While grubbing in my garden....Wah...grubs!

If I were a Mocking bird, a California Thrasher etc. this would make my day! If I owned a Box turtle, which I do, it would also make My day! What you see are two totally opposing creatures as far as most gardeners would be concerned. One is a thoroughly noxious pest to any sod forming plants such as grasses and other ground covers. The other is actually as beneficial or perhaps more so in the short run than the lowly earthworm!

What you see in this picture are the mature sizes of two beetle larvae. The smallest and more delicate is by far the most destructive to living plants from below the soil surface...especially those plants actively producing a dense network of roots like sod forming grasses and similar plants with a multitude of fibrous roots. The largest mature grub is the larvae of the incredible Fig Beetle! Scary to most people especially if you have had a glass of wine...this irridescent green beetle of rather large proportions will buzz around your head...simply because they are attracted to the scent of ripe or fermenting fruit! Yes, they are quite large beetles and quite imposing especially to those familiar with Bumble bees. They create a deep buzzing sound that is proportionate to their large size.

Once understood...they are quite humorous creatures in flight! They are rather clumsy and slow in comparison to a bumblebee. If you have eaten a couple of ripe peaches, had a beer or a glass of wine they are fun to play with for a game of hide and seek! I know this statement will bring some of you to tears struggling with the idea that any supposedly sane adult might play hide-and-seek with a Fig beetle!!! Believe me it does not take several beers or glasses or wine or taking a peach facial. Therefor enebriation has little to do with it or obsession with soft skin.

To begin fig beetle hide-and-seek one must have a sensitive little finger that is kept moist and held sufficiently away from the body, preferably upwards; and sufficient fruity smells on your hands, face and in your gullet so that you exude "fruitiness". The key factor is determining whether you are upwind or downwind of your beetle playmate. A very windy day will not work as the fruity smells will be too quickly dissipated. So on a warm sunny day with a slight wind... the secret is to get upwind of the beetle if you want it to come towards you...or move downwind to "hide". Once the beetle has gotten close you are doomed to no longer remain "hidden" unless you can run really fast and circle upwind of the flying Fig beetle! Now doesn't that sound like a lot of fun?!

If there are the right number of beetles and the right number of fruit salad eaters, beer, or wine drinkers I imagine everyone would probably be bumping into each other and the beetles might appear to be swarming...or at least quite confused! Gee! I can almost hear "A Midsummer's Night Dream"! Such frollicking chaos of lovers and things in the night! (Only, in broad daylight!)

OK! I am sure you get it ad-nauseum!
But really...there is no need to be squeamish about fig beetles!
Mice...well, a mouse is in the house I might quite agree!
I know that for most an "insider spider" gives you the chills...
but I would rather have an insider-spider... than a roach on my toast!
Don't forget that some insider-spiders keep you from having ants in your pants!
I have been well assured you will never find a grub in your tub!
Unless someone was pretending that they didn't like you!
So now you can join the Grub Club and be free of all kinds of freaking stuff!!!

Now what makes a beetle a Fig beetle? Since they are primarily from a mediteranian climate where figs grow they have commonly been associated with figs as they ripen and ferment on or below the trees before they are harvested. Thus this exotic large beetle and the even larger grub which is a boon to all gardeners in a meditteranean type clime is commonly named the Fig Beetle. Adults enjoy with incredible gusto almost any fermenting or over-ripe fruits to the point of utter distraction! Fruit on the ground or in a tree can be picked with one or more beetles intact, very much unwilling to release their position...I wouldn't be afraid either if I were equiped with such tough coverings all round my body, possessing spiny legs with enough strength to loosen myself from all but the most ambitious predator or human hand!

The very well fed fig beetle's next destination is to find the scents of rotting plant materials found in your compost pile of kitchen garbage and gardening prunings. AND what do you have but a critter that is at least in the short term, much more effective that the lowly EARTHWORM. You shall see pics displaying poop from this bulbous critter that is not any different from earthworm poop! It has a similar earthy smell as earthworms far from the rotting things that it ingested. As with earthworms this insect works in conjunction with beneficial bacteria and other organisms. I would not normally find a grub in a smelly, stinky mass of rotting plant material any more than I would find earthworms there. There is probably a specific chemistry and things like a balance of O2 and CO2 and pH. The right kinds of bacteria and fungi are probably as important as the nutrients of the plant material that is available.

Just look at that nutrient rich NON-smelly poop...on my finger on the fabric and in process of excretion! It is black and has a very similar water content as worm poop. When left alone in drier conditions they make discreet little pellets that are great for sprinkling on your potted plants!

I open a challenge to anyone who can prove to me that the poop from the Fig Beetle larvae is any less potent than earthworm poop! They also have a superior ability to turn many more, and tougher plant materials into this wonderful poop. Banana peels, melon rinds, and the stemmy parts of vegetables that we don't like to eat seem to almost disappear into a dark mass of nutritious microbially active compost! The only other insect that goes perhaps one step furthur in conversion of waste materials is the Black fly. See some of my earlier blogs for pics and info. Having even more of a limited season than the Fig beetle or the earthworm they also have a disproportionate appetite for many plant AND animal materials. They are another must have critter in terms of clean composting and recycling of garbage!

