Photos
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 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...]
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.