Leap into a March

It's almost March, but I have to wait an extra day to get there this leap year. The weather has been sunny, but not very warm (low 60's). The reason that I cannot wait much longer is that my first shipment of passiflora from Logee's should be arriving soon! Also, Spring! As soon as the bamboo culms start coming up, I'll know that it's officially here. The chocolate vine which gets the most sun has little flower buds on it in addition to all the new leaves. I have a feeling I'll be seeing some pretty serious growth from those this year. That's a quick update without pictures, but I couldn't leave February without at least one more post.

Lovely February Flowers

It's one of those days here in Redondo Beach. It drizzles, the sun peeks through the clouds, it's overcast, partly sunny...The little weather app on my phone is killing my battery with the constant icon changes. Nevertheless, I wanted to write a Pergola-tory post. So, I stepped out to the patio and snapped some pictures of anything that might be scribe worthy. My tea tree (leptospermum scoparium) and fringe flower aka Chinese witch hazel (Loropetalum chinensis) are really enjoying the weather. In fact, they're both in bloom right now.

My woodsorrel (oxalis) is doing well too. In the heat of Summer it tends to be weepy, without shade from the adjacent plants. Now though it's in a fight with the red apple (aptinia cordiflora) in a battle for most rampant ground cover.

Premature Spring

It was 80°F for the second day of this weekend. I had to spend some time outside in Pergola-tory. I trimmed the creeping thyme (Thymus serpyllum) back from the stones in the back yard, sprayed my golden shrimp plant (Pachystachys lutea) down to kill some extra mealy bugs, sucked up some black widows with the shop vacuum, and chopped back the neighbor's bougainvillaea which was encroaching on my yard over the fence and loaded with aphids as I discovered. I didn't even bother pulling the aphid covered boughs through my yard to the trash can. I just lopped them off at the fence line, and let them drop into their yard, which is over grown and not often used except as a parking lot for a motor cycle. I don't think they'll even notice, and I will protect all my hard work and investment from pests. The shop vacuum has been more useful than I even imagined. After I trimmed the thyme, I sucked up everything that I couldn't grasp to throw away. For an urban garden, I highly recommend a powerful shop vacuum.

While I was surveying the yard, before I started any of the aforementioned chores, I noticed that the chocolate vines (akebia quinata) had little buds at each of their nodes. I was really happy to see that. They're in pretty rough shape after the pests, chemicals, and lack of sunshine during the Fall and Winter months. But, they're alive! And, even the one in the far corner that gets blasted by dryer vent heat and the least amount of sunshine has a couple of partly green leaves. I think now that they're established and the sun is moving back North, that they'll be great! I also have an indigofera in pot with much of the same issues. But it too has some life peaking forth.

It was such a nice day that I continued my gardening in the front yard. I propagated some bromeliads that had sizable pups on them and pruned the hibiscus. I felt bad doing it because there were buds ready to bloom in a could of days, but they were getting leggy and out of shape. That's tough love. I'll definitely share more of the front yard once the bromeliads start sprouting their inflorescences. I assume that they will since some of the pups that propagated a few months back have themselves started sprouting pups. That says to me that they're doing well, but I don't know for sure. The three original plants went in having already sprouted theirs, so all I can do now is feed, water, and wait.

It's Gettin' Hot Out Herrrrrr

I've had this idea for awhile now. It took awhile to come to fruition because it took some research and monetary commitment. But, I went for it, as I suppose I knew that I would.

Believe it or not, it gets pretty cool some evenings in Redondo Beach. Being so close to the ocean means that things don't really heat up too hot during the day. That part is great. But, when the sun sets it gets a little cooler. And, to be honest, I'm acclimated to very small temperature fluctuations (aka thin blooded). So to keep Pergola-tory enjoyable at night, I put in a heater. It's a electric radiant heater that I hung from one of the pergola cross members with some bits of chain. I was a tad concerned that the Passiflora wouldn't be able to grow anywhere near it (for fear of flames), but I was able to touch the top of it which gave no indication that the unit was turned on. That made me happy indeed.

I plugged it in and it was warm really close to the heater, but with little difference from the seating. That may have been because it was 75°F outside when I hung it. I'll update once I get a cool night to test it...with a glass of wine in hand of course!