Now that you have been introduced to this pretty big grub and the fact that it becomes this big beetle that may buzz around your head at a Saturday afternoon party what do you want to live with? Choice #1, the May/June bug which you see only at night around bright lights and in dead patches of lawn turf and faltering garden plants. Choice #2 The Fig Beetle which you see only at your extravagant garden parties and when you turn over your compost pile!

This small grub (notice my fingers) has a pair of small sharp mandibles (projections that are surrounding or outside of the actual mouth) capable of tearing into the toughest of roots or taking small pieces of root that can be ingested in smaller pieces by the mouth.

The difference in the larger of the two grubs, the Fig beetle larvae is obvious in that the "manidible" is meant for mashing as opposed to cutting or tearing. I submit that both grubs especially the Fig beetle are quite strong of "jaw" or mandible. However the fig beetle holds the record for mobility even amongst catepillars by  "back lapping" rather than dealing with a bunch of pseudo-legs ...there is no more obvious contendor to grub or catepillar racing than the Fig beetle grub. I have seen Wooly bear catepillars do a pretty good sprint! The June/May beetle struggles when exposed upon hard or compacted surfaces where the Fig Beetle flips on its back and is off in a flash! Meanwhile the June/May beetle larvae dies where it has been exposed! (If it hasn't been picked off by a Mocking bird or other thrush bird like the Robin.

If you are a naturalist at heart you would ask why the larger of the two grubs is the most agile? Well the smaller grub is used to living in a more or less moist, confined environment where there are an abundance of living roots. It's ultimate daily effort is moving a few inches through the soil eating roots. The larger grub is in a shallow level of soil most of the time where there are continual layering of decomposing plants. This grub is not dependant upon root systems but upon the availability of varying degrees of decomposing plant materials that requires a greater mobility to find the most desirable material. If I was a big grub with perhaps a great variety of nutrient requirements I certainly would opt for greater mobility. I would also be capable or creating small burrows into which I could withdraw quickly to escape a skunk or an opposum or in some circumstances a ring-necked snake or an alligator lizard.

Now you will hear my RANT! It is quite unfortunate that the USDA insists upon lumping the Fig beetle in with it's close relative the May/June beetle. Most of the genus to which they belong are pests when it comes to the root systems of living plants. I have spoken to those who are members of the above and have written documentation from this agency. It is all BS because there is no evidence that they can provide except for the generalities of the activities of the genus of beetle in question. I will claim to my grave that the Fig Beetle is totally benign when it come to our efforts to garden and produce material which will allow us to survive. What if someone blamed you for certain activities just because you looked like someone who supposedly displayed those activities? Choose your grub! I want to get a real vote on this! I dare you! It all comes down to soft and succulant or big and tough. Just remember that terms and definitiions relative to whom we are, are always relative!

Where the Hades did winter go...did it ever happen?

This is about the only real verification that there is something even close to a concept of winter in San Diego! I would like to re-phrase a common expression to this statement: "The summer is not over in San Diego until the fat frog sings!" Now, if I were a logical person which ultimately I am not; I would assume that as long as the Fat Frog sings it must be winter or at the latest maybe spring? I don't know, I still keep getting confused. I've got tiny apples on my trees and most of the flowers are done. The Pineapple quava is pumping up to bloom soon. Some of the weeds are chest-high due to El Nino's gratuitous nature!

OK, I am sorry, but I am from the northern part of the midwest. Bulbs and bulb-like things hold a special place in my gardening heart! Please forgive me if I become more specific than a more general gardening audience might like...still if you are willing to hang on I am sure you will find something of interest to you.

What I have learned from bulbs is a very important lesson about plants in general. This is, I would assume, the most appropriate time to open this discussion! We still have winter on our minds even though some of us Southern Folk may not have even felt it! Plants adapt to the presence of water and light. For the most part these two things determine their adaptations to survival. If we suffer ourselves this over-simplification of adaptation of species of plants some things become very simple to understand the needs of the plants in our own garden.

Given #1: The day is either short or long if you live in a "temperate" zone. Shorter day length simply means less heat available to air, water and soil. This provides clues to many plants and animals.

Given #2: The rains naturally fall at different times of the year, where there are recurrent dry and wet cycles each year. Many areas have a period of drought each year. (Not necessarily attached to temperature considerations.) What are the mechanisms in plants to conserve water and prevent unnecessary loss? Rainfall is a complex mechanism that is governed by many things like mountains, oceans, forests, and prairies...but that is a very big 'other' story to go into especially because so many of those natural features have been changed to suit our modern technological needs!

