I Didn't Expect to See This

First 2015 Daffodil, January 26

I did expect to see this daffodil in bloom today, since I knew the bud was ready to open at any time. So this is my first daffodil to bloom in 2015, and many more have buds about to open. Since this daffodil is in bloom in my Paso Robles garden, I was anxious to see what was happening to the daffodils I had planted in Templeton in 2013. They bloomed last year, and I guess I expected to see their cheerful faces in my herb garden soon.

I had occasion to go over there today, so I wandered out to the herb garden ready to snap a photo of my blooming daffodils. What a shock was waiting for me instead! We must have had a lot of wind with the rain last night, because this is what I found where my daffodils were planted.

Fallen ButterflyBush 

My first reaction was to wonder what had  come down. Then I decided it was my butterfly bush missing. I had been pretty lax about pruning it, but I never expected this to happen. I wanted to drag it off my garden, but then I noticed the baby plants near the roots.

Baby Butterfly Bush Plants Attached to Mother Plant

The leaves were also starting to come back, and a bit of root was still in the ground. This is how the root looks.

Exposed Roots of Fallen Butterfly Bush

I hope I can get over there again with some pruners before the plant is dead . Since my physical activities are still restricted, I can't drag the plant away. But I think I can cut some of the new growth and try to root more plants. I think I can also cut away the babies so they can take over for the mother plant.

I'm hoping I can cut some of the branches off where the daffodils should be and see what has happened to them. I really shouldn't do these things for another two weeks, but I might be able to at least throw more dirt and water over the exposed roots to keep the plant from dying until I am allowed to garden again.

For comparison, you might want to check the post where this butterfly bush was still young, as were the plants around it, so you can get a feel for the shape of this garden.

Have you suffered any storm damage to your plants?

Almost Daffodil Time

As I was trying to pull out some grassy weeds last week, I was surprised to see daffodil plants pushing their way through the ground and into that grassy mess. It's not the first one I've seen in the past couple of weeks. I'm wondering how long it will take them to bloom?

It's very frustrating to be under doctor's orders not to do any gardening while you see more weeds creeping in every day. I want to pull them before they take over. I need to be patient and wait another couple of weeks. I want to get that grass out of there.

I took this photo today, and it looks like it will bloom any day now. Last year the first daffodils bloomed here on January 27.

This is another plant that's even closer to blooming, I think. It was also taken today. It's right at the front of the flower bed and doesn't have as many weeds around it. In fact, I have little daffodils pushing their way through the soil all over my Paso Robles garden. By the time I am able to get to my Templeton home again, the daffodils I planted there should be in bloom.

Evidently, It's not just daffodils. I also saw a few tulips poking their heads up today. I think I planted more than these, but these are all I see now. I'll be watching for more. I'm glad the bulbs will start to bloom soon. The calendula flowers could use some company. And a bit more attention from me.

Calendula and Kale on January 18, 2015

Jack Frost Pays a Visit and Bugs Invade

In the little time I've been able to be in the garden this week, I've noticed that a few of my plants have suffered from recent freezing temperatures. One has been my black sage. Fortunately, only the tips of some stems were affected. 




The hardest hit plants have been my Lilies of the Nile and my gazanias, but I expect both to bounce back. These are my poor Lilies of the Nile. 

Perhaps as unwelcome as Jack Frost has been the invasion of what I believe are box cedar bugs around the exterior walls of the house and on the plants. They seem to like to hide under the gazanias, but I find them everywhere. In this photo they were clumping in the gazanias in late afternoon. 

I tried treating them with food grade DE Diatomaceous Earth today. This is supposed to puncture the exoskeletons of the bugs  enough to dehydrate them, so it is completely non-toxic to the soil, pets, and humans. I sprinkled it on the leaves of the gazanias where I saw the bugs and anywhere else I saw them. But one has to be careful not to put it anywhere that would attract a beneficial insect such as a bee or butterfly.  It can kill them, too. You have to use this when it is dry, since water makes it ineffective. 

