Robin's garden

We visited Western Hills Nursery Coleman Road in Occidental. Maggie has run the place for 25 years, and she propagates many rare plants. Her garden is a wonder to visit, and she’s happy to spend time with amateurs like us. She has lots of 4” pots, which make things economical.

We discussed our garden with Maggie, and she told us to finish killing kikuyu grass and amending soil before investing in her plants. But we realized that the little space that Robin amended last year, surrounding the small Japanese maple on the NE side of the office, was ready for planting.

With Maggie’s help, we selected the following plants, and planted today.

(1) quart Euphorbia seguieriana ssp. niciciana

An rare form of Euphorbia. Slender stems of fine blue-gray foliage carry sulphur yellow bracts in early summer. Many thin stems are topped with chartreuse flowers blooming over a long season. Tough, durable perennial for south facing slopes or mixed in a sunny border. Hardy to below 0 degrees F. Eurasia.

Soil: Dry, well-drained H: 15-20” W: 15-20” B/M: Yellow/ 5-9

Maggie says that the plant juice is extremely unpleasant to the touch; wear gloves.

(5) 4” Ipheion Uniflorum, ‘Wisley Blue’

(3) 5” Ipheion Uniform, ‘Album’

Ipheion (Spring Starflower) grows from small bulbs, increases easily (by division in October). Small, onion scented leaves, 4” high.

(3) 4” Narcissus bulbocodium

We planted these Hoop-Petticoat Daffodil surrounding the Euphorbia. They get tiny daffodil-like flowers, the leaves look sort of like chives, 6-12” high.

We then declared this spot complete and mulched it with the chipped eucalyptus we took down last year. This is going to be called “Robin’s Garden” because she did most of the work of amending it last year.