January 2, 2017
What to Plant Right Now and Why
What to Plant Right Now and Why
This time of year when it’s cool and actually rainy, is the best time to get your new plants in the ground. It seems pretty clear that if you can plant things out just before we get a good rain storm your new plants will put on new growth just about before your eyes. So maybe a different question, what can you plant this time of year that you really can’t plant at other times of the year? The two plant groups that come to mind off the top of my head are native penstemons and pacific coast irises.
The pacific coast irises and native penstemons are the only plants that I can think of that of that I actully warn people don’t plant these out from mid-spring through mid-fall. However, if you plant them during winter and even into very early spring they’ll grow just fine and flower the first year, always a good think.
We grow several types of penstemons that are ready for your garden like P. (P. =Penstemon) etonii, P. strictus, P. palmeri, P. parryi, P. psudospectablils…..and others on their way. These come in a range of colors but mostly purples and reds. This is Penstemon cardinalis- a rare and endangered penstemon from New Mexico- grows well here?
Pacific coast irises are the other California native that really needs to be planted between say November though the end or March. These need to be planted in shaded areas are easy to establish and nothing to maintain once established. They flower late winter/early spring to very early summer. After that they are green and need little to no care. Water 1x month in summer and if well mulched you probably don’t even need to do that.
The above is actually in my garden and these pacific coast irises are said to be “species like” as opposed to some of the more hybridized pacific coast irises – like the hybrids shown below.
The blue iris above is ‘Ocean Blue’ and the yellow is one of our creations that won’t be ready for sale for a few years but we lots of others in all colors.
These are low gowing 1’ +/- a little with large flowers. The flowers range from “species” like to very ornate patterns and colors. And we do have some of these in 1-gallon and 5-gallon pots for your garden.
