Pretty Maids All in a Row

Pansies and Johnny-Jump-Ups

2012-01-17T15:33:00.000-08:00

Months ago the automatic watering system in the front yard stopped watering one of the flowerbeds in front of the apartment. The landlord never fixed it and 2 of the camellias he planted when he bought the place died. The gardeners eventually dug out the dead ones but left the holes. So I thought maybe they were going to plop in 2 new shrubs any day. Well, it's been about six months and we recently found out the landlord is putting the place up for sale. No wonder he stopped taking care of the place. So when we went to Lowe's today I picked up some pansies and johnny-jump-ups and planted those in the gaps, and filled the two holes with the soil I had dug up to plant the bedding plants. Problem solved. And pansies cheer me up. Now I just hope our lead footed neighbors don't squash them when they throw a ball out of bounds.

Just Like Linnea's

2011-08-03T11:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had an epiphany while sitting in Linnea's coffee shop in San Luis Obispo CA. I realized that subliminally I was trying to make my patio look inviting like Linnea's, where I have spent many happy hours sipping iced tea on warm days and Mexican hot chocolate on cold days.
First off I want to plant a bamboo screen to block my view of the dumpsters and make an obstacle to keep people from throwing things too far, missing the dumpster and landing in my backyard. I want to move a bunch of junk that has piled up from using our backyard as a workshop. I want to restore my altar that my boyfriend has piled junk in front of so I can't even get to it to light candles or anything. He's the biggest obstacle to making the changes I want to make. I'm constantly aiming at beautiful and inviting, while he's aiming at storage and tool usage. I used to dance out there but now there is no room. I think half of the clutter can be thrown away. Then I have to weed whip all the edges of the garden. And as usual I'm struggling to control all the vines. I sure have my work cut out for me.

Opuntia Cactus

2011-07-05T18:27:00.000-07:00

I didn't plant a garden this year because money was too tight. But my little cactus is hanging in there. Most of my succulents got munched on by snails. But even they can't handle the spiny ones.

When I was a kid they called these teddy bear cacti, but please don't pet them.

Brown Eyed Susan Vine

2011-06-02T13:24:00.000-07:00

My brown eyed susan vine is finally doing great. I had to hang up new twine to give the tendrils a new patch to grow on. The leaves have some insect or snail damage. Could be grasshoppers though I haven't seen any on there. So far it's a mystery to me.

Planning My Spring Garden

2011-03-18T15:40:00.000-07:00

I'm planning for my spring garden. This time I'm either going to have a square foot garden or no garden at all. It's a much superior method and the way I've had the most success in the past. And it cuts down on maybe 90% of weeding. I'm building the boxes to be 2' wide x 4' long and I'll put as many on the space as I can while leaving a path to walk between them.

This year I hope to grow a gourmet lettuce mix, purple carrots, orange carrots, pear tomatoes, if I can find a fusarium wilt resistant variety, beets, nasturtiums and radishes. One box (8 squares) will be dedicated to growing herbs.

I also want to plant a pomegranate tree to replace the tree my idiot landlord removed last fall. I'm keeping it in a pot so I can take it with me when I move.

Parsley, Apples and Chives

2011-01-14T01:04:00.000-08:00

I just pulled the last of the radishes and beets out of the container. They weren't fit to eat so no love lost there. I replanted the pot with parsley and chives seeds. Then I covered it except for a few vent holes to keep stray cats away from it.

I got some tiny apples from the market and I've saved the seeds to sprout as an experiment. I know apples don't grow true to form, but you never know if you will stumble upon a new apple! I saw a TV show on it once, how apples used to be bitter and were used for hard cider. But then prohibition happened and bitter apples fell out of popularity so the search was on for a great tasting sweet apple.

I also want to get to the nursery and pick up some daffodil bulbs and iris rhizomes. I think the daffodils will look great in the front flower bed and compliment the yellow roses.

Dear Tree I loved You So Much

2010-10-01T21:28:00.000-07:00

Why did the landlord wait until after 8 PM on a Friday night to call and say he will be here w/ gardeners to remove the tree in the backyard? The only tree that we have that shades the house, provides privacy and shields us from the noise the neighbor's kids make all day long? The tree that holds all my hanging plants, windchimes and the birdhouse? The tree that has had numerous hummingbird nests in it.

I think I'm going to be sick. Then he hinted that he'd be more than happy to let his gardeners clear the rest of my backyard. The gardeners that only did that once before and buzzed the trailing geraniums so close to the ground that they were all dead in 2 weeks.

Oh yeah, now I remember why I hate renting. I love how the landlord didn't even ask us how we feel about the tree. He said neighbors have been complaining. Evidently they just see a tree as leaves to rake. This is a perfectly healthy tree. It's only crime is that the people that sit under it's shade think it's a nuisance. It was one of the very few redeeming qualities of living in this location.

Labor Day and I'm Weeding

2010-09-06T19:43:00.000-07:00

Since my last update, all my tomatoes have died. It even killed the two or three plants that were two years old. So I'm thinking where did the virus come from? I didn't have it two years ago or last year. Did I bring it in with some of the plants from the nursery in their potting soil?

Today I gave my neighbors some lemon cupcakes and they gave me 3 beautiful tomatoes. I told them my dilemma and they said spray the plants and soil with a mixture of 1/2 vinegar and 1/2 water. Please note I haven't tried this yet. I have no plants left alive to try it on.

Even my sunflowers were wimpy compared to the glorious ones I've grown in the past.They are already going to seed and are about half as big in diameter as the previous ones.

Maybe my soil has lost all its umph. Anyway, I did an hour of weeding today. I'm glad I stopped after an hour because I'm sore already and my hands are almost too tired to type.

The Mysterious Stranger

2010-08-26T10:29:00.000-07:00

As if my poor garden hasn't had enough weird issues this year, last night we had a prowler of the four legged variety. My boyfriend caught the possum red handed wedged into my metal trellis. At least it posed under the light so I could get some good photos before it knocked over the trellis. Then it tried to climb up the sunflower stalks and broke one of those. It's been coming around for a couple of weeks now. I can hear it crunching on the dead leaves outside of my window.

Radishes

2010-08-03T13:49:00.000-07:00

After I pulled some radishes and saw they were quite the boring white and green, I trimmed off the leaves and tossed them in the fridge.

Then a few days later when I cut one open I had quite the surprise. The middle is a beautiful purplish red color like a starburst. I haven't taken a photo of the inside yet but I will.