Given #3: Temperature...more specifically temperature below freezing (32 degrees Farenheit). Water (H2O) is an unusual molecule that really should be a solid when it is a liquid as we know it. I am not a chemist so don't ask me to back this up! All that I know is that if it were not for the incredible design within nature that Darwin touched upon plantlife and perhaps all of life would not exist as it is today! For the sake of argument let us leave out most of the lower and higher organisms. Let's just deal with plants. Take a plant growing in the tropics and put it outside during a Canadian winter blizzard. What happens? Have you ever put a soda or a beer in the freezer...need I say more? This is what happens to the cells of plants that are not "prepared" for the cold! Tell you what...If you were a tree and you struck it really rich this year and you had such a tremendous growth...if you knew winter was coming what would you do? You would withdraw as much as you could from that growth and let the rest fall. Most of the moisture would be drawn deep into the trunk and roots of the tree where there is no ill effect from the freezing cold! (Please note that as I write this I DO attribute much of this to the movie "Being There" , starring Peter Sellers and Shirley Maclaine; where Chauncey Gardner, alias a sensitive but intellectually challenged estate caretaker left to fend on his own when his master dies....ok get the story somewhere else but you will find it a remarkable one!!!)

Water-filled cells burst and then implode when frozen. Anything that remains within that frozen environment is essentially living in a DESERT!!! Any plant or embryo of a plant must be able to withstand this period of extreme drought. Since all of the water is frozen there is no available moisture (as long as the water remains frozen). Extreme cold is nothing more than extreme drought! A bulb or a seed in 12" of frozen soil is no different than the same in the soil of an absolutely dry desert!

What if we coat those seed embryos with nearly moisture-proof covering. What if we move aggregates of plant cells underground away from points #3 freezing (absence of fluid water) and #2 dehydration (total absence of water) due to lack of rain? Voila! Thus became the humble potato, the exalted lily and the curn of wheat!

-----------------------------------------------------

Now for some common garden sense:

Ask yourself...where do my plants come from? Climate is a primary consideration. Climate that is defined by light, rainfall, and temperature. A plant that thrives during a very hot moist summer but goes dormant when the days grow shorter and the ground begins to freeze is not going to like it when the cold time of the year is wet and the hot summer is a desert!!! In the same manner the survival of a lush tropical plant is just as much in jeopardy when left out during an early northern frost as during an extremely windy, hot and dry "Santa Anna" condition in So. CA. (This is where the winds shift from prevailing moisture laden off-shore ocean to hot dry winds from the NE desert.)

----------------------------------------------

The Narcissus (Daffodils etc.) are done. The earliest tulip species the pure rich yellow T. sylvestris and the wide opening violet/deep-yellow centered T. bakeri are finished. Just as T. bakeri finishes the showy T. saxatilis is beginning with very simililar lavender flowers with deep yellow centers, held higher up than T. saxatilis and with attractively cupped petals. Tulipa saxatilis also produces several flowers per stem which extends the bloom time! T. clusiana which has multiple cvs. is just beginning to bloom. Ipheion uniflorum which should be a standard in all So. CA gardens is blooming profusely in white, and different shades of blue and purple.

Oh my gosh! How could I forget the Gladiola tristis! This could easily be the harbinger of all things good for So. Californians along with the Pacific Treefrog (Fat Frog). This naturalizing import from So. Africa is perfectly suited to many of our So. CA gardens.  It is in my opinion the most exquisite of winter bulbs for us here. The flower is lily-like in appearance, small, pale with subtle markings on cream petals of purple and chartreause. It's almost orchid like manner is furthur enhanced by an evening fragrance that would be hard to match among flowers! This gladiola earned its name G. tristis, because it is commonly used in funerals for indiginous peoples. tristis comes from the latin word trist which means sad.

I dare to take a moment to say that there is nothing morbid about this plant...in fact it expresses a kind of joy that you have when you see a good friend away knowing that they will return with much adventure to share! For us here and for those where this beautiful plant was exported we have something that comes when the hills are green even if for a moment...when the flora and fauna seem to appear as magic from the desert! This is the plant that could rival the CA poppy, the Mariposa tulips, and the miriad of other wildflowers that come with winter rains of our desert climate! If anything this "trist" gladiola merely entices us to give pause...it is not the death that we feared, but is in the silence that we recall who we are...therefor it is necessary that we die in that we give life to all else by our pause.

I can't help but note that it seems that when Fat Frog sings at dusk is when our Trist Glad-iola releases her soft perfume! How fortunate am I to have both!

Clover and Oxalis, 3 leaves vs. 4 lvs...let's get it straight before St. Patrick's day!!!

So here we go...mistakes make us all the more human and like gummy bears all the more maleable and suitable to oral pleasure! I appologize for not chewing my gummy bear before I let my words fly out of my mouth. Now is the moment of truth about the 3 leaf clover vs. the 4 leaf clover!!!

Saint Pattie hit me over the head a couple of times before I got it right! There are at least two distinct plants from very distant families of plants that have triune leaves(three perfectly aranged leaves) atop a single upright stem. That would be Clover of the family Faboideae (Leguminosae) a very large family of plants commonly known as the Pea Family, Genus Trifolium and the second, Oxalis, from the Wood Sorrel family Oxalidaceae, genus Oxalis. Both species display quite an aray of color, texture, size and shape within this limited arrangement of a triangular shape. If I could place all of the miriad of plants I have seen on a good sized colage of living color would be quite impressive!! I have seen reds, chocolate, yellow, white, purple, pink, amythest colors in intricate designs upon the leaves. There are more and more clovers that are ariving in the horticultural trades that have varying sizes of leaves and colored designs. Trifolium repens cvs. make very good ground covers or additions to low maintenance lawns.

