August 1st garden

(It's August already. Next thing you know it will be September, then October and November, and finally December!)

Here is a little area I'm happy with



in the southeast corner of my garden. I'm totally sold on the virtues of Atriplex hortensis which I learned about from watching Penelope Hobhouse.



The dark red leaves really do help to blend different colors together.



This area has a lot of maturing to do, but I'm excited about it. I'll have to make sure some A. hortensis comes back here next year, and I'm going to pull out that Festuca glauca.





I got seed from the purple columbine and I'm growing more of it. The foliage is esp. nice with the caramel and burgundy heuchera I've recently started to collect.





Looking up and moving over, we have this scene.



I'm really happy with Senecio cristobalensis.



I'm not sure what to expect from it down the road, but for right now, it's fabulous.



I don't think this the Calif-native Oenothera I thought it was, but it's very pretty anyhow.



The spiky thing in the background is Echium pininana--the tall Echium that naturalizes on the coast. It's supposed to be quite hardy. Some of you might want to give it a whirl. I got seeds from Thomson-Morgan. I'm currently growing five of them.



The grape leaves have a really nice color this time of year.





The color harmonizes with Cobaea scandens' intermediate flower color--I wish someone would figure out how to arrest the color change at this point:



Keckiella cordifolia's flower show is winding down quickly right now.



This could be its last appearance on the blog in 2009.



Until next year, my friend.



Yes, I'm much happier without Dahlia 'Prince Noir' obscuring my view of Beschorneria rigida.



Obscuring is bad.



This is my favorite dahlia anyway. The camera can't quite capture the color of the petals which grow from a magenta-red near the disk to fuchsia-pink at the tips. And it's a 'Bishop's Children' hybrid, with dark foliage. Bellissimo!



As a comparison, here is the more common red-orange.



I grew another batch of Mentzelia lindleyi. For whatever reason, I'm always growing these guys in pots which does not do them justice. Next year I'm going to put some in the ground and see what they can do there.



Remember our conversation about mystery in the garden? I finally did something with those skeleton keys I bought.



I looped them on a thread of Satureja douglasii and draped them like tinsel on the Tibouchina.



Now I'm thinking that I need to add some mystery to this dark corner...something that draws you in, closer to the darkness...



A quick visit to the nursery?

These Banksia seminuda seedlings are doing very well! I have five. No real plans for them, but I'd like to find a place for one in the garden.



A half-dozen Lobelia tupa...I feel like I should plant a few of these in the garden, but there is no room even for one.



Dendromecon hardfordii is doing well in a pot, even flowering! I am also not sure what to do with this guy. The foliage is very gray and my garden has so much of that already. Sigh.



I have several Keckiella cordifolia. My Flickr friend Nhu will take some. Every California gardener should grow this plant. It's wonderful. Want one?



And both of these Fuchsia boliviana 'Rubra' need to find a good home in Sunset zone 17.



Filoli sell dozens of different succulents in 2" pots for $2--a real bargain. I couldn't resist getting three Echeveria 'Topsy Turvy' the last time I was there.



Now we're at that awkward time when the blog post is over but I have no tidy conclusion so I just show you pictures of random flowers.

And flower buds.