The garden in May and a 100+ year glimpse of history

Photos of selected plants in the garden on 5/28/2014 and commentary.

The Ribes aureum var. gracillimum (Golden Currant) had a brief bloom and then headed straight to ripe fruit.  These taste good.  I'm surprised the birds and other critters haven't discovered them.

Should I prune back the branch ends of this potted Garrya elliptica 'Evie'?  This is a Silk Tassel (link is to 'James Roof' silk tassel) plant which I am growing for the silk tassels, of course.  The tassels seem to come from the branch ends in photos I've seen.

It might look like this when pruned (cropping the photo to an aesthetically correct amount):

I say yes, but maybe after it has bloomed.  Lucky for me, bloom time for this plant seems to be winter, so maybe cut it back now? Counterpoint?

San Marco Growers has this to say about Silk Tassel 'Evie', which provides a nice 100+ year glimpse of human and botanical history:

A densely growing evergreen large shrub or small tree with opposite 1 1/2 to 2 inch long elliptically shaped leathery leaves that are dark green on the upper surface and gray with woolly hairs underneath and slightly wavy margins. This plant is dioecious (male and female flowers on different plants and this cultivar is a selected male flowering form - in the fall appear the male flowers buds that open in late winter as stunning display of 8 to 10 inch long creamy white tassels that often take on a purplish hue....Plant in full sun except in hot inland locations...and give only occasional to very little summer water. ...This cultivar was selected by the legendary bay area plantsman, Wayne Roderick who passed away in 2003. Wayne selected it from a road bank on the Kruze Ranch in Sonoma County in 1971 and this original plant was destroyed during later road development. Wayne noted that he selected this plant because it was more compact than 'James Roof' with more branching and shorter internodes and named it to honor Evie Matheson of Manning's Heather Farm in Sebastopol - a bit interesting that a male clone is named for a woman but Wayne Roderick was quite the practical joker! The Saratoga Horticultural Foundation introduced this plant in 1975.  The genus was named after Nicholas Garry, assistant to David Douglas when they explored the western United States. It was Douglas who reportedly first collected seed of Garrya elliptica in 1828 and it was in cultivation in California as early as 1860. The specific epithet is in reference to the elliptic shape of the leaves.

Thank you, San Marcos Growers!

Here's something that I welcome in moderate doses - leaf chewers.  This is a plant over at the San Pedro annex.  I looked but couldn't find the critter responsible, but generally I'm glad to see holes in the leaves of native plants since it more than likely means that some native critter is making a meal from it.  Old style gardeners might get out the Dipel dust or even spray Malathion, but I've moved strongly away from that approach, either tolerating the damage or spraying with a sharp jet of water or hand picking the critters if it seems urgent to do so (such as on tomato plants). 

A new arrival at the San Pedro annex is this Checkerbloom.  I've grown this before, but it was in different soil and direct sun.  I didn't have sustained good luck with them  This soil is sandier instead of clay-like and the advice at Grow Native Nursery was that this plant does better in part sun, which is what it is getting here.