Gazania Mania

I planted this whole bed last year with beautiful, bi-color gazanias. The mature gazanias are the only ones that survived the year. When I removed the fence, late last year, my 65-pound English Springer Spaniel, Magic, claimed the bed as his favorite place for grazing and rolling around (and around and around). Also, the large purple sage to the left of the gazania bed gets even larger over the summer. Last year, it spread nearly a third of the way into the gazania bed, depriving all the gazania babies of their light and space. The final insult was the weeds, centipede grass, that choked other plants. (The grass is what Magic was grazing for -- too bad he wasn't pulling it up by the roots.)

So, last week I did the best I could to dig up the weeds, although they'll come back, as they're embedded in the gazanias that survived the year. Then I went on an epic, 3-day, 90-mile Quest to find the exact same variety of gazanias. I covered just about every nursery and hardware store in the San Fernando Valley, then drove through Simi Valley, Somis, and Camarillo. They were nowhere to be found. I don't understand, because last year that variety was everywhere.

I had to admit defeat and go to Plan B: fill the empty spaces with compatible colors and patterns:

They all look fairly similar in this picture, but the original gazanias have a silver leaf, and more contrast between the two colors, red-orange and orange-yellow.

New Gazania

Original Gazania

(You might notice a few pink-ish flowers in there. They are from last year's planting. The flats were supposed to be one variety, the red and orange, but a few pink ones snuck in. Also, the ugly chicken wire is to keep the dogs out. Unfortunately, it seems I will have to keep the ugly chicken wire until the house is ready to be sold.)

The rest of the bed, and the extra strip in front, were not planted at all last year. Only one of the gazanias in those sections is blooming. It's a third variety; the flower is more yellow, with an orange stripe down the middle.












Apropos, that little plant you see in the left corner of the first picture (above), next to the sage, is yellow yarrow. That used to be a large plant that was on the other side of the sage. But over time, even it succumbed to the shadow of the Mighty Sage.

Last year, before I planted Gazania 1.0, I removed a small yarrow root that seemed to have some life in it, and I planted it in a pot. For a while last year, the pot also was covered by the sage -- Poor yarrow, struggling to live! -- but it still managed to grow into a small plant that looks rather healthy. If I'm lucky, and if I control the Monster Sage, I may have a nice yellow yarrow bush next year.

By the way, the grass is really thick and tall. It hasn't even been a week since it was last mowed, but we've had a lot of rain this year, and I added new seed and fertilizer last month, so the lawn has been growing several inches every week. I think it will settle down this summer, when it's hotter and dryer.

Back to the Back Forty (Redux)

I've not been lazy, I've been sick, with a mad cold, then a milder case of flu. Also, I've been learning to make soap. From scratch. With lye and stuff. Meanwhile, until recently, it's been too rainy or cold to work outside. But I did manage to get back to the Back Forty this past week or two.

First a little before and after:

Before, 2017

Before, 2017

Now, the Befores were actually Afters last year. These pictures were taken after I had finished landscaping a nearly barren back fence. Now, the 2018 Afters:

After, 2018

After 2018

You can see the pink jasmine grew to cover the wire trellis (second After picture, right side), extending the height of the fence from 6 to almost 8 feet. This from 1-gallon pots planted just one year ago. The chocolate vine (akebia quinata, 1-gal. pots) also grew as high as the wire extension (above wood fence), but was not lush enough to hide the neighbor's shed. So, you can't see it from these pictures, but I just added two, 1-gal. pink jasmines between the chocolate vines. I'm hoping they can peacefully co-exist.

Do you see the potato vine covering the metal trellis (second After picture, left side)? I bought that last year from a Lowe's clearance rack, nearly dead, for $1.00. Now it's completely covering the metal trellis. You probably can't see it on the middle trellis, but I just planted another potato vine for that one, too -- full price! It will also help hide the neighbor's yard and stuff.

Unfortunately, I made a mistake with the two, large tropical plants (second After picture, right side). I planted them too close together, and now they're too locked into the soil to move. Those, too, grew from 1-gallon pots planted less than a year ago. (If you see brown on the fatsia japonica, that's from an unusual, four-day frost we had this year. I lost quite a few plants to that.)

By the way, shout out to Lowe's (unsolicited, unpaid) for their clearance racks. My garden would not be nearly as lush as it is without their $1 and $3 pots, some for as much as 80% off. Some are marked down because they have some discoloration or dead branches, but others were fine, probably just overstock. But it's hit and miss, and you have to be dedicated to really mine their clearance rack. During the growing season, I go to Lowe's every week day, at different times of the day. Some days, there's nothing, other days are golden. Sometimes the plants are there in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon. And once they're put on the racks, they go fast.

The Back Forty is not all I've been doing in the yard this year. I'll post more later.