Natureguy's garden etc.

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

2010-03-18T05:05:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-03-16T06:17:00.000-07:00

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!

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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.)

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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!!!

2010-03-08T02:01:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-02-12T04:49:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-07T02:01:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-01T03:33:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-30T05:16:00.000-08:00

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!

Now That It's Winter In San Diego...Pt. 1

2010-01-14T21:46:00.000-08:00

This photo was a year ago and mostly what is different are the palm-like trees which are varieties of Cordyline australis are much bigger. If you carefully look just to the right of the tree center-left at the horizon; the hazy view in the distance are mountains near the border and into Mexico.

Just below that to the background of the tree trunk is a tier of dark bottomed-gobular fluff on a stalk that is the Cardoon (Cynara cardunculus); a very close relative and also edible as the Artichoke...rather than using the imature flower; the thick stalks of leaves (similar to celery) are wrapped up and blanched before harvest. They actually are much more productive and easier to use than artichokes...Yet California prohibits shipment of plants from out of state! Guess where I got mine? While hiking around in North county San Diego in a grassy meadow about 20 years ago! This plant is very familiar to southern Europeans and is relished by all! I like it most when it is cooked although it can also be used in salads. The leaves from some new growth of a Cardoon can be seen in the lower-left corner of the photo. When mature in summer they are quite large, silvery grey in color and the flowers are like a very large thistle...all bristly below with a purple-blue head.

The grasses with the fluffy seed heads are I believe the latest blooming grass that I know...Wooly Beard-grass (Andropogon glomeratus) continuing to bloom well into winter, maturing into the fluffy stuff that you see now. The specimen that I originally got the seed from to produce the plants that I have in my garden came from a 7' plant growing in a moist area below a pineland area of central Florida in 1989. The reddish tan very vertical clump of grass at center-right in the photo (without the fluff) is the closely related Andropogon virginicus which bloomed much earlier and is now completely dormant. (Seed for these were from the Sacramento river when visiting brother Chris and wife Patty many years ago. It also produces mature inflourencence that is fluffy but not as bunchy as Wooly Beard-grass. Few grasses that I know of have that strong vertical effect that remains through the whole season into dormancy and remains so attractive at all times!

Wooly Beard-grass has much to be said for it too! If given rich soil with plenty of moisture it becomes a tall erect fountain of green that seems to explode in in sparkling fluff in late fall and winter! By the way it does not blow all over the place like dandelions or cottonwood trees! It discreetly releases its fluffy seedheads a little at a time. It is also amazingly adaptable to drought conditions where it remains only a couple of feet tall and does not get as "fluffy"!

Winter Solstice!!! A review of Fall stuff in our garden!

2009-12-22T05:44:00.000-08:00

The first and most important thing is that the angle of the sun changes and lots of sun comes into our south facing bedroom window! It is almost as good as going to the beach on a sunny summer day...so says Sofi! I think that she forgets that summer is not very far away and soon she will be looking for cool spots on the floor!

When we think of fall, most of us who come from...say, the northern midwest like myself think of fall as a time of harvest. Here I share with you some of the fruits that come late summer, fall and early winter in San Diego.

From left to right are: 1)Lingaro berries (Elaeagnus phillipenensis) which is a very attractive large shrub or small tree. Another species E. multiflora or Goumi berry is also used very similarly for food and medicinally.

2)Red Alpine strawberry (Fragaria vesca) unlike other strawberry types is both evergreen and everbearing in San Diego and does not produce runners like the strawberries we are familiar with. The pic below is the White Alpine strawberry and as far as I am concerned the most

delicious of all the strawberries! Alpine strawberries are considered a great delicacy in France... and in our garden as well! The berry to the right in the photo of 3 berries- 3)Chilean guava (Ugni molinae) which is like a mini guava and has a distinct, crunchy guava flavor. If you didn't care about the fruit it is an extremely attractive shrub as well with glossy small leaves!

