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My Garden Diary

September and October 2015

Copyright © 2015 by David E. Ross

Many years ago, when I first started my Web site, I created an online diary of my gardening activities and observations. However, with work and the commute from Hell, I was often so tired I had to choose between maintaining my garden and maintaining my diary. Sometimes, I did neither. In 1998, I stopped my diary and removed the pages from my Web site.

Now I am retired. I am well-rested and have plenty of time to both garden and maintain a diary. This diary is primarily for my own benefit, so that I can look back upon what I did and when. But I thought others might also be interested, so here it is.

Also see What's Blooming in My Garden Now?


January-February 2013
March-April 2013
May-June 2013
July-August 2013
September-October 2013
November-December 2013
January-February 2014
March-April 2014
May-June 2014
July-August 2014
September-October 2014
November-December 2014
January-February 2015
March-April 2015
May-June 2015
July-August 2015

Diary entries for 2004 through 2012

Entries below are in reverse order (latest at the top). Daily, I might stoop to pull a weed or use a hose to water some potted plants; however, I don't consider those significant gardening activities. Thus, you will not see daily entries. Also, I might accumulate a few entries before updating this page on the Web.

When plants have well-known common names, their scientific names are given only the first time they appear on this page (entry closest to the bottom). There, the common name is in bold or appears as a link to another Web page.

Dates refer to other entries in the same year as the entry in which they appear unless a different year is given. However, they may refer to entries on prior pages.

Date and Weather Observations and Activities
28 October

Clear, sunny, and mild

Temp: 69-78
Humidity: 31%
Wind: 2-19

Rain —
This season: 0.13
Days since last: 12

The pink clover (Persicaria capitata) ground cover that is my front lawn is supposed to be drought tolerant, but it seems that prolonged extreme heat this past summer caused some damage. I plan to revive it gradually with additional water. The first step — today — was to apply gypsum. After a few weeks of it leaching into the soil during the twice-weekly irrigation permitted by the local water agency during the current drought, I will then mechanically aerate the soil to trap whatever rain falls.

Trimmed the dwarf English ivy (Hedera helix 'Hahn's') around the liquidambar tree (L. styraciflua). I neglected this too long, and shoots were taking root amongst the pink clover lawn.

Yesterday, my favorite landscape contractor (one of the few contractors that I allow on my property more than once) planted two bush anemones (Carpenteria californica) on My Hill to replace plantings of rockroses (Cistus purpureus) that died. Today, I gave them a good soaking from a hose. This involved climbing My Hill with the hose running. Fortunately, bush anemones prefer a relatively dry soil, so I will not have to water them — and climb My Hill — more than once each week. If we do get real rain, that will end my need to water them at all except for my one weekend in three that I run the irrigation sprinklers for My Hill.

23 October

Clear, sunny, and warm

Temp: 59-86
Humidity: 27%
Wind: 2-16

Potted the pothos cuttings (6 Sep) after trashing its parent plant. The bromeliad cutting (16 Aug) still shows no signs of roots. Since the latter is epiphytic (getting water and nutrients primarily in the base of its leaves), however, rooting might take quite a while.

Rain —
This season: 0.13
Days since last: 7

21 October

Clear, sunny, and warm

Temp: 67-83
Humidity: 19%
Wind: 10-17

Rain —
This season: 0.13
Week: 0.01

Bought and planted a statice (Limonium perezii), replacing one that died, and two 'Daisy May' shasta daisies (Leucanthemum maximum). One of the latter replaced a dead clump of 'Esther Reed' shasta daisies; the other filled a space that had been bare for years. After planting these, I mulched them with output from my office shredder before watering them.

While digging for the new plants, I discovered that the soil remains moist despite the reduced irrigation mandated by the Oak Park Water Service during the current drought. No, the soil is not really wet; but it is moist enough for most of my garden.

16 October

Overcast, some hazy sun, and warm

Temp: 63-82
Humidity: 61%
Wind: 0-11

Rain —
This season: 0.11
Days since last: 10

In anticipation of a very wet winter (we all hope), I flushed all my landscape drains today. There are three separate drain lines from My Hill to the street. Two other drain lines serve the downspouts from my roof's rain gutters as well as flat areas in the back and side yards and the rose bed in front. I had the roof gutters cleaned earlier this week.

Rain —
This season: 0.13
Days since last: 10

11 October

Clear, sunny, and very hot

Temp: 77-96
Humidity: 19%
Wind: 3-12

Rain —
This season: 0.11
Week: 0.10
Days since last: 5

October is proving to be as hot as September. Today is the fourth day in a row with temperatures exceeding 95°F.

