Monday, June 15, 2009

'What can i plant in october or november to make my yard beautiful for a june wedding?'

this has come up before on listserves and I always get asked this by clients. it's hard to remember what looked great last june when i'm always asked in october, november, or december. I usually go thru my photos and search thru flowering ones which i took in june [or whichever month i'm searching for]. I've been keeping my eyes open lately and in the spirit of sharing great combinations from the wild which have inspired me, I thought I'd share some findings w/ you all.

my favorite shrub for a june wedding has to be Holodiscus discolor - Oceanspray. even before the flowers open, this is such a beauty w/ it's pink buds opening into frothy white sprays and very delicate leaves. while taking pictures of it yesterday, I asked my friend when he doused himself w/ perfume, and when he replied that he didn't use any, I realized I was catching wiffs of the holodiscus. it's kind of an ephemeral experience, because the scent comes and goes but when it's there, it's very strong and pleasant. here in the east bay, this is the most versatile shrub - does beautifully in full sun, where it gets the most flowers, but very elegant in full but bright shade too - like under high branches of either deciduous or evergreen trees. it works wonderfully on north and east-facing slopes - which is where it is usually found in nature. from my records, it's usually peaking towards the end of june, but as I mentioned, the pink or salmon-colored buds are fabulous throughout the second half of may and on into june.

for planting along w/ oceanspray, I highly recommend lonicera hispidula var.
vacillans - california honeysuckle. they flower at the same time and love the same conditions. they both need extra water for 2-3 yrs to get established well. another great one for combining w/ them is rubus parvifolia - thimbleberry. the very large and soft leaves are bright green and contrast nicely w/ the foliage of the oceanspray and the honeysuckle and they flower for a very long time - kind of sporadically, but the flowers are followed by very attractive berries which are just beginning to turn salmon pink now.

other plants for combining along w/ them are lots of ferns which are looking their best at this time of year. artemisia ludoviciana - white mugwort is too. madrones look very colorful right now w/ their orange/red old leaves and their very bright green new leaves and their bark is getting bright orangeish brown right now too. snowberries leaves are looking their best and they are flowering right now - w/ their beautiful albeit tiny pink and white flowers.

most of the heucheras - alumroots are flowering now. some of them have large sprays of tiny white and pink flowers and others have much more robust, deep rose pink flowers held in more compact sprays. Heuchera grow great in containers too and between their brightly colored foliage and tall sprays of flowers, they are a complete arrangement for indoor tables on their own.

as far as ferns: the lady fern in particular looks amazing right now - if it has been reliably watered. coastal wood fern is the best choice for a more drought-tolerant landscape. lady fern grows incredibly fast - as long as there is moisture present, but as soon as the soil dries completely, it collapses into a heap. it can grow from a tiny baby fern into a full-grown four ft mass of bright green lace in a single year under the right conditions. lady fern combines w/ anything which has red, orange, blue or purple and looks spectacular growing w/ japanese painted ferns [non-native, duh!].

for a may or early june wedding, you can't beat Heracleum lanatum - the giant cow parsnip. you want to plant one year old plants because they don't flower in their first year, but given the right conditions, they look really amazing. they look best planted en masse [you only need 5 of them to create the mass because of their very large size. the best conditions for them are where they will receive direct sunlight for 2 hours a day and bright shade for the rest of the day. try to place them where they will be in sunlight at the time of the special event. even off in the distance, they will make a beautiful impression on everyone.

another shrub which is peaking in beauty right now and can be used in either shade or sun is our cast-iron reliable coffeeberry. it flowers in may and is producing beautiful, multi-colored berries june through august. Carpenteria californica - California Bush Anemone flowers may thru the middle of june, and continues w/ a few stragglers to the end of june is carpenteria - another cast iron reliable for light shade to almost full sun and interesting seedpods too.

Clarkia concinna ssp. raichei - Raiche's Red Ribbons is one of the most beautiful annual wildflowers for light to full shade. Nothing brings color to shady spots like that plant.