Fusarium WIlt

2010-08-03T13:45:00.001-07:00

My tomatoes have been unhappy. After some glorious progress they are just withering away to nothing. I suspected fusarium wilt, and after reading about it on the Internet, it seems it's a fungus in the soil and the fix is to not plant tomatoes, peppers or potatoes in those spots for 4 or 5 years. It's one of the problems with Heirloom tomatoes, but even with modern disease resistant tomatoes, new strains of fusarium wilt may attack those plants as well. Or I can just plant them and hope for the best. We have way more tomatoes than we can eat as it is, and we are still getting plenty ripening. It just makes me sad that the plants are not thriving.

Sunflower Seeds

2010-06-10T18:04:00.000-07:00

I'm really excited because many of my sunflower and marigold seeds have sprouted. I'm so glad I bought new sunflower seeds. Looks like I got a good batch this time. Now if I can just fend the snails and birds off until the seedlings get strong enough to survive.

I have a bunch of almost ripe tomatoes to pick too. I dug up the deader plant after harvesting it's last 2 fruits. I'm going to let the ground rest a bit before putting another plant in that spot. We also swept up a lot of debris today so it's more fun to be out there. The hummingbird is busy and eating out of my feeder again. She got a bit agitated when my cat was sitting in the window.

Planting flowers

2010-06-09T08:44:00.000-07:00

I've been working on my garden every day. I had moved the hummingbird feeder and was happy to see a hummingbird drinking from it this morning.

I got marigold, cilantro and nasturtium seeds planted all around my tomatoes. The marigolds I planted last week have already come up as well. It's going to be nice to have more flowers in the garden as well as their benefits at repelling insects.

In my green planter the radishes have been getting chewed on by something. I planted some nasturtiums and beets in the blank areas where the radishes either didn't sprout or got eaten by bugs.

Nettles, Nasturtiums and Snails.

2010-06-07T17:33:00.000-07:00

Last night I took my neighbors a tomato, and they were so pleased they invited me out back to see their urban garden. They had made excellent use of every available spot. Their tomatoes are just starting to fruit so they were happy to get a ripe one from me. Their garden was so tidy and lovely, not at all like my jungle, even though our yard layouts are identical. When I mentioned my problems with snails, they told me in a rather confusing discussion in broken English and Romanian that they use nettle spray to repel the snails. They get the nettles from a park, boil it in water to make a soup, then spray it on the plants.
While researching that on the Internet, I came across this site on companion planting. While it didn't say much on the nettle thing, the bit about nasturtiums has me inspired to plant nasturtiums all around my tomatoes. I had nasturtiums all around them before from volunteer seedlings, but they got dug up with the weeds and grass we had to discard to plant the new tomato sets. I have a few left in the other flower bed, and the hummingbirds have been feeding from them. I want to make some nasturtium salad too. I keep reading that you can eat them but I never remember to try it.

Moving the Plants

2010-06-05T15:12:00.000-07:00

This morning before it got hot I dug up some more jasmine roots and smoothed out the surface. Then I moved my white shelving unit over to the wall to put all my cacti and succulents on. It also has the terrarium and the spider plants on it. I just hope they don't fry. Before they were under the upstairs patio so they never got direct sun, but my boyfriend didn't want the shelf in the old spot anymore so I picked the best spot I could. It took me a long time to get all the leaves out of the succulents. I was being careful with the cactus and still managed to poke my thumb with some spines. The vines killed some of the succulents and the snails killed others so it's a pretty sad lot that I have left. I just hope they start doing better now that I've moved them to another spot.

New Tomato Plants

2010-06-04T15:42:00.000-07:00

I planted tomatoes this morning. I got them at Lowe's. I planted 2 yellow pear tomatoes, a black variety called Black Krim, and a yellow small tomato called Sungold. I also planted Mammoth Sunflowers along the back wall.

Cilantro blooming.

Feeding Hummingbirds and Cleaning Hummingbird Feeders

2010-06-02T10:16:00.000-07:00

http://www.birds-n-garden.com/how_to_attract_hummingbirds.html

A handy reference guide since I always forget the ratio.

Tomatoes Are Getting Ripe

2010-05-29T21:23:00.000-07:00

Bit by bit the tomatoes are getting ripe. We had one in a salad and it's so much tastier than store bought.

And the snails haven't found the radishes yet. Hopefully they don't like radishes.

Bye Bye Jasmine Vine

2010-05-28T00:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I girded my loins and tackled the root of that jasmine vine. I soaked it a good 20 minutes and then took a clipper and shovel to what was left of it. I got a good bit of it cleared away and filled 3/4 of the dumpster with vines and branches. I'm still not done with the big clean up but at least now I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

There was a ripe tomato with a little slug fest going on, so I cut off the bad part and put the rest in a salad and it tasted great. No point wasting a good tomato just because a bug got there first.

Tomato Vine

Cilantro / Coriander

I reseeded the cilantro. As you can see in the photos, it's at the end of it's lifespan.
The radishes are getting bigger. So far so good. I'm still tossing out a lot of snails, trying to race them to my prime plants. I'm also seeing a lot of earthworms, which is a good thing. I just wish I had a compost pile. Stupid tiny yards...mutter, mutter, mutter. I need a quarter of an acre.

Monster of a Tomato Plant

2010-05-19T10:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was amazed to see all the tomatoes on the plant that survived from last summer's garden. I had to cut an old t-shirt into strips and lift all the tomatoes off the ground so the snails don't get them. Then I did some weeding around them. There must be 20 tomatoes on there, all green at the moment. And I already picked 4 green ones last week because they were sitting on the ground. I have 3 tomato cages and some stakes holding one plant, it's such a monster.

My cilantro/coriander is about spent, so reseeded the pot in the blank spots to get another crop going.

I also planted some radishes in the pot where the basil was. It never sprouted nor did any weeds, so I'm suspecting cats! If the radishes don't sprout, then nothing will and I'll have to dump the whole pot and start over.

I got up this morning and saw some fluffy baby sparrows sitting on the brick wall and then I saw the mother bird feeding them, though they are as big as she is. By the time I got my camera they were gone. I only got one blurry photo.

Then while I was waiting I continued the dreary job of removing the jasmine. My hands are really tired from pruning right now but I finally got the top detached from the neighbor's side of the jasmine. It all started in my yard, and now it's theirs. There is still a lot of clean-up to do and digging out the original roots. Ugh. That will have to wait for another day.

The Roses Are Back

2010-04-21T01:28:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited that my roses are covered with buds. It was supposed to rain today too but it hardly rained at all. I spent more time getting the garden ready for the rain, then the amount of time it actually rained.

Cilantro

2010-02-22T18:36:00.001-08:00

Yay, our cilantro is sprouting. I'd about given up. I put it in a clay pot sunk into the soil and put plastic wrap over it to keep it moist. It was sprouting like crazy when I checked it this afternoon.

