Senecio mandraliscae, my favorite plant in the garden this week…

“Blue Chalk Sticks”…isn’t that the best common name ever? I bet even if you had no idea what the plant looked like you’d conjure up a mental image that came pretty close.

Like many of the plants I yearn for Senecio mandraliscae isn’t hardy in my zone 8 garden. However that doesn’t stop me from enjoying these eye-popping blue sticks. I bought a couple of plants a few years ago and have kept them going via fall cuttings, it’s easy!

Of course I would really rather have a permanent sea of blue like I saw in Venice, CA…

Or at the Huntington Gardens.

But since that isn’t possible I simply cut them back in the fall (crop 2012 shown here), let them dry up a bit (the cut ends need to callus over)…

And then stick them in some soil to over winter.

Easy peasy…anyone can do it! Just a single plant for $3.99 and you’re set for life. Come spring I stick them in the ground (soil and roots or just roots, depending on what comes out of the container) and off they go!

The stats…

• Succulent in the Asteraceae (Sunflowers) family, from South Africa
• Winter hardy in zones 10 and 11
• Eventual size in the ground 1-2ft tall, 3 ft wide
• Drought tolerant, likes full sun to only partial shade

What’s your favorite plant in the garden this week? Please share it with us in a comments…

All material © 2009-2013 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Cordyline Cha Cha is my favorite plant in the garden, this week...

That’s it right there in the center, sort of reaching out octopus-like to caress the agave dish planters...

What’s not to love? Strappy foliage that changes from shades of pink/apricot/brown to yellow/green, a manageable size (so far) and it’s reminiscent of a phormium. Oh ya, that hardiness issue is a problem…only being hardy to 20-25F.

Mine's been in the ground since mid summer of 2012. When the first blooming arm of the Echium wildpretii x rocket was removed I ended up with an empty spot in the garden (oh no!) and I remembered these beauties from a visit to Home Depot a couple of months earlier. Luckily they had a one or two left (still mislabeled as Cordyline 'cherry sensation') and I grabbed one, planning to treat it as an annual, but it lived through last winters mild conditions. Here's an image from when I first spotted them at the orange box store...

According to San Marcos Growers: “This plant is part of a series called The Dancing Series with varieties 'Can Can', 'Cha Cha’, 'Polka', 'Salsa' and 'Jive'. They are the result of breeding performed by Peter Fraser of Growing Spectrum Nursery in Waikato, New Zealand”...the Dancing Series!!! Who names these things???

The stats:

• Evergreen perennial from New Zealand
• Eventual size: 3-4ft tall and wide
• Happy in sun or shade (although I wonder if the color would suffer in shade)
• Medium water needs and winter hardy to 20-25F, although I did find one site listing it as hardy to 15F, which would be nice!

Do you have a favorite plant in your garden this week? Please share it with us in the comments below!

All material © 2009-2013 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Hedychium coccineum 'Tara' is my favorite plant in the garden (this week)…

And with those big orange blooms why wouldn’t it be? I bought this ginger at Rare Plant Research in 2010. That year, and the following two, there was only a pair of stems….but this year three! (and three blooms to top them) While the foliage is nice the flowers are what it’s all about with this plant...

Hedychium coccineum 'Tara' is one of the early blooming gingers, and in my experience it blooms every year without fail. I've grown a couple of others (long gone and almost forgotten) but this is the only one I've had success with. According to San Marcos Growers the fragrance of the flowers can be compared to that of a gardenia, but I sadly don’t get a fragrance from them.

That mysterious black thing on the right? It's just the hose...

SMG also notes that: “It was originally identified as a selection of Hedychium coccineum by Brian Mathew, but more recently as a form or hybrid of Hedychium gardnerianum by Hedychium specialist Tom Wood.” For purposes of this post I’m going with the name I bought it under.

The stats:

• perennial from Nepal, in the Zingiberaceae (Gingers) family
• grows 6-8 ft tall, 3-4 wide clumps
• blooms in late summer
• likes plenty of water and sun to part sun conditions
• reportedly winter hardy down to 10F, of course dying to the ground and regrowing in the spring.

