White Out

Breaking News!!! Snow on Bush! No, not Tony Snow. Not Gee Dubya Bush. That kind of snow job blooms all year round. I'm talking about snowball bush-- Viburnum opulus (Sterile).

With the exception of the last few days (as evidenced by my sunburned shoulders) it has been a cool and grey spring. So snow was late this year.

Monrovia Nursery once again has great information about this lovely spring bloomer whose flower heads are garden show stoppers during their all too brief once a year spring bloom.

An unusual May rain storm is moving through today making the snowballs heavy and droopy. Soon they will begin dropping their flowerettes leaving a snowy carpet underfoot. An extra added attraction: in autumn the leaves turn red providing some seasonal color to an otherwise mostly green southern California fall.

Because this bush is deciduous, I underplant it with some low growing winter blooming flowers such as cineraria. The bare branches also support nasturtiums which have freely reseeded throughout the garden.

At Last, The Wisteria Blooms

I've been trying to grow wisteria ever since I read Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner. Finally in 2004, six blooms appeared on one I planted on the arbor near the Madame Alfred Carriere rose. Then the floods of January 2005 came and the poor thing drowned. But this year, late because of the shade from the Chinese elm in the backyard, the wisteria planted several years ago decided to push out four blooms.

I don't know why I have so much trouble growing wisteria. Southern California should be a perfect place for these vines that can be invasive. A very old wisteria is said to have eaten a house in the San Gabriel Valley. My mother cannot seem to get rid of one planted in the late 60's that nearly succeeded in taking over her greenhouse. New shoots continue to pop up everywhere despite her best efforts at eradication. I should be so lucky. Guess I'll just be thankful for these four beauties and appreciate their fragrance and delicacy and hope for more next year.

Fully Caffeinated

It's May. The sky is gloomy. Just when I feel my heart might break after the last petal falls from that first oh so flamboyant spring rose bloom, I discover on my morning walkabout that the hydrangeas have begun to bloom. Spirits are instantly lifted. It's spring again, despite the persistent marine layer.

Last year I caved in to my love of these spring to summertime charmers and potted up several of them to add to the ones I already had in the ground. White, pink, lavendar and a single blue one. The blue seems unnatural to me and a poor color fit with the purple sheds, so I won't be adding any of the bluing chemicals. Some of the new potted hydrangeas are the repeat bloomers called "Endless Summer." They bloomed right through the very end of autumn last year before I trimmed them back. They wintered over in their pots and are full of blooms ready to pop again. Very satisfying! The mophead style blooms are not as large or full as the standard non repeat blooming macrophylla, but repeat blooming more than compensates.

Throughout the year I feed them coffee grounds and various other fertilizers depending on my mood and theirs. They seem to like this mixed brew as evidenced above.

I recently purchased two climbing hydrangeas. They are purported to cover a house if you aren't careful about pruning them back each winter. Wouldn't that be lovely?

Here are some hydrangea links: http://www.hydrangeashydrangeas.com/
Pete's Hydrangeas: http://www.conweb.com/hydrangea/

Hydrangeas can be propagated from cuttings. Here are some instructions.