So some of you might want a "Four-leaf Clover...yes? And yes that IS possible! Other than the occaisional 4-leaves that Clovers may produce...there is one mystery plant that very few have ever heard of that produces a 4-leaf "clover" all of the time!!! I will present a few clues before I come to the ultimate truth about the 4-leaf clover!

1) Go back to the dinosaur days where the predominant plants included mosses, club mosses and.....F....!

2)These plants propagate by spore producing bodies on different locations of the leaf or stem.

If you guessed that this is some kind of a FERN...well you would be mostly right!

The real "4-leaf clover" is actually a member of the fern family, Filicae. The ferns that we are most familar with are of the order Filicales: Polypodiaceae family. The "4-leaf clover" belongs to the order Marsileales: Marsileaceae family, genus Marsilea. The center of development of this genus is Australia with smaller distributions in temperate lattitudes according to Helmut Muhlberg's "The Complete Guide to Water Plants" (translation from German 1982) There are many species that have the 4-leaf configuration. Most of them or perhaps all of them are adapted to a marsh or aquatic environment. They seem to fit into the above category for  true clovers and oxalis in having a variety of leaf coloration and shapes that can be quite ornamental. One example is Marsilea quadrifolia which I grew in a pond situation that started out in shallow water. By mid-summer the plants had managed to creep along the bottom to a depth of 3-5 ft. the leaves that reached the surface were 3-4 in. across! This same plant in boggy conditions were only a little more than 1 in. across!  It is good to note at this point that only plants that are grown in boggy conditions are capable of a spore producing body at the base of each petiole(leaf stem) This plant also produces attractive central markings on each "leaf" and a very glossy overlay.
Marsilea vestita, Hairy Cloverfern, is considered a native to our area along reservoirs and ponds at lower elevations. Here are a list of just a few species:
Marsilea quadrifolia
M. crenata
M. drummondi
M. hirsuta
M. minuta
M. natans
M. mutica
M. vestita

Maybe I can drummondi...I mean drum up some pics in a few minuta's or maybe more or vest-it-a become a mut-ica point! Can ya believe I wud'a 'vesti-ta lot of in'trest in crenata-ting somethin' hir-suta like this 4-leaf stuff...so I quad-re-fo-ya!!! Jus' like that...na-tan,s-econds a bit later!

Like I always do...just DREAM ON! When it happens it happens...more or less, I guess...?!

Intermiadiate Winter Blog 2: Poetry In Motion!

I am certain that all of you have seen  a nature special on TV or elsewhere that shows views of all the stuff in the natural world in a way that surpasses how we may encounter our daily experience of even the most common things! Just sitting in our living rooms (or anywhere else for that matter with all the electronic gagets that are available to link to just about everything else) we can see nature in a way that surpasses our 5 senses! Well, good for you...I guess! How about finding something that you can experience with your own senses without special photography or a laboratory?

I would like to brag about being a gardener. Koudos to ALL gardeners...you still havn't yet been absorbed into the electronic ether! I would also like to brag about having a garden with birds and frogs singing their hearts out each day! It really helps drown out the nasty, constant barking of my neighbors' big dogs...the same dogs which killed one of our dogs and almost killed our little Sophie!

What I am about to show you seems to be a seemingly insignificant fragment of the natural world unless you take the time to stop, observe, and assimilate it as a personal real-time experience!

Plants have perfected the art of seed dispersion and developement of the embryo. Some utilize the wind, as with the common dandelion, or water, as with water lily and water hawthorn seeds that have special coatings to carry them across the surface before the coating disintegrates dropping the seeds to the pond bottom often many feet away from the mother plant. Others attach themselves to animals. A huge number of plants surround their seeds with a covering or fruit that may appeal to certain animals that eat the fruit. Sometimes the fruit is small as with berrieswhere the animals ingest the whole fruit. Such fruit is not only distributed but the seeds may receive special conditioning enabling them to germinate by passing through the gullet of a bird or animal. Some plants produce seed that will not germinate for many, many years until there are fires that clear out huge amounts of plant litter. These fire-exposed seeds germinate in abundance in a renewed environment that allows them to establish themselves anew, providing a new generation of plants that may not be replaced for many years to come!

