May is quite a lovely month in the garden. The amaryllises in the side yard were in peak bloom. The amaryllises were there when I moved in so I can't take any credit for them.
A few weeks later, most of the blooms had faded.
My blueberries started ripening.
My first blueberry bush is on the right, the spindly mostly leafless stemmed one. It's a Rebel blueberry that my friend E(L) bought me at the grocery store while we were shopping for her cooking lesson. On the left is a Caribbean Paradise that I bought last year, and which yielded maybe a dozen berries. In the middle is a Sunshine blueberry that I recently bought at the Farmers Market - Alhambra because it was already studded with berries.
My first substantial blueberry crop came near the end of the month.
My dad's working on building a planter along the wall. In front is a Bong Thien Ly (Vietnamese Tonkin Jasmine) vine. I was afraid the cold frost this past winter killed it, but it's slowly coming back to life. The fragrant blooms can be stir-fried with beef. The blueberry bushes are on the other side of the trellis. Longan tree that needs to be planted in front of the planter wall. And some potatoes I've got in pots.
Just cut up some potatoes that had started rooting in my cupboard and planted them a while back. Looking forward to some homegrown baby potatoes.
My youngest uncle also gave me La Lot (Vietnamese Wild Betel Leaf) so I can make one of my favorite dishes, Bo Nuong La Lot (Vietnamese Grilled Beef in Wild Betel Leaf). It's looking a little denuded since I recently used several of the big leaves for Amok Trey (Cambodian Steamed Fish Curry). I haven't figured out where to plant it yet, so I've just left it in the planter box for now.
My niece also grew some beans from seed at her preschool so those got transplanted outdoors too.
All my roses died. :( So did the money tree and my begonias. All I've got left are geraniums and a night-blooming cereus.
The latter of which needs to be transplanted to a bigger pot.
At least I got a few lovely blooms from it this year.
These are all pictures of one singular bloom though.
It opens around midnight and usually fades by the next day.
I need to figure out a less obtrusive spot to put my compost bin. I think the camellia tree is 80+ years old. Seems like all the old houses in my town have camellia trees that were planted back then. There were actually more than two dozen camellia bushes/trees on the property. My dad cut most of them down, leaving about half a dozen for privacy.
He wanted to cut down this tree too.
But this one's my favorite. Prettiest blooms. Even if they don't last very long.
My youngest uncle also gave us several other trees. Papaya.
Guava on the left, and Texas orange on the right.
The fig tree was here when I moved in. It's more of a bush really. Huge trunk, that was majorly chopped down because it's too close to the foundation.
Tiny figs starting to come in.
My neighbor's loquat tree hangs over my side, right outside my kitchen window.
And not in my garden, but one of my favorite parts of May is seeing the jacaranda trees in bloom.
This is actually in San Gabriel, near the Mission District.
Other garden updates.
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I like the variety of plants in your garden. I'm sure it will look quite nice once everything is settled in. All of the jacarandas are in bloom here in our neighborhood, although our street didn't get jacarandas for our 'front yard tree'. the blooms are so pretty.
ReplyDeleteAh, gardening in a new place -- planning and plotting, watching plants revive, choosing what to grow. Hope your blueberries have really perked up since May. My aunt keeps hers in big 10 gallon containers and I'm thinking of trying the same. Your springtime amaryllis looked terrific -- will you keep them or do you have plans for their space?
ReplyDeleteLooking at your blueberry bushes, they look like they've got chlorosis which results from a lack of iron available for the plant. I'm not certain what the soil pH in your area is but I *think* it's acidic which should be good for your shrubs as blueberries like quite acidic soil to grow well. And iron is readily available to their roots in acidic soils. Except for a problem in your case - your shrubs are planted surrounded by concrete blocks.
ReplyDeleteConcrete leaches lime into the soil, making your soil more alkaline. Most plants like the soil just a little on the acidic side. Still, the difference concrete would affect soil pH wouldn't likely bother most plants. But not blueberries. They love acid soil! And even if soil pH is on the acid side, it may not be enough for blueberries to thrive.
Chlorosis affects newer growth first, causing the area between leaf veins to yellow. Nitrogen deficiency causes an even yellowing or paleness throughout the leaf (like your cereus shows since the soil in the pot is depleted). Iron deficiency means the plant can't produce enough chlorophyll which then means, if it could talk, that it feels worn out like an anemic person feels.
Either move your shrubs, add a soil acidfier around them or feed them chelated iron which can be absorbed by plants even if soil isn't acidic enough. Wouldn't hurt to add lots of good organic matter to the soil too.
CC,
ReplyDeleteI don't even have that many plants because it's been so hot that I don't want to start them for them to all die. I figure I'll wait until fall when the weather cools down and then think about how I want to lay out my garden. I love when the jacarandas are in bloom.
Nikki,
I had my first blueberry in a container and I don't think it did so well. The new one I bought produced a lot of berries!
I'm going to leave the amaryllis where they are. They're on the side of my house, in a long, narrow strip about a foot wide running from the front of the house to the kitchen. Then on the same strip, but on the other side of the kitchen to the back of the house, I was planning to put in a small herb garden.
Still have to figure out the layout for the big part of the yard though!
Isom,
Oops! I had to dig out your comment from my spam folder. Thanks for your tips! I didn't know concrete made the soil more alkaline. I did know that blueberries preferred very acidic soil and planned to plant them in this small separate soil area by my garage so I could give them proper fertilizer. But, my dad planted them in that planter area in the early spring and then they started flowering, so I didn't want to move them while that was happening. I didn't want to mess with the pH in case it upset the tonkin jasmine so I haven't done anything to the soil except add compost. I figured I'd wait until they're done fruiting and then move them. I need to divide and repot my cereus too.
I would love to know where can I buy the plant that has flowers which can be stir-fried. "Bong Thien Ly"? I have wanted to plant this vine, but didn't remember the name. Thank you so much for this post. And you can put that "la;ot" in a bigger pot, it will do fine in a pot.
ReplyDeleteCo Toan,
ReplyDeleteMy dad stuck some cuttings in pots. Once they root, I can give one to Anne to pass along to you!