Passiflora and Impatiens...er...Impatience.

It's the middle of January, but it feels like the beginning of Spring. It was in the upper 70's yesterday. My passiflora (which survived the miticide), all have buds and nice new green leaves. It seems as though the crinkling and chlorosis is gone with the mites. To say that I'm happy about that is an understatement. The picture on the left shows some older chlorotic leaves that were infested with mites at one point. Interestingly, and somewhat of an annoyance, is the fact that the dead mites seem to cause a little fungus to grow on their exoskeletal corpses which causes a brown dead spot on them. Between the chlorosis and fungal spots, I really want to clip off all of the old leaves...but it's not Spring yet, and I don't want to cripple my plants. For now I will just have to settle for the new sprigs that are shooting out everywhere. The picture on the right is new growth on the same vine as the chlorotic leaves. It's very satisfying to see the new leaves grow perfectly instead of malformed and diminutive. I think it's going to be a great Spring!

Soon it will be Spring, but I am impatient. I'm really hopeful for fruit this season. I will have to count on the hummingbirds because I can't count on the bees...they seem to have all gone mad. Every now and then I'll find a little dead one, or one that is soon to depart for bee heaven. Last year there was a bee swarm in my front yard. There must have been a queen in the mass somewhere.

Here's the list of the passiflora that I have on the way this season. It has a few small free-flowering varieties on there, as well as some rare species and new hybrids. I pretty much have the whole color spectrum accounted for now. Except for yellow. I've tried to get P. cintrina to grow twice now, with no success. I'm going to try again after this season if all goes well with the pests.

•     P. cyanea
•     P. holosericea
•     P. nephrodes
•     P. parritae
•     P. alata
•     P. sanguinolenta
•     P. serratifolia
•     P. coccinea
•     P. 'Manta'
• xiikzodz × coriacea
•     P. 'Jennifer Grace'
• quadriglandulosa × poslae
•     P. 'Sunburst'
• gilbertiana × jorullensis
•     P. 'Exoniensis'
• antioquiensis × tripartita var. mollissima

A-Wop-bop-a-loo-lop a-lop-bamboo

In addition to passiflora, I realized early on that I could plant bamboo. There was a lot more to learn about this grass than I anticipated. Rhizomes really amounted to much of the learning, but because I intended to place them in confined spaces, I wasn't much concerned about the tendencies for some species to run for miles. I first planted some black bamboo (Phyllostachys nigra) along the fence in a brick planter to see how it would do. It was pretty weepy for awhile, but then in my first Spring at the new house the shoots came up. It was amazing to watch them reach for the sky. "Grass grows fast" as they say. (Or maybe they don't say it, and I just said it).

The new shoots eventually reached above the original height, were more rigid, larger diameter, and turned black quickly. I was both impressed and thrilled. This meant that I could search out a new bamboo for the other side of the yard. I eventually settled on Spectabilis (Phyllostachys aureosulcata) from Bamboo Garden. It hasn't seen a Spring yet, but it did send up some shoots at the end of the Summer that were nice and rigid. Again, the original plant is weepy, and I'm not sure why. But, once I have enough new growth, then I'll cut all the old down and let the tall large culms dominate.

Once the new growth is in after this Spring (March is when the black bamboo grew last season), then I'll post some solid pictures. Hopefully, the plants can screen my neighbors without blotting out the sun. I'm anxious as always. And, did you know that those plants offered as "curly bamboo" or "lucky bamboo" are not bamboo at all? They're (Dracaena sanderiana) part of an aquatic family of plants consisting of asparagus; plants native to Cameroon and West Africa.

Where's the Beef?

My Xmas grill gift arrived last night! It was too dark to tackle it as soon as it was delivered, but I really wanted to. I managed to wait until this morning though. It's a Weber Spirit S-320, 3-burner, LP beauty. My grill cover should arrive in a few days to keep the dust off, but until then I'll just admire its shininess. I'll probably head to the store soon to pick up some grill-ables. Chicken, ground beef, some veggies...I better stop before I get too hungry to wait until dinner time.

Included with this gift was a little can cradle over which one puts a whole chicken. If I use a Mountain Dew, maybe I can get my protein and caffeine both in every bite!