Before I entertain you with one plant's strategy for survival that involves a sophisticated structure that is surprisingly simple in its execution I want to remind you of at least one plant that just about everybody in the southwest is familiar with...the pestilent and annoying weed Yellow oxalis, or yellow wood sorrel. This seemingly diminutive plant that never exceeds a few inches in height is equipped with a grenade in each small seed pod! Often mistaken for clover this plant has small parasels of four leaflets instead of the clover's three leaflets. The pale yellow flowers on short stalks (pedicels) have 5 petals. These soon develope into elongated five-sided pods. When these pods ripen and begin to dry there is a very carefully developed trigger-like tension of fibers that maintains the integrety of the pod. When dryness reaches a certain point or something lightly touches it, the pod explodes with terrific force! Seeds are flung in all directions. Seeds have been measured to be shot as far as 6 feet away! This is a little pod less than 1/2" in length and about 1/8" in diameter! I always wondered how this weed could get into pots about 2 feet tall from on the ground! Much worse the seeds that shoot out of the 2' high pots all over the garden below!!! There are many bulb or corm forming oxalis species that are not as troublesome. Many are quite attractive for short periods with the winter rains, going dormant in summer.
Another plant that shoots seed that can actually hurt is the Ruellia brittoniana (Mexican petunia) A shrubby perennial with willow-like leaves and purple or pink "petunia" flowers. The seed pod on this plant is even smaller than the very much smaller oxalis. The pod is made up of very tough plant fibers. When it dries it is like setting the trigger on a mouse trap! Take a spray bottle of water set for a moderately fine spray. Make sure you are wearing safety glasses or cover your eyes. Begin spraying water over the plant in various places. In a matter of seconds you will hear something that sounds like popcorn. If your arms or other parts of your body are not covered you will soon feel sharp stings like someone hitting you with a pea-shooter!
I recommend this plant only for low-water gardens. It can be quite invasive in moist areas. There are some dwarf selections that may not seed at all in white, pink, and reddish-purple known as the "Katie" hybrids much more suitable to the average garden.

What you are looking at is a small seed, actually much larger a seed than is usually encountered in this genus of grass (Nasella or Stipa). It provides a good subject in this short garden story. The species here is Nasella comata, found in SW US at higher elevations. This genus of grasses is often referred to as needle grass. Nasella comata is often called Needle and Thread grass...but just looking at the pic must have made you think this already! I guess I am a perfectionist for details...The actual seed is about 5/8" long just below midway and to right. It has a very, very sharp point on one end that actually is not unlike some cactus needles in that it has small barbs that prevent it from being withdrawn easily...this actually helps to complete the story as you will see later. All of the rest of what you see is called an "awn". The awn of this particular seed is about six inches in length. How I measured this is part of the story! The awn is a miraculous adaptation that with the sharp-pointed barbed seed can perform feats of physics, particularly in hydrolics, that puts many of our machines to shame with its simple efficiency!

So what is the big deal about having an awn? Not only is it a big deal but has been the key to the survival of many grasses. To draw a kind of comparison...think of the common dandelion or other weeds or even trees that release seeds with fluffy white "parachutes" that carry the seeds far away from the mother plant. These are mere attachments to the seeds that release them when they bump into another object or on the ground. The awn is similar in being an extension of the external part of a seed but helps by "planting" the seed in the ground rather than carrying it on the wind.

If  you look closely at both pics you will see that there are "corkscrew" twists in the awn. Also the sharp angle in the awn as well as the gentle arch of the feathery "tail" of the awn are very functional.

When you are cooking what is one of the most important ingrediants that gets added to just about everything? If you said "water" you get a gold star or a big hug! If you said "salt" then somebody is going to have to hit you over the head with a pillow!

Now my little demonstation begins with the above seed with it's awn attachment. I warm up some water and I dip the seed and awn completely into the water a couple of times. Then I watch.

Think of Arthur C. Clarke's "2001 Space Odyssey". Let your ears hear the "Waltz of the Flowers" as you are viewing the approach of a shuttle from Earth to the revolving space station. Think of that most delicate curve of a ballerina's body extending up into her arm arched overhead and into the graceful point of her fingers as she pirouettes in ultra slow motion!

Slowly with utmost perfection the gracefully arched awn moves slower than the second hand of a clock...but with incredible steadiness. No jerking or "stuttering"! If you were looking at the seed from the pointed end what you would be witnessing is this slow clock-wise motion. I didn't time it but might have been about one revolution per 2 or more minutes. I did time the over-all process of the awn "untwisting" itself. It took between 10 and 15 min. for the faster revolutions. Then slowed considerably to take a total of about an hour before the awn was totally untwisted and perfectly straight. It is hard to describe the motion except that even though it was purely mechanical it was more perfect than anything man-made that I can think of. One note for later discussion is that there was a time when the twists in the awn were slightly counter clockwise. This caused the awn to stop rotating and briefly nudge in a counter clockwise fashion a couple of times.

In this pic it has been about 45 or 50 min. If you look closely you can still see the below what used to be a nearly 90 degree angle there are a couple of  twists still remaining in the forward part. After more than an hour, the awn was perfectly straight.  I barely touched the seed and it fell off!

