View from my balcony

[David F]

These are shot shots today after a rare brief downpour this morning that rained quite hard for a brief 15 minutes, but now it’s sunny again. It is exceedingly rare to get any rain here from June through September, but a major cold front from Alaska has pushing the typical dome of high pressure off the West Coast further south. They are even predicting snow above 7000’ in the Sierra Nevada mountains this weekend. The Tree Daisies(Polymnia maculata and Montanoa grandiflora) are already 18’ tall, the Dahlia imperialis only slightly shorter. The Lagerstroemia x fauriei which I topped by 10’ after I lost my 40’ tall hedge of Pittosporum tenuifolium in March of 2023 has actually deigned to bloom before October this summer!

I’m still a year or two away from totally screening the unwanted view of the apartment building next door, but it’s so much more hidden this summer compared to last. The fast growing Iochroma cyanea, Deppea splendens, Fuchsia boliviana, Magnolia ‘Elizabeth’ and Tibouchina semidecandra are competing with the 9’ fronds of Cyathea medularis to give me a secondary canopy below the taller trees, including Dais cotinifolia, Delostoma integrifolium, Schefflera pueckleri trees that are the big anchors in my garden. The one downside of all this luxuriant foliage is the regular thinning I need to do to preserve dappled sun at ground level, but the dense vegetation means I don’t even see all the neighbor’s windows from most spots in my rear garden. The visual seclusion is important to me, as the apartment building is just truly ugly.



Lobelia fistulosa and Dahlia imperialis








Billbergia ‘Hallelujah’ and a dwarf Neoregelia hybrid color up brilliantly in the sun as easy care container plants.


This is my balcony and favorite spot to read overlooking the rear garden, being south facing it’s the sunniest spot in my garden besides up on my roof!


First time I’ve grown this in over 50 years, and it is blooming heavily, loving the sun and safely out of reach from being stolen! Cultivation is now legal in California, and they grow so easily here.

[MartinNicklin]

Lovely plants indeed. You certainly look out onto a botanical feast we can only dream of in the UK. At least the appartment next door is clean and tidy looking.

I've tried enlarging the image but can't get a clear image ... is that an orchid in the 5th photo from the end? It's the plant with clusters of blooms at the end of long cane-like stems. If so, what is it and how tolerant of low temperatures is it?

[David F]

Martin, that’s a cultivar/hybrid Reedstem Orchid, Epidendrum hybrid, and this purple flowering form is the largest/most vigorous one in my garden, it blooms 9/10 months of the year and gets 9’ tall. Probably not very hardy outside a Mediterranean climate zone 9b/10a, but it is the best one for my cool summer conditions and does withstand a light frost. In general, these Epidendrum hybrids respond best to hot weather and full sun, plus perfect drainage in containers using orchid bark, pumice, perlite and just a bit of potting soil in the mix. The roots rot out easily if they stay too wet in cool winter weather conditions. The red flowers are also an Epidendrum hybrid.

[MartinNicklin]

Thanks David. It’s beautiful. I doubt, however, available over here. Pity as it would look great in my greenhouse which is generally frost free.

PS. Bloody Brexit!!! Just found a seller selling them at a great price. Will deliver to Europe and Ireland but not the UK :x It seems to me that we are botanically cut off from the rest of the world.

[Chad]

Have you tried Spice Exotics Martin?

[MartinNicklin]

Thanks Chad and yes, I know this seller. The one I saw was radicans being sold from a well-known seller on Madeira. Said to be tolerant down to a light frost but I've found another UK seller who says a minimum of 12 for this species so I don't know what to think. I like the colour of this but Spice Exotics don't sell it. It needs to be a bold colour to show up in my greenhouse but also able to tolerate down to just a few degrees C in winter. I've got a Paphiopedilum and a Cymbidium which have both survived several winters in my unheated greenhouse but this year it will be kept frost free so I thought this taller growing orchid would look good in there.

[Glen in BC]

David and all...we are currently enjoying the same general cold front from Alaska, which at this time of year is not so much cold as it is wet. Record wet for this time of year, and welcome in an area plagued by summer forest fires!

Nice to see the blooming Lagerstroemia...I think it's such a gorgeous shrub, but flowering is even later for us, if at all. Still the bark on many of them could make them pay their way :P

[David F]

Glen, this is the best/earliest/most prolific bloom ever on the Crape Myrtle, and it was my mistake selecting this particular cultivar over other less vibrant colors that bloom both earlier/consistently/abundantly in my neighborhood. But as you say, I love it for the beautiful trunks, and it does give great fall color as well as rather vivid reddish tinged summer foliage too. But the blooms, absolutely depauperate compared to the same tree in a hotter situation. Other years, I only got a few flowers by the end of October.

I hadn’t realized Brexit made plant importation across the channel so restrictive. I assume it’s more a case of European growers not wanting to deal with more bureaucracy or Phytosanitary documentation, and/or British gardeners not wanting to pay all the extra costs? Surely it is it’s still legal to do import/export of live plants if all the new legalities are complied with?

[charlie]

Not just the costs, sometimes the requirements to get the certificates can seriously damage the plant, then there is the delay in transit. Going in reverse I no longer send to customers in the rest of the EU so I don't really blame them

[David F]

A pity that Brexit has made cross-border plant purchases so much more complicated!