for the full sun areas, buckwheats are budding right now and the buds are really beautiful - particularly on eriogonum grande rubescens and the many california buckwheats - eriogonum fasciculatums. even those w/ white flowers have pink buds right now. I also love the looks of eriogonum latifolium in all stages. these combine well w/ other plants which are looking great right now - john dourley manzanita, sunset manzanita, and the pajaro manzanitas- w/ their colorful bronzey red foliage. other plants flowering in full sun right now are eriophyllum cofertiflora - golden yarrow, eriophyllum lanatum - wooly sunflowers, clarkia rubicunda- ruby chalice clarkias, linum lewisii- blue flax, yarrow is beginning to flower.
although the local ninebark finished flowering a few weeks ago, the seedpods have turned a nice rosey apple red color and the sierra ninebarks are peaking. the sierra golden currant - ribes aureum var. aureum is still flowering it's incredibly fragrant flowers in may and early june. Mock orange - Philadelphus lewisii started to flower last week. I especially like the cultivar called 'Coville' for it's smaller size and neat habit as well as for lots of blooms. the local serviceberry flowered a couple months ago, but it's also very colorful right now w/ it's many large blueberries which range in color from bright red to deep purple and everything in between. For a much larger, gorgeous shrub/tree which grows fast, has beautiful foliage, and outstanding flowers, I always recommend Blue Elderberry. The flowers are kind of creamy yellow at the beginning of june, but are almost all turning bright white by the end of june. these should always be planted where the soil is heavy and stays wet all winter [they can dry out in summer once established]. if you need to have a large, tall shrub which looks established in less than a year and has gorgeous flowers and berries, plant a Red Elderberry and if the location isn't naturally wet throughout the year, soak it w/ water once per week and a 5 gal plant can become a 7-8 ft tall by 5' around bush loaded w/ white flowers / red berries
- in full sun - in less than a year. in mid-june, the cleveland sages open up their beautiful purple flowers all at once. these are easy plants which come in a variety of sizes and shades of purple and mature in a matter of months.

and for the piece de la resistance [I can't find my accents right now], the most beautiful california native wildflower of all is Trichostema lanatum - Wooly Blue Curls. [unfortunately, it can be a bit touchy to get established
- it really needs to be planted in the beginning of the rainy season].

I've been noticing which plants are real magnets for bees at the nursery.
the big surprise for me this year has been the beautiful Phacelia californica. this is an easy plant to grow and the lavendar flowers are BEAUTIFUL and the bumblebees go bonkers for them! plus, they flower dependably and throughout june w/ a little bit of water. another great wildlflower for shady areas is phacelia bolanderi - bolander's phacelia.
this is a real reliable plant which can almost be considered a groundcover for shady gardens. another very unusual flower which the bumblebees are fighting over is the napa false indigo - Amorpha californica var. napensis.
The flowers are kind of odd and not too significant to us anyways, but this tall, fast-growing shrub is very attractive for it's bright green, almost tropical-looking foliage. it grows normally in sunny canyon bottoms as well as along the steep walls of deep canyons. It can take full sun to substantial shade - like what you have under a buckeye is ideal.

here's some links to some photos of these plants.

Oceanspray:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastbaywilds/sets/72157605951823252/
Thimbleberry:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastbaywilds/sets/72157594411875186/
Cal Honeysuckle:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastbaywilds/sets/72157594537067233/
Alumroots: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastbaywilds/sets/72157605910117452/

Lady Fern: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastbaywilds/sets/72157600058764277/

various ferns:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastbaywilds/sets/72157601479396437/
White mugwort:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastbaywilds/sets/72157601494429442/
Blue Elderberry:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastbaywilds/sets/72157594283251420/
Red Elderberry:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastbaywilds/sets/72157606043171676/
Coffeeberry:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastbaywilds/sets/72157600248927457/
Buckwheats:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastbaywilds/sets/72157600999528122/
Golden Yarrow:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastbaywilds/sets/72157619521159484/
Wooly Sunflowers:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastbaywilds/sets/72157605914243529/
Ruby Chalice Clarkias:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastbaywilds/sets/72157619765369366/
Blue Flax:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastbaywilds/sets/72157619767434742/
Ninebark: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastbaywilds/sets/72157594411877284/
Clarkias: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastbaywilds/sets/72157601886878221/
Raiches red ribbons:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastbaywilds/sets/72157619767548332/
Mock Orange:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastbaywilds/sets/72157608066783366/
Serviceberry:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastbaywilds/sets/72157605909403080/
Cleveland Sage:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastbaywilds/sets/72157618063813080/
Wooly Blue Curls:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastbaywilds/sets/72157619389563685/
California Phacelia:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastbaywilds/sets/72157618756310697/
Napa False Indigo:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastbaywilds/sets/72157619767392844/
Snowberries:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastbaywilds/sets/72157594411894174/

happy gardening!

1 comment:

Country Mouse said...

Pete this is a wonderful post for me as I am planning a north-facing woodland slope restoration and many of the plants you mention grow natively here (Santa Cruz Mountains 6 miles behind Soquel). I particularly want to propagate Holodiscus discolor and thimbleberry from local native shrubs - do you have any propagation tips? Thanks!