I'm waiting to see how well this works on the bugs, but it seems to be working well on ants inside the house. I hate using poisons in my kitchen. I bought ten pounds of this and so far it's doing the job for me. 

Hidden December Blooming Scabiosa Flower

This afternoon I went out to harvest some kale from my front flower bed, and to my right I noticed a flash of light blue hidden in a clump of dried hyssop. I hadn't realized when I wrote my post yesterday that my scabiosa, better known as the pincushion flower, was still in bloom. So I need to add it to the list of things that bloom in Paso Robles in December. 

The hyssop itself had bloomed all the way into the end of July and then the flowers dried to the way you see them here. It's time to cut it back. I hope my gardener will cut it and all but the new growth on my oregano back when he comes tomorrow. 

I also need to cut the top dead spikes from my mullein plant, since the secondary shoots from it are still trying to bloom. The top photo below was taken last week, and I see I also need to add the gazanias to the list of what's blooming in December. It blooms almost year round. You can see the yellow gazanias near the wall in the second photo, which was taken today. The first one below shows the front flower bed from a distance. Here the mullein is just a silhouette, but you can see the long dead flower spikes on top. Those are what I need to have cut.

Here you see a close-up of the bottom part of the mullein that is trying to bloom again. Click to expand the photo. To the right of the mullein is a kale plant, and there is another one at the left toward the back. Right behind the first kale are the blooming gazanias. To the right of the mullein is some tricolor sage, not in bloom. It has never bloomed for me, but the leaf color contrasts with surrounding foliage. 

The other thing obvious if you expand this photo are the number of weeds and weedy grasses beginning to take over any bare ground. I had surgery just before all the rains and I am restricted from any gardening activities for another six weeks at least. I want to be getting those weeds out. It's killing me to just watch them keep the light and nutrients from seedlings struggling to emerge. I did have someone at least pull the tops off some of these grassy weeds today, but it only made a dent. I can hardly wait to get my hands in the dirt again and start doing what needs to be done before it's too late. 

Have you started your seasonal weeding yet? Those of us in California need to start dealing with the baby milk thistle and poison hemlock plants and other weeds I see starting to claim their ground. Click the link to see photos of the most common weeds on the central coast we need to deal with early. 

What Blooms in December in Paso Robles?

Flowers Do Bloom in December

This month I've had a lot of time to roam my Riverbank tract neighborhood in Paso Robles to see what's blooming. It's good information to have when planning gardens. What you see to the left is a day lily I saw on my walk today, December 21. 

A Day Lily in December

A Timely Rain Gave the Flowers a Boost

Usually, winter is the time when there is very little color besides green in most gardens.  We have been fortunate to have more than average rainfall compared to last year during autumn, and we still have lots of clouds that seem to promise more rain. All that rain is turning our brown grass green again and giving our garden plants a much-needed drink. I photographed this sky yesterday, December 20. 

I hope we get a lot more rain this season because all the plants love it. 

What's Blooming in My Own Garden

Calendula Flower in December

I was expecting to see my calendula in bloom because calendulas add cheer to my garden when almost nothing else is blooming, and I wasn't disappointed. The rain has really helped them thrive. 

What surprised me was that a purple iris started to bloom. Maybe the rain woke it up. I had planted it a year ago but it didn't bloom in April like the other irises. It was a welcome sight. I wonder if it will bloom again on schedule in April or whether it just wanted to welcome me home from the hospital after my neck surgery this month. 

Iris in December

My holly is also in bloom. The berries from the holly help carry the birds such as bluebirds, woodpeckers, and mockingbirds through this time of year. 

Holly in December

What's Blooming in My Neighbor's Gardens?

When I don't limit myself to what I have in my own yard, there are many more options for color in December.  Both I and many of my neighbors grow roses and rosemary. Many rose varieties are still blooming. 