Now, what does this all mean if you are a seed with a twisty tail? When I was a flower I released some of my pollen to the wind. Pollen from other flowers like me covered me just right so I could become a seed! As I developed my very long straight "tail" (awn) gradually began to dry. As my tail dried it twisted and turned. Soon when I was ripe my tail turned some more causing me to fall to the ground. There I lay in the hot, dry sun for the longest time. Then there was a storm...water splashed everywhere about me for a while but then it was gone. Now my "tail" twisted and I began to go round and round so I didn't know what was up or down! Suddenly the twisting stopped! The sharp pointy head caught in a tiny space in the soil! I could feel my tail slowly turning and turning and occaisionally a little nudge and I went deeper. Then after a while all was still again. My tail stopped turning! I waited a long time and then suddenly there was another storm...only this time it was longer! Water splashed everywhere and splashed some more until the soil was very wet. Now my "tail"began twisting again. Mostly it just twisted and twisted but sometimes my sharp pointy head went a little deeper into the soil. Now that the rains made the soil stay moist all the movements in my "tail" stopped. In fact one day I realised that I didn't have a "tail" at all! For what seemed like a long time I lay in the dark, moist soil. Sometimes it became warmer and I awoke briefly. Then suddenly one day I lifted my head and there was the sun above me! I stretched out and breathed in the CO2 rich air! Each day I stretched furthur and furthur until one day I stretched out my arms with flowers of my own!

So let us take a brief look at this process as a significant mastery of the laws of physics as we know it! Keep in mind that this machine, if you will, was invented tens of thousands of years before man even looked upon himself! First you must have the purpose- how to produce a seed that could survive a specified set of environmental considerations, yet adapt to other conditions if needed. What is the delivery system? There is little competition from many other plants because of heavy or barren soil and low rainfall where this kind of grass grows; therefor just falling is enough. However once there, the only opportunity to gain consistent moisture is some way of getting past the hardened surface. Equiped with a very sharp, hard needle-like point and reverse barbs make for a steadfast hold wherever it has penetrated. The "awn" is a machine of remarkable manufacture. It consists of a continuous column of tissue. On the lower portions of the awn are two tape-like strips of fiber opposing each other. The central or continuous column of tissue and the opposing strips of fiber hydrate and dessicate at different rates (or perhaps the outer opposing strips of fiber absorb almost nothing) this ends up in a twisting of the fibrous tissue in order to accomodate the linear, vertical shrinkage of tissue. There is kind of a bundgy cord effect which in slow motion shrinks or expands depending upon moisture. What you have is the first genuine self-propelling auger capable of drilling without anything else but adding or removing water! Many awn producing grasses live on hardened soils like clay or silt where it is difficult for other plants to survive.

Anyone who has a garden and who is it's caretaker as well will find many opportunities to witness these kinds of miracles! There is no electronic media that can communicate to you these kinds of learning experiences.

As we are forever swept up in our own technology,

basking in a false sense of security and pride...

do not ask for the bitter end after all has been lost

 and common sense ceases to ferment in the earth below our feet!

MBS

Michael/natureguy

Intermediate winter blog

Maybe this blog "forum" will not work for me. I need to create updates to various subjects in this blog but I also want to keep these updates intact to the original blog citations. I also want it to be a place for discussion about various topics. This is a creative dilema that I never thought I would reach so soon! At any rate until I uplift my soul to a Mac computer I will pursue this to the best that I can...please...I do not want anyone to tell me about doing any more upgrades and software downloads...let me be at peace with what I have!

For now I will place you with a cue to go to the part of my blog Winter Solstice: fall blooming perennials refering to the fall and winter blooming irises. The Algerian Iris...not only did I find an ID for this beautiful miniature Iris but I have furthur info about it!

I need to discuss a furthur the subject of my logo! I have comments that would be nice to receive as a part of this blog...however I consider this to be something more than what I understand "Facebook" or other such forums. I want to attract persons who can get excited about topics that are considered here and wish to discuss them! Maybe I expect too much from this particular forum...forgive me for now if this is not quite right...when I find something better and I develope my skills I hope to be able share more equally with you all! We live in a world of sound bites and sometimes I feel we need to stop and smell the roses! Yes, we all have a story to tell but we all need to have a voice that is heard!

Let me present you with a metaphore:

This is a powerful image struggles to support the significance of life before it yet has time to reveal itself! When you see the barren, seemingly lifeless structure of a tree either dead or in dormancy as in this case it is easy to see it as a bunch of meaningless lines! What if you let your mind's eye superimpose this seemingly abstract geometry over stuff like history, family, chemical bonds, branches and tributaries converging into rivers combined with patterns of the wind, or even crystaline formations of rock, or molten arousal towards the earth's surface!...not to mention arteries, vessels and capillaries that sustain every organ in your body and give you the eyes to see this!

If you all believe that we are truly living in the age of communication where we are in touch nearly 24/7 with the rest of the world...the appropriate symbol could easily be a tree...remember that a tree is even more complex below the ground with it's root system!

If we were the subject of some primitive relative of man we would find our portrait upon a cave wall with what would look like a big head full of radiating lines, branching and sub-branching! How ironic that they call it the web! We have a few billion people living upon this earth and each one of them has this "web" of jellyfish like tendrils branching out all over the place! How many of us can follow our own "web" down through our bare feet into the ground and the roots that give us life?

