Far Out Flora

Gardening in the Outerlands of San Francisco

Tag Archives: Salvia africana-lutea

Driftwood Insanity in the Sunset

March 17, 2012 by Megan | 28 Comments

Succulent driftwood container of happiness

About two years ago I blogged about this rock star of a garden in Outer Sunset. While walking the dog a couple weeks ago I ran in to it again and  it’s gotten better with age. Whoever created this work of garden awesomeness rocks! It’s on 44th avenue around Pacheco maybe (I can’t remember, but I’m pretty sure it’s south of Noriega).

Aeonium nobile

Succulents on the street

Ceanothus and super sweet fence

The fence was still a work in progress last time we visited, but we knew it was going to turn out amazing. Now I want to copy it. Looks like they used bits of reclaimed wood mixed in with driftwood. Hurray for Ceanothus bloom time!

The border

Sexy Salvia africana-lutea

My all time favorite Salvia. It’s gotta be the orangey-rust blooms. Now I know I planted ours in a ridiculous spot seeing how big they get. Ooops. I seem to have a problem with size denial… “It won’t really get THAT big”.

More happy border

Driftwoody container

This place is definitely worth swinging by if you’re in the neighborhood. Be sure to check out the best succulent garden on the Great Highway while you’re at it.

Ripping Out Spring

July 1, 2011 by Megan | 13 Comments

Papaver 'Drama Queen' alive

Word on the street is that it’s officially summer. Ummm, it rained a couple days ago. That shouldn’t happen this time of the year in our parts. So far the fog hasn’t been too bad, but it’s not August yet. Above is sweet innocent ‘Drama Queen’ maybe a day before I ripped it out. I think it knew it’s time was coming. It suddenly put on the best flower show ever in an effort to woo me from killing it.

Compost heaven

It didn’t work. Look, I’m not even sad about stuffing it in the compost bin. When I pulled it out not a lot of root action was going on.  There was a gopher attack on Papaver ‘Greek’ right next to it and I think that it hit her, too. That might explain the sudden floppiness. Next year I want to give Papaver hybridum ‘Black Swan’ a shot.

Bright light, bright light!

This is the sketchy super sunny “after” shot. I’m giving three dark leaved Dahlias a shot. Everyone told me they’ll get powdery mildew being in the foggiest part of town, but I want to see which of the three holds up best out here in the outerlands. So far so good. I probably planted them too close together, and now I’m a little worried it’s not sunny enough. We’ll see what happens. That sad looking guy in the pot is Dianthus superbus ssp. speciosus (it was getting smooshed by the queen). Oh yeah, those sticks are puppy plant guards. The neighbor’s dog likes to mess with newly planted plants.

The three test subjects are:
Dahlia coccinea‘Orange Hybrids’
Dahlia ‘Dark Side of the Sun’
Dahlia x hybrida ‘Bishop’s Children’

Here’s a shot before I ripped out ‘Barry Dare’. Can’t say this was the best sweet pea choice I’ve ever made. I now know that I like the smaller leaved, old school sorts like ‘Cupani’ (best sweet pea ever) more. Barry had powdery mildew issues, and it’s flowers were more of a deep hot pink than red. Keep an eye out for the coolest new sweet pea ever from Annie’s next spring (I forget it’s name, but it looks like a purpley blue watercolor and smells great).

Matti and the Tropaeolum tuberosum

Matti and I had our eye on this nasturtium vine thing at Flora Grubb a few weeks ago, and then like magic it turned up in the loser (free for Matti) plant pile! After a little clean up Matti planted in the sweet pea spot.

Tropaeolum tuberosum

It sounds like Tropaeolum tuberosum (Mashua) can go crazy and take over the world, but we’re willing to take the risk. It’s tuberous roots are edible, and have been shown to reduce testosterone levels in rats in tests. If we end up hating it, we can always dig it up and eat it. It’s native to the Andes. I’m excited to see it in flower.

New plant excitement!

A week ago I posted about wanting Salvia africana-lutea.  Matti brought one home for me! Hope everyone has an awesome 4th of July weekend! We’ve got all kinds of gardeny projects planned.

 

 

Sweet SF Botanical Garden

June 23, 2011 by Megan | 7 Comments

Verbascum 'Letitia' looking cute

I’m still a little lame about my total lack of plant names from Ruth Bancroft Garden, so I’m going to try and redeem myself with plants with botanical names from a couple visits to SF Botanical Garden over the last two weeks. In late April I graduated as an official docent, so once a month you’ll find me wearing a really cool apron next to a table (interpretive station) getting excited about plants. So far it’s been super fun.

Who the heck knew Verbascum came in a cute little shortie form? It’s going nuts in the cool rock garden circle at the main gate. While googling ‘Letitia’ I came across a cool little online nursery I’ve never been to before that specializes in rockery plants Wrightman Alpines. Check it out, lots of cool shorty plants, and interesting stuff.

Primula vialii

Bizarro, I just looked up Primula vialii and I think this is some sort of mutant flower. They’re supposed to be pointy on top instead of flat. It looks like the flower crested. Also called fasciation, here’s what wikipedia has to say about this freaky plant happening: “Fasciation (or cresting) is a condition of plant growth in which the apical meristem, normally concentrated around a single point, producing approximately cylindrical tissue, becomes elongated perpendicularly to the direction of growth, producing flattened, ribbon-like, crested, or elaborately contorted tissue. The phenomenon may occur in the stem, root, fruit, or flower head.” Our graptopetalums do it all the time.

California Native paradise

Phacelia, Layia platyglossa, Gilia tricolor and the poppies were going nuts last weekend in the native garden. It’s looking pretty awesome.

Wachendorfia thrysiflora

Gotta love the South African section. I’m strangely fascinated by Wachendorfia thrysiflora. It’s huge!

Kniphofias in yellow

There’s lots of Kniphofia action going on right now. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that our Kniphofia northiae will bloom this summer. It’s getting pretty big and popping out babies.

Salvia africana-lutea

This might sound crazy, but we haven’t jammed a Salvia in our backyard yet. I think this might be the one. It’s common name is “Beach Salvia”, and as it ages the flowers turn deeper orange and then brown. It doesn’t mind hanging out next to the foggy, wind infested coast (I’m a little bitter about the fog and it being 57 degrees at 5:30PM). Summer is not my favorite season in San Francisco. We live in the foggiest (cheapest) part of town.

Matti and the Mega Bartlettina sordida

Wholly gigantoid ageratum like monster!!!! Bartlettina sordida is native to cloud forests. As much as I bitch about the fog, I really should appreciate the amazing plants we’re able to grow that ONLY thrive in our cool summers and mild winters. More pics from Strybing are here if ya want to check them out.