By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

Here's a foliage plant I haven't grown yet but can imagine a half dozen uses for without half trying.  It is called Santolina virens 'Lemon Fizz.'  I can picture it in light shade at the front edge of a dry shade border.  I think its feathery foliage would be a nice contrast to the thicker leaves of succulents.  It would be striking against black Mexican river pebbles on either side of a sidewalk.  It would look good in a wide, shallow container with a small ornamental grass like Carex 'Toffee Twist.'  Or, I don't know, how would you use it?

The close-up photo is from Native Sons, one of my favorite wholesale nurseries in Southern California.  And the other photo, which gives you a better idea of flat, compact habit, is from The Perennial Blogger.

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

Calandrina grandiflora, Chilean rock purslane, has becoming an increasingly popular landscaping plant in Southern California, and no wonder.  It is drought-tolerant, easy to grow, and its magenta flowers bloom a long time.  I'm used to seeing it used en masse, especially in parkways and medians.  And it always looks good that way.

But the garden staff at Casa Romantica (see yesterday's post) decided to plant it in a pair of shoulder-high planter boxes, which brought the blooms up to eye level and literally made you see the plant in a new way.  The effect was charming.  Wish I had someplace to duplicate the idea in my own garden.

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

Candle lanterns like the one shown below look simple enough to figure out without instructions.  But why waste time blundering through it?  Willi Galloway shows how to turn old jars into candle lanterns step by step on her blog, DigginFood.  She's come up with some pretty embellishments, too.

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I check in reguarly with Barbara E. at Wild Suburbia because she's way ahead of me in her adventure with California native plants, and I inevitably learn a lot.

Her blog entry on Native Grasses, Sedges, and Rush for the Garden, for instance, is practically a thesis. 

I like her photography, too.

Finally, even though other garden bloggers have linked to it, we wouldn't want you to miss Owen Dell (that's him hamming it up below) and BIlly Goodnik of The Garden Wise Guys rocking out on their video, Taking Out the Grass is a Gas on YouTube.

 By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

Buy this new striped Mandevilla developed by Suntory Flowers Limited and tuck in some dark blue lobelia around the rim of the pot, and you've got a Fourth of July theme. How easy is that?  In Southern California you're most likely to find 'Stars & Stripes' at Armstrong Garden Centers.

Another fun idea for the Fourth from Sunset.  How-to details here.

By Jim McCausland, Sunset Magazine

 

Two excellent Oregon garden tours are coming up this weekend, both in the Portland area, and both full of splendid gardens. I previewed each of them last week, and came home with a wealth of great garden ideas.

The Seeding Our Future garden tour, sponsored by the Foundation for Tigard Tualatin Schools, runs Saturday from 10 to 4, and includes the widest range of gardens, from suburban gems to estates. Take this to see what may be the most beautiful garden greenhouse ever (pictured above), a thoughtfully designed Asian fusion garden by Paul Taylor, and a look at Bella Madrona (right), which for decades has been a very hot ticket among knowing gardeners.

There are six gardens total (four without lawns!), each with remarkable features, and an art show at Tigard High School. You can get into the art show free (it's on Friday), but you'll need a $20 ticket to visit the gardens. Go to the web site for more information.

The Association of Northwest Landscape Designers (ANLD) presents eleven gardens from 10 to 4 Saturday only, also for the price of a $20 ticket. Most of the entries are suburban gardens on city lots of all sizes, and taken together they show how you can master steep sites, corner lots, water restrictions, close neighbors, and more. Tickets were almost gone last time I checked, so if you want to join in, go to ANLD's web site fast.

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

You don't have to own land to enjoy plants, as Dustin Gimbel and Gary Putnam prove below.  The pad the two roommates share is just off Main Street in Seal Beach, California.  It's the town's oldest and most popular retail area.  Their place is tucked back between two-story retail buildings.  All you see from the front is a number and a gate.  Not exactly where you expect to find a garden.  I scratched my head, rechecked my address, and thought this can't be right.

As soon as you open the gate, though, there's evidence of garden -- plants spilling off walls, and pots lined up all along one side.  But it doesn't prepare you for the explosion of potted plants that greet you once you move into the central courtyard.  In fact, the only way you can really take in how much Gary and Dustin  packed into this little square is to show you what it looks like from the roof.   (That gray curtain that divides the space into foyer and living room, by the way, is Spanish moss draped over wire.)

Now for many people this would be enough.  But Gary wanted to grow tomatoes.  Not enough sun in the courtyard, not to mention room.  And Dustin, the owner of Second Nature Garden Design, needed more space to try out new plants.   Only one place to go -- the roof.  So they did.

And, to show just what dedicated gardeners these two are, here's how they access that roof.  You get used to climbing up that bouncy ladder, Dustin claims.  But it makes your heart thump a little the first time, that I know.  Kind of fun up there, though.

How about you?  Do you garden some place most people wouldn't think possible?  Tell us about it.  Even better, send photos.

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

Ptilotus 'Joey' is getting all the press, but Ptilotus 'Platinum Wallaby', shown opposite, seems to be the better plant in every respect.  And especially so for any area of the West that has alkaline soil.

I saw 'Platinum Wallaby' at Proven Winners' trade show in Bonsall, California in late March and totally fell in love with those feathery lavender-gray flowers.  I also liked hearing the plant would be nearly ever-blooming in my Southern California climate and that it was very drought-tolerant.  I could think of a hundred different things I'd like to see it combined with without even working up a sweat.