I want to add another word about Alpine strawberries...Forget the "alpine" part as they couldn't be a more productive strawberry for mild climates where it is not too hot in summer and not too cold in winter as here in San Diego! They are small no matter what the cultivar you choose. There are at least half a dozen or so that range from red to yellow to white. They are available through some specialty nurseries or can be ordered online from seed companies that provide heirloom seeds. They are easy to grow from seed and make very good pot plants(so you can move them away from excessive winds and heat!) Unfortunately aphids LOVE strawberries as with other members of the Rose family of plants to which strawberries belong. Frequent cleaning of yellowing and dead leaves and an occaisional spraying of a non-toxic light oil spray or safer's soap will help. Keep those Argentine ants away as they may not only encourage aphids but an occaisional infestation of mealy bugs. Other than that the Alpine strawberry needs regular water and a good organic fertilizer several times a year (because they literally exhaust themselves as they are so productive!)

The Pineapple Guava (Feijoa sellowiana) is my favorite guava! According to Sunset Western Gardens Book is the hardiest of subtropical fruits. At any rate they do not even have to be harvested which is a big plus. Just leave a good layer of mulch underneath the tree and wait for the fruit to fall. Pick them up and they are ready to eat or if you have a sweet tooth you can keep them indoors for a few days and then eat them just like you would a Kiwi fruit. Slice them in half and spoon them out. They also have that Kiwi like flavor and texture. Some people describe a kind of pineapple flavor.

This is an example of the many other types of guavas belonging to Psidium guajava. They are soft-skinned and can be eaten directly like apples or grapes. Their skin is soft. There are many types with varying flavor and color. They are very attractive trees or shrubs but I still feel the Pineapple guava is the most attractive and delilcious of them all!

These are some tropical plants that bloom late in the season. The first is the Blue Ginger (Dichorisandra thyrsiflora) which is actually not a ginger at all but has that look of a ginger. It is a close relative of the "Wandering Jew" plant and the Spiderwort which is common in much of North America. They all have that silky, smooth sap when the stems or leaves are broken. It is neither goey or sticky like other plant excretions.

This is a kind of morning glory which is different from all the rest. It forms a swollen base or caudex from which shoots arise each season. It is neither viney nor a woody bush like others in this family. I do not like morning glory vines because they simply take over everything. This, the Cartegena morning glory, is quite attractive and manageable. It dies back in winter to the base or to older branches.

This is Hibiscus acetosella the leaves and stem are a very deep red with flowers that are just a little bit brighter red (the flower in the picture is actually brighter than the real flower. Notice a few smaller leaves and buds and stem are dark colored. With cool fall weather the leaves are starting to turn orange and pinkish. This Hibiscus is a very good source for a delicious tea that can be made from the leaves, buds and flowers. Easy to grow from seed. Also has a medicinal use.

This is Tithonia diversifolia, one of the Mexican sunflowers. It grows from a large swollen base or caudex or may maintain almost treelike trunks for a time. They can reach 20 or more feet in just one season! There is no more a timely plant for Southern CA holidays in that it starts blooming with its deliciously honey scented flowers around Thanksgiving and is in full bloom by Christmas. There are at least a couple other plants from some of the same mountainous areas of mexico. They are the Daisy Trees (I have two species here) the following is Montanoa grandiflora. I have M. arborescens which is about 18 years old, just over the roof top, growing in the front yard. Both bloom this time of year and also have a delicious odor!

A winter blooming plant from Central America into Mexico that coincides with both the Tree Daisy and the Mexican Sunflower is one of the Sages, Salvia wagneriana. I have seen three forms. One pinkish red like the one I picture here, one that is more reddish, and one that is of the palest pink, almost white. It is large, though not quite as large as the Mexican Sunflower. It has very aromatic foliage as many sages have and the humingbirds love the flowers!

The Baja Rose (Rosa minutifolia) reaches the northern-most limits of its range on Otay Mt. in Chula Vista, CA (within view from our back yard). It is actually not usually in bloom right now, because it is "summer deciduous" as opposed to any other roses you might know which go dormant in winter. This recent pic is a plant that I kept watered through the summer and has bloomed off and on while the plants on our hillside have looked very dead all summer and fall and are just now bursting with bright green shoots after our first couple of rains. This little 1" flower has a rose color that many hybridizers of traditional roses tried for hundreds of years to create. It is purplish-red. The leaves are typical rose leaves with 4 or 5 or more leaflets but they are very small and have a corrogated texture. They are quite the opposite from other roses in that they actually thrive on the coastal fogs and moisture that cause so many diseases in traditional roses! The little leaflets are very well designed to capture this night-time moisture and provide the root zone with additional moisture in what would otherwise be absolutely dry conditions during summer! The only problem they have are aphids that get to them probably because I have so many plants in the garden above; but there on Otay Mt. are most likely quite free of any pests at all!

