives... I've been anxious about the weird mild weather too. I'm already dreading the summer heat...
ReplyDelete