Then I came home and starting reading about Ptilotus 'Joey' on other garden blogs.  And found out both plants are the same species, P.  exaltatus, which is more than a little confusing.  Especially after  I went to a nursery and got a first-hand look at 'Joey'.  It had similar flowers for sure but somehow lacked the overall excitment of 'Platinum Wallaby'.

I have since found out why the two varieties are different, but, realizing not all of you are going to want all the "horty" details, I'll just summarize how 'Platinum Wallaby' is better first, and you can read the rest if you want.

•  'Platinum Wallaby'  is a perennial; 'Joey' is an annual.

•  'Platinum Wallaby' has longer "feathers" than 'Joey' and they last longer.

•  'Platinum Wallaby' likes alkaline soil; 'Joey' likes acidic soil.

• 'Platinum Wallaby' foliage holds up better throughout the course of the season, too.  Maybe it's just the plants I happened to see, but I thought 'Joey' already looked bleached out at the nursery.  Maybe it doesn't like our salty water either.

'Platinum Wallaby' will be harder to find, at least for awhile, but considering its advantages I think it's worth searching out or asking for.

***

Okay, now here's the "horty" stuff.  Ptilotus is a complicated genus.  Per the breeder of 'Platinum Wallaby'  there are 101 species of Ptilotus.  And the species P. exaltatus has five subgroups or "taxanomic varieties".  And 'Joey' and 'Platinum Wallaby' are in different ones; the former is mostly annual; the latter perennial.  But even better the P. exaltatus var. villosus group 'Platinum Wallaby' belongs to is the only Ptilotus that occurs naturally in alkaline soil.  In fact, says the breeder, it is found in calcarious soils--caliche, in other words.  So it should be able to handle anything the West can dish out.

'Joey' is a seed grown plant, so there will be natural variation in what you find in nurseries.  'Platinum Wallaby', on the other hand, was selected from seedlings for superior performance and is grown from tissue culture.  So nursery material will be very consistent.

Also, if you're wondering how to pronounce Ptilotus, just ignore the P.  It's silent.  As in Ptolemy.

By Jim McCausland, Sunset Magazine

Sometimes background plants catch my eye: ones that will never get lead billing in a garden show, but which give the landscape a finished, well-covered look. Such is silver-edged horehound (Marrubium rotundifolium)—the lovely gray ground cover that edges the path in the photograph below. (For reference, common horehound is the closely related Marrubium vulgare.)

I found it in Dave and Margie Van Cleve's garden in Selah, Washington (near Yakima). They found it at High Country Gardens, where it's described in words any Westerner could love: "does well in lean, well-drained soils"; "little water once established"; "evergreen"; and "native to high, dry areas of Turkey." This is a ground cover that thrives on neglect, and in a color that goes with any other plant that happens to grow nearby.

Mature size is about a foot tall and twice as wide. The leaves are cupped and frosted around the edges with a pattern that looks like lacy embroidery (see below). High Country says the plant's insignificant flowers should be sheared off, but I'm not convinced. To me they look like beautiful little frozen explosions. Judging from the plant's description and native range, I think this would grow well in Sunset zones 2b-12, 14-23. High Country says its woolly leaves melt in a combination of high heat and humidity.

Silver-leafed horehound isn't in the Western Garden Book yet, but looks like it might be worth adding. That's where you come in. Are you growing it? If so, let me know where you live, how it's doing, and whether it shows any signs of invasiveness (common horehound sometimes gets out of hand).

By Johanna Silver, Sunset test garden coordinator

June is flying by. I can hardly catch my breath, but it's all worth it because of this:

Yellow Buddleja, with a little pollinator


Dahlias



Volunteer Verbascum


The cucumber plant has a baby and more flowers!


Nobody seems to like them, but the Gladiolus are blooming.


Tomato flowers make my mouth water.


Ok, it's not exactly blooming, but my very first artichoke plant is in bud.
The flowers will be snipped (and eaten) before they bloom!

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

The best thing about staffing a Question and Answer booth at Sunset Celebration, which I just did last weekend, is how much you learn.  Especially when you are sharing the space with Master Gardeners and other garden writers.  We all brought different kinds of experience, different areas of expertise, and different favorite reference books.  So, if one of us didn't have the answer to a question, someone else usually did.  And we all learned a lot.

For instance, I learned about a great tool for blasting away whiteflies and aphids I was not familiar with from San Mateo County Master Gardener Maureen Ullery.  It's called the Bug Blaster.  It's a nozzle that creates a 360-degree flat spray pattern.  You attach the nozzle to a water wand and deliver water at full-pressure.  The pattern of the spray lets you get right into the center of plants, blasting adult insects, eggs, and larvae off the undersides as well as the tops of plants. It cleans off powdery mildew and sooty mold, too.

It works great on aphids, whitefly, and other soft-bodied insects, says Ullery, and it doesn't harm your foliage.

"But you might get as wet as your plants," says Ullery.  "I haven't figured out how to use it and stay dry without wearing a raincoat," she said, making us all laugh.

While I have the chance, I would like to express Sunset staff's appreciation for all the Master Gardeners who helped us man the Garden Question and Answer booth at Sunset Celebration.  They were a great group.  Helpful, informative, resourceful, enthusiastic, fun.   Thank you all.  We loved your company.

Betsy Shelton, San Mateo County
Robert Weissman, Santa Clara County
Dahlia Wood, San Mateo County
Sally Pyle, Santa Clara County
Chris Stanek, San Mateo County
Romie Georgia, Santa Clara County
Maureen Ullery, San Mateo County
Kathleen Heckler, Santa Clara County

We also want to thank Candace Simpson of the Santa Clara County Master Gardeners who organized this volunteer effort.