One more tropical plant with all-season interest is the Carribean Copper Plant (Euphorbia cotinifolia). It is slow to produce woody growth so it is more like many succulant plants or other Euphorbia species. Remember... Poinsettias are a Euphorbia! It can be evergreen or deciduous in a more exposed situation as in our garden. It is very attractive with both orangy leaves and reddish-purple leaves which are the normal coloration. I also love the structural value in the way that it branches.

Now this tropical plant is one of my own creations! The normal plant is considered a much larger form of Purple Fountain Grass (Pennesetum setaceum)but is most lilkely a separate species. It may be listed as Pennesetum macrostachyum from New Guinea, Borneo, and adjacent islands. (From the book about grasses and grasslike plants by Rick Darke.) The plant you see here is a mutation from a dying plant in my garden that I have been able to propagate with varying degrees of a very beautiful variegation on the leaves. It ranges from white to varying shades of pink and red. I have shown it to many reputable people and so far no one has seen it before. If I had the money...or the desire to; I could apply for a patent. However I am so discusted with the plant patents that are out there right now that come from the more "corporate" type of nurseries! How can you patent nature!

Darn it why did I get on this subject?! I have had unique hybrids from a tree native to the Channel Islands off the coast of So CA and a cross with a species from coastal Baja. It all started with my planting several of the Channel islands' species- Lavaterea assurgentiflora about 20 yrs ago. I found this really neat hybrid between L. assurgentiflora X venusta known commerciallly as Lavatera "Purrissima" at a nursery and planted it in our yard. I was told that it was a sterile hybrid ie. like the donkey is a sterile hybrid. Well within a couple of years the seedlings that I let grow around all my Tree Mallows, as is their common name, began to produce plants that were more or less tree-like or shrubby. They also started producing different colors. The first was a deep purplish red that was darker than Purrissima and had much less of the whitish center to the flower. Then there were colors with large whitish or pinkish centers some with dark purple lines on the petals or less so. Then there were rose colored flowers. Flowers with almost white petals with pink or reddish tips. Then one of the most recent crosses was one that I hope I do not lose! I lost the original plant but a managed to save one seedling which is not quite as spectacular as the original but is very close. I have dubbed this one as Lavatera "Rasberry-Rose Swirl" It doesn't get as swirly as the original. When the bud first starts to unfold it looks almost like a rose with a predominant pink. As it opens the petals begin to curl back to reveal, when fullly opened seems to be a completely different flower. The rose tipped petals curve back so what you see is a whitish flower with deep rasberry purple lines. Sometimes the petals twist which make it look like black rasberry preserves swirled through vanilla icecream! OK I know that I am not much of an entrepeneur. I have probably waited too long as I noticed recently that one of the big wholesale nurseries already has a hybrid Island Tree Mallow. Since I tried to get City Farmer's Nursery where I used to work to sponsor these hybrids I kept several plants there. Who knows either someone else lucked out or maybe was stolen from the nursery as so many of the plants I kept there seemed to just vanish!

This has got to be SO BORING so I will end it with a pic that is a seedling that has a darker petal and less white in the center than Purrissima:

Now I will show you something that may be a pleasant surprise to all you lovers of fall colors and those who honor the significance of the Winter Solstice (Dec. 21st this year). There is a greater glory in this!

This is a selection of the wild Calif. grape, Vitis californica "Roger's Red". It has produced huge amounts of small, very dark, crunchy grapes that have more flavor per cc than any othe grape that I know! I made fruit rolls this year and everyone who I gave samples to could not believe there was nothing other than grapes as an ingredient! Not even water...just grapes. Forget all the garbage candy from the stores. If you have a sweet tooth this will send you into sugar heaven! I hope to learn the fine art of wine making as I feel that this is a valid candidate for some really great wine! Next year I am sure I will have an ample amount from this single plant!