Two very green oranges fell from my dwarf 'Robertson' navel orange tree (Citrus sinensis 'Robertson'). I strongly suspect a squirrel knocked them loose since I saw a squirrel reach for one of them yesterday. However, I have also seen raccoons in my back yard. I took the fruit into the house, hoping they might ripen and become edible. There had been four green oranges on the tree; the other two have disappeared.

Checked the sprinkler system in back — ran each valve less than 3 minutes — to make sure all heads were operating correctly. I had to clean debris from one head and trim a lavender in the circular bed that was blocking another head. In the meantime, even the brief running of the sprinklers helped to cool the garden.

4 October

Cloudy, occasional hazy sun, and cool

Temp: 54-67
Humidity: 46%
Wind: 2-13

Yes, we had rain very early this morning. However, 0.01 inch is not enough even to wet dust.

One of the Artemisia 'Powis Castle' (A. arborescens × absinthium) in the west bed is half dead, and so is one of the sea pinks (Armeria meritima) in the circular bed (both in back). I put up cuttings of the Artemisia and the 'Goodwin Creek Grey' lavender (Lavandula lanata × dentata). The latter will replace the sea pink.

Tied down a new, very long cane of the climbing 'Peace' rose before the wind could break it.


Rain —
This season: 0.01
Week: 0.01
Days since last: 0

27 September

Clear, sunny, and hot

Temp: 71-95
Humidity: 17%
Wind: 0-13

Rain —
This season: 10.82
Days since last: 12

Yes, we had rain this month, 0.78 inches in a single storm. The heat, however, has largely eliminated any benefit. My garden is suffering, not so much from the drought as from the unrelenting heat. Since 16 September when it rained, we have had 11 consecutive days with temperatures over 80°F; six of those days, the temperature was at or above 95°F. Of course, the heat has also limited my desire to work in my garden.

The pothos cuttings (6 Sep) have some roots but not enough to pot them. I will wait another three weeks before checking them again. It is not yet time to check the bromeliad cutting (Guzmania, species or variety unknown, 16 Aug), which is not as quick to root.

Fed the dwarf citrus with commercial citrus food and two pinches of zinc sulfate for each plant. This will be their last feeding until next March.

This time, I skipped feeding the gardenia (G. jasminoides). This tends to be a thirsty plant, and I do not want to promote more foliage that would require more water.

6 September

Clear, sunny, and hot

Temp: 63-93
Humidity: 20%
Wind: 2-9

Put up three cuttings of the variagated pothos (Epipremnum pinnatum 'Aureum') that is in a hanging pot in my breakfast room. The plant is quite overgrown.

Rain —
This season: 10.04
Days since last: 48

2 September

Mostly clear with a few scattered clouds, sunny, and warm

Temp: 76-99
Humidity: 25%
Wind: 0-8

Mulched parts of the camellia and east beds in back with the output from my office shredder.

Other than grooming fading flowers, pulling a few weeds, and watering flower pots, I have done little work in my garden; but then, my garden right now requires little work. There are some plants that died and need to be replaced. That will be done in October, the prime month in southern California for planting.


Rain —
This season: 10.04
Days since last: 44

Weather data are from the Cheeseboro (CHE) weather station, about 2 miles ENE of my house.

The high temperature (°F) is daytime for the indicated date; the low temperature (°F) is for the previous night.

Winter chill is the cumulative hours of temperatures at or below 45°F from 1 November through 31 March. It is reported during that period and through April.

The relative humidity is at noon. (In my garden, it is likely higher than reported, a result of regular irrigation.)

Wind speeds (mph) are average (not peak) low and high, midnight to midnight (subject to later correction for diary entries posted before the end of the day). I also indicate peak wind gusts parenthetically when they are significantly high.

Rain is in inches. Season is the cumulative amount of rainfall from 1 October until 30 September of the following year. Week is the cumulative amount of measurable rainfall from noon seven days ago until noon of the indicated date. If no measurable rain fell in that period, Days since last is reported.

Characterization of the weather (e.g., Clear, sunny, and warm) is purely subjective; for example, "warm" might occur with higher temperatures than "hot" if the former occurs with lower humidity and more breezes than the latter. Also, a day that would normally be characterized as "mild" might instead be "warm" if the immediately previous days were quite cold. Finally, such characterization reflects when I was actually outside and gardening and ignores changes that occur while I am inside.

The signature line I use when writing messages about my garden includes the following:

Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
See also My Climate.
July-August 2015
May-June 2015
March-April 2015
January-February 2015
November-December 2014
September-October 2014
July-August 2014
May-June 2014
March-April 2014
January-February 2014
November-December 2013
September-October 2013
July-August 2013
May-June 2013
March-April 2013
January-February 2013

Diary entries for 2004 through 2012


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