2/1/08

February.

Not my favorite month, what with that weird silent R and all. I don't like January much either, but it's over anyway. We have 29 days of February this year (always annoying), but some good things do happen... In San Francisco, sunrise recedes to 7 a.m. on the 15th, and sunset pushes back to 6 p.m. on the 26th. Those are significant milestones I look for every year. Imo, there's something wrong with having sunrise after 7 and sunset before 6, so I appreciate the return to normalcy.

In the garden of my garden guru, a lovely mix of winter and spring prevails...

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Here she is giving me a look I get from lots of people.

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I brought some Nemophila maculata and Phacelia campanularia for her.

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And she has Lepechinia fragrans cuttings for me. I'm going to put one under Ceanothus 'Ray Hartman' in my garden to get that light gray/green + dark green contrast. Lepechinia foliage is highly fragrant. Kind of a pine + lemon + sage combination.

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We both propagate lots of cuttings, but she has more success than I do.

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I would have low expectations for an orange tree in San Francisco, but she can grow anything in Menlo Park.

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Berries include Symphoricarpos,

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an inherited privet,

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and inherited cotoneaster.

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It rained last night.

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We get more rain tomorrow...

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and then it's supposed to be dry for several days.

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12 comments:

Phillip Oliver said...

Nice garden - do you know what the shrub is in the first photo with the pretty pink flowers?

chuck b. said...

Yes, that's a manzanita. Arctostaphylos pajaroensis. We're not sure about the cultivar name. Native to the Carmel, Monterey area of California.

Anonymous said...

Your photos are a welcome sight...I'm checking in from a snowy Wisconsin.

Frances, said...

Thanks for showing us the garden guru and her garden. You are a lucky guy to have a guru with such a wealth of plants to share.

Frances, said...

I forgot to say ARRRGGHH! to the Japanese Privet, the bane of Faire Garden! Don't care how pretty those blue berries are!

chuck b. said...

Technically, that's Glossy Privet (Ligustrum lucidum), not Japanese Privet (L. japonicum), but, yes. Neither plant is much loved here either. Point taken.

But it's there and it's apparently not going anywhere.

So why not enjoy what little pleasure it has to offer.

Gardener of La Mancha said...

Arg to cotoneaster too. I really like how she's pruned that orange tree and I'm liking the grasses.

I pronounce the "r" in February. Am I the only one?

chuck b. said...

I don't have a problem with you pronouncing that R, but I suspect it may put you at risk of weenie-hood in the eyes of the world.

Gardener of La Mancha said...

I bet you say "liberry" too.

Mr. McGregor's Daughter said...

How fun to see plants that I grow blooming somewhere now, as another foot of snow is dumped on my garden. I also pronounce the "r" in February, but then I have some pronounciation quirks that are unique to me. Great garden - especially those psuedo gazing balls in the grasses.

chuck b. said...

Those are Japanese fishing net floats. Many Californians who served in the Pacific during WWII brought those home. My mother's father had several. I'm not sure how my friend Emma came into hers, and I've never seen any quite as large as these. She says they get very hot on summer days and can't water near them lest they crack. I love them in her "dry creek bed".

chuck b. said...

I mean many *people* who served in the Pacific...