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The Ducks Get a New Water Dish
The term "like a duck to water" takes on new meaning when your ducks get a new water dish. When I put the empty dish down there wasn't a duck in sight. The moment water came out of the hose, boom, 19 ducks appeared, so I took a quick video of them. I think this is the duck equivalent of hanging around the water cooler.
Island of Misfit Succulents
Even half-serious plant collectors have an "Island of Misfits" -- plants that you don't really want or need, but for some reason you keep anyway. It starts with one stuck in some out of the way place, but after a while you keep adding other plants to it until you realize that the "island" is starting to get crowded. I don't have an island of misfits. It's more like an island chain that dots the acre. This particular ragtag bunch are succulents that I found growing places they shouldn't be (we get lots of "volunteers" here), so I stuck them [keep reading...]
Keyhole Garden Planted with Winter Vegetables
Getting ready for fresh vegetables all winter A couple of weeks ago I cleared my keyhole garden of the spent summer crops, topped off the bed with fresh compost and let it sit for a few days to rest and settle in. Yesterday I pulled the seedlings from the greenhouse and transplanted them in garden. Here's a list of what we're growing this winter: Keyhole garden re-planted for winter of 2019/2020 Clockwise from the lower left: Large Leaf Basil Romaine Lettuce - Green Forest Chinese Cabbage - Optiko Broccoli - Imperial Dill - Fernleaf/Mammoth cross (behind compost [keep reading...]
Photo of the Day: Pelargonium Cotyledonis
This little plant looks like it belongs in a Hobbit book. It's called "Old Father Live Forever" (Pelargonium cotyledonis) and is native to the island of Saint Helena off the west coast of Africa. It's endangered on its home island where goats were allowed to overgraze, but fortunately conservationists have helped it stage a comeback elsewhere. For a member of the Pelargonium family, it's white flowers aren't much to look at. It's the shape of its trunk and the deeply veined leaves that make it interesting.
Photo of the Day: Black Peruvian Sage
This is Peruvian Sage (Salvia discolor), also known as "Andian Sage." Fairly rare even in its native Peru, the plant grow long white stems with leaves that are green on one side and white on the other. The end of the stem is a series of deep purple flowers the color of blackberries with a scent that's a blend of sage and currants. It propagates easily, but is a little tender when it comes to cold, so they do need to be sheltered more than some of the native sages. Here's the plant in front of several other Salvias: [keep reading...]
Hot Sauce Batch 19 – entry 5
Added another 4 ounces of fresh peppers and 1 tsp of pickling salt. Peppers are really starting to ferment and become mushy now. Jar is almost full too. Soon it will be time to add the oak and let it reset over the winter.
Photo of the Day: Tiger Jaw in Flower
This is a tiger jaw (Faucaria tigrina) in flower. My wife brought home in a one-inch pot along with half a dozen other succulents a couple of years ago. The plant is low, mounding, and it's "jaws" make it look a little fierce on the rocky landscape. Better yet, it needs zero care (I don't even water it). For me, the coolest thing about it is for a few weeks in fall it produces a series of flowers, each of which blooms a couple hours before sunset, dies the next morning, and is replaced by another flower elsewhere. It's sort [keep reading...]
Photo of the Day: Toyon – Christmas Berry
Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia), aka "Christmas Berry" or California Holly, is a native tree and favorite hangout for all sorts of birds and wildlife. Once established, it pretty much tolerates anything -- blazing sun, drought, fire, shade, lousy soil, mule deer, etc. They're usually 8-10 ft tall, but this tree is over 30 years old and easily 20 ft tall (happy tree). Most of the year, it has deep green, densely packed leaves that make it a good screening plant and offers cover for birds. Late summer it blooms with white flowers which give way to clusters of these red berries [keep reading...]
Photo of the Day: Tarantula Hawk
Walked out of the house this morning to be greeted by what I thought was was a hummingbird, but turned out to be a Tarantula Hawk, which is a *very* large wasp.
Photo of the Day: Hummingbird Sage
Hummingbird sage (Salvia spathacea) is another native that I really like. It's a low growing sage that spreads by rhizomes and can colonize a whole area. When a colony is in bloom, there are so many hummingbirds it can sound like a swarm of bees. Beyond the flower and the low growth habit, one of the other things I really like about it is it's ability to thrive under live oaks, pine and eucalyptus -- all trees known for being notorious allelopaths (i.e., they secrete chemicals that make it difficult for plants to germinate and grow under them). The sages [keep reading...]
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