Here is a plant that is not necessarily a plant with seasonal changes but you shall see that the subtleties of the lower angles of the Sun's light at the winter solstice gives this plant a special magic!

This is a succulent plant that is shrublike in its growth. It produces huge 12"+ rosettes of thick leaves with cerrated edges. It is known as Aeonium decorum "Sunburst".

This is I believe Iris unguicularis, a fall blooming Iris also known as the Algerian Iris native to Greece, the Near East and Northern Africa. Its blooms singly out of tube like structures at only about 6" -8". I must qualify all my observations as being limited to a subtropical or mediterranean climate Zone 10 USDA or Zones 23-24 Sunset Western Garden. I have been in contact with at least one person and have more info from another web site www.paghat.com/iris-unguicularis. If you live in areas that have snow or hard frosts in fall and winter. You should read this info if this is you! I found it interesting that in colder climates the bloom is more sporadic and may occur in both fall and late winter/early spring! For me it is like clockwork! When it blooms for Thanksgiving and Christmas along with the other plants I have described here! When the Algerian iris is done shortly after new year...it is sexually complete for the year! What follows it the lush grassy leaves that endure through the summer here.

With that said... here in natureguy's garden: If the last season's foliage has not gone dormant (due to additional summer water) the blooms will be mostly lost below the leaves which reach about 12". In this case I would suggest severely cutting back in late summer...but watch out for any of the "tubes" popping up later on or if there is some kind of seasonal disruption. It is drought tolerant and blooms faithfully every fall and early winter in my garden. If allowed to go dormant in summer it has yellowish-green to brown leaves that may be more lax and open in clumps receiving less water. These will not hide the flowers as they might in milder areas and with summer moisture. Now I realize it may rebloom when winter (or perhaps drought)

shuts down the blooming process temporalily. New spring growth in colder areas is equivalent and contrasting to the lush green growth beginning in January here in San Diego! It is a most undemanding plant and the flowers are exquisite!

Another unusual fall and early winter blooming member of the Iris family is Morea polystachya. It is one of the irises that has a corm, which is a very round and smooth storage body much like a bulb except that it is self contained into this perfectly round thing and does not have the oblong shape of a bulb which often has offsets and narrows to a point which covers a crown of the dormant plant within or the crown may be partially emerged. Other irises like the one above grow from underground stems called rhizomes. They creep at or just below the surface of the soil, branch and thus produce new plants. Some plants have rhizomes that creep very far before new plants come up so that they seem to take over the whole garden if you are not careful! Plants like Bermuda grass and some of the Bamboos are like this and there are many plants that may do this that are not grassy at all! The flower is about an inch in diameter and the narrow grassy leaves are about15" tall.

The next plant also has a corm-like "bulb". It is commonly known as the Mexican Rain Lily, Zephyranthes grandiflora. There are also Rain lilies in white and yellow. What they all have in common is that they thrive in a climate that has multiple wet and dry periods. They can be "bone" dry and with a couple of days of rain the flowers will appear as if out of nowhere, bloom, followed immediately by narrow, flat leaves and if there is no more rain will soon dissappear once again.

I am sorry that I didn't make it in my fall blog with all the wonderful bulbs for So. Calif. that need to be planted in the fall for their spectacular winter,spring, and early summer display! Just for the record I now possess bulbs from 35 genera and of these I have 82 species, varieties, and cultivars! It is my greatest frustration that just because we live in a sub-tropical climate people seem to be addicted to things that bloom and remain green all year round!!! I believe in fall magic with the changes that it brings! I believe in a spring, whether it occurs in "winter" as it does in So. Calif. or in the spring anywhere, where wonderful fairy like things suddenly appear and if you turn your head away for too long are gone before you can get down on your knees and fill your senses with their fragile beauty! To hell with boring flower borders that deny the changes of the seasons!!!!

I will close with these words:

Bathe in the new sun that is born on the winter solstice! The days shall be renewed (the sun will rise and set by about a minute longer each day). If we are of the Earth then we shall be a part of turning more and more towards the sun. We shall look towards each sunrise and feel ourselves drawing ever nearer to the sun. This is not something that we imagine because it is real...we have felt it in the most primitive parts of ourselves for at least a million or more years...It is nothing to snoot at! There is a deep and very real magic in this Winter Solstice! If there ever was a time to renew your love for the earth,all that lives here and your fellow "man/woman" it is now!

