While at the Botanic Garden in Phoenix I photographed this plant (there was no plant label).  I assumed it was a Phlomis and that I would be able to find its name and hopefully be able to buy some seeds easily when I returned home.  It isn’t in any of my books and a quick search on line hasn’t thrown up anything similar.  Any ideas would be gratefully received. Thank you

This sight welcomed us to the garden!

Something a bit different for GBFD this month.  The foliage in my garden hasn’t really changed significantly since December; maybe the foliage of some of the roses is a little redder, but that is all, so I thought I would write something about my trip to the US that I promised to do in an earlier post.

I was very fortunate to spend 3 weeks travelling from San Francisco to the North California Coast and then via the Sonoma Valley to Reno; then a flight to Phoenix and a New Year’s Day visit to Frank Lloyd Wright’s summer house and the Botanic Garden in Phoenix before continuing to the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park and Chico.  A lot of travelling but it was all wonderful, I’ve never visited the States before and after this first experience I really hope to be able to visit again.

I will write about some of my impressions of Native plants in a future post but I think Cactus is a good subject for foliage day.  Firstly I should admit that cactus and succulents are not my favourite plants, I’m not someone who has a cactus sitting on their kitchen windowsill and to be honest I don’t really understand how anyone can love them!

However, the plantings in the Botanic Garden were fantastic.  For more than 70 years, the Desert Botanical Garden has been teaching and inspiring visitors from the local community and around the world, providing research, exhibits designed to help us understand, protect and preserve the desert’s natural beauty.

The Garden consists of the following areas Ottosen Entry Garden, Desert Discovery Loop Trail, Plants & People of the Sonoran Desert Loop Trail, Sonoran Desert Nature Loop Trail, Center for Desert Living Trail, Steele Herb Garden, Harriet K. Maxwell Desert Wildflower Loop Trail, Sybil B. Harrington Cactus & Succulent Galleries and Berlin Agave Yucca Forest.

We visited all of the areas except for the Desert Wildflower loop as it was the wrong time of year for there to be any flowers.  Each loop showed with naturalistic plantings the different types of desert landscapes.  The day was very warm, I hadn’t realised it would be so hot and had to borrow a cotton top.

The textures, forms and colours above are every bit as satisfying as any garden I know.

The whole garden was brilliantly designed; there were glass cactus at the entrance giving an interesting welcome to the garden.

Glass Cactus

I found it fascinating that for almost every plant group that I am familiar with in my Mediterranean climate there was a desert plant or cactus that was similar.  The plant world is truly a miracle, plants to fill every niche and environment.

Tall, like trees, Organ Pipe Cactus

I was surprised by some of the colours, I had thought cactus were all more or less the same green, but not at all!

I really liked the purple colour of these

This cactus looks as good back lit as any grass!

The garden was open into the evening and because it was the Christmas season some of the plants were decorated with lights.  All the other lighting was well designed to throw light down where it was needed but not cause light pollution.

Some fun Artwork was placed around the garden.  These took the form of giant insects which amused the many children and adult visitors alike.

For me this garden proved “Right plant – right place” really works.  All the plants were healthy growing in the conditions they needed and because of this they were beautiful!  Also plants needing the same conditions usually look good together.  I believe that sometimes when I’m dissatisfied with a planting combination it is because the plants are from different climates or environments; even Mediterranean climate plants from different continents don’t actually always work well together.

Agave macroacantha

I have an area of my garden (separated from the rest of the garden) on very thin soil exposed to the South; I have been wondering what I could do with space.  Not too tender cactus might work and I do appreciate Agaves but maybe I am learning some new things and what I should do is plant Things from the dryer parts of the Mediterranean.

I do hope you will join Garden Bloggers Foliage Day and share what foliage is looking at its best in your garden or foliage you’ve seen and enjoyed elsewhere.  Please just leave a comment with the link to your post.  I know that Alberto at Altroverde has some lovely photos of hoar frost which I’m almost envious of, but I am actually quite happy that it isn’t quite that cold here.

Here are some from the last few days.

A quick reminder that Sunday is the 22^nd of the month; I hope you’ll join in Garden Bloggers Foliage Day; winter is the time of year when foliage plays such an important role in the garden.

Cold but beautiful

A few clouds make it even better

Even the sky to the East had lovely colours

Nature really does know how to put on a show.

