Showing posts with label flowers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flowers. Show all posts
South Pasadena Beautiful's Garden Tour
Once a year, a volunteer organization called South Pasadena Beautiful organizes a Garden Tour. It's a wonderful event to help encourage pride in the community and keep beautifying the city of South Pasadena, California. This year's tour was the 42nd Annual Garden Tour. |
| California lilacs with ladybug - from 4th house on the tour |
This past spring, the tour covered the Oaklawn Subdivision, also formerly called Suburb de Luxe. At the base of the street at Oaklawn and Columbia, Henry and Charles Greene designed the portals, as well as many of the homes.
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| plant swap |
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| plant swap |
The first stop of the self-guided tour is a Plant Swap, where one can bring a plant and take a new one home. The selection was quite good, and the volunteers encouraged us to take many more plants and cuttings than we brought.
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| environmentally friendly plants |
The next house showcased a newly renovated porch, custom built with period designs. The objective for the garden is to introduce drought tolerant perennials, shade plants, ornamental grasses, flowers and citrus trees.
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| kumquat tree |
The 2nd home, owned by a Landscape Architect, improved upon the inefficient irrigation system, changing it to a drip system, and planting a succulent garden.
While we were admiring the kumquats, the home owner, who was tending to his flowers, came out and talked about all the citrus he'd been growing and techniques employed.
He cut me a couple of blood oranges with beautiful colors, and even invited us into his kitchen to taste the British style blood orange marmalade he made.
The marmalade tasted extremely tart, which I enjoy, but the fresh blood oranges had the best taste, most juice and best color of any blood orange I've ever tasted.
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| flowers and blood oranges |
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| blood orange |
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| blood orange marmalade |
He cut me a couple of blood oranges with beautiful colors, and even invited us into his kitchen to taste the British style blood orange marmalade he made.
The marmalade tasted extremely tart, which I enjoy, but the fresh blood oranges had the best taste, most juice and best color of any blood orange I've ever tasted.
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| roses with bee |
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| roses |
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| backyard hammock |
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| irises and lavender on front lawn |
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| bougainvillea and bamboo |
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| sunken garden |
The 4th home sits on almost an acre of land. There is a "side garden" adjacent to an outdoor kitchen and pool, and a sunken "rear garden", which is a lovely surprise. The owner imported seeds and cuttings from all over the world to add to this garden.
The lush garden contains two ponds, one with a waterwheel, stone lined paths and various terraced areas at different heights. The garden also contains several large California Oak trees. The garden takes one to a different time and place.
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| kangaroo paws |
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| original incinerator |
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| tree trunk |
Overall the historic street with architecturally significant houses that retain their traditional charm also transform to meet the current environmental needs. It was delightful to see these works in progress.
End of Summer in the Garden
With daylight savings, my time in the garden gets cut back drastically. It's fully dark by the time I get home. Growing slows down. I limit myself to light maintenance and watering.During the summer, it was a different story. This post covers the whole summer's garden activity, until about mid-October.
All in all a fairly high yield of plants bloomed despite the heat mid-summer.
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| black mondo |
The black mondo with its adorable lavender blooms is something I chose for my large, new redwood planter. I hope it spreads sideways.
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| sensitive plant |
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| sensitive plant |
When you touch the leaves, as I'm doing on the 2nd photograph, the leaves close up.
They don't last long so I'm trying to plant it into the ground, hoping it will spread and grow a bit.
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The asparagus fern thrives in sun or shade, little watering or through rain. This new, yellowish leaf sprouted and eventually turned green.
This one may also eventually live in the redwood planter since it can tolerate shade.
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| sea drift and verbena |
This cute sea drift didn't last long but looked cute while it lasted. I'll try this one again next time they return to the nurseries.
I use these marigolds to plant around my tomatoes and eggplants, as they serve as a natural, organic pest and animal repellant.
This hydrangea started growing from a branch cutting. Due to the shade in this spot, it grows slowly but surely.
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| dahlia |
I didn't expect the dahlia to bloom in late summer and fall, but it quickly sprouted up, rested on the adjacent lemon tree and bloomed.
My neighbor gave me cuttings of these succulents, which grow beautifully year round, it seems.
These shallow pots with mismatched, glazed saucers work well for starting off various succulents as well.
I combined several plants that grew in smaller pots. It will be fun to watch how they grow into each other as the plants get larger.
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| ice plant |
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| green, unripe guava |
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| rosa bianca eggplant, growing from seeds |
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| Japanese eggplant |
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| green, unripe tomatoes |
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| mint and shamrock |
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| lemon cucumber |
My curry plant grew a new floor or two! After a long period of shock, it's great to see the plant getting larger and healthier.
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| purslane |
Purslane appeared on its own in the yard and in some of the potted plants. With such graceful leaves, I let them grow wherever they'd like. It's always fun to have edibles to pick as well.
Ivy can never get accused of not being fertile. I've tried to eliminate the ivy from the front planter and side slope from day one, but it grows back in any little spot it can wedge itself into.
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| new trellis - at planting |
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| trellis after 3 months - with Black Eyed Susan vines |
The hefty trellis came up to serve as a makeshift screen against the neighbors' sewage pipes, storage area and den of coyotes!
Once again, in the shade, it's amazing how fast the sweet little Black Eyed Susans are filling in. The trick is to disentangle them from the neighboring bushes because they do tend to overtake everything in their way.
I'm grateful for all this activity as it gets colder, and plan to post another update for the next season or two.
Spring Garden - Roses
The final featured spring plant is the magical rose, my very favorite. These perennials, symbols of love and beauty, have been cultivated for thousands of years and come in hundreds of varieties.
The roses in my garden are strictly old school - large, fragrant and pure. They smell intoxicatingly sweet and last more than a week once cut and put into vases.
They symmetry of this perfect white rose blows my mind. The photo is un-retouched.
Roses are a favorite photography subject for me due to the vibrant colors and daily changes in shape and state of bloom.
This particular compact rosebud grows in a lovely, dusty red color of which the camera does not do justice.
When the rose reaches its full corolla, it looks like a painting.
This multicolored rose also blooms in a gold bud, a color I've never seen. Pink spots fleck the edges of the bud.
When it blooms, it partially turns lavender. One can still see the pistils and stamens at the center of these roses, something you don't see in modern greenhouse hybrid varieties.
As this beauty begins to fade, it turns yet a deeper lavender.
Yellow roses convey a cheerful note and always have been dear to me.
This rose opens up to resemble a tissue paper flower that you have to almost touch to believe it's real. It's very dense with petals.
The Double Delight varieties of white and pink display a rare beauty.
It's been said thousands of times, but in closing nothing but William Shakespeare's immortal words, through Juliet, can summarize a rose's splendor:
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose.
By any other name would smell so sweet."