Now, enough of this! To get to a little more of the orginal metaphore that I find in this simple drawing:

Note that it is a time of year in Hebron, IL when there is often still snow...although not as often as not! In this case the snow is half covering the fence in the background and there is a small "tuft" to the right below the fence which is a small Skotch Pine which my dad had planted before we went to live in California the year before. What you are looking at is very much like the god Siva (Shiva) who was the destroyer. One person that I know used to comment upon the winter snow as the "great leveler" In this way winter helps to take out the old so that the new is possible! You are looking at a bleak landscape through the eyes of an artist and a poet...someone who is not afraid to describe a seemingly harsh, barren landscape... but not without a blush of blue and red in the sky!

My friend Joanne said, "A perfectly, lovely, simple drawing. I especially like the "faint glimmer" of a fenceline!"

Go back again and you will find a small "tuft" in the snow to the right...this is a spruce that had been planted the year before. Understand that the whole scene takes place in snow that is covering everything but what you see!

Snow has a way of being able to white-out everything Joanne! There is not only a visual smothering of what we become accustomed to but there is an incredible silence that forces us to listen to the whispering in the wind.
More on Winter in San Diego coming soon!

Love to all,

Michael/natureguy

Now that it's winter in San Diego Pt. 3

I am sorry to be so inactive when there are still so many things going on! To all you folks from up north or in the mountains or on a tundra somewhere...THIS is our SPRING! Everything is greening up especially since we have had more rain and cool weather in such a short duration of time this year! Thanks to the little guy swimming up from the tropics along our coast (El Nino). Normally we get (or lately DO NOT get) rain from storm fronts moving down from the artic. It has been quite noticeable in the last few years that those storm fronts do not make it much past slightly north of LA before they start heading inland. Thus we have remained in drought for many years! El Nino has broke the cycle by bring southern currents that create storms that we do not normally have.

If the trend continues the next few years will probably be more of the same drought. Global warming...well why don't we just wait around until we find out beyond a shadow of a doubt? I hope that by that time when everybody is convinced that it is so that it is not TOO LATE! Will it kill everybody to just try not to buy hybrid cars or electric cars without first installing solar panels TOO CHARGE THEM UP WITH!!! I am very shocked by the ignorence that is out there!!! If you get a hybrid or electric car you must still hook up to your electricity source which is mostly coal-burning fuel to produce....how the hell is THAT helping? How is shifting corporate ownership of our resources going to help us? Politicians are always selling you more pipe dreams! We might as well legalize pot because we are already too stoned to know the difference! I am tired of listening to all that bull-crap! If you have the money and the where-with-all to do it... install solar on your own roof! Put in gutters if you don't have them and have rain barrels or tanks for water storage from roof run-off. Get rid of this little-house-on-the-prarie ideal of vast areas of lush perfectly kept lawns. I want you to feel the guilt every time you have to get out the lawn mower and the weed-wacker, water your lawn with more water than you even use in your household, apply harmful chemicals that you would be terrified if your kids came in contact with them.... until you have simply had enough of this insane addiction! Get out there for better ideas...your own utility companies may help. There is waterwise.com. Many garden clubs and othere online resources are available.

If anyone of you needs it I can research and create a list for you for things solar, grey-water systems, reclaiming your lawn to a more useful planting. There may still be resources to get things like tax credits for solar systems. I do not know how much longer it will last but as far as I know electric companies will either buy back or give you credit for any electricity that you do not use yourself. Who knows...that could easily change if such corporations suddenly feel threatened by too many homeowners producing so much! If it were not for GM falling flat on its face and the GMAC mortgage company selling out to another company so that we have lost our equity loan we would be having these things done to the house...of course we did not find this out until we tried to access this loan after $7200 of plumbing to our old house! I am still unemployed and we are still one or two months behind on all of the bills! My DMV renewal is now up to $579. I am way past due maintenance on my truck. Carole's car has been breaking down. Yea, life sucks sometimes...where is the earthquake? I would't mind starting from scratch...I guess it is a matter of shifting the pain one way or another! THAT IS ALL! Now...may get back to the things that matter the most?

I will throw a few pics up which will lead on to the next gardening ideas for bulbous plants in southern California and similar climates.

Oops! Not a bulb but a very tall cactus from South America Trichocereus pachynoi. About twice a year they all burst into bloom. Fall and again in spring. The narrow columns reach about 8' in height.

Now here is something that might surprise most southerners! Hyacinths that do not need winter chill! More correctly they are Roman Hyacinths, Hyacinthus orientalis albulus. They are from a more southerly area of France. Sometimes also called French-Roman Hyacinth.

Yes, the dates are from nearly two years ago! However, they are now just coming into bloom. The pictures were taken after planting the bulbs during the winter. That is a nice concept because their bloom can be manipulated by keeping bulbs dry from the winter rains and planting them in sequence from fall into mid winter. I am not a fan of Hyacinths but I love these beauties even if they only come in three colors. They have the same wonderful fragrance of the typical hyacinths but most of all the flowers are in loose spikes so that you can appreciate the beauty of individual flowers. I am sorry but that is what my eyes see... It is also the same as when I look at double flowers...they may have more color and volume but they lack the delicate beauty of the original wild, single flowers.