Odd Snail Factoid

2010-02-21T00:39:00.000-08:00

Today I needed to spray a little wooden sign outdoors so I set the sign on a metal can that still had a paper label. I was spraying the 2nd coat when I noticed a snail clinging to the side of the can. I swear it wasn't there when I set the can down earlier. And right under the snail, in the shape of the part clinging to the can the label had been eaten away. There were 2 other holes in the paper the same size. I thought that was so odd that the snail ate the paper. My boyfriend said, "Why not? The paper is cellulose."
By the way, the polyurethane was dissolving the snail's body. Ewww. Little bubbles were coming out.

Fall in the Garden

2009-09-08T12:37:00.000-07:00

You can use your garden as inspiration for your artwork. Here is a t-shirt I am embellishing with ribbon flowers, lemons, vines and leaves. Don't spend all your gardening time pruning, picking and planting. Make time for sketching, photographing, and otherwise enjoying your garden. Today I need to refresh the hummingbird feeder. I can't remember the ratio of sugar to water so I need to look that up again.
Leaves are starting to turn colors and fall onto the patio. I enjoy the sound of it from my bedroom window. I have a lot of birds in my garden this year. They seem to be eating the seeds of the grass that is taking over my garden.

Tomatoes

2009-09-03T14:45:00.001-07:00

Like I suspected nearly all the tomatoes got ripe at once.

Last Days of August

2009-08-28T23:56:00.000-07:00

It looks like I have a whole bunch of tomatoes that are going to ripen all at once.

I had three promising brown eyed susan plants sprout up. Then one vanished. A day or two later the best one vanished and now there is just one left. By vanished I mean you can't even tell it was ever there. So I put a cut out styrofoam cup over the last one to keep it from snails, slugs, and birds. Sigh. I just need one to grow up the trellis.

Lots of other things are blooming: the moss rose, the striped roses, the lantana, sea lavender, and some of the succulents.

I'm turning this gourd I grew in the garden into a rain stick too.

Grasshopper

2009-08-21T23:46:00.000-07:00

I have a feeling that this is what's been eating my peppers. Look at the size of this guy. Click on the photo to see all the details.

My Backyard and I

2009-08-19T01:23:00.000-07:00

I'm glad it's cooling off as we head toward autumn. Soon all the leaves on the tree above me will be falling into my yard.

The house behind me is where the family from India lives. They are the noisiest people ever and seem to live in their backyard where their kids scream all the day long. I try to sit out there and read or write in my journal but usually I just get frustrated and go back inside. They are also up all night pounding on the walls, hanging out on their patio and talking loudly or smoking. If I had the money I'd move tomorrow. People are so unaware of how much their noise impacts others or they just don't care.

Mostly Roses

2009-08-15T21:46:00.001-07:00

It was such a perfect weather day I couldn't resist taking some photos of my roses and tomatoes to share.
My brown eyed susans have also sprouted so I'm crossing my fingers that they will survive their infancy.

Hummingbird

2009-08-14T23:29:00.001-07:00

I was sitting outside reading when I heard my hummingbird come back. And this time I had the camera. So now I can show you instead of nattering on about it.

Hummingbird Siting

2009-08-11T19:29:00.000-07:00

After waiting months for a hummingbird to use the feeder I inherited, I changed back to the sugar/water mixture instead of the store bought powder, painted the metal flowers red, and hung a red flower on the feeder. Then yesterday I saw my first hummingbird taking a big long drink. Success finally! It was a tan color, not like the shiny ones I usually see. I hope it makes my feeder a regular stop.

Sadly though the arrowhead plant I put in the aquarium has gone to pieces. My terrarium is doing okay though. At first it was too wet, then too dry. Now the sides are fogged up so at least the plants are hurting for water.

Portulaca

2009-08-06T09:22:00.000-07:00

I got up early this morning to plant the moss rose before it got hot. Funny plant, it's neither a moss nor a rose. It's a succulent called Portulaca. I planted it around the Anaheim peppers to help keep them moist in their pot.

I'm also fixing the hummingbird feeder. The packaged mix didn't attract any birds, so I'm just dissolving sugar in water. We'll see how that goes instead. All the red had faded from the feeder lid, so I tied a fake red rose to the pole instead, since I don't want to use any food coloring or additives in the mixture itself. I love hummingbirds. I'm sad that I don't have any hummingbird nests this year.

Here are some directions on how to grow it. http://www.ehow.com/how_6766_grow-moss-rose.html

Moss Rose

2009-08-05T00:32:00.000-07:00

My mother loved moss roses and I haven't had any in quite a while. I couldn't resist getting some yesterday at the nursery. I'm going to plant them in with my Anaheim Chilis to help keep the soil moist. They seem to love that spot.

I also got my terrarium finished. I added a prayer plant and a pink polka dot plant. I'm still trying to get the moisture just right. When I opened it to plant the new plants, there was some mold, so I let some of the moisture out today. Only then it looked too dry so I put the plastic back over the top. I'll get it balanced right sooner or later.

I also picked a big tomato and had it in the salad tonight.

Terrarium

2009-07-28T23:28:00.000-07:00

I had a nice spot along the brick wall where we removed some pink jasmine that had planted itself, so I put the trellis there and planted black eyed susans in front of it. I've always wanted to grow those so I hope they sprout. I should have planted them earlier in the year but I didn't have the opportunity.

Then tonight I bought 2 more Anaheim pepper plants to replace the ones the snails ate. I'm going to plant them in a container this time instead. Both have fruit and blooms on them already.

I also made a terrarium yesterday. When I dug up some moss for it I accidentally cut an earthworm in half. Then as I was carrying the moss from the front yard to the back I planted it in the terrarium and went back inside the house. The cat was trying to pick up something off of the rug. It was an earthworm. It must have fallen out of the bottom of the moss roots. So I put that in the terrarium too. The one thing I don't have for the terrarium yet is houseplants. I picked up an arrowhead plant for the aquarium, and if the root system can be divided I'll go ahead and put some of that in the terrarium. Usually the dollar store has just the right size of houseplants, but this year they haven't got any decent plants in at all. Maybe prices have gone up so much they can't offer them for .99 anymore.

Weedy Tomatoes

2009-07-26T01:20:00.000-07:00

We had company over today to work on some gourd projects. I guess the guy really appreciated what we taught him, because suddenly he jumps up and goes and weeds all my tomatoes. Luckily I had just watered them deeply the night before, otherwise he'd have thrown out his back before he got any weeds pulled. Now there is a stack of weeds as big as a bale of hay. I'll let them dry a day or two and put them in the dumpster. I was embarrassed to even have weeds, but I guess he meant well.

The photo is of a gourd I grew. I cut it in half to clean it out so I can make a rain stick.