I wish you all a happy Christmas only because it is a tradition where family and others come together to renew their bonds and ties to each other. It is a warm and heartfelt time. I regret because we are in more financial trouble this Christmas than ever before that we shall not have any Christmas at all, and are not able to even join any of our family. I put up a few lights. We have no tree and no presents. Our last four checks bounced like ping-pong balls. The Tax Man keeps increasing the tax because we cannot pay!

LISTEN YOU GUYS & GALS:

Friday, December 25, 2009 is my 58th birthday! My best birthday present other than the card my dad sent me would be that you read, enjoy, talk about this latest blog and share it with others that you feel might enjoy it! It is my gift to all of you, but I would be very unhappy if you didn't get it or just ignored it!

natureguy to some; Michael to others

Green Lynx spider mom...

2009-11-23T00:44:00.000-08:00

Well today, Nov 22, the mom is gone! I could see only one quite healthy little youngster remaining. The last time I checked was about 3 days ago and she was still there. I forget how long it has been... but for a little bugger like this Green Lynx mom she has probably spent the greater proportion of her life building, attending her nest of eggs and maintaining her young for an incredibly long period! Maybe she is off preparing for Thanksgiving holiday and all the youngsters are off to visit the relatives......before the cold weather sets in. I expect to see some of you kiddies as beautiful, courageous moms next year and you can tell me some new and special stories!!!

Michael/natureguy

Update on the Black Soldier Fly (BSF), composting with worms and beetle grubs

2009-11-22T03:24:00.000-08:00

I was not aware that there was any furthur interest...(Listen people it is your comments, not just my own inspiration that developes this blog!!!!) Today at least one person said as much. Here are a few words (sorry no pics at the moment) about the great success that my BSF compost set up has had.

I collected about 50 pre-pupating larvae more than a month ago and put them into a glass jar with top punctured with holes. Checked every day there were no adult flies until a couple of weeks ago there were 5 adult flies. What is interesting is that they came out in the same day and there have been none in the month+ before and none since. There are light and warmth factors that must be regulating their transformation. Today I decided to collect all mature larvae from the bottom of my "butterfly cage" that housed the 10 gallon nursery pot full of months of kitchen garbage.(See my earlier entry in Sept. for pictures of the butterfly cage and compost container) I counted over 350 which I have added to the same glass jar I mentioned above. I dug my hands through the rich, moiste black, very well broken down kitchen garbage and I could see that there were more pre-pupal possibly in the hundreds especially near the top of the container(which would be dryer). There were very few of the immature larvae (cream colored) or any other insects for that matter!

It would be safe to suspect at this point that the BSF has more of a warm season/longer day length behaviour. I realize that this can be a dissappointment to finding the perfect kitchen garbage composter but I would offer this advice:

Most worms (talking about earthworms and redworms) do not like heat. Why not try keeping the wonderful composted stuff from the summer's harvest of BSF, add a good number of redworms (available in quantity from most smaller nurseries that offer organic plants and products for the garden), and keep adding your kitchen garbage. I'll bet that they will do a pretty good job until warm weather and longer days that bring on the BSF. At that point it is time to apply all that good compost along with the worms (and possibly remaining BSF pupae) to your garden! Just start over fresh with the usual coffee/tea grounds, vege & fruit trimmings and dinner leftovers and you will have BSF in no time! Just remember that the BSF seems to eat anything that humans, dogs, cats, or other animals eat...that is where they differ from our other good composters like the redworm, and the Fig beetle grubs who seem to be strictly vegetarian. Please note that there are grubs which are similar to the Fig beetle grubs which are quite harmful to the garden. At this time of year it is easy to tell the difference by the size and the unique back stroke way in which the Fig grubs move. You will find large numbers of Fig B larvae wherever there is decaying plant material...especially in a compost pile! The bad grubs you would find in the root systems of actively growing plants...such as your lawn! Both kinds of grub are mature right now. The small brown "June" or "May" beetle will appear in those months depending upon where you are and the degree of climate changes that we are experiencing. I am going to try one of those bug zappers this year because I know that they fly about at night and are attracted to lights. The Fig beetles are quite the opposite, being active in the sunny part of the day.