Ipheion uniflorum is a very much neglected and very desirable bulb for coastal So. CA.! Not only do they give us a feeling of the seasons but they withstand all kinds of abuse and can be put in a wide variety of positions in the garden. If you don't mind the garlicy smell of the leaves they will soon find a place in your gardener's heart! Apparantly they are gopher and rodent resistant so that placing them in many positions around your valuable plants may prove to be helpful. This first pic is the cv. (cultivar) Rolf Fiedler. It is very short and the flowers have widened petals of a very nice shade of blue.

The second pic is cv. Froye Mill. The leaves are narrower and longer (5" or so) and the flowers are held several inches higher than cv. Rolfe Fiedler. They are a deeper violet-blue with star-like petals.

This cv., Wisley Blue is very similar to the species but is deeper blue. (The color is bleached out in this photo due to the flash setting) It has the star-like flowers as the previous cv. as well as the narrow grassy leaves.

I guess that I need to start taking pics without the date stamp! The narcissus at this date are already producing buds that will open in a week or two...but it is close enough. This particular Narcissus cv. is called Ice Follies. It is definitely very prolific and very suited to the south.

The next pic is cv. Ice King which is a double mutation of Ice Follies. Well it isn't TOO terribly double I suppose!

So many things have been done to flowers in efforts to reach for the exotic. This is a "split-cup" cv. which I don't have a name for. It has been doing well here.

Here is a sampling of three other cvs. that are doing well here. Notice the short trumpet on the right flower and the pronounce trumpet on the left flower. The last one was very interesting in that it was changing each day. Starting out yellow center with  peachy edges it faded to an apricot color looking like two different flowers.

I will soon be posting more bulbs and other winter stuff. I intend to create a farely complete list of the bulbs for our mediterranean climate. I am up to 35 genus and a total of 82 including various species and their cultivars(cvs.) Most are reliable but some need more experimenting and there are a few that are tropical but seem to do well here under certain conditions.

Now that it's winter in San Diego Pt. 2

Just because we are not inundated by snow drifts the size of house and temperatures that take your breath away the second you open the door doesn't lessen the effects of winter for your so-called spoiled southern folk! Do you realise the anguish that I must endure because just when I get going in the day I only have a couple of hours of light left!!! Why can't the sun just sit up there for at least 15 hours a day the year round! I know I was born at the time of year when the nights are long and the days are short but my only hope is that the day that I was born the sun shown at least a moment longer than it did the day before! When my birthday comes around I know that there is hope! I feel the light in its perennial return. [I am hell-to-pay before my birthday...just ask Carole if you need proof! No man can be as miserable before his birthday as a Christmas baby!]

So now that is out of the way we can continue on our San Diego winter adventure! Did I tell you that I found some interesting critters from the canyon below us? There are these really creepy looking centipedes that are not only huge but enough to make you fall backwards on your butt when you overturn the material that they are hiding under! Actually even though they can reach 7" or8" they are usually gone before you even get a chance to see them. Since they are strictly nocturnal they have an aversion to light.

In the 23 years that we have been here I have found a scorpion only once. I wish that I could have found more...I guess that is the naturalist in me!

Now, let us get to something a little more interesting...how many of you out there don't enjoy something froggy? Yea...Kermit and I go way back! I can tell you that on one occaision in my youth (this was certainly not the earliest encounter) I was about 15 years old living in Rockford, IL. on what remained of an earlier farm. There was a large stretch of woods beyond us and the rest of the former farm was occuppied by Smith Oil Co. and Standard Oil Co. What these companies didn't know is that the land that they destroyed provided vernal pools of water for some species of frogs, salamanders, and toads to survive...along with a host of other plant and animal species. In the construction of massive tanks for fuel they also left moats around the tanks in case of breakage. These moats provided a haven for at least the Western chorous frog and the Toads to breed in after the winter thaws. Unfortunately the salamanders and other wildlife were left out. I remember that I was so determined to get to this early spring orgie.    I climbed a 6 ft. fence with several strands of barbed wire angled outward with hardly a scratch! Boy, was I scared! Once I was in I approached the "moat" around the huge tank. Everything went silent! Not only where I approached but it was as if all the frogs could cue each other instantly. To this day even though I live with similar frogs day to day and night to night I find that even though all the males (females do not have a voice) are in intense competition with each other offer very subtle cues that either stimulate a chorous or intantly deflate it! Of course I waited for what seemed like forever until the frogs resumed their chorus.

By the time winter comes along the frogs are no longer buddies! It is all out warfare between the males. Very much like the birds they rely most upon their individual song to attract a mate. Since the real-estate is limited to a few pools of water the competition can reach intense proportions. I am sure you have all heard of "leap frog" well it is exactly what happens when there are a bunch of male frogs in a small area! They engage in comical wrestling matches to maintain their suitable territories to attract a mate.

I appologize after hours of trying to get this computer to first simply accept a video from my camera like it did when I first bought it a couple of years ago then finally after downloading many mega bytes of upgrades as dictated and the latest version of B.S. I still cannot  upload a 30 second video for you to watch and HEAR...thus I consider this effort as a total failure. I have done the best that I can to offer pathetic substitutes to what I had hoped to deliver!