A Sense of Place

For a person visiting San Francisco from "The Great White North", one is struck not only the weather but also by the plant life that flourishes in this ideal mediterranean climate. I've just returned from a week in this lovely city, and again I was impressed by the quality, variety and creativity of gardening that I found there. In this post I am paying particular attention to the gardens I found in the front gardens which often  overflowed onto the sidewalks and boulevards. Many of the plants that I saw there are the same that I grow outdoors and have to move indoors from November to April. And since the San Francisco plants are grown in the ground they are huge compared to my container grown collection.

For whatever reason, many of my plants (incl. Agave, Dyckia and Aloe) have bloomed this year, Most impressive is Agave stricta echinoides, which I grew from seed. I'm assuming that this is the end of the road for this plant as it is monocarpic, but happy to have experienced its complete lifespan over the last decade or so.

It is so satisfying to liberate plants from the imprisonment of an uncaring Big Box store. This I did last Fall when I found three Agave desmettiana, a mature plant with two large offsets crammed into a two gallon pot. I managed to winter them over under lights in my basement and was further satisfied last week when on a mild day I was able to take them out onto the balcony where, with a little surgery, I was able to separate them and give them their own root space in new pots. I can't wait for the warmer weather when I can get them out of doors.  Agave desmettiana 'Variegata' and two offspring, crammed into a 2 gallon pot. Divided and repotted.

Another favourite and very forgiving plant, Euphorbia bupleurifolia has sprung back to life after months of winter dormancy and general neglect. Again I wonder what I've done to deserve this sudden display of foliage and flowers, when I've shown it so little attention over the long winter hiatus. E. bupleurifolia is a  caudiform with dramatic form and texture.                                          To add to the display, lovely green flowers.

This time last year I was a in the throes of moving house and home from Toronto to Montréal and had no time for my usual late winter activity of planting seed. This year I'm making an attempt to get back into the habit and have uncovered some seed of some of the many annuals that were such a delight on my trip to South Africa in 2013. They include Nemesia cheiranthus, Nemesia barbata, Felicia australis, and Dorotheanthus bellidiformis. Packages from Silverhill Seed in Cape Town. Nemesia cheiranthus with complex structure and lovely colour. Felicia australis, a simple flower but en masse is a sheet of vivid blue Dorotheanthus bellidiformus, a seed mix endless variety of colours. Nemesia barbata has flowers with intense colour from magenta to dark purple to black.

After moving from Toronto to Montréal last year, many of my plants have not been given the most tender of care. In fact, they've often been ignored completely and in particular the few pots of Cyclamen that I managed to move have had a tough Summer sitting outside in all sorts of weather and at the mercy of slugs and snails.  I'm not sure what I've done to deserve this, however, as  most of them have survived to bloom indoor this Winter.  Some of them have out on an impressive display of both foliage and bloom that I am resolved to give them better treatment this year, a dry, shaded place to wait out their dormancy and repotting in July before they come back into growth.