Ribes: For Those Impatient for Spring

While time ticks by slowly for most garden plants through the remaining months of Winter, California natives have emerged ready for Spring.  Ribes sanguineum, Pink Currant, I'll admit looks rather lackluster at the end of Summer.  Leaves turn rust-colored and sparse.  But come February the garden becomes a fairyland of hanging pink ornaments.  Delicate little earring droplets drip off the edges of branches while hummingbirds rush to visit each one.  Instant enchantment!

Violets and Douglas Iris sit at the Queen's feet, adding splashes of lavender to the scene.  I'll be honest and admit that I can't remember what variety this is.  I'll venture a guess at 'Claremont.' 

This lighter variety grows happily in a large container planted just over the Summer.  I love how lady-like this one is with her pink gloves on for tea!

Ribes speciosum, Fuchsia Flowering Gooseberry, has been going strong since January.  The outgoing, wild sister of sanguineum, this spined, arching shrub shoves out seemingly millions of these racy red drops.  The Summer months find these flowers transformed into fuzzy orange balls, slightly transparent and filled with black seeds.  To call them berries does not do them justice- more like special gifts from space aliens.  I can attest, however that they are sweet and quite tasty, although the seed to fruit ratio is about equal.  The perfect plant for a low-traffic part-sun area of the garden in need of color.  I imagine its brambles could deter roving bands of cats from entering through that hole in the fence you've been meaning to repair.  Or if I've totally lost you there, plant one for hummingbirds who have been known to nest in these.  It's a win-win!







 

Plant of the Week: California Fuchsia

Folks in other parts of the country may not believe me, but I'm typing with cold hands, wearing a scarf at the moment.  The hood on my hoodie is firmly planted over my head and I'm giving dirty looks to the thermostat, which calmly continues to tell me it's 66 degrees in the house.  What happened to August?!  It's a good thing the Zauschnerias are adding some heat with their spicy blooms as they head into their prime season.

Technically, some would call these Epilobiums, but honestly I think everyone still calls them Zauschnerias since it's a way more fun word to say.  Either way, this gray to green-foliaged plant can be range from sub-shrub to groundcover, from shocking red-orange to white displays of flowers and blooms exactly when us native folks have given up coaxing the Buckwheats to continue blooming for just one week longer.  The bright color contrasts so well against neutral grasses, too such as Blue Fescues, Deer Grasses, or even the dried stalks of Purple Needle Grass. 

Not sure which variety this one goes by, but it's a groundcover with green leaves, blooming voraciously for the last month with no end in sight.  Note the fuzzy seedheads in the top corner of the photo- cool!  Thanks, neighbor Frank for letting me borrow one of your supermodels.

Mine, however I believe are 'Catalina', a taller variety with silver leaves and red-purple stems.  The Eriogonum 'St. Catherine's Lace' is stealing the show at the moment, but hopefully as the blossoms begin to open on the Fuchsia, the flowers of the Eriogonum will create a contrasting backdrop.  They've had less time in the ground than Frank's lovely specimen, but I've already noticed how interested these are in heading towards the sky.  After blooming, I think I'll prune the tallest stems back to help maintain a bushy shape.  I selected it for the foliage and that's the part that's year round.  Yippee!

Wait, did I mention that these give hummingbirds the vapors?  Yeah, turns out they do. 

Sun:  Full sun to part shade (hint:  the gray or fuzzy-foliaged ones will take more sun than the green-leaved varieties for the most part)
Soil:  Something between total sand and thick clay.  It's pretty adaptable.
Plant:  Ideally in the Spring or Fall, but I realize it's one of those plants you see in the nursery and never noticed before until it started blooming.  Go for it, especially since we have had no scorching days to speak of this season anyway.
Buy it:  Your local nursery should be tuned into this fella- ask them to recommend a cool variety for you, like 'Sierra Salmon' which has salmon-colored flowers.  Just remember that some folks call this Epilobium and that might cause confusion.
Good for:  gray gardens, hummingbird wars, late season color, a festive shot of contrast, sidewalk strips

Plant of the Week: Fuchsia Flowering Gooseberry

Let's face it- dangerous plants are pretty sexy.  (at a distance, anyway)  Take for instance, the Ribes speciosum or Fuchsia Flowering Gooseberry.  Red spikes, bright green leaves, dangling fuchsia flowers that turn to glowing red berries in the Summer...

I'm in love as long as I have a pair of thick gloves on.  Needless to say, it's best to position this beauty in a low traffic area or as a barrier.  But stand back and let the hummingbirds take over as the blooms emerge in winter.  Over time it will arch its way into a shrub and provide shelter to neighborhood birds, although I should say that it does go deciduous without summer water.  I'm hoping that will be yet another show as the glossy berries hang off of the bare, thorny branches.  Sounds dramatic!

Sun:  According to my research, it's pretty adaptable. 
Soil:  Again, pretty darn adaptable.  Well-drained is probably ideal.
Plant:  Anytime.  Could it be any easier to grow this?!
Buy it:  Ask your local nursery to special order it, or talk to Las Pilitas Nursery, Yerba Buena Nursery, or California Flora Nursery
Good for:  Directing traffic or as inexpensive burglar deterrents, habitat gardens, red gardens, shade gardens, but probably not for dim lit night-viewing gardens (ouch!)