The below freezing temperatures which brought in the New Year, caught the garden off guard.  We had been having a very mild winter up until the holiday season.   Some of the plants which suffered include: Crassula ovata (Jade Plant), Euphorbia milii (Crown of Thorns), and Plectranthus arabicus.  The Pelargoniums were also adversely affected by the cold temperatures, but after being cut back hard, they should recover by the spring.

For the most part January is a month for pruning and cutting  back excessive growth.

Maintenance includes:

• Pruning of overgrown vines  including: jasmine and climbing roses.
• Pruning bushes which include: euonymus, variegated holly, pittsoporum nana. 
• Cutting back of late blooming perennials--Argythemums, Lantana.montevidensis, Cuphea.
• Cutting back the herbs.  Some are cut practically to the ground: Marrubium, Nepeta xfaassenii, Stachys byzantina.
• Removing the Bouganvillea.glabra which doesn't perform well due to the sever pruning necessary to keep it under control  rampant growth.. It will be replaced by two climbers (see below under new sowings)--Cobaea scandens and Asarina scandens.  Hopefully at least one of them will prove appropriate to the location.  
• Weeding around the plantings and then laying down mulch from decomposed compost.
• Weeding of all bare soil areas.
• Digging up bulbs to be relocated--the dwarf Dahlia's need to be planted directly in the soil and not in a raised bed because they need to be seen from above.

• Asarina scandens "Jewel Mixed"--a half hardy perennial climber reaching 4-8 feet.
• Bergenia "Red Start"-- a beautiful shade loving hardy perennial with bronze leaves which flowers Jan-Feb.  To be planted under mature olive trees.  
• Bupleureum rotundifolium "Green Gold"--very similar to an annual Eurphorbia in flower reaching 18 inches.
• Cobaea scandens--a 10-20 foot annual climber with deep velvety blue flowers.
• Euphorbia marginata "Summer Icicle"--a variegated annual reaching 18 inches in height.
• Euphorbia myrsinites--a drought resistant prostrate ground cover.
• Geranium Moulin Rouge F1 Hybrid--an outstanding bedding Geranium smothered in large scarlet blooms.
• Myrrhis odorata--a new addition to the herb garden.  A hardy perennial reaching 2-3 feet with sweetly anise flavored leaves.

....And of course as the garden is tidied up and bare spots reveal themselves, plants will be relocated and new additions   to the garden will be made.  The garden is always evolving.  For better or worse, it is never the same two years in a row.

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