Excellent Time for Starting Spring-Blooming Varieties
If you step outside this morning and are very quiet, you can probably hear the first sigh of spring. In another week or two, you will see the first signs as well, or perhaps you already have. It is definitely in the air.
Despite the record cold (we had icebergs in our lily ponds and just about everyone else got snow), there are buds on many plants and flowers on some.
My favorite bed of Iceland poppies, planted by a generous gardener in front of his or her home on Sunset Boulevard, is in full flower, though coastal gardens like this are naturally ahead of colder inland gardens.
Deciduous magnolias and evergreen pears are making a spectacle of themselves all over town, perhaps because of the cold, and the Los Angeles city tree, the kaffirboom or coral tree, is coming into full flower.
In my own garden, I have azaleas, camellias and abutilons in bloom, and a pot full of sweet peas and sugar peas are blooming and fruiting respectively. Also in full flower are two New Zealand tea trees, a dark red named Ruby and one named Pink Pearl that has pink buds and frilly white flowers that look so much like apple blossoms.
Two rare little bulbs are distinguishing themselves--one called Lapeirousia laxa and one of which I know only half the name, a peach-colored Cyrtanthus . The ornamental oxalis named Grand Duchess is also in full flower, and freesias, alsroemerias and some of those California-bred Oriental poppies are ready to pop. In typically California fashion, not everything is on the same timetable, of course. Some bulbs are just pushing out of the ground. My peach and plum trees are completely dormant, and the roses have just begun to leaf out. Most of the perennials are looking nice and plump but are still only growing--flowers are a ways off yet, though the delphiniums are beginning to thrust up sturdy spikes.
This is all the result of fall planting, but the opportunities to plant are still with us. Right now, for instance, is the perfect time to plant those deciduous magnolias or the New Zealand tea trees. This may be just about the only time of year you will find much of a selection at nurseries, because they tend to carry a good variety of these plants only when the plants are in flower.
New Zealand tea trees, botanically Leptospermum scoparium , are worthy of special note. They bloom for several months in winter and early spring and then sporadically at other times. Their flowers look a lot like fruit tree blossoms and I have always wanted to try growing some near an apple or apricot. Like fruit trees, the blossoms carpet the ground after they fall, so I would also place them near a path or at the edge of a paved area where this carpet could be admired.
The foliage is Mediterranean in appearance, looking somewhat like rosemary, but more prickly. The plants are full and bushy but airy in appearance and will easily grow to 8 feet, though you can keep them pruned at about 6 feet. The flowers come on new growth, so summer pruning actually encourages more flowers in winter. Do not hack away at them with hedge shears, however. Instead, prune out entire branches to reduce the whole without losing any of that graceful, airy look.
Another delightful flower now blooming is commonly called yellow flax, Reinwardtia indica . This is a low shrub or perennial (to about 3 feet) that seems to do best if cut completely to the ground in summer. The flowers are bright, sunny trumpets of yellow, and they bloom the length of the stems. This is a rare plant but easy to grow, and there is at least one source: Hawthorne Nursery, 4519 W. El Segundo Blvd., Hawthorne; (213) 676-8242.
Two excellent choices for this time of the year are primroses and pansies. Primroses--the multicolored English or California types, or the fairy primrose or stocky Primula obconica --are the perfect replacement for impatiens that didn’t make it through the cold (don’t expect those impatiens to bounce back). Pansies are perfect for those bare places out in full sun. If you haven’t a bare spot in the place, both are also great container plants. These two will flower into summer and try to fool you into believing they are permanent parts of the garden. Though they are technically perennials, they are still better treated as annuals; come summer they should be replaced.
Two other spring-blooming flowers that can be started late are calendulas and stock, and some swear that Iceland poppies are best planted now, because their flowers will not get shattered by winter storms, though the poppies blooming right now, which were planted back in the fall, don’t necessarily bear this out. The gorgeous blue and purple cinerarias are best started now--or wait until March, because even the hint of frost will blacken them.
Any of the winter vegetables can still be started, and in the article that appears here by Bill Sidnam, you will be convinced to give the special early varieties of tomatoes a shot. Now is that a sure sign of spring or not?