I am sorry to throw this beetle stuff at you without greater detail. I promise to be more specific at a later date on this subject! All that I know is that even people in IPM (Integrated Pest Management) have the wrong info about the Fig beetle as a pest. IPM is associated with the Dept of Agriculture and with the University of CA extension. I think it has more to do with people hating those huge irridescent beetles buzzing around their head after they have eaten something sugary like fruit or perhaps have had a beer or a glass or wine! That is the only reason that they do that!!! They have an incredible sense of "smell". I have done couple of brief experiments myself by placing myself upwind or downwind and watched them respond with incredible accuracy! They have gotten their name because some fruit like figs may get quite ripe or be slightly damaged while still on the tree. Once the yeast and bacteria start working all of the Fig beetles in the neighborhood will be there in no time at all! When they have had plenty to eat then they will mate and start hovering around your compost pile of areas of mulch that are moist.

That is all that I can muster for now! Always more later!

Michael/natureguy

Our Sofie dog rescue; tropical "blue ginger" and Ipomoea cartegena and it's time for winter bulbs...just enjoy Sophie for now!

2009-11-20T06:19:00.000-08:00

I hope that there is something for everyone here...Sophie, our Animal Humane Society adopted Chihuahua+ terrier? mix has survived an attack by our neighbor's Rotwiler and Great Dane that have been coming into our fenced yard. About $1200 later in vet bills and lost work time for both of us to nurse her back to health amounting to at least several hundred more dollars more she is alive, healthy and happy except that she has to take doggie prozac every day to keep her from freaking out everytime the neighbor dogs bark! I find it hard to criticize the Dept. of Animimal Control considering all the cutbacks such agencies have suffered. What I do not understand is why they couldn't tap these irresponsible neighbors for a few hefty fines! We have submitted four formal complaints. The animal control officers have been to our street numerous times. I called 911 when the Great Dane attacked me in our own yard and I watched the same Great Dane attack a police officer who had to use mace spray to fend it away!.....when I talked to the police officer about reporting this he said he had nothing to do with it unless D. of Animal Control submitted their help. What we were left with that particular day; only few days after the Great Dane and one of his progeny killed our pure-bred adopted Yorkshire Terrier was all the evidence was circumstancial.

For anything more than circumstancial evidence even though these dogs were seen loose from their home by animal control and other residents in the neighborhood we had to wait until 5:20 AM on September 8, 2009 when I was awakened by the neighbors dogs no more than 20 ft. from our bedroom window within our own yard attacking our dog! Fortunately I was there in a matter of seconds and I fought of the two dogs probably seconds before Sofie would have been another dead dog like poor Zeus (the Yorky that never made it...DOA at hospital) She suffered three serious wounds probably equivalent to someone taking three carving knife plunges to your shoulder, your chest, and a lesser thrust towards your back. She probably only survived because Sophie was still not quite 2 years old and she was an extremely agile dog. On the other hand Zeus, however courageous was much older and the time frame to reaching that particular scene was many minutes later. Zeus's trachia was crushed and his lung was punctured so there was no matter of survival even if we had gotten there sooner.

Sophie is the fourth dog that we have adopted. I really thought that they were coming into a healthy and unique environment with a large natural garden. We have lost at least one dog and possibly one other which I would never swear by as being attacked by our neighbor's dogs. We almost lost Sophie...thank God she is still with us and she is not only a joy to us but everyone in the neighborhood loves her too! I will post a Halloween pic soon with her cute little outfit!

I know what some of you might be thinking about this...! These are not peoples' lives that are being lost like in Iraq, Afganistan, Africa or elsewhere in the world...The comparison if you can pass beyond the metaphor of a neighbor that has not been able to take responsibility for their dogs for the last 10 years;then take a closer look at a more real problem involving people in the world who only care about their own beliefs or the world that they see as supremely correct or rightious is solely within their possession to do with as they see fit! I would not exempt our own country...as we have been quite self-centered and greedy in our dealings with the rest of the world! Perhaps our current economic recession (really a depression but only if you are standing upon Mars and looking down!) Control is the name of the game. Our society is complex enough and It's nervous system is so inundated by over-stimulation that if were a living mammalian organisism we would hardly notice it if one of our limbs were severed!!!

