Bamboo

Matt and I drove to Napa yesterday and bought a metal stock tank full of bamboo from a craigslister for $35! Even when you add the cost of gas and time, this was a bargain - and it looks very healthy. It was a major pain to get up the stairs into the house and through to the patio, but well worth the effort.

It's already leaning over the door - we'll need to tie it back a bit.

More bulbs

Today I filled some pots with bulbs. I am running out of space for them so I will probably add some to plastic pots and transplant to the garden when they are finished. The photos show the bulb placement before I filled the pots with compost, or added Muscari.

Round dish (left above):
12 white Hyacinths
5 Daffodil "White Lion"
15 Muscari



Square ceramic pot (left below):
5 Daffodil "Replete"
10 Daffodil"Fragrant Rose"
15 Muscari

Round ceramic pot:
10 Daffodil"Dutch Master"
6 white Hyacinth
15 Muscari

Still left to plant:
20 Daffodil"Dutch Master"
5 Muscari
10 Daffodil Tazetta "Golden Dawn"
5 Daffodils "Flowerdrift"
5 Daffodils "Fortissimo"
40 Daffodil "Ice Follies"

Yep... I think some of these will have to go out in the garden!

Bulbs

Today I planted 14 Narcissus "Geranium" in the Ficus pot.

I need to find another pot for the following, bought at the weekend:

40 narcissus "Ice Follies"
9 Hyacinth (white)
50 Muscari (blue)

New pots potted up today

I was going to add daffodil bulbs to a lot of pots today, but sadly the rain came on and the sun set before that happened. However, I did get the following done:

First large galvanized box (above left):
Yellow dwarf Canna (looking a bit bedraggled)
Juncus (curly)
Bacopa

Second large galvanized box (above right):
Black taro
Little wiry groundcover thing
Variegated pineapple mint
Juncus (curly)

Cordyline australis "Kiwi" - repotted
Kalanchoe beharensis - repotted (above right)
Lobelia cardinalis - cut back (above left)

New plant

Got a Cordyline australis "Kiwi Dazzler" today - yay!

Also sprayed the Asclepias for aphids (grr) and potted up an Aloe, a Crassula "Golum" (both above) and some other succulents. I didn't want to fill the entire tall pot the Aloe is in with soil so I put it in a plastic pot and perched that inside the tall one.Looks... OK, I guess.

By special request: views of the patio

Mi Madre has asked to see the entire patioscape. Voila.

More pots coming along

Today we set up some more pots. They are (left to right, top to bottom):

1. Tall black round pot:
Phormium "Alison Blackman"
2 Lantana "Samantha"

2. Redwood planter box:
Achillea "Coronation Gold"
Sedum kimnachii
Sedum lineara "Variegata"
Miscanthus sinensis "Gold Bar"
Plectranthus argentus

3. Herb pots:
Sage
Thyme
Coriander

4. Tall silver pot:
Kniphofia uvaria "Yellow Cheer"
Alstroemeria "Third Harmonic"

5. Canna trough:
Added two Ipomoeas batatas "Sweet Caroline Green Yellow" (Sweet Potato Vine) to the mix of Canna "Black Knight" and unnamed orange Canna.

6. Tall silver pot
Pennisteum "Rubrum" (Purple fountain grass)

We also potted up several Aloes, Agaves, Senecio vitalis, and Aeoniums.

New pots ready to rock

We planted up a few new pots. They are:

1. Large red ceramic pot (above left)

Miscanthus sinensis "Sarabande"

Coprosma "Pink Splendor"

Lobelia laxiflora (Mexican Lobelia)

2. Tall, rectangular ceramic trough (above right)

Aloe plicatilis (Fan Aloe)

Helichrysum petiolare "Lemon Licorice"

Euphorbia characias "Silver Swan"

3. Large red ceramic pot (below right)

Rhodocoma capensis (Cape Rush)

Asclepias curassavica (Scarlet milkweed)

Salvia elegans "Golden Delicious" (Pineapple sage)

Lysimachia nummularia "Aurea"

4. Tall black ceramic pot (below left)

Yucca elephantipes (Yucca guatemalensis) "Silver Star"
Lysimachia nummularia "Aurea"

We can has patio!

Matt and I bought a house and now we have a patio. We're going to use this blog to help us remember the names of our plants (haha) and document the plants we grow in containers out there.

The climate is zone 9, with 4-6 hours of hot summer sun/cool winter weather. It's South facing, and sheltered. We recently bought a lot of plants at various nurseries in Mendocino and we're going to plant them ASAP. Stay tuned!

Asclepias tuberosa "Hello Yellow"
Kniphofia uvaria "Yellow Cheer"
Oenothera macrocarpa subsp. incana "Silver Blade"
1 Verbascum olympicum
Miscanthus sinensis "Gold Bar"
Miscanthus sinensis "Sarabande"
Berberis Thunbergii F Atropurpurea "Royal Burgundy"
Euphorbia characias "Silver Swan"
5 Daylily "Third Harmonic"
Sedum kimnachii
1 ornamental grass of some sort
Coprosma "Pink Splendor"
Arctotis The Ravers™ "Cherry Frost"
Kalanchoe beharensis
Sage & Thyme (for herb garden)
Lobelia laxiflora (Mexican Lobelia)