GARDEN FANATIC: Planting for holiday color

“A garden in full color is awesome as a forest fire, in magnitude at least.””” Hal Borland

“I have a dream...” “” Martin Luther King

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California is burning and the memories of 14 years past sear my thoughts.

I feel guilt over complaining about heat and smoke, as thousands have fled the flames. I feel the pain of those who have lost homes, as I plan my anniversary with Catharine next week.

And I mourn the loss of Halloween for the children of fire-ravaged locales.

We all want our garden to be beautiful for the upcoming holidays, for the enjoyment of our family, friends, and neighbors.

Although Halloween may be an over-sanguine target for garden perfection, the fall and winter garden has its considerable charms and you need to start planning now and planting soon.

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

As a starter, I will be planting pineapple sage, or Salvia elegans, on my deck. Not only will they be providing the requisite showy red flowers, the leaves can 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 ground cover or planted in a hanging basket. Other scaevolas can be found in nurseries, varying in color from blue to purple. They all require very 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 to hide the neighbor’s trash cans and mattresses.

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. I know some of you will say it is a bedding plant, not related to the preceding recommended plants. But technically, they are perennials and I just can’t resist their spectacular and brilliant flowers.

Catharine and I are alone in the warm sun of Loreto. We have escaped from this year’s holiday responsibilities, and are happily tending our desert garden. It feels wonderful to be down south, and we haven’t missed the season for a moment. But wait, it was only a dream and we have a pumpkin to carve and champagne to sip. Mexico will just have to wait, but not too long. See you next time.

STEVE KAWARATANI is married to local writer Catherine Cooper and has two cats and five dogs. He can be reached at (949) 497-8168, or by e-mail at plantman2@mac.com.