While taking these photos I noticed the interesting contrast between the upright orange flowers on ‘Tara’ and the pendulant orange flowers on the Grevillea victoriae on the right (above).

Of course a tropical flower like this deserves a proper blue sky background.

If you've got one please share your favorite plant of the week in the comments below! Here are a few recent fav's from other bloggers which you might enjoy:

Jenni at Rainy Day Gardener: My Favorite Plant of the Week: Heather! Calluna Vulgaris 'Firefly'
Jane aka the MulchMaid: My favorite plant in the garden this week
Peter the Outlaw: Billardiera longiflora, My Favorite Plant in the Garden (this week.)
Kris who's Late to the Garden Party: My favorite plant this week: Brugmansia
Ricki at Sprig to Twig: Opuntia microdasys ‘Bunny Ears’
Hoov and her Piece of Eden: Favorite Plant of the Week

All material © 2009-2013 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Agave americana ‘striata’, my favorite plant in the garden (this week)…

I’m afraid you’re going to be underwhelmed at this week’s favorite. Maybe a little back-story will help? This is a story of persistence and luck.

I first laid eyes on Agave americana ‘striata’ when I visited San Marcos Growers in 2009. Since it was growing in their display garden without a name (two photos below) I called it Agave ‘marmoleum’ because the random stripes on the leaves made me think of marmoleum (the new fangled version of old fashioned linoleum).

Thankfully their Randy Baldwin commented on that post and gave me the name, and my search started.

The next time I ran across it was at the Ruth Bancroft Garden in 2012. It was in their behind-the-scenes nursery, we’d been allowed back there to look at the plants and were pushing our luck trying to buy a couple. I passed on this specimen, I wanted it badly but there were other more healthy looking things calling out to me.

So after that, when I finally did end up with a Agave americana ‘striata’ in my hands I didn’t even recognize it for what it was, it looked so bad. Here it is when I bought it home last fall as part of the agave rescue…

Pretty pathetic right? And those random yellow stripes were just faintly visible. Early this spring I planted it up in a container and placed it in the driveway, near the vegetable stock tanks. I figured this was the best place for it to get a lot of heat (southern exposure, concrete, and a dark wall) and I’d remember to splash some water on it frequently, whenever I waterd the vegetables.

It has rewarded me with lots of new growth and those random yellow stripes I wanted. Now I’ll just need to decide if it goes in the ground next spring or gets potted up to a larger container.

The stats:

• Reaches 6-8 ft wide and 4-6 ft tall (in the ground)
• Wants full sun and is drought tolerant (and of course not moisture tolerant)
• Hardy to 15-20 F
• Native to Mexico

Do you have a favorite in your garden this week? Please share it in the comments below, and if you've got a blog post about it include the link so we all can find it!

All material © 2009-2013 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Clematis tibetana var. vernayi, my favorite plant in the garden (this week)…

Back in March when this Clematis tibetana var. vernayi (my second attempt at growing it, after the first failed miserably) went in the ground I flirted with the idea of adding another. The goal was for it to clamber up and about the pair of metal trellis I had put in place to visually obscure the patio from the entrance to the garden. Never one for a great deal of patience I wanted instant impact.

Thankfully I’d seen this same clematis overtake an entire fence in my friend Scott’s garden and I was able to find the strength to resist the temptation. Instead I added an annual vine on the second trellis (Tropaeolum peregrinum) and hoped for the best. I was not disappointed!

Late July and the clematis had covered the first trellis and jumped over to the second. I tore out the Tropaeolum and started weaving the clematis down through the squares.

This is the tricky angle, the jump from trellis to trellis is about a foot and a half. I'm aware of how scraggly this could look if I don't keep a careful eye on things.

Of course while the foliage is nice the lemon-peel blooms are what I love about this plant.

Actually I should admit there is another vine, Ipomoea multifida, mixed in. I really didn't intend to plant a third but when I saw this one at a nursery I grabbed it, having grown it years ago, I loved the foliage. The clematis had the last laugh though, swallowing it up and only letting the scarlet flowers be seen.

