Photos
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 instead turned out to be a Tarantula Hawk, which is actually a very large wasp. And by very large, I mean over three inches (7-1/2 cm) long and heavy enough to make the leaf it's standing on sag almost to the ground. Despite their size, they're actually quite docile and eat nectar rather than other insects. They're called Tarantula hawks because the females will sting a tarantula to paralyze it, then lay eggs on it. After they've hatched, they eat the [keep reading...]
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...]
Photo of the Day: Foggy Morning in November
Misty November morning. Fog settles over the pond and creates a shadowy, silent scene.
Photo of the Day: Peppermint Twist Rose
While most of the rest of the garden is hunkering down for winter, a couple of the roses are kicking out one more set of blooms. This one is "Peppermint Twist." I think you can tell how it got its name.
Photo of the Day: Painted Plumeria
Most of my Plumerias bloom pink or yellow and stay that way, but not this one. It blooms pink and turns white over the course of a few days. As the color changes from outer edge to the center of the flowers it looks like someone comes and paints them with little colored accents. One day I'll figure out the variety.
Photo of the Day: Happy Halloween!
Happy Halloween everyone! If you're going to a party tonight, don't end up like this guy. Cleanup is rough.
Photo of the day: End of Season Tomato Harvest
Last of the tomatoes for the season. Red Valentine grape tomato and yellow Indigo Kumquat tomato Well, that's it. The last of the tomatoes have been picked. The Valentine grape tomato (front of bowl) was ridiculous. Easily 40lbs of tomatoes. The Indigo Kumquat (yellow, back of bowl) was a pleasant surprise as well. Long production time and beautiful fruit.
Photo of the Day: A bathtub’s worth of luffa sponges
A couple years ago I planted some luffas, which proceeded to sprawl out, climb into the trees and take over a large section of the west garden. Even though I removed every luffa I could find, some were still left stranded high in the trees. Each of the past two years those leftover luffas have dropped seeds into hidden spaces and grown more luffas. Here's a bathtub's worth of luffa gourds from this weekend's cleanup. Free seeds for anyone who asks!