The Chelsea Flower Show Part 1

Well, summer is here in SoCal! We had 111ºF  BLOWTORCH weather last Monday that fried many of my roses.  And we are still in a drought!  My garden has sandy soil.  Yes it IS fabulous for drainage, but the water just goes right through! I have added too many truckloads to count of horse manure mulch. But it's not enough. Had I been smart enough I would have added a lot more mulch before I even planted. But I had waited 1 year and a half to plant and could not wait any more.  I pulled out 6 bushes so far. And most of the rest have brown leaves that I tried to hose off waiting for new growth to occur.

So, while we wait for my garden to recover here are some pix from the amazing Chelsea Flower Show in London, England last month!

Me with the logo

The cactus at first glance looked like dessert plates! 

Nerines were beautiful! 

Daffodil display was spectacular! 

More Daffodils

Wow, those Delphinuims and Tuberous Begonias! 

That's it for today. Stay tuned for more Chelsea Flower Show pix.  And keep cool. We are expecting upper 90ºs through Weds.  Happy Gardening! 

Trachelium

I have grown this plant several times. I seem to get a few years out of it. But I LOVE it! It's a tender perennial called Trachelium caeruleum(say Trak-EL-EE-um) or Blue Throatwort.  It is called that because it used to be used for throat ailments. It grows best for me in part shade but is said to grow in full sun too.  It is native to the Mediterranean and grows 2- 3' tall.  It is a fantastic cut flower filler.  Trachelium is hardy in zones 7-11. It also comes in white and some lighter blue/purples.  I have a friend who says it reseeds in her yard.  

Happy Gardening! 

Little Spot of Color

While I work on our London & Paris pix(stay tuned for Chelsea Flower Show pix!), here is a little spot of color blooming in my garden today. It's Anomatheca laxa, a dime sized flower on a tiny bulb that is now called Freesia laxa. Grows only about 6" tall. Not sure why they changed the name but they must have a reason. I hate when they change plant names! Most Freesias are easy to find in nurseries. But I bet there's a ton of exotic varieties of which we've never heard. I've never seen this plant for sale. I have a client who has a ton of them that come up and flower every Spring who shared them with me. These are in a bit of shade and that's why they're blooming later than the rest of mine that are in sun. We had 98* here yesterday and it's supposed to be 93* today. My roses are frying so it's nice to see a little color.