10/29/10

Yesterday's garden

Here are some pictures I took yesterday. Since then we've gotten another inch of rain. This is predicted to be an exceptionally dry La Niña year. So far, not so much. It's common for us to have a lot of rain in October and then no more until December or January. We shall see.

In the meantime, here is my one leaf of fall color. Thank you, Vitis californica 'Roger's Red'. The whole vine should color up soon enough.

This is my one leaf of fall color in the garden.

From now until around April the garden gets very, very green.

IMG_0010

IMG_0008

Large-leafed, giant aster Bartlettina sordida in the foreground in the pictures above and below.

IMG_0009

The strappy beschorneria seems to get bigger every time I look at it.

IMG_0036

Fuchsia fulgens is a flower-making machine in my garden.

Fuchsia fulgens

So is the aster whose name I can never remember. (Thank you cloverann for ID'ing it for me twice now!)

IMG_0002

The pot of dead Muhlenbergia rigens behind the manzanita spoils this shot.

IMG_0001

Train your eyes on the leaves instead.

IMG_0017

This is Arctostaphylos pajaroensis 'Lester Rowntree'. Definitely not the best A. pajaroensis you could have. I think the interesting colors in this species are more pronounced in other cultivars. I got this one as a freebie from my time at the SF Botanical Garden.

IMG_0018

Asclepias curassavica went to seed.

IMG_0026

Calling all ladybugs! All you can eat buffet on aisle 5!

IMG_0027

Some of the other nerines are finally budding out.

IMG_0004

For awhile now, it's just been this one.

IMG_0006

'Caroline' did not give me a heavy fall harvest.

IMG_0029

Oh, and my Gravenstein dropped both of its apples before they were quite ripe. Have I mentioned that? I ate them anyway and they were not bad. The second one which dropped a few weeks after the first one tasted a lot better.

That's pretty much it down in the garden. The mishmash of containers on the roof is, well, it's a mishmash.

IMG_0045

IMG_0043

IMG_0046

IMG_0044


5 comments:

michelle said...

Another lovely garden tour a al Chuck. :-) And I love the mish mash of pots, the mixed succulents is particulary nice. The ladybugs and other beneficials never did go for the aphids on my Asclepias. I wonder if the sap that they are feasting on makes them taste bad?

Christopher C. NC said...

I have Fall color if you get to jonesing.

xoxoxo said...

I love the last pic!!

Queer by Choice said...

Your milkweed looks exactly like mine - blooming with aphids.

I agree with xoxoxo: there's something irresistibly charming about that last picture.

Denise said...

Looks like a lot to hold your interest over winter. I'm taking hope from your nerines that maybe mine have a few more blooms still in them. That potted agave looks quite a bit like 'Jaws.'