I hope you are enjoying some beautiful sunsets too.

An apology to my blogging friends that I haven’t had time to leave comments on my favourite blogs while I’ve been away, I did manage to read and enjoy some but internet access wasn’t always available to me.  A very Happy New Year to you all and I’m looking forward to seeing all your gardens in 2012

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I arrived home; I’d heard there had been cold weather and lots of snow in the north of Italy and thought it likely that even in mid-Italy the weather would have been much colder than we I left.  But although there had been a couple of colder days and certainly much colder nights the garden still has flowers and even the fennel in the vegetable garden is still edible, just, which is a sure sign there wasn’t a heavy ground frost where it is planted.

I was welcomed home by the perfume of Lonicera fragrantissima, which definitely lives up to its name.

Most of the flowers on winter flowering shrubs are relatively small but often with an intense perfume to attract the few pollinating insects that are flying.

This Elaeagnus has been flowering since the end of September.

Rosemary has also been flowering for several months.

Groundcover Verbena is still doing a great job of covering the soil and stopping the weeds.

This is another groundcover plant I should be dividing to have many more of. I think they flower every month of the year.

Teucrium always flowers early in the year

More surprising are the confused Achillea ‘Summerwine’,

and Abutilon, especially remembering that the Abutilon was knocked back to the ground by the cold temperatures of last winter.

The buds I showed last month on the Nandino haven’t opened yet but do look very attractive with the berries from last spring’s flowers and the winter red foliage.

It is not so unusual to have roses flowering in December but by January they are normally ready to be pruned; I was very pleasantly surprised to find several roses putting on a show for me today.

Yellow rose on pillar on the terrace

R. Clair Matin, also on a pillar

R .Queen of Sweden

The China Rose, has flowered since October

R. Gertrude Jekyll

One of the many blooms, single during the winter, of R. Sally Holmes

R, ‘Stanwell Perpetual’ has also flowered almost continuously since October

A hopeful bud on R. Scepter’d Isle

Strangely this Buddleia seems happier in winter than in summer when I expected it to thrive!

Cerinthe are beginning to flower but are a little later than other years to be blooming profusely.

To visit gardens where it really is summer visit Carol at Maydreams Garden to find Bloomday posts from around the world.

Thank you Carol for hosting this meme that we all enjoy so much, have a very happy gardening year in 2012, I look forward to reading about your garden and your ideas this coming year.

I have been fascinated by all the incredible wildlife that visits your gardens from humming birds that I have never even actually seen to friendly robins.

I didn’t want to write a long review of the year, I’m sure you are all far too busy at this time of year to want to read about my plans for the garden in 2012 so I thought I would just give you the images that I’ve like enough to use as my screensavers; Sometimes I’m lazy and I don’t change it every month or I like the image so much I don’t want to change it.

February, tiny violas found under the olives

I love the winter sunsets - February

Frosted leaves, yes we do get frosts in Italy!

Tulips- my favourite flower?

more tulips

Tulips with Euphorbia

I kept this as my screensaver for ages, I was so pleased with it

Early May

Of course Nature does mass planting best

Mid-May the garden is full of flowers

I wish you could smell these

Lavender and Perovskia

A bee enjoying the Hamerocallis

The view from my kitchen window, early July

Late August and light is the protagonist in the garden

September sunset

Early October, subtle colour and texture

Early November and there's still a lot of colour

December 11th last screen saver of the year

So there you have it, My Hesperides Garden in 2011. I know that 2012 may be a difficult year for many of us in many different ways but I hope that for gardeners and bloggers everywhere it will be happy and full of all the plants and flowers you would like.

Thank you for all your comments and help with identifying plants and I look forward to reading about your gardens and the plants and wildlife they contain in 2012.  Christina

For checking if you have good form and texture in the garden you can’t beat looking at you photographs in black and white.  This is not my idea, books recommend trying this and Janet at Plantaliscious often uses this method to learn about her garden. In this way you aren’t distracted by coloured flowers.  If you think your garden looks attractive in black and white I’m sure it looks amazing in colour.

Here’s a few examples, why don’t you try a few too and link into Garden Bloggers Foliage Day to share your findings.  Thanks so much for joining in this month but if you are too busy preparing for the Christmas festivities why not try it for January.

