by Lorraine on February 18, 2009
The Sticky Monkey Flowers ( Mimulus Scrophulariaceae) have changed in their appearance. They are winding down and not flowering as much as they were previously and their leaves are starting to look yellow. Should they have some nitrogen, I’m wondering? The answer is “no”, they are just preparing themselves for Summer.
I referred to the book California Native Plants for the Garden and read that if you trim them back a bit in May or June, they might produce more flowers depending on the whatever conditions the garden is experiencing at the time.
So I decided to do that with the hope that they would continue to bloom. These flowers are considered to have many uses in a garden and interestingly enough, they are somewhat deer-proof and generally ignored by rabbits and ground squirrels, which is a good thing if you’re sharing your garden with them.
The book also mentioned that they tend to live very a long time and that on the average, they will live for 2-5 years before they would have to be replaced. The Wooly Blue Curls (Trichostema lanatum) are a more delicate native to plant and they have a rather short life span but they have done very well in my garden and they are one of my favorite plants.
I’m a bit anxious about making a mistake with any of the plants when it comes to trimming but I went ahead and did it anyway and removed the stems from the ones that had spent blossoms. A also trimmed the Wooly Blue Curls while I was at it, as they looked a little needy.
by Lorraine on February 9, 2009
At last, southern California is finally receiving some rain. Not a lot and it certainly won’t fix our drought problems but it’s better than nothing.
Our weather the last month has been warm and Spring” like and very beautiful. While the rest of the country was freezing, we were having balmy temperatures and sunny days that were georgous. But most definitely, not normal for January.
The plants in my garden have been confused about this and many of them have started to bloom prematurely when it’s too soon for them to do so. All of the Sages/Salvias have flowers as well as the Wooly Blue Curls, the Mallows and the Santa Cruz Island Poppy.
Bulbs are coming up and there are many wild flower seedlings coming up too. The Poppies are relentless in their determination to take over the garden and I’m just as determined that they won’t. Boy, they have turned into a problem.
Only plant California Poppies where you can allow them to spread. A hillside would be perfect for this horde of invaders. They are beautiful and I love their orange color but don’t mix them into your garden or you will have difficulties keeping them in control.
The garden looks beautiful and is very green and in the rain it looks particularly stunning. The forecast is for this storm to end by tomorrow and then another one should be coming in off of the Pacific ocean later in the week.
I hope that this is just the beginning of many more storms to come. I’ll post some pictures later on as I’ve had computer problems for the last two weeks and the one that I’m using at this time is a “loaner”
When I have my new one, then I’ll be up to speed and write more frequently and add some photos, too.
