Checking in on the Long Beach garden, it feels a little like cleaning up after a party that you weren’t invited to. In summer’s aftermath, it’s all about reading the seedpods and dessicated growth for clues of what vegetative frivolity transpired while I was away. (I last saw the garden in May 2025.)
Judging by the amount of dried bloom stalks to cut down, the anigozanthus had a good summer and bloomed well. Aloe lukeana had several dried bloom stalks. The horned poppy romped through the succulents, smothering them like party bunting in yards of foliage and dried seedheads. But once all the tumbleweeds of summer growth were cleared, the garden re-emerged as I remember it. This holding pattern is of course a relief but also a little bittersweet. It’s the day-to-day adjustments and experiments (and weeding!) that keep a garden fresh and exciting, only possible when living with it full time.
Multiple tree-like sonchus staged a takeover, and older woody specimens where thinned, leaving a few young rosettes. Other insistent reseeders included Manihot grahamii. The canopy of the manihot, a small tree, was cut but the 2″ trunk remains along with dozens of its progeny. Couch grass infests everything, and there’s days left of weeding to deal with it.
It’s a lot to ask any garden to manage on its own for six months, but once again I’m thrilled and relieved to find the garden holding itself together somehow.
The garden is scruffy and shaggy with sesleria, which needs raking, but one of this grass’ striking virtues is being able to withstand the infiltration of couch grass. Removing this weed winding through the base of the big aloes has been the trickiest job yet. Yards of dessicated, skeletonized stuff like African basil were pulled. Silvery-leaved Geranium harveyi, so beautiful when I left the garden in April, couldn’t handle the dry summer. But a vibrant dwarf copper canyon daisy, Tagetes lemonii, somehow continued to bloom despite the excessively dry conditions. Working near the daisy releases that offbeat pineappley scent, heavy with tropical resin notes.
Overall, though, it’s the herbaceous stuff that causes the most work, either from reseeding like the sonchus, manihot, Geranium maderense, euphorbias, Tinantia pringlei and Verbena bonariensis, or smothering summer growth, like the glaucium horned poppy. Still, a lot of issues were caused not by reseeders and weeds but by the growth of maturing plants.
A couple of large restios had to be moved and planted elsewhere, and the deferred decision was finally made to remove the dwarf “golfball” pittosporum, which was needing a lot of clipping to keep to 4×4′. A really good alternative to a box orb, I hated to sacrifice the pittosporum but couldn’t get enough root to move it.
A neighbor came by to water infrequently, which I think helped with the potted plants even if they were only spritzed superficially. The ground was bone-dry.
The drive south from Oregon was harrowing the first day, battered by an atmospheric river and relentlessly pounding winds. We took three days, two nights this time, and stayed the first night in Brookings, near the California/Oregon border. Driving through the little town, I wasn’t sure I could trust my eyes. Wasn’t that a tree aloe in someone’s garden? Salvia leucantha and a large Agave americana also whizzed by as we drove out of town. Checking the phone proved I wasn’t hallucinating. Brookings is considered the “banana belt” of Oregon coastal towns. Really cool working harbor too.
Rain predicted all weekend, what a godsend. More soon, AGO.
That first shot is beautiful and your garden’s already looking great, Denise. I suspect that clearing space and pulling weeds is somewhat therapeutic after a long absence. Couch grass has become an issue in my south-side garden too – the roots of those weeds appear to go VERY deep.
I expect your ground is dry no more! We got a steadier soaking today than yesterday and we’ll get some more overnight with a pause much of Sunday, followed by more showers on Monday. My tally is just 1.05 inches since Thursday night but my rooftop rain meter was clogged so I may have missed some part of the total before it was unclogged this afternoon. Weather Spark showed a higher total, at least for RPV as a whole.
That first photo kind of shocked me. The open space between the plants isn’t something I’d expect to see in your garden. Once I read on though I understood. I cannot imagine what my garden would look like if left to it’s own devices since May. It wouldn’t be pretty that’s for sure.
I’ve been trying to get to Brookings since we moved to Oregon back in 2004. Two trips were planned in some detail then cancelled. I’m scheming on #3 for this summer, wish me luck.
It must be exciting to reconnect with your zone 10 garden, observe and tinker.
Strobilanthes is a foliage plant I always gush over but could never grow in my north seattle garden. It’s nice to see it planted in a warm-climate garden, where it can thrive.
The photo showing ‘potted Agave xylonacatha ‘Frostbite’ (which looks great in that pot by the way!) is also showing on the right a variegated, long leaf plant that reminds me of a pony tail palm… what is it?
Based on how long you have been away the garden has held up really well. It’s interesting how quickly Mother Nature in with pioneer ‘weed’ species once the gardener is gone. Must be an interesting experience to get reacquainted with the garden after so long an absence. The large variegated agave is stunning. Which is it?
@Kris, hasn’t the rain been grand? I imagine your water storage tanks are full!
@Loree, the succulents are very forgiving, especially the big specimens. A lot of the detailed small planting is lost, which is how that dotted effect comes about. We got to Brookings close to dark for an overnight so didn’t explore, but it looks interesting.
@Chavli, you’re right, that is a variegated ponytail palm I think named ‘Gold Star,’ one of my treasures. I moved it from pot to ground in the past year, and it was wobbly so I braced it, and it seems completely solid now. Huge relief. The strobilanthes surprised me by tolerating such dry conditions. The big drawback in a mostly rain-free climate is the grime the furry leaves accumulate. I stopped growing tetrapanax for the same reason. They got a good wash with this storm!
@Elaine, it is interesting to shift horticultural gears, for sure! That varieg agave is Agave salmiana var. ferox ‘Medio Picta.’
It’s hard to imagine what we would come back to in a climate that supports much more plant growth like Oregon. It feels like 1 month away might be equivalent to what you experienced being gone since May. It’s nice to see who prefers neglect in the garden. So, what’s going to happen to the begonia – is it coming back with you to Oregon?
How satisfying to come home to, a testament to such thoughtful plantings. The pluridens bloom is joyful! The view under the pergola is so nice, wow. Strobilanthes gossypina form is fantastic after a cut. I’m envious of that ‘Gold Star’, what a stunner. Your drive sounds intense, that was a good idea to cut it into shorter days. I bet you were anxious to see everything!
@Jerry, that’s so true about turning your back on a garden in the PNW. I might bring a piece of that begonia back but there’s usually very little space available once we get Billie comfie with her bed, etc ;). We’ll probably do some car shopping while we’re in LA…
@Tracy, that pergola gives so much, dry conditions for plants that need it — and me during rainstorms! Such a great spot for viewing rain on the garden. Plus the soft light that’s easier on potted plants, etc.