The yard below got rid of its lawn to conserve water and the attractive plants they have chosen to replace the lawn include both roses and rosemary. I think you will easily find the red roses in the center. Next to them on the right is a smaller white rose bush. The rosemary is on the slope to the left. 

My Neighbor's Xeriscaped Yard in December

I also grow rosemary. I started with a plant that was already there when I moved in, and then I easily rooted more in water within a couple of weeks. I used those to expand the drought-resistant shrubs in my own garden. Almost everyone in my neighborhood has rosemary. It not only has attractive tiny blue flowers, but it attracts bees and helps carry them through the winter. Read more about landscaping for the bees. 

The city of Paso Robles also uses a lot of rosemary in its landscaping. It's on the slopes in Larry Moore Park and in the parkway between Riverbank Lane and the Park. I show it below under a sweet gum tree that still has a few red leaves. 

Sweet Gum Leaves and Rosemary

After I headed back home I passed some other homes that had flowers that surprised me by being in bloom in December. The poinsettia didn't surprise me. I would expect to see it now. But those sunflowers next to it stopped me short. On the left of the poinsettia, I believe we see a smaller sunflower variety. I'm not sure what the small white flowers were because I couldn't get close enough for a good look. 

Poinsettias and Sunflowers in December

A couple of houses down were these blanket flowers brightening their yard. 

Blanket Flowers in December

Notice the mallow plant in the lower left corner. It's an edible weed you can substitute for spinach. Learn how to use mallow.

I came across another plant blooming I couldn't identify. To the left, you see a closeup of the flower itself. It's very small. But this section is just part of a large clumping plant. I show you the entire plant below. If anyone can identify it, please comment so we can correct this information. 

Mystery Plant in Bloom in December

Growing close to this plant is another I believe is a variety of lavender. Most of the lavender growing in our neighborhood has stopped blooming, but this variety is still going. 

Lavender in Bloom in December

When I got home from this walk, I got the camera out again to capture my watermelon sage. It, too, is still in bloom. See it below. Many of my neighbors also have a red sage in bloom. 

Wild Watermelon Sage in Bloom in December

Yesterday I took another walk and didn't get very far before I saw something else I didn't expect -- a blooming zonal geranium. These usually die when it gets cold, but it's not that cold yet this year. It certainly brightens up my neighbor's garden. It's in her new drought-resistant landscaping makeover. 

Zonal Geraniums in Bloom in December

One of the other plants I'm seeing all over the neighborhood is society garlic. It blooms through most of the year and is drought tolerant. If you crush or cut the leaves, they have a faint onion or garlic smell, which is why most people don't use society garlic in cut flower arrangements. The Sunset Garden Book says the chopped leaves can be used as seasoning. See it below.

Society Garlic in December

I'm sure I haven't covered everything that blooms in December in this area, but there's enough here to add to your garden to see that it will have some Christmas color before next December rolls around. Many of these plants add color for months. 


What's blooming in your December garden?

Related articles

• My Light Purple Iris Finally Bloomed
• What Blooms in November?

Why I Stopped Hating Coyote Brush

Garden Fence Tries to Keep Coyote Brush from Invading Garden. That deer fence is six feet high. 

When I first moved to Templeton, California in 1991, I could not even name the invasive shrub that seemed to spring up everywhere, often in the company of poison oak. In the photo above, you see it lurking just on the other side of my garden fence. What you can't see in this photo is the poison oak lurking behind it and in its depths, making it hard for someone to go in and get rid of all of it. You can enlarge any photo by clicking on it to see the original size.

Female Coyote Brush in Bloom

Once I got a garden planted inside the fence, I found out just how invasive the coyote brush was. Its seeds blow in the wind like dandelion seeds, and where they land they become new little coyote brush plants. Soon ground not covered with anything else was full of small coyote brush plants. You can read all about coyote brush and see photos of everything I'm describing in detail in my HubPages article "Coyote Brush: Blessing or Curse."