I appologize for violating my own blog!!!! I only wanted to be a provider of inspiration for all gardeners and nature lovers. I will return to this mission but I am sorry that uncomfortable times have beset most of you... and I have been laid off and joined the ranks of the un-employed for several months now. The IRS has decided to more than double what I previously owed with penalties and late fees. If I tried to pay them I would lose my house. As it is, they have a lien on any property in my name which is this house...so I guess I will get Ffff...no matter what I do! Our plumbing was so corrupted (60+ yrs old house) that it cost us $7300 to have it renewed only after months of dealing with faucets not working and flushing the toilet with buckets of water. I would have to get hot water from the tub faucet to wash the dishes in a couple of containers in the kitchen sinks. None of this do I regret because I really do understand how difficult it is for most of the people in the so-called "third world" to deal with basic needs! The part that sets me into a RAGE is this

We go to our GMAC equity loan that was up to date with about $18,000 available that we made several years ago and they say our account is frozen and we have to re-apply....! They still don't even know I am currently unemployed...their excuse was that we made 2 late payments LAST YEAR it doesn't matter that we have a perfect account balance of $0.How ignorant can anybody be? We are two people barely able to make our mortgage because only one of us is working. We have had to open a new credit card account and max out all of our credit paying a huge amount of interest just because of those greedy millionaires in GM!

Now that the crap is out of the way maybe I can get on with the good stuff!

Here is Sofi enjoying the warm,clean laundry fresh out of the dryer!

Do I really have to move...I'll make it up to

you later....!

Hmmm! It just feels so good!

Michael,
natureguy

Green Lynx spider-supermom!

2009-11-06T03:15:00.000-08:00

A refresher image after many weeks...now for an up-date:

I am amazed how the tiny spiders the size of a dot of a pencil have actually grown! I think that there is some exchange of fluids or more likely that mom is able to catch and partially digest insects that the young may consume. There are obviously less young than first appeared days ago. The young remaining are several sizes larger and obviously quite healthy...maybe there is cannibalism as with many other predatory creatures so that the strongest survive?!

Mom seems to be in much better health since the young have hatched. She is obviously now feeding herself and most likely her young as well!

The evidence is all too obvious! Here she is secreting her enzymes into a bee, absorbing nutrients for herself and either making the bee carcass available to the young or more likely sharing her predigested fluids to the young as they could not possible penetrate the epidermis of such a large insect!

Sorry that the image is so blurry...if I were using my old Canon F-1 manual camera everything would be in great detail...so I have succumbed to the digital camera. I know that once I have really learned how to use it there are also manual and settings that let ME be in control! Patience with me folks, or at least more patience than I have with myself!

I know that many of you out there will have a difficult time accepting some of my anthropomorphising a female Green Lynx spider rearing her young! Most of us just HATE spiders in general. Yet I appeal to all of you committed garderners out there and other nature lovers that this is truly a miraculous event! Although there are many levels of creatures including ourselves who procreate and take procreation very seriously noone can deny that if we carry even a portion of what this lowly spider carries inherent in her genes to care for HER young then the young that we create stand a good chance for survival in a world that might just be a bit harsher than the world that those tiny baby spiders have to face!!!!

Michael/natureguy

Very, very...VERY old living things!

2009-10-28T23:58:00.000-07:00

I got to thinking about some of the things around us like the Pyramids of Geza or the ruins of the Parthenon seem so very ancient...yet there are "things" that are still living that are even older than these! Bruce (my dad) captions under a pic of a very old church in his book "Stewart: Heather Lost" on page 72 that there is an old Yew tree that is reputed to have been planted there by Pontius Pilate and by other stories 3,000 years old! At first this seems quite far-fetched yet let me throw some facts and perhaps maybe a few more stories your way...don't worry I'm not going to redwood/sequoia you. I think this is good stuff:

1) There are Norway Spruce growing in the mountains between Norway and Sweden that have been carbon-dated to be as old as 8,000 years!

2) There is a King's Holly which is a sterile hybrid (triploid- meaning that it has 3 times the normal monoploid chromosomes which invariably makes it a real loner!). This remains growing over a large area in Africa as thickets of plants growing from suckering roots. It is "estimated" that this plant could be as much as 43,000 years old!