The left side border

I’m surprised at just how good this border looks in December in black and white.  Here it is in colour:

I almost prefer it in black and white, which I think is interesting.

Skeletal branches of the trees contrast with the mass of clipped lavender and grasses give lightness and movement

In colour its like this

The Miscanthus ‘Morning Light’ sings out even without colour

Looking up the bank, the groundcover foliage plants are making quite an impact

Sometimes it is the foliage that is beautiful or interesting when viewed close-to, as in this Euphorbia which seems almost to be deformed but I remember that some were like this last year and they still grew normally.

Euphorbia

This morning I awoke to a ground-frost, so just to prove that Italy is cold in winter here are some icy shots to finish.

Foliage is even more silvery with frost

Rather elegant black grass edged in frost

Please leave a comment with your link, thank you. Christina

Rosa Clair Matin has been flowering profusely since May

Almost all the roses have some blooms, they had more before the rain on Monday but hey, it’s December.  Other plants I wouldn’t expect to see blooming now (would I really expect anything?) is Lavender, the Philadelphus, and the orange Abutilon – this seems to have more flowers than at any time during this year.

Philadelphus

Papery Abutilon adding some unseasonal orange to the garden

Looking back at last December, there were quite a lot of roses then too and one Lavender plant had flowers, but a different variety than the one flowering now.  But I also posted images of frost covered foliage in early December 2010 and we haven’t had any yet this year although snow is forecast for next Monday!  With this in mind I moved the pots of lemons, limes and oranges into the greenhouse which suddenly feels very small (what will I do when the citrus all grow?).  I picked the limes before moving them, they are losing their green colour, I think they are over ripe; I’m surprised there are 18 limes, I’m going to juice them freezing some juice for Thai recipes and I may drink the rest, I like lime juice.

I should have taken the photographs yesterday as it was a calm sunny day, but I like to be honest and take the photos on the day I’m actually writing the post and today was cloudy, dull and worse for the photographs it was very windy.  I apologise now that some images are not focused as well as they should be.  Please click on the image below to see everything that is blooming today.

View towards the circular bed

Despite the numerous flowers in the garden to be really honest what I’m enjoying most is the structure of the garden and the foliage; don’t forget to join me on 22^nd December for GBFD (Garden Bloggers Foliage Day) – forget the presents, forget the Mince pies and the shopping, get out into the garden and see what foliage is performing for you.

If you’re new to GBFD you can hopefully be inspired to write a post yourself by viewing last month’s post here.

I took the photos yesterday when it was cloudy and we had showers so the light is very different from all images I’ve shown in the last few weeks.  We are fast approaching the shortest day so at least I feel winter won’t be too long and after the celebrations to come the days will slowly be getting longer again and we can look forward to a new growing season.

Seedheads are now the strongest feature in the small island bed

The silhouette of bare branches provides a stark backdrop to the garden

It’s always good to look closely; I found this very strange insect on this Achillea seedhead; it looks like some kind of stick insect which I have found many times in the garden.

Twisted seed pods of Asclepias tuberosa have lost their seeds to the wind, but I already have some germinated seeds from earlier pods.

Crab apples give some bright colour to the upper drive border

As do Nadino berries to the large island bed

rosehips contrast with the leaves of MiscanthusGarlic chives

Papery garlic chives again hopefully dropping their seeds to extend the clump

I love the complex form of white Phlomis

Phlomis fruticosa

Delicate Perovskia is more beautiful in close-up than when seen as a mass of ghostly stems.

Drumstick Allium (this is part of the Allium stream shown earlier in the year)

Sedum, Pennisetum villosa, Verbena bonariensis, grasses and sheep adding to the view

Contrasting grasses – Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Karl Foerster', Miscanthus ‘Morning Light’ and a smaller Miscanthus

Still looking attractive on this dull December day

Perhaps a seed-head post coming soon?

Unbelievably the weather has remained spring-like all this month.  The mornings are chilly, and there is always heavy dew, a good thing as there hasn’t been much rain, a couple of showers and that’s it.  Some mornings the dew has looked like frost but no plants show any signs of frost damage.  I am still picking strawberries not many but it is lovely to have them at this time of year.  This is the first time I’ve ever grown strawberries as in England we lived near a pick-your-own and it never seemed worth the space to grow them.  In Italy they are only available in the shops for a relatively short time.  I didn’t even expect a great crop this year but I’ve been amazed at the quantity and quality of fruit.