Aloe Magic

2009-07-19T00:43:00.000-07:00

I do believe we can manifest what we think about to a degree. So when my friend Lynn told me she needed an aloe plant last time I saw her, I shouldn't have been that surprised when today a new person I met at a workshop shop says out of the blue that if anyone wanted an aloe plant or two, he had a whole bunch on his front porch that were free for the taking. So I got one for my friend and one for me.

And in case you didn't know, aloe juice is good for burns. So it's a good thing to have around.

First Tomatoes

2009-07-14T19:07:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to say I picked the first two tomatoes out of my garden. They haven't been as abundant this year. We are having some very hot weather right now so I have to water frequently. But we are also in a drought so I have to keep a sharp eye out so no water is wasted and there is no run off.

Tiger Jaw

2009-07-02T19:48:00.001-07:00

My tiger jaw cactus just bloomed, and as I suspected the flower was yellow. Funny the things we remember from childhood. The bloom only lasts a few days so I'm glad I got a photo of it straight away.

Most of the cactus and succulent collection I got at the swap has survived. I'm nursing one that was almost destroyed by snails in 2 days flat and I lost one that just started dying the second I got it home. It's still alive but seems to die a bit each day.

So all and all to lose 2 plants out of 24 is pretty darn good.

Rabbits, Snails and Beets Oh My

2009-06-29T18:17:00.000-07:00

I took some of the fresh beets from my garden over to my new friend's house. The four of us made dinner all at the same time, something that would have been impossible in my tiny kitchen.

So I brought beans I made in the crock pot overnight. My boyfriend brought all the fixings for chili for the crock pot we gave our friends, and I also brought the beets from the garden.

My friend made corn bread, a giant salad, and a German chocolate cake.

They have a giant yard and put in a garden. Unfortunately the rabbits are eating it bare. So though my city garden may be tiny, at least there are no rabbits. I could live without the snails though. We are hang picking them out and tossing them at the moment. I've never seen so many snails.

It was so hot today. I'm glad it's cooling down a bit right now.

Beets Coming Out of My Ears

2009-06-26T10:29:00.000-07:00

How am I going to eat all these beets? My boyfriend decided he doesn't like beets. I'm thinking my neighbor from Romania might like them. But everytime I give her something she feels obligated to give me something back. And I hate to put her on the spot like that. Anyway I took some photos for your beet viewing pleasure. I still have a lot more to harvest. Egads! And I have to say once again you don't need a big yard to grow enough vegetables for a family of four.

Garden Photos

2009-05-18T01:26:00.000-07:00

I've been super busy in the garden. Today I planted sunflower seeds.
I repotted a bunch of succulents. Then I bought a bunch more at the swapmeet. I couldn't resist getting 12 plants for $10. Here's some photos of my current gardening experiences. Hope you enjoy them. Comment and link me to your blog if you have one.

My Ten Favorite Annuals For the Flowerbed

2009-05-15T18:57:00.000-07:00

As part of a writing challenge I'm doing, I've been writing a bunch of online articles on gardening and sharing my garden photos from over the years. Seeing all those lovely photos and sharing my gardening tips has made me happy in a way I never expected. My newest article is about annuals for your flower bed. Enjoy. And then go plant some seeds if you can.
Annuals

Pink Ice Plant

2009-04-30T20:03:00.000-07:00

I've been dying to show you the pink ice plant. I planted it last summer so it was pretty small, but it's fabulous this year. Up till now, the landlord kept turning down the sprinklers and everything I planted in that hot spot died. Then I remembered ice plant from my hot summers in Riverside County and knew it would be the perfect plant. Plus it's a perennial so I don't have to keep buying it again each year.

Of the snapdragons I planted last year, only one made it to this year. And it's white. I'm not sure if it came up from seed or overwintered. But the way the gardeners go nuts with their weed whips, it's amazing any seedling survives long enough to bloom. The landlord wants me to let those vipers into the backyard, but there's no way if I can help it. I don't want everything trimmed to within an inch of it's life. I can't do much about the front yard because it's a common area, but the backyard has a locking gate and I hope he continues to respect that.

Snails

2009-04-30T11:06:00.000-07:00

On Sunday I bought and planted 4 out of 6 of the plants that were in little peat pots. Then on Monday morning, I saw that snails had totally eaten the top off of one of the two remaining plants. The next morning, I saw they'd destroyed the other one too. Little varmits. Grrrr. I put what was left of them in a covered terrarium. I have little hope that they'll recover without any leaves but at least I can try. One was the Anaheim pepper my boyfriend was so happy to find. It was the only plant he picked out. So I'll have to see if I can get another one next week. I'll be gone all weekend so I won't be able to fix it till next week anyway.

As for the snails, the beer in a dish didn't work at all so I'm back to using Deadline. Don't yell at me...it's no garden if the snails eat it all.

Finally Got the Garden Going

2009-04-27T00:24:00.000-07:00

I finally corraled my boyfriend into taking me to a nursery where I got 4 varieties of tomatoes, an Anaheim pepper, and soybean and flower seeds. Weeds were already growing in the spot I cleared for the tomato plants so it took me another hour to clear it, clean up debris and get 4 of the tomatoes planted. Two of the tomatoes are supposed to be pink so this should be interesting. I still have about half the garden to clear.

I'm pretty worried that my boyfriend is going to lose his job, and then we'll have to move and I'll lose the garden, but I'm going to go ahead and plant it as an act of faith, because we can only live in the present, not the future.

Roses in Bloom

2009-04-07T21:19:00.000-07:00

I just had to share these rose photos with you that I took Sunday. If I forgot to go in my backyard for a week or two I miss so much. I never get bored with these striped roses. Each one is unique.

When I was out driving around I spotted a glorious orange rosebush. I'm thinking about adding an orange rose to my garden now, even if the original color scheme was supposed to be a fairy garden in purple and pink. I need more yards, that's all there is to it!

Pink Epiphyllums

2009-04-04T14:02:00.000-07:00

It's beautiful out so I got my camera and took those epiphyllum photos. I also spotted one of those elusive spiders I've been trying to get a photo of. They are extremely shy, and even though I was far away he ran off after only 2 fuzzy photos. But if you can tell from my photos which spider it is, I'd love to know. This is the first year I've spotted them in my yard.

Epiphyllum Love

2009-04-03T10:33:00.000-07:00

Thanks for following Mike.
Now that the epipyhllum is in bloom, it's a much lighter red than I was expecting. Just beautiful. I'll need to get out there today and take photos. If I recall right the blooms last a while.

I definitely want to spend some time outside today. It's going to be a perfect CA day. I never take our weather for granted. I know much of the country is still covered in snow.

