Holidays in the garden

“I have a dream ... “

Martin Luther King

“The sun is shining, the grass is green ... the orange and palm trees sway.”

Irving Berlin

As we approach the holidays, I begin dreaming about what the end of the year may bring, and I smile. No obligations, no phone calls and, best of all, no design review board. I have visions of secluded beaches and dolphins leaping, with time to reflect on the possibilities that lie ahead.

In years past, I wouldn’t be thinking of the holidays until the day after digesting turkey and dressing. But even our city conspires to bring “‘tis the season,” before Halloween (have you seen the holiday palettes are already up?). I am surprised that the dead tree lots haven’t opened as well. Humbug!

Many of us want our gardens to be beautiful for the upcoming holidays, for the enjoyment of family, friends and neighbors. Although Christmas may be an unlikely target for garden perfection, the fall and winter garden has its considerable charms. Planning starts now and planting soon.

Seasonal planting habits and a certain cautiousness lead many gardeners to use the same commonplace plants every holiday. Some claim that there isn’t time to learn new plants or risk experimenting in their garden. Pity. I say we try planting something different this month, because we’ll still be enjoying the plants long after the holidays have ended.

As a starter, I recommend planting pineapple sage, Salvia elegans. Not only will the plant provide the requisite showy red flowers, the leaves will be used to flavor the eggnog and garnish my mother’s holiday fruit salad. This hardy perennial grows to 2 to 3 feet and does well either in planting beds or containers.

Nearly ever-blooming in Laguna, scaevola alba provides showy white flowers as a groundcover or planted in a hanging basket. Other scaevolas can be found in nurseries, varying in color from blue to purple. They all require little care and prefer full sunlight.

To provide berries for our wreath, I’ve planted California holly, Heteromeles arbutifolia. A native to our environs, it is covered with red berries from November to January. Growing naturally as a dense shrub or pruned into a small tree, California holly is useful as a screen or hillside planting.

Related to the snapdragon, garden penstemon, Penstemon gloxiniodes, brings a showy display of pink, rose, lilac and white flowers throughout the year. They thrive in well-draining soil and will grow either in full sun or partial shade. Sprawling in rock gardens, penstemon can also be trimmed as an attractive border plant.

You must plant Iceland poppies, Papaver nudicaule, this month for color by Christmas. Some experts say it is a bedding plant, not related to the preceding recommended plants. But technically it is a perennial, and I just can’t resist its spectacular and brilliant flowers. Florists tell me it makes an excellent cut flower.

In my dream, Catharine and I are basking in the warm sun of Loreto. We have escaped from the year’s holiday responsibilities and are happily tending to a new home. It feels wonderful to be in Baja, and we haven’t missed the season for a moment. I couldn’t possibly imagine anything better! See you next time.

* Steve Kawaratani recently celebrated his anniversary with local writer, Catharine Cooper. He can be reached at 497-2438 or [email protected].