casa coniglio

My eye was surprised to catch out of the corner of my eye, this shock of pink in a landscape of gray and brown when I was out the other day. What was blooming now, at the end of November, after freezing temperatures?


I quickly realized that what I was seeing was the dried flowers of an Eriogonum. I've called it Eriogonum wrightii (Wright's buckwheat) although I could be wrong. The white autumn flowers fade to pink and orange  (like Eriogonum umbellatum, the sulfur buckwheat, which begins chrome yellow then fades to red/russet) and hold most of the winter.


I tried getting some from Agua Fria nursery a year or two ago, but somehow ended up getting E. jamesii (Antelope buckwheat) instead, which has cream flowers fading to brown.

I've become a bit obsessed with the cute seeds and curlicue tails of the local mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus breviflorus).

 There are other mountain mahoganies which are grown here, C. montanus (I see it on the web referred to as alder leaf mountain mahogany, and "true" mountain mahogany, which I think is ridiculous, as if the other mountain mahoganies are "false") and C. ledifolius (curl-leaf mountain mahogany), but the local variety is just as beautiful. C. montanus has rather broad deciduous leaves, and seems to be bushier.  C. ledifolius has leaves that curl under and are evergreen on a more upright plant.

They all have these curly seed tails, though. Plants seem to be dioecious, although I wonder if some are bisexual. The plant I have grown from seed looks to be unfortunately male, having flowers, but no seeds.


The plants when young are bushy and upright when growing in the wild, but with irrigation are more lanky.


With age, they are spreading and gnarly, with a strong character that speaks of the southwest.

There are still a few blossoms on the Salvia pachyphylla.

And a few on the Scutellaria resinosa.

 I planted this viola last March, I believe, and it is still blooming (and seeding).

I have never really noticed that some apache plumes (Fallugia paradoxa) had colorful fall leaves until this year. Maybe it's been the weather. It seems to be mostly the youngsters and doesn't occur much on the older larger plants.

Salvia chamaedryoides (germander sage) still has a few flowers on it, which is nice, given that it is nearing the end of November. Ain't that the truth.

Three-leaf sumac (Rhus trilobata) has made many appearances on Casa Coniglio. In fact, my very first post was about this plant. Why not? It is a beautiful native shrub that does well with no irrigation (once established). It is rabbit-proof (which is very important here at Casa Coniglio). I have a few gripes about it though.


 It does have stinky sap, which while not particularly unpleasant, is very strong, and clings to anything. Fortunately I only come into contact with it when I am pruning.


Its size seems a bit unpredictable. The books I have read says that it is 3-5 feet tall and wide, but in my yard, it seems to be 5-7 feet tall and wants to be about 8-10 feet wide. Those growing in the wild seem quite variable in size.


It also doesn't look good pruned, and after pruning, usually produces long unbranching water sprouts that look rather ungainly.



I think of the three-leaf sumac as like the maple on the east coast. It is found everywhere here in the foothills, and the fall leaves turn a variety of colors. Maple trees also don't look good when pruned too much.


The leaves turn a variety of colors, not only between different plants, but on the same plant, and even in the same leaf. Some of this variation can be due to sun exposure.


The overall effect is some range of orange, but the leaves can turn anywhere from yellow to red.


The leaves can also range from flat to cupped, from fuzzy to shiny (almost looking like poison oak), from a half inch in diameter to several inches. Those in the nurseries tend to be yellow to orange with large flat smooth leaves. If you want a particular type, you'll have to take cuttings. Don't forget to get permission from the owner, and don't take cuttings from National Forest - it's illegal.

The Dittany of Crete (Origanum dictamnus) is blooming among the fading leaves of the spuria iris 'Belize'. The dittany smells like it would be so tasty, but I can't bear to cut any of the leaves for cooking. I almost didn't notice the green leaves of Ipheion 'Wisely Blue' peeking through. Like grape hyacinths, the leaves appear in the fall.


It's actually been quite a wonderful fall, and many of the trees and shrubs are holding onto their colorful leaves longer than usual.

It snowed yesterday, although the snow didn't stick. It was pretty frosty this morning, and my water bucket had a layer of ice on it. Artemesia versicolor always has this frosty blue look to it, but the fallen leaves had a glimmer of ice.