The stats on the clematis:

• perennial vine/climber to 10ft high
• hardy in zones 7b - 10b
• prefers dappled shade to full sun and well drained soil with average water needs

My path to success with this plant has been a long one. I owe a special thanks to Sean Hogan of Cistus Nursery for gifting me this plant not once, twice, but three times. The first time I planted it but it never came back from it's winter nap. Having heard of this unfortunate turn, and knowing how much I loved it, he brought home a second plant from the nursery with the intention of giving it to me during a party at his house. Unfortunately another guest thought it was for him and made off with it. Third time was the charm though as he made sure this one made it's way to me...however as luck would have it that was right before I left town for a visit to London. Not wanting the nursery container to dry out in our September heat it went on a field trip to my friend Patricia's house for safe keeping while I was away. The long and winding road comes to a happy end here.

All material © 2009-2013 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. If this post appears anywhere but on danger garden it has been reposted without permission.

Sansevieria cylindrica, my favorite plant this week (and no, it’s not in the garden)

Since returning home from San Francisco and the Garden Bloggers Fling it’s felt like we’re running a bed and breakfast, one guest after another for the entire month! Not that I’m complaining, as these are all friends and family here to visit and enjoy Portland’s amazing summer weather.

So what does this little tidbit have to do with “my favorite plant?” Well when I was making up the guest bed for the third time I found myself focusing on the Sansevieria cylindrica sitting on the nightstand. It has been ages since I really looked at it, poor thing. I guess it had mentally become furniture after moved it downstairs, out of the way of our Christmas tree about three years ago, and then forgot about it.

Yes three years! Three years in the basement with very little light, practically no water. I mean surely I’ve watered it at some point in those three years? (I did water it right after taking these pictures) Doesn’t it look amazing all things considered? Sure the leaves look a little deflated and it’s rather “splayed” (a sign of not enough light) but it’s still alive…

In better days, when it was in front of a window in the living room, it bloomed. I remember the flower as being very fragrant at night.

So yes, I am blogging about a houseplant, in the summertime when there are plenty of other plants to focus on; I think this one deserves a little praise. There’s a reason sansevieria are in offices and malls all over the world, they’re tough!

The stats:

• Hails from Angola where it can reach 3-4 ft tall and 2-3 ft wide
• Hardy in zones 10a-11
• Prefers cool sun/light shade
• Needs little water. According to San Marcos Growers: “This plant can go weeks between watering (3 week irrigation intervals are suggested); the one thing that usually kills a Sansevieria is overwatering.” (something I definitely haven't done!)

And yes I really did just put pictures of our cheesy basement "guest corner" on the internet, evidently I have no shame...

All material © 2009-2013 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Acanthus sennii, yes…this is my favorite plant in the garden (this week)…

I’ve loved the Acanthus sennii in my front garden for years now even though it never gets much more than 7” tall each season (currently it's only 4"). Earlier this spring I picked up another (a friend had asked me to be on the look-out and while grabbing her one I thought “what the heck” I probably need another one too) and wow…its gone crazy!

It’s my fav this week because I’ve been enjoying watching it react to the sun and heat to protect its tender new growth. Here’s a close up taken early in the morning.

And here’s the same plant later that afternoon.

The super dark stems are pretty cool too...

And of course I have to mention the spikes!

I wonder if mine will ever reach the proportion of the plants I saw at the Chelsea Physic Garden last September?

Here's the plant description from Cistus Nursery: A most unusual species from the highlands of Ethiopia, a shrub to 3 ft or more with silvery green leaves to about 3" wide, ruffle edged and spined, and spikes of nearly red flowers in summer and autumn. Full to part sun; medium or better drainage; and summer water in dry places. The tops are frost hardy into the low 20s °F, dying back but resprouting with vigor to at least the low teens, lower USDA zone 8, and even lower with mulch.

And the short but sweet description from Dancing Oaks Nursery: With dark green spiny leaves (perplexing to non plant addicts) and exotic vermillion red fall flowers on 4 foot stems you'll find a place for this Ethiopian native. 

So I have to ask, what is your favorite plant in your garden right now?

All material © 2009-2013 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.