9/27/11

Garden glimpses

Of all the plants in the garden, the princess plant looked the most parched upon our return from Rome. The flowers were all crispy and many leaves turned red. I've been watering it since we got back and it looks fine now.

IMG_2769

Also upon our return, Dierama pulcherrimum that I grew from seed sown in 2006 or 7, flowering for the first time ever:

IMG_2782

Most dierama is pink. The dark form was rarely seen back then, but it's become that uncommon in the intervening years.

I don't think the tarweeds have much more life in them this year (Madia elegans).

IMG_2795

But I deadheaded a little and gave them some water too. The flowers bloom in the morning and expire by the end of the day. But there are so many flowers.

IMG_2806

I deadheaded Tithonia diversifolia too. I don't know if it even makes sense to deadhead a giant shrub like this, but whatever. Pruning, deadheading--these are my favorite tasks in the garden. I could prune and deadhead all day long.

IMG_2794

The buckeye leaves never turned brown this summer, just ragged looking, so I defoliated the tree. The bark usually so silvery is not such silvery this year either.

IMG_2825

Some aloe I forgot the specific name of--ferox? reitzii?--got left in the shade most of the year due to my negligence. I moved it back into the sun. Doesn't seem to have minded the shade, but it hasn't grown much either.

IMG_2789

I like my 'Black Adder' phormium so much I bought another one. I was strongly against phormium for a long time!

IMG_2802

I think it does better in part sun. Full sun in my garden seems to give some of the older leaves a bleached out look. Although! the same thing happens with the cordyline and there's no way that gets too much sun. When do you cut the older leaves off cordyline?

IMG_2810

The Beschorneria is becoming truly massive. I planted it out from a 1-g pot...two years ago already? It's accumulating a lot of dirt, dust, and leaf litter. I should probably drag the hose out back and give it a good shower.

IMG_2832

9/25/11

Orto Botanico

At last my Euro-blogging ends with this visit to Rome's Orto Botanico, a terraced Mediterranean gem in the Trastevere district, a pleasant, easy walk from the ancient downtown. Watch a video here. That's Phoenix dactylifera leaning over the path.

IMG_2591

IMG_2639

Mediterranean-style gardens in the five places in the world where you find beds filled with lavender, santolina, cistus, rosemary, and phlomis must all look the same right about now, at the end of a long, dry summer.

IMG_2636

We got less than a 10th of an inch of rain last night in San Francisco. Not at all enough to pronounce it fall. And we still have October's Indian summer on the horizon.

IMG_2633

IMG_2632

IMG_2761

IMG_2601

IMG_2595

IMG_2594

IMG_2602

IMG_2604

They have quite a cactus and aloe collection in one of the greenhouses.

IMG_2686

IMG_2685

IMG_2678

Pachypodium namaqunum:

Pachypodium namaquanum

Nearby another old greenhouse, built below grade...

IMG_2610

sat empty inside...

IMG_2612

except for a fountain, running eternally.

IMG_2614

Fountains and ponds are vital features in a Mediterranean garden.

IMG_2615

IMG_2617

IMG_2709

IMG_2723

The stairs are flanked by centuries old plane trees whose leaves have begun to turn brown and fall in Rome, just as they have in California, while London's plane trees were still quite green.

IMG_2743

The private papal herb garden that was here originally only became a public botanical garden in the 1880s. Like every place else in Rome, portions of the previous era remain.

IMG_2728

IMG_2730

9/24/11

Villa Borghese Gardens

Welcome to Rome's second largest public park. The Borghese name goes back the Middle Ages and includes popes, princes, fascists, entrepreneurs, and American reality TV game show contestants. A vineyard before 1600, the present gardens--148 acres of them--were rebuilt in the English style in the early 19th century and given to Rome in 1903.

Popular Pincio Park (PIN-cho) at western end of Villa Borghese is an easy walk from central Rome.

IMG_2139

Looking west, this is a popular place to take in the sunset over St. Peter's Basilica.

IMG_2143

We are strolling east.

IMG_2145

IMG_2141

IMG_2144

Pincio Park has busts.

IMG_2400

Many of them have been vandalized, some in somewhat amusing ways.

IMG_2397

IMG_2396

IMG_2402

IMG_2410

IMG_2416

IMG_2417

IMG_2412

IMG_2413

IMG_2419

IMG_2420

IMG_2422

IMG_2443

IMG_2441

IMG_2450

IMG_2448

IMG_2455

IMG_2470

IMG_2461

Loving the big stone spheres. Want!!!

IMG_2471

IMG_2463

IMG_2476