On the West Coast there is increased interest in adventitious gardening. If you take to casual gardening for reasons of economy, scarcity of help or even from preference, you will find it’s an intriguing game to grow an assortment of plants which can pretty much take care of themselvesÑplants you like and ones that enjoy your climate and exposure.
In every West Coast climate there are many plants which grow readily and with little care. Why not try mixing them to create a naturalistic plantingÑwith an occasional nudge from you? Start by sowing seeds of. say. 15 varieties to a plot 20 feet square. An irregular shape is nicer.
By the second year your ground will be well filled with plants-on-the-loose, especially if there are happy-go-lucky annuals among them. The weed problem need not he a burden for the selfsows will be the weeds. By this time you will have some idea of what you want the patch to look like and what you want of it. You will be stepping about in it, pulling out a volunteer here and planting in its place some other upstart. turning a spade full of earth there and sowing a few experimental seeds, encouraging this inhabitant, squelching that one.
It is obvious that this haphazard garden will look right only in an unconventional setting and that no hired help can be turned loose in the miscellany. How would anyone know what you want removed and what left?
I use a good many small bulbs in my contented gallimaufryÑall from seed sown in situ. Freesias are especially valuable and sow themselves like mad. Snowflakes (leticojum) increase too fast. Linaria maroccana is a splendid annual. Gazanias and aretotis are satisfactory perennials.
Southern California
Time to remind Southland gardeners that this is the month for sowing sweet peas and garden peas. Both can stand manure deep in the trench and bonemeal on top. worked in and thoroughly watered. Put in autumn crocuses. Keep azaleas watered for much of their early spring beauty depends on the care you give them now. Don’t let chrysanthemums dry out and keep the foliage healthy by hosing it off. Give a mulch of compost. bean straw or manure to roses and pet shrubs. Train new canes on climbing roses.
California Fog Belt
Are you making full use of those adaptable shrubs that can be used as pot plants, garden bushes, espaliers and often as groundcovers? Among them are Ribes viburnifolium, Correa speciosa (C. pulchella) and some of the fuchsias. An unusual way of using those species fuchsias with long narrow flowers coming from tall branches is to train them to a trellis on the north side of the house. Boliviana is a good fuchsia to use in this way. Its foliage is nice the year round, its long stems reach to the second story and there is bloom for much of the year. I know one five-year-old specimen, trained to three main stems, that graces almost the entire side of a small white cottage. It is especially lovely at Christmas and has never been affected by cold.
Sacramento and San Jacquin Valleys
Some Big Valley nurseries are carrying new varieties of phlox and new colors suited to the strong Valley sun are badly needed. One of these is Augusta, with large panicles of flowers best described as American beauty rose. Charles Curtis is better knownÑa stunning red. Coreopsis are fool-proof in the Big Valley. Do you know New Pom Pon which looks something like a yellow pompon dahlia? It has long stems and is excellent for cutting.
Give the camellias a light application of acid fertilizer this month, scratching up the surface as little as possible, then follow with a thorough watering. Take cuttings of pelargoniums and carnations. The pelargonium slips should be left in a sunny place to callous before planting but cover the leafy tops so that they do not become dry and crisp:
If tomato mite is getting ahead of you and browning the foliage. dust with sulphur. Some prefer a spray with nicotine in it. Keep your eyes peeled for ripe seeds of pet plants. This is a chore that must he done at the right time or else all is lost.
Pacific Northwest
The first shipments of oriental poppies are sent out this month. Cheerio is one of the outstanding varieties carried by ^erthwest nurseries. It is shell pink with cherry red blotches at the base of the petals. Watermelon is well named and one of the new color departures. The central blotches are black. Most oriental poppies are planted in full sun but when in part shade of green background they are particularly striking.
See that the gentians do not lack for water this month Ñ watering prolongs bloom. Do not limit yourself to the familiar Gentiana acaulis with dark blue trumpets but next year grow also G.a. gigantea. It has still larger blooms. Gen-liana sino¥ornata, a stoloniferous plant with long stems and bright blue funnels, is one of the best and G. maeauleyi, a hybrid between G. sino-ornata and G. farreri, is a lovely one with large turquoise blue flowers.