I still have some peppers growing outside and they still ripening slowly.

Peppers in the vegetable garden

The two grafted plants in the greenhouse didn’t produce all that well during the summer, I think it was too hot and probably they needed even more water than I gave them.  Now they have grown to over one and a half metres and have lots of peppers that are ripening well.  They are larger and more ‘meaty’ than during summer.  A couple of weeks again when I was listening to the podcast of Gardeners Question Time it was mentioned that a trail is being done to find out if peppers will over winter in a cold greenhouse during the British winter, this has encouraged me to think that I will try to grow these two plants as perennials.  The programme suggested that during the coldest weather the plants would need to be cut back to the thick, almost woody, main stem.  As the grafted plants should have a large established root system now, I am hoping that if they do survive the winter, the root system will be better at taking up all the water available and that they will produce more even during the very high temperatures of July and August.  The plants are covered in fruit and I have pinched out the all the growing shoots and picked off the top flowers hoping that all the fruit will ripen.  I will let you know how they progress.

I mentioned some time ago that I wanted to plant some fruit trees in an area that is outside the fence in a zone protected from the north winds by the slope of the land and a tuffo ‘cliff’ – I’m not sure what you’d call it really; the perennial weeds were removed and it was all ready to plant when the flood from the surrounding field engulfed the area in a layer of mud.  This occurred in September and the ground is still very damp.  After the flood lots more creeping grass (gramigna) grew as the farmer had spread seed to grow to feed his sheep!  So last week I went and chose some trees.  I wanted to try some peaches and was, as usual, pleasantly surprised by the variety on offer at my local supplier.  I opted for three peaches which should fruit in July, September and October; I chose late flowering and fruiting varieties as having tasted those available in the shops these later varieties have a more interesting flavour and the late flowering should mean that they won’t be damaged by a late frost as has happened repeatedly with an Apricot that I planted in the vegetable garden as quite a large specimen and that I intend removing.  I also planted a cherry.  I want to try and grow the peaches as espaliers but I couldn’t buy whips so will have to try and prune the small trees as best I can – any advice would be very gratefully received.

I thought it was, perhaps, a German variety.

An amusing addendum to the purchase of the above is the labels, some of which were handwritten, obviously incorrectly copying the English Red Haven and changing it to Rhedaven!

The intention is to put up posts and wires to train the peach trees

What else is happening?  Well, despite the mild, warm, sunny days most of the plants know that winter is approaching and their leaves have changed colour or they have dropped.  The wisteria is still hanging on but only just.  There seem to be more leaves that have changed colour this year rather than just losing their leaves, this must be a result of the long, slow, gentle change from summer to autumn to winter.

Wisteria leaves against a blue sky

Walking around the garden today it was the light that I found so enjoyable – the sun is so high in the sky in comparison to in England, for me it made the day seem like a day in September or May; it was so pleasantly warm and the sky such an intense blue I just wanted to soak in the moment.

Rosa Westerland’s sunny colour seems to sum up the warmth of the day.

Even though the Gaura was still blooming in the circular rose bed I decided the time had come to free the roses from the heavy growth that was choking them.  The small seedlings I had left in the bed last year had grown dramatically, instead of a small root system there were tuber-like, hand-sized roots with a huge capacity to store nutriments and water.  Many of these I’ve potted up; someone will surely want them next year, many I’ve moved onto the slope where due to the hot spring some of the small seedlings I’d moved there last autumn hadn’t survived the summer; I’m more hopeful that these larger plants will establish during winter and will be able to withstand the drought next year.  It is nice to see the rose bushes again and they will surely benefit from the light and air; I really must keep the remaining Gaura in check and not allow them to choke everything else next year – perhaps the Chelsea chop will slow them down.   A Pennisetum villosum had seeded into the edge of the bed and is now a full sized plant, I need to move it elsewhere but I’m not quite sure where.

R. Sophie's Perpetual struggling through the Gaura before clearing the bed

The bed looks very bare but at least the roses can now breathe!

The garden reveals its treasures in a relaxed way, the days make you want to linger and search for all that is changing.  My last image is an Arbutus – its shiny, evergreen leaves combining with the ‘strawberry’ fruit and white flowers to attract a still-active bumble bee, it is a different variety than I usually see in the garden.