The ice plant I put in the front yard in the 'bald spot' has grown like crazy in the spring rains and is about to burst into specatacular ice pink blooms. I'll finally be able to compete with the African daisies my neighbor planted in the yard across from mine. Everything else I had planted in that spot had died when the previous owner turned off the sprinklers. The new owner is really into landscaping and our new front yard looks posh.

Gardening in a Tiny Yard

2009-04-01T13:03:00.000-07:00

I just spent an hour in my garden enjoying it and making it look better. First off, I take one of those trash grabber tools. I picked up about 20 things that had fallen into my yard from my upstairs neighbors balcony, including a dirty diaper, chip bags, a charcoal bag, random bits of plastic and wrappers, a t-shirt, some broken toy parts, and a tiny tennis ball which I assume belongs to their chihuahua. I used to try to give them their stuff back but they never seem to learn so now I just toss it. Except for the dog ball. I threw that back up on their balcony and made it in one shot.

Then I used the weed whacker to get the sprawling lantana and jasmine off of the sidewalk. Then I had to hand prune a bunch of the jasmine vines which are determined to be king of the garden. I watered my potted plants, and finally transplanted the spider plant that was completely root bound in his little container. Someone just gave me a hyacinth plant as well, so I watered that again. The pot is so small it needs water daily, so I really need to figure out where I want it and get it planted.

Then I swept everything I cut down into a pile. I'll let it dry a few days so it takes up less room in the dumpster and then I'll toss it out.

My roses are in glorious bloom.

Epipyllum

2009-03-27T17:57:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to report that the epiphyllum I got from my partner's grandmother's estate has not only adapted to it's new spot under the ficus tree in my back yard, it has four new flower buds on it. Epiphyllums are not the world's prettiest plant. But they are famous for their flowers. These flowers look like they are going to be a deep burgundy red. I'll be sure to get some photos when they bloom.

When I was a teen I used to take my mother to the Desert Nursery in Sunnymead CA all the time and they had a vast collection of epiphyllums for sale. Sadly the nursery is long gone. I believe it got plowed over to make a Moreno Valley, CA mall. My mother is gone as well. So my memories are even more important to me. We always came home with a flat or two of new succulents to try.

First Rose of 2009

2009-02-27T11:41:00.000-08:00

Normally I go out to the garden and take a photo of the first rose of the year. But this year it bloomed before I even realized it was there, and instead of being pink or red with a few white stripes it was predominantly white.

The pink jasmine just started to bloom as well. It has a huge number of buds on it thanks to the recent rains. As much as my bf wants me to pull it out because it's an invasive vine, I so love the smell of it and the cascades of flowers. I guess we'll never agree on gardening. My wild streak always ends up manifesting in my garden.

The epiphyllum and donkey tail (sedum I think) we got from my bf's grandmother's estate. They are showing signs of new growth so hopefully they've adapted to their new home.

Right after I took a photo of the first rose, the petals started falling off. Life is so short.

Rainy Days

2009-02-08T15:49:00.001-08:00

We've had 3 days of rain so I hope my beets pull through. The seedlings were doing very well.

When the sun came out today I was hoping for a rainbow. Alas, no luck. So I thought I'd make my blog slideshow to feature rainbows. That way I'll have some rainbows to enjoy even if mother nature isn't cooperating.

I enjoyed sitting on the porch and watching the rain today. The constantly changing clouds are fascinating. Yesterday we heard quite a long patch of rolling thunder. It's nice to have interesting weather for a change. We've had an ongoing drought in S. Calif. for years now.

Here's a photo of the park just before the rain started a few days ago.

Beets & succulents

2009-01-27T14:47:00.000-08:00

Yay my beets sprouted! I counted about 20 seedlings. And I also remembered a tip for thinning. Don't pull them; clip them off with a pair of scissors. That way you don't disturb the roots or pull out more than you mean to. I should plant some lettuce, onion sets, and radishes soon.

After a week of unusually hot weather, we are back to sweater weather. We got some rain last weekend so I haven't had to water at least.

The donkey tail and epiphyllum I brought over from Nadine's old house have adjusted to growing in my back yard. After carrying for them so tenderly, I found out my boyfriend never cared for those plants anyway. But I love succulents, and always wanted a decent donkey tail plant. Everyone had them when I was a kid but ours never did well. I knocked a lot of 'beads' off this one when I moved it, but at least it's growing and looking healthy. I never thought to ask how old the plant was.

Beets

2009-01-22T10:32:00.000-08:00

I recently planted some beets in my garden. They should be sprouting in a day or two.

One of my snapdragons survived over winter and is now covered with snow white flowers. I'm not sure if it's the same plant or came up from seed.

The ice plant I put in last year in the hottest spot in the yard spread like crazy and will keep the ground underneath it a lot cooler now. I'm looking forward to it's next bloom cycle. It will be a carpet of ice pink flowers.

I have a friend that is really into praying mantises. So I'm looking forward to seeing if they really do hang out underneath rose buds. I'm hoping to find a pink one like she did last year. She brought it inside and it has babies. How exciting!

Tree Trimming

2008-11-29T09:30:00.001-08:00

I cleared the garden just in time. The landlord gave me less than a day's notice that he was sending tree trimmers in. Before they got here I cut down the two hummingbird nests from last spring. Sadly one had an unhatched egg in it. So that's why I never saw the new baby hummingbird. I set it gently on a shelf on the patio. So wouldn't you know it a rainstorm blew through that night and knocked it to the ground and the egg broke.

Anyway, with the tree trimmed off, my bedroom has a lot more light all of a sudden. But I can also hear my neighbors as if they were standing on my porch.

I still haven't planted the winter garden. Hopefully I can get some seeds today.

Makes Like a Tree and Leaves

2008-11-22T09:08:00.000-08:00

This morning I was awakened at 8 AM by the sound of the neighbor's sweeping their patio. Not a welcome noise considering I went to bed at 3 AM. But if you can't beat them join them, so I got up and swept up some leaves too. Then I hosed off all the plants to get rid of the ash that's been covering them since the Orange County fires.

Year of the Spider

2008-11-21T13:22:00.000-08:00

Photo: This spider seems to be missing a few legs.

In Asian countries I'm not sure what animal year it is, but in my backyard it is definitely the year of the spider. I went out to clean away the dead vines and plants from the summer's garden and there were spiders of every variety and size out there. Every time I saw a big brown spider I thought of the brown recluse horror stories we've all heard, including one my friend in TX told me last week. While I was keeping an eye out, I picked up a white paper plate that had found it's way into my garden and when I flipped it over it had a black widow on it. I jumped, flailed my arms and launched it off the plate and into the air and I know not where it landed.

