Photos
Photo of the Day: Thai Basil
Unlike its Mediterranean cousins, my Thai basil (Ocimum basillicum) seems to be getting along just fine in the cold and wet of November. I don't recall what the original source for this seed was, but the plants grow 12" - 18" tall and produce purple flowers with a sweet spice aroma that reminds me of clove or cinnamon. I grow two batches of this each year, the first I start in late winter / early spring, and the second I start in late summer using the seed collected from the spring batch. This is the 6th year (12th batch) and [keep reading...]
Brazilian Edelweiss in Bloom
Not knowing much about how Brazilian Edelweiss (Sinningia leucotricha) grows, I kind of thought I had killed the poor thing because it dropped all its leaves a few weeks ago. Turns out that wasn't the case at all. Several days ago it started growing new leaves and to my surprise this morning I was greeted with two little salmon colored flowers! (They're supposed to be fragrant, but I don't smell anything.) Can't wait to see it all leafed out again. I hope it blooms a bunch.
Photo of the Day: Bowl Gourds
Gourds are cool. Not only do the vines look nifty while they're growing, but they leave behind future bowls, birdhouses, planters and other craft projects. This year a bowl gourd plant showed up and decided to make its home on the north fence of the vegetable garden... and the orange trees... and the bottle brush trees. Now that the vines have died back there's about a dozen well-shaped gourds in various states of dryness handing on the fence, and one literally in it. There's probably a dozen more in the trees, but they're too high up to get, so there [keep reading...]
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...]
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...]
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...]