Many photos in the article referred to above show you how long the roots of even the smallest plants are and how annoying coyote brush can be when it's not controlled. It ruined a trap I forgot to put away. It often grows right next to something you value before you even notice it, making it very difficult to safe the plant you want. The article will help you recognize even the smallest seedlings, since the best way to get rid of this is to pull the plants while they are still small.

Root of Small Coyote Brush

It's only after years of living with and studying my coyote brush and that on other properties that I'm beginning to discover that it has some virtues. First, in a land often without enough water to sustain many shrubs, the long roots of the coyote brush enable it to seek water the roots of most plants can't reach. This makes it drought resistant. It is also resistant to fire. In dry country where hillsides can be tinderboxes, coyote brush does not provide good fuel for any fires that might break out.

Although deer don't like to eat it, coyote brush does help hide them, and it also provides shelter for other small wildlife and birds. Quail love to take cover under its branches, and I often see them scurrying near it. Bees and butterflies also love its nectar, and since it blooms in late fall and winter, it helps the bees survive the winter when they can find little else to eat.

One very cold winter, almost all the plants in my neighborhood lost their leaves and turned brown. Only evergreens kept their color, but that still left a countryside mostly green and brown. It was then I noticed that the coyote brush was the one contrast to a very drab landscape. It was coyote brush that lightened the hills . See how this bush stands out from the dormant poison oak around it? The snowy white bushes are the females, and the males are mostly green from this distance.

Coyote Brush in Winter
The dead looking brown shrubs surrounding it are dormant poison oak. They can still give you a bad rash. 

I have come to the conclusion that coyote brush serves a purpose in God's plan I was late catching on to. It adds beauty to winter hillsides and helps feed the bees when they have little for forage. Having several of these shrubs on your property can help protect against fires spreading. So if you have lots of space you don't need for other plants, you may find coyote bush is a friend you can give a home. Just keep it where you want it and watch out for spreading seedlings where you don't want them. This forest was once just a couple of bushes.

After the Rains Come the Snails

Snails on the Kale

We had our first rain of the season to break our long drought last week. This made all the inhabitants of the California Central Coast very happy. It also reactivated the snails.

Unfortunately, I had not thought to reapply my favorite snail bait before the rain. I don't use poisons, since I'm an organic gardener, but the bait I use contains iron phosphate which kills the snails without affecting people or pets. 


When I went out to pick my kale to cook for dinner, I saw baby snails on the underside of the most chewed up leaves. 

Snail on Kale, © B. Radisavljevic 

The Brown Bug

 I also saw this brown bug. I'm not sure what it is. I'm hoping it doesn't have too many friends in my yard. I'm hoping the bugs aren't as voracious as the snails. 

Brown Bug on Kale, © B. Radisavljevic 

I did spread what snail bait I had left, around my kale and chard plants to try to discourage any more baby snails, but I think I'll have to spend some time hand picking some off tomorrow. 

How I Cooked the Kale

After cleaning the kale and a couple of dandelion plants I also plucked from the garden, I chopped them up and stir fried them with chopped onions and garlic in the grease from two slices of bacon I had cooked and removed to let them drain. I added a bit of olive oil before adding the veggies. After stir frying the veggies until the greens were limp and the onions transparent, I added a bit of lemon juice, vinegar, and soy sauce before crumbling the two slices of cooked bacon and adding it back in. I turned it on low and covered it until everything was tender enough to eat. As far as I know, we did not have any escargot.


How do you cook your kale? If you still need ideas, try one of these recipe books and you'll turn into a kale chef.

 Kale: The Everyday Superfood: 150 Nutritious Recipes to Delight Every Kind of Eater Chia, Quinoa, Kale, Oh My!: Recipes for 40+ Delicious, Super-Nutritious, Superfoods Kale: The Complete Guide to the World's Most Powerful Superfood (Superfoods for Life)

Related articles

• Harmful stowaway snails found at Port of Oakland