An hour later I saw another one, hourglass side up, smashed on the sidewalk. Then as I was pulling out an agressive asparagus fern from around the water spigot, I almost set my hand on another black widow that was sitting there on the greenery. In general I don't mind spiders, but with so many everywhere I turned I was starting to get freaked out. So that's enough gardening for one day.

2008-09-08T11:55:00.001-07:00

I just signed up for Tagfoot. http://ping.fm/lfV6m Come see all my links and comments and my wishlist.

Now I don't have to rely on my memory

2008-09-03T22:04:00.000-07:00

I've added the Flickr badge to show off my roses. And to bring back fond memories whenever I look at it. So many times I have moved and left my great roses behind and only have my memories to think on. But now thanks to the Internet, I can visit my past roses whenever the mood strikes me. And maybe someday I'll have a scanner so I can scan in photos from my past rose gardens in Riverside, Moreno Valley, Carson, and San Luis Obispo, CA.

2008-08-31T22:35:00.001-07:00

Want to join ping.fm too? Go to http://www.ping.fm.Use the code 'legendofping' and you could have the luxury of posting to all your blogs in one fell swoop like I do. Way more efficient than doing it one by one.

2008-08-31T22:33:00.001-07:00

I'm not sure what 'ping my default' means but I guess I'll find out when I hit send.

2008-08-30T14:48:00.000-07:00

2008-08-28T13:39:00.001-07:00

The week sure went by quick. I had a lot more planned but didn't have the energy to do it. My hands are still sore from woodcarving, and so I've had to lay off the knitting and crocheting. I'm looking forward to the weekend. My daughter may visit. We'll see.

Terrariums

2008-08-27T14:08:00.000-07:00

My houseplants & housecats didn't mix.
Alas I have stumbled upon a solution.
Terrariums!
Plant stays in, cat stays out.
Genius

I used to make terrariums as a teenager. And early on I used to sell them. So why did I forget they even existed when I've had to keep every plant out of my apartment for the last 10 years because I have a cat that wants to chew on every last one? I wish I knew. I could have had terrariums to enjoy all this time. And I want to make a bit of a fairy garden theme. Yes!

Sunflower

2008-08-27T11:09:00.000-07:00

I only had one great sunflower this year but what a beauty.

Yellow Rose Photos

2008-08-27T11:06:00.000-07:00

I planted this rose to honor someone serving in Iraq. He was from TX so I planted a yellow rose. But the name of the rose is St. Patrick's Day because the buds are greenish yellow.

2008-08-27T10:07:00.001-07:00

Come view my Flickr photo stream. Over 3000 photos I've taken are waiting there for your pleasure. http://ping.fm/3TTAi

2008-08-27T09:52:00.001-07:00

I just signed up for Ping.fm to make social networking more effiecient.

tomatoes love summer

2008-08-13T15:49:00.001-07:00

While I was out of town the tomatoes were going insane. I went to pick them today and the basket was so heavy I almost dropped it twice.
And I was surprised to find a zucchini. The white mildew has about wiped them out.

A New Hummingbird Nest

2008-07-02T19:19:00.001-07:00

I can't believe my good fortune. Another hummingbird has built it's nest in the same tree as the last bird. This one has a more golden tone to it.

Working in the yard

2008-07-02T19:14:00.000-07:00

The problem with working in the yard is the task tends to expand to fill the time. The more I did, the more I saw that needed doing. I swept and bagged leaves, pulled weeds, repotted plants, made 2 dish gardens, threw away junk, moved the workbench, tidied up the shelves, moved a bunch of gourds, and I still have enough work to fill another day. Thank goodness its getting dark because I'm pooped! It feels so good to shower when I am all muddy though.

Never turn your back on your squash

2008-06-26T19:15:00.001-07:00

Kentucky Pole Beans, zucchini, summer squash and lemon cucumbers grown in Anaheim, CA 92804.

Twin squash.

2008-06-13T23:32:00.000-07:00

I picked my first squash and the first one was twins. The striped ones are called Early Zuke.

So far so good

2008-05-24T11:11:00.000-07:00

My garden finally looks like a garden. It's at the happy place after the seeds are growing but before it looks wild and weedy. I took more photos yesterday while it was sprinkling.

Tomatoes and Peppers oh my.

2008-05-05T07:56:00.000-07:00

Last time I was at Home Depot buying plants, I thought I got 3 varieties of tomatoes. When I planted them, I found out I only got 2, because one had the wrong label on the shelf.
But I had seen some black tomatoes there and went to get one of those. I got a variety called Black Prince. My boyfriend grabbed him a Serrano Pepper plant. So today I got them planted, and grabbed the tags to make a blog post. Both tags had black plants on the photo, and I was pretty sure Serrano Peppers aren't black. So I read the fine print and what he had grabbed from the Serrano shelf was a Purple Bell Sweet Pepper. So learn from our mistake and check the tag right next to the stem, not the shelf label. And even so tags fall out and people stick them in any old plant, so I guess I will have to wait and see just what these tomatoes and peppers turn out to be.

Planting the garden

2008-04-18T10:02:00.000-07:00

Today I got up at a quarter to 8 and got all my seedlings in the ground except the snapdragons. I'm out of space so those may have to go in the front yard and be at the mercy of the clowns that do the apt. complex gardening.

I meant to get three varieties of tomatoes but when I read the tags this morning I had two Big Boys and one Mr. Stripey. Oh well, I planted them anyway. I planted 6 yellow banana peppers, 2 lemon cucumbers, and and assortment of sunflower seeds.

This year I'm working smart and not hard and covering between rows with black plastic to keep the weeds down and conserve moisture. After an hour and a half of gardening this morning I was pretty much melted and hungry for breakfast. It doesn't take long for that CA sun to heat things up.

I still have to lay out another row of plastic and put up strings for the beans to climb on, but that can wait for another day.

King Corn

2008-04-18T10:00:00.000-07:00

I got some seedlings to plant in my garden tomorrow. I got several varieties of tomatoes, peppers, and lemon cucumbers. Also some snapdragons to add color. Plus I want to plant some sunflowers from seeds. Plants don't last long in flats so I'm getting up early to plant them all. One of them already wilted between the time I got home and the time the sun went down.
A volunteer seed is sprouting with the squash. It's either a bean or a sunflower. I'm tempted to let it grow and see what it is.
After seeing a PBS special called King Corn tonight, I'm more determined than ever to eat less processed food and eat more home grown foodstuffs. Between corn fed cows and high fructose corn syrup in so many processed foods, it sure looks like corn is a contributing factor to diabetes and obesity. Almost all the corn grown in the U.S. either goes to feed livestock or to make high fructose corn syrup to sweeten packaged foods. Almost all the fast food in a typical meal is corn. Corn fed beef, corn oil french fries and corn syrup in the soda. Think about it...if they feed cows corn to make them fat, then we shouldn't really be surprised if all the corn in our diets is making humans fat. We just can't handle that much starch and sugar. I'm not talking about sweet corn from a farmer's market. I'm talking about altered corn that tastes so bad you can't even eat it raw. It has to be chemically processed before we can even eat it. And cows fed too long on that corn mixture die after about 6 months.
I had to laugh in a sad and painful way when they said they fatten cows by confining them to pens so they can't move and then stuff them full of corn. I sit in my apt. where I can hardly move and stuff my face all day with corn. As one farmer put it, "I know we are growing crap. It's what they (the govt.) pay us to do. Americans want cheap food."

