Things that caught my eye in the backyard today

I rarely take photos of the backyard because I'm perennially dissatisfied with it. Granted, there are areas I like, but as a whole, it's never come together the way the front yard has. The reason is simple: dry shade. There's a lot of it because of the way the lot is oriented; our next-door neighbor's house; and four mature California bay trees (Umbellularia californica) with a canopy so dense, it sucks up all the light. How I've tried to deal with dry shade, that's a topic for a separate post. For now, suffice it to say that I haven't been very successful.

Still, here's a collection of photos I took earlier today just to prove to myself that there are things worth showing.

This is our lone contestant in the fall color contest, a Chinese pistache (Pistacia chinensis). The Chinese pistache is indeed related to the pistachio (Pistacia vera) as well as the turpentine tree (Pistacia terebinthus).

⬐ This Ginkgo biloba 'Jade Butterfly' might be small, but it's trying hard to give us some fall color:

⬐ My least favorite aspect of fall: leaf drop from our neighbor's thuggish London plane tree (Platanus × acerifolia).

⬐ Three plants I love: Agave attenuata 'Ray of Light' (front), Kumara plicatilis (back), and Cycas debaoensis (right).

⬐ Mahonia eurybracteata 'Cistus Silvers', a selection from Cistus Nursery in Portland:

⬐ Silver cans, my own selection, waiting to acquire a rusty patina so they can be used for planting:

⬐ Bought on a whim at Annie's Annuals with little expectation of success, this velvet groundsel (Roldana petasitis) has shot up to 8 feet:

⬐ Farfugium japonicum 'Giganteum', currently flowering next to the Roldana petasitis:

⬐ I'm forever amazed at how falling leaves manage to get stuck on the most unlikely surfaces, in this case a chaste tree (Vitex agnus-castus) leaf on Agave salmiana var. ferox 'Medio-picta':

⬐ Cobwebby and dusty after a long dry summer, this NOID Hechtia still looks good, at least to me:

⬐ Abutilon 'Victor Reiter', my all-time favorite abutilon, responding to the cooler weather with a flush of large orange flowers:

⬐ I brought this aptly named white-vein pipevine (Aristolochia fimbriata) home from Austin, TX in May 2018. I've been giving it a bit more water this year, and it's finally putting on some size. The agave under it is Agave wercklei, a fairly tender species from Costa Rica.

⬐ This little violet (Viola odorata) seems to be a bit confused. I don't think it's supposed to be flowering now!

⬐ The patio table is meant for use by people, but more often than not, it holds plants:

⬐ Austin-inspired bottle tree, still three blue bottles shy of full:

⬐ This half barrel with a pond liner has held everything from running bamboo to abutilons. Now I'm trying aloes. Front: Aloe menyharthii, top left: Aloe pluridens, top right: Aloe richaudii. Aloe pluridens is definitely going to be too large but I'll leave it in there for a while. Now if I could only think of a good-looking way to hide the rim of the plastic liner...

⬐ Cardón (Pachycereus pringlei) in front of Agave 'Bluebells Giants', a Plant Delights creation involving Agave ×protoamericana and Agave ×pseudoferox 'Bellville' (which Plant Delights thinks is actually Agave americana × Agave asperrima × Agave gentryi). Talk about a convoluted lineage!

⬐ Agave ovatifolia 'Vanzie' dwarfing everything else around it, including ×Mangave 'Crazy Cowlick' (left) and Agave nizandensis (right). Note to myself: Remember to cover Agave nizandensis when temperatures drop below freezing; it gets frost damage right at 30°F.

⬐ Bougainvillea 'Bambino Baby Sophia', a dwarf with deep orange bracts. It hasn't thrived in this container and needs a better place (preferably in the ground) to shine. I do love the variegated foliage and the bract color, and I must treat it better.

⬐ I always have a good supply of plants waiting in the wings:

⬐ Agave utahensis var. nevadensis from seed collected at Potosi Pass south of Las Vegas by Donnie Barnett of Colorado Springs-based Ethical Desert Nursery. I've bought quite a few plants from Donnie now, and I can highly recommend him as a source of hardy succulents and cactus.

All photos taken on Wednesday, December 2, 2020

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