Don't Give Up, Planting Time is Now

Don't Give Up, Planting Time is Now

The weeks we are having right now are the best time of the year to plant shrubs and perennials for our summer dry climate. The soil is still warm from summer and autumn, but now it’s also thoroughly moist from the first weeks of good rain. The sunny days with fluffy, white clouds that come between rainstorms are the ideal time for planting. Newly installed plants will have five or six months to get their roots down into new soil before they get their first drought stress test, often in late May or early June when the first dry hot day of the new year comes along.

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Winter Bouquets

Winter Bouquets

One of the great pleasures of climate-wise gardening in the Bay Area is the beautiful winter bouquets we can cut from our flowering trees and shrubs. When the rainy season starts, climate-wise plants wake up from their dormancy during the dry summer and fall. Many of them start blooming immediately. Salvias, tea trees, tree aloes, and grevillias are just some of the plants blooming now at Garden for the Environment.

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Grevilleas of the Perennial Border

Grevilleas of the Perennial Border

Our gardens experience a brief second spring in the weeks between the first wet storms and the cold weather which usually arrives around winter solstice. Leucadendrons and Grevilleas are perking up and starting to make a statement. These plants grow with little irrigation in poor, sandy soil. They require excellent drainage and are frost-tender, but in sandy, coastal, drought-tolerant gardens, they can’t be beat. They bring color, texture, and stature into the winter border.

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Fall Blooming Salvias

Fall Blooming Salvias

The glory of our borders right now are the late-blooming Salvias. Salvias bloom here at the GFE all year long, as the fall-blooming ones give way to the winter-bloomers. Spring is a burst of color, and the native Salvias start, finishing in summer. By late summer, most of the California native sages are dormant, and their place is taken by tropical sages, many from Mexico and South America.

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