Yellow Rose

2008-04-16T21:25:00.000-07:00

First bloom of the year on my St. Patrick's Day rose, and I almost missed it because I was out of town camping. We had a heatwave so I got home at the peak of it's bloom.

Sprouting and hummingbird nest.

2008-04-16T21:22:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to say the squash sprouted in 7 days, and now the beans are coming in. I get so excited just knowing the seeds are still viable.
And a hummingbird built a nest right outside my bedroom window.

Beans and Squash...I sound like a Puritan

2008-04-07T19:44:00.000-07:00

Today I got the vegetable garden offically started. I planted Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans because they did so well last year. And I planted 3 kinds of squash. Now that we are doing weekly stir fries, I'll be able to use a lot more squash. When I get back from my camping trip next weekend I'll get some tomato plants to put in. And this year I'm putting plastic over all the bare earth so I don't have to waste so much time on pulling weeds and grass. Ick I hate that! So cross your fingers and soon I'll have beans and squash sprouting. I love to watch things sprout.

My roses are blooming.

2008-04-06T10:55:00.000-07:00

My striped roses just started blooming. It's going to be prolific this year. My St. Patrick's Day rose also has buds on it. None so far on my sterling rose, but I pruned it late in the season to get rid of the jasmine all tangled up in it. I'm sure it will make a comeback. It's very sturdy.

Wasp

2008-03-28T15:44:00.000-07:00

I'm going to start the garden this weekend I hope so I was out clearing old dead vines away.
I was out in the back and happened to glance up in time to see a wasp making a nest under the balcony. The nest was about the size of a pea. Reminds me of one I saw in SLO that was the size of a person's head. So I sprayed it with bug spray, which made for one angry wasp. After it flew off, I scraped down the nest.

The one in the photo was spotted in San Luis Obispo last weekend about 3 stories up. You might have to open the larger photo to see it. Some pigeons actually live above it.

Save the roses

2008-02-11T13:05:00.000-08:00

I had lost one of my roses underneath a jasmine vine, a lantana vine and an overly zealous miniature rose bush with evil thorns. I trimmed and pruned and swore until I got all the parasites off the main plant. So now it has a good chance to make strong new branches for spring. I'm slowly reclaiming the back yard.

Calla Lily

2008-02-09T15:43:00.001-08:00

When I have no roses to photograph,it gives me a chance to take photos of other flowers in the yard. These calla lillies grow in front the apts. I didn't plant them but I sure enjoy them when they bloom. I particularly like that you can see the pollen on the stamen.

It's almost Spring

2008-02-09T11:23:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I decided to start getting my backyard/patio ready for the spring garden. I'm so glad I did because the rain had made a real mess of things. One of my gourd buckets was full of water and the gourds were waterlogged. So I set them out to dry. I hope they'll be okay.

Then today I swept up a ton of fallen leaves, berries, and wood shavings from my bf's bowmaking projects. I think he's thinking all those shavings can just be shoved into the garden, but that just doesn't work out. I don't have the space for a compost pile so all the shavings do is litter the garden and the patio. My 'yard' is only about 15' wide but really long. And most of it is concrete.

The other problem is the apt. dumpster is at the end of my yard in it's own brick enclosure, so when people miss the dumpster it lands in my garden. And I swear some people miss on purpose. The problem increased when the new neighbors moved upstairs. What does that tell you? Stuff from their patio is always blowing off into our yard. One day I came home to find a burning towel in my garden. They said it was their towel but had no idea how it caught on fire.

Most of the annuals I planted years ago bit it during the cold days this winter. So I have to dig all those out and plant something new. I have a volunteer ornamental asparagus growing by my water spigot which is actually doing quite nicely. My coleus all died in the last cold snap. I lost a few herbs too. I have tons of tomato plants left, but I need to get rid of most of them or I'll end up with an all tomato garden again. The beans did really well and I saved the seeds, so maybe I'll plant those again as soon as it is warm enough.

It's a jungle out there.

2007-10-05T10:13:00.000-07:00

My problem has never been getting things to grow. It's keeping them from taking over the neighborhood. Today I had to go out and pull my gourd vine back over from my neighbor's side of the brick wall. What I thought was a wee piece of vine on the wrong side turned out to be about 12 feet long. Then I had to trim the jasmine vine off of the roses and the lantana out of the jasmine. And my 'miniature rose' is now 6' tall and tangled with another rose. It's like the thorny rose from hell so I cut that back quite a bit as well.

Note that I didn't plant any gourds this year or last, they just keep growing up by themselves. As we are midway into Oct. my striped rosebush is blooming it's head off again.

Weeds Be Gone

2007-09-25T15:20:00.000-07:00

My weeds were ruining my life so I bought a weed whip. Today I got to learn how to use it as an edger and reclaim my patio. The concrete part was getting smaller and smaller, which annoyed my boyfriend greatly. So I used the edger and hopefully he'll be a happier man now. I still have a lot more to do, but I am limiting myself to 10 minutes a day so I don't injure my back again.

Time to plant the new garden

2007-03-15T11:15:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be putting in this year's vegetable garden really soon before it gets too bloody hot. Right now I'm thinking onions, chives, zucchini, and cilantro. Some of the tomatoes that I didn't dig up made it through the winter and are already covered in blossoms. Go tomatoes go!

The Tomatoes are Winning

2006-07-30T11:52:00.000-07:00

I just tackled my weed-ridden bug-infested garden. It's been too hot to pick the tomatoes for over a week, so I had to take advantage of the cool morning and just get out there and do it. I quickly became hot, sweaty and itchy so I went back inside to beg my boyfriend to help me. While I picked and handed them off to him, he put the good ones in a bowl and the buggy ones in the trash. We filled 2 large bowls. I also pulled weeds as I went. Finally, I couldn't see any more red blobs, so I ran for the shower. There is something about tomato plants that makes me itch like crazy. And the weedy grass is going to seed and those awful pods stick to all fabrics and break into tiny bits so you can't get them off, not even in a the washer. Anyway we filled 2 giant bowls with regular and cherry tomatoes. So later this afternoon I'll be making spaghetti sauce out of at least half of them.

