Daphne and Blue Witch

I've been keeping tabs on my various plants in their myriad locations (six in all) and am happy to give a favorable report on most. The record freezes about a month ago did some damage, but so far most of the plants are still alive, just a bit traumatized. My Ficus benghalensis and Vanilla planifolia look particularly battered. But the rest of the plants are well within their hardiness range! The Daphne odora var. aureo-marginata has started to open flowers and the Solanum umbelliferum var. incanum "Indians Gray" has been blooming non-stop for at least a few months now. I'll see about putting some pictures up later.

Santa Cruz County

Despite my present fluid garden state I managed some botanical adventures. An exciting set of visits to Native Revival in Aptos and Sierra Azul in Watsonville was punctuated by a visit to Cabrillo College's Salvia Garden! I saw some spectacular Salvias at this garden. The Mexican section was full of hummingbird visited flowers, and I saw some interesting S. leucantha hybrids. Both nurseries were full of botanical abundance, and lovely demonstration gardens burst with bloom and leaf. I've included a picture of a Protea with some apian visitors from Sierra Azul. Also included is a Salvia flower close-up and a picture of John in the Salvia garden. His excitement at all these plants is certainly palpable in this photo!

Yerba Santa!

The U.C. Botanical Garden's sale yielded much excitement this year - two plants belonging to the Eriodictyon genus! 8 years it's taken me to find these! I'm much overjoyed. Deppea splendens and Adenium have also entered my keeping. Along with a banyan tree. What do I intend to do with a banyan tree? you may well ask. For now it's in a container with some Gotu Kola. You can bonsai a banyan, right? I mean, how could a resist a tree this fantastic? The new leaves are so velvety!

Transplanting

The reason I haven't posted in a while has been due to the fact that we're moving. If would be a lot easier if we had a place to move to. But move we must, so dig up plants I'm taking with me I must! So as I'm transplanting and trying to keep newly yanked up roots moist I'll probably take a slight sabbatical from this blog. As soon as I'm settled into a new garden I'll start anew. In the meantime I've created another nifty blog for all to peruse which will likely be a bit less plant specific (no promises there, though) to detail any creative or other pursuits about which I wish to disclose information. But before I go here's my Hibiscus "Rum Runner" and an elegant rockrose (Cistus ladanifer) flower.

Datura, Aeonium, and Marian Sampson

Aeonium tabuliforme and Greenovia aurea are pictured together. It may be that the Greenovias are now considered Aeonium, but at any rate they are related and share some of the same habitats. I've been led recently towards Aeonium. They're connected to the saga of the floral history of the Mediterranean - a tale of climate change, relict species, and islands. Quite stirring! Since my last post we've been to Annie's and the U.C. Botanical Garden. It was a frenzy of leaf and blossom at Annie's. I ended up with another Datura metel "Double Lavender" and two Monardellas - M. odoratissima and M. undulata var. frutescens. The first has lovely white blossoms, the second striking purple. On the subject of Monardellas my M. macrantha "Marian Sampson" has just started this season's blooms - what lovely red floralness! Also included is picture of the M. unulata var. frutescens. At the Botanical Garden I saw the last of the Corpse Flower and brought home a smaller species called Amorphophallus rivieri, with similar floral qualities. It's just a speckled-stalked leaf right now. The botanical garden was awash with happily buzzing bees - especially the herb garden. My garden also has its share of apian visitors - mostly native bees, as near as I can tell. Though the occasional honey bee comes by. In other news of my garden - there are still quite a few Clarkias and Gilias continuing to bloom. Salvia clevelandii has started to show cerulean blossoms, and various Agastaches contribute warmer hues. A cheerfully yellow Grindelia blooms alongside. There's also new leaves on the native milkweeds and buckwheat flowers under the sun!

Gathering Seeds

It's been busy these last couple of weeks - a trip to Annie's and Half Moon Bay Nursery and my Coming-of-Age party (held in my garden) But I've finally had some time to begin my seed-gathering efforts. Today I gathered some Clarkia unguiculata and Penstemon heterophyllus. It was a lot of fun once I found out how to get the seeds out of the penstemon pod. I also was able to get some of the new plants slid into a larger pot. The Daturas look particulary fetching, their fatal leaves lovely in the light. I'm also enjoying the indescribably wonderful fragrance of a blooming Tulsi plant (Ocimum sanctum) that I found at Annie's. My visit there was especially exciting - I also found a California native clover! So many interesting and alluring plants there - I was overwhelmed! In other garden news - Epiphyllum "Monastery Garden" bloomed. This was quite the event! I've included my hand in the picture for scale. Also pictured are tall Gilia with some Clarkia and the native clover.

An Expedition Southward

A few days ago a small party and I visited Sierra Azul Nursery in Watsonville. This nursery is set in the Pajaro Valley and carries an impressive array of species from the world's Mediterranean climates. The demonstration gardens are presently featuring a sculpture exhibit, which we very much enjoyed. Some pieces disturbed, intrigued, or delighted. Some pieces did all three. At any rate I have pictured one entitled "Resurrection Series" that in particular drew me. I regret that I don't remember the name of the artist who created this piece! After a stroll through the gardens it was time to peruse the nursery itself. I was (as usual) overwhelmed by all the plants blooming and bursting from their little plastic containers. The Mediterranean herb selection cought my eye and I picked out a lovely Hyssop plant. I then settled on a few others, and after some tricky loading maneuvers (the car was a bit crowded) we proceeded on our way. I have pictured one of my new garden residents Philadelphus "Belle Etoile". This mock-orange smelled so good I had to bring it with me! I should also note that the nursery and gardens were filled with many different bees - honeybees, bumblebees, and others I couldn't name. I love watching bees in their pollination-drived ecstasies - I think it's the way they go into the flowers. At any rate, in my opinion this nursery and garden is definitely doing something right if there's that many bees!
On both our way to and from this area we made a stop at the pebbled section of Bean Hollow beach. We even saw a whale jumping in and out of the water a few times. I was pretty impressed, and I'm not really much of whale person. Then it was on to some pebble watching and tidepool gazing. One of our party developed a quite unnatural (as far as I'm concerned) aversion to those harmless little purple crabs in the tidepool area. I always found them quite nice, though a bit reticent. She said that it was something about the way they walked sideways. Anyway, the waves crashed and I picked up and sniffed various bits of washed up seaweed on the beach. I have included a picture of the ocean's dynamic cycling.