Heirloom tomatoes

2006-06-02T15:48:00.000-07:00

My neighbors just surprised me with 2 tomato plants and a trailing strawberry plant. So I google up the tomato and here's the link. It's a hollow tomato that can be stuffed.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://davesgarden.com/pics/pdb_melody_2003-01-09_104215499787_tn.jpg&imgrefurl=http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/564/&h=75&w=100&sz=3&tbnid=BntJvmR-EdU5bM:&tbnh=57&tbnw=77&hl=en&start=8&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dschimmeig%2Bstriped%2Bhollow%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG

Why renting sucks.

2006-05-20T14:09:00.000-07:00

I'm in a bad mood. The new building owner sent a crew into my backyard to 'tidy things up'. In the past, our lease stated that our backyard was private, but all bets are off now that there is a new owner who wants the place to look 'manicured'. Here it is just reaching the warm part of the year and they just cut the only shade tree back to nubbins. I only blame myself for not earning enough money to be a homeowner.
Oh and did I mention they started repairing the sprinkler system in the front yard and turned off the flower bed water for 2 weeks? The pansies are about to dry up and blow away, even though I did water them once with a pitcher and 4 trips back and forth to the kitchen.
They are still raking up the back yard. They've been here five hours working around the complex.
I wouldn't be so grouchy but at 3 AM this morning our electricity got all fritzy. I'm sound asleep and all my computer equipment starts turning itself on and off. Every light in the house that was turned on was blinking. So I went outside and saw the adjoining apt complex was also blinking. I read for an hour when I heard what sounded like a police radio in my backyard. I go out there and a power company worker is one apt. over talking on a radio about how the transformer is about to go, but it's already past him to fix anything so they'll have to send another truck.
An hour later I was asleep again when the repair crew showed up. And then the electronics started beeping and chirping all over again.

So any hope I had of sleeping in on a Sat. morning was dashed when the gardeners we weren't expecting knocked on the door at 8:45 announcing they needed to be in the backyard all day working. What ever happened to 24 hours notice? Grrr!

More plants

2006-05-10T19:11:00.000-07:00

Today I went to Walmart and found the sweet banana pepper plant and the greek oregano plant for a mere .96 a piece. And I had to look down every row past the expensive fertilizers and I finally found what I needed; the el cheapo no name brand of veggie and flower fertilizer for $2.50. You know they are trying to hide it when it's buried in a corner with no price tag on it knowing that most shoppers don't have that kind of attention span and will buy the miracle gro for $11.95 a box.

Now all I have to do for a few weeks is keep everything watered.

Duck?

2006-05-08T13:01:00.000-07:00

I found a peanut shaped like a duck.

Marigolds

2006-05-08T12:26:00.000-07:00

Marigolds repel insects and add color, so I planted some french marigolds.

Seedlings

2006-05-08T12:22:00.000-07:00

Here are the seedlings waiting to be planted. I got them all planted this morning.

Square Foot Gardening

2006-05-08T12:21:00.000-07:00

This morning I literally rolled out of bed, walked out to the garden and started working on the new garden. I wanted to get everything planted before the sun came out and heated everything up. Now it's noon and it's still overcast. I'm not sure I'll even see the sun today. Still, I'm glad I got everything in the ground. The only seeds I planted were sunflowers. For everything else I chose seedlings from the nursery since I normally put in the garden in March and here it is May already. The apt. complex sold recently, and I wasn't even sure I'd have a place to live much less a place to garden. The part that makes me anxious is the new owner can come over anytime and decide to dig up the whole yard and not give a care for all the work I've put into it. I try not to think about that, because if I did I'd never plant anything. The reason we picked this apt. over others was because it had a private back yard that I could grow things in. But in the few years I've lived here, this is the third owner and you just never know what an owner is going to do. The new owner already said he's going to paint the exterior in a month or two, and that's surely going to tear up the yard again.

Planting a garden is a act of faith. It's like saying I'm going to be in this spot for at least another 10 months.

volunteers

2006-02-16T18:30:00.000-08:00

We've had a bit of a heat wave so I took advantage of it today to dig up some volunteers in my garden. I had 2 palm trees to relocate. I couldn't dig one of them up because I didn't want to damage the gourd vines. So today I got that one potted and stuck it in the front yard. Then I dug out another one growing flush with a brick wall. I couldn't save it, but I had no where to put it anyway. I'll probably give the potted one away to the first person who says, "I sure wish I had a palm tree."
When I was scooping potting soil into the pot, I found 3 giant white grubby insects. Although they'd probably be considered a delicacy to an Aborigine, I put them in the dumbster as quick as I could. I have a feeling there are more in the potting soil, so I'm strickly sticking to using a trowel to scoop with.
I also found more snails behind the plants I relocated. Escargot anyone?

My Rose List

2006-02-16T18:27:00.000-08:00

The Rose List
As I lay in bed thinking and trying to sleep last night, I started thinking about the rose list. The rose list is a list of the favorite roses I've planted over the years and had to leave behind when I moved or relationships ended. I like to dream about one day having a big yard and room to plant all the roses on the list and then some. And to live there long enough to enjoy them fully.

Harry Wheatcroft http://www.vanmeuwen.com/plants/plant/67541

Bewitched http://www.growquest.com/hybrid%20T%20bewitched.htm

Black Magic http://www.justourpictures.com/roses/blackmagic.html

Paradise http://www.justourpictures.com/roses/paradise.html

Our Lady of Guadalupe http://www.justourpictures.com/roses/ourladyofguadalupe.html

Tiffany and Cecile Brunner http://www.justourpictures.com/roses/tiffany_cecilebrunner.html

Intrigue http://www.justourpictures.com/roses/intrigue.html

Wild Blue Yonder http://www.jacksonandperkins.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ExecMacro/productlink.d2w/r...

Purple Tiger http://www.jacksonandperkins.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?superitem=21...

Roses I already own:

Candystripe http://www.pbase.com/hjsteed/image/37091684

St. Patrick's Day http://www.merrygro.com/shop/plants/detail.ws?id=48&utm_source=google&u...

Sterling Silver (Although I now believe its a cross because it is a lot more hardy than the ones I had as a child, but since I got it at a swap meet, I'll never know it's true parents, but I'm guessing at least one of them was Sterling Silver) http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.lawhern.org/Photos/2005-May%2...

I'm sure I'm forgetting some, but that's a good list for starters.

2005-04-10T09:26:00.000-07:00

Candystripe Rose

2005-04-10T09:23:00.000-07:00

miniature rose in my patio garden