3) There is a Creosote bush in the Mojave Desert that by some estimates could be as old as 11,000 years. The best a professor from UC Riverside could do was prove at least 2,000 years by the circular placement of living trunk "fragments" in a large circle and analyzing each fragment's growth rings.

4) There is a Bristle Cone pine nicknamed Methuselah from the White Mts. of California that is 4,700 years old.

5) Last but probably not the least ancient is "The Pando" a Trembling Aspen from Utah. It is a single male plant (some plants have male or female flowers on different plants termed as dioecious) spreading, again by suckering from the roots, over about 100 acres! There are about 47,000 existing trunks from the SAME root system!!! Now here might be a lingering story...75,000 YEARS OLD!!! There are other possibly more realistic estimates that put it at LEAST 10,000 years old! Ya know I don't really much care when it gets over a few thousand years...so add as many as ya want...it is still more ancient than I can imagine!

OK so now this isn't enough to impress you?! Try this for size (so ya think older means BIGGER?):

6) In a dig 2,000 feet below the earth's surface a team of scientists found frozen spores of a bacteria that was dated at 250,000,000 years old. What is so shocking is that the genetic material within the spores was not only intact but the spores were "alive" and produced, living and I assume multiplying bacteria! The article that I got this from also said that this goes against what most scientists had ever predicted about bacteria longevity by a very, very long shot!

So...all of you out there who read this: Is it a lot of malarkey? Or, maybe you have some evidence of really old living things! There is a limitation upon responses as they must be about things much older than me...well I guess I am not really that old after all! So they must be REALLY OLD!

I am sorry that I don't have any pics for this episode. I could have taken a pic of Carole and Myself since we are the oldest living things here on Olive St. But how could we even begin to compare to all of the above!

Michael/natureguy

Baby Lynx spiders just in time for Holloween! (I guess that makes me the adopted Gran-Pa)

2009-10-28T02:38:00.000-07:00

OK I just wanted to remind you that this is how Mom looked a few weeks ago.

Then this happened...poor Momma! Look how skinny she is now! And thus she remained for many weeks as she carefully tended and guarded her pouch of eggs for many weeks! No food perhaps only a sip of night-time dew on the grasses!

All of the sudden one sunny morning something is starting to happen!

The cottony looking brown cluster is suddenly breaking apart it seems!

Of course mom is VERY close by and is even more protective as the tiny miniatures of herself find there way out of the cottony cluster she has so carefully tended for so many weeks without a care for herself!

Just like a star going nova the cottony mass suddenly erupts outward! Hundreds of tiny spiders expand outward from this center. They are reluctant to leave and they will still rely upon their watchful mother.

She is relentless in her defence and shifts from side to side if there is a disturbance as when I brush pass the grass where she has her nest is when I am watering the garden. If she is a few inches away from the nest it only takes a mild disturbance and she is right over all her children!

It is obvious that there is no love spent upon this multitude of progeny by what most of us would consider to be just another spider to squash under-foot! Yet there is such a built in survival mechanism that often puts many of our human efforts to shame! It would be interesting to count the number of people who were killed senselessly in Iraq or Afganistan during the weeks this lowly spider carefully nurtured her nest of hundreds of children! It would also be interesting to add to that number how many persons died or were brutally mutulated while driving their cars upon our supposedly safe roads of America! I think that we are losing sight of the things that really matter. Some of us just get just a little too greedy or ambitious. We forget the things that this "lowly" spider seems to be able to hold so very intact... things that may have dissolved into the intangeable that it becomes too hard for us to understand what is happening when we observe this Lynx spider mom's dedicated activity so close to behaviour we think we totally understand in ourselves like "endearment" or "love" or even an intense sense of "caring" for her young! When we see things like this... shouldn't we be asking ourselves some very serious questions! This is not just another cute Nature episode...The nature surrounding us that touches us in our daily lives teaches us how to be true to ourselves! With all of our HIGHER learning and intellegence this she-spider somehow puts many of us to shame! I hope that I will learn something from this beautiful Green Lynx spider that will allow me to be better today than I was yesterday!!!

That innocent looking slimy Garden Flatworm(Planaria)

2009-10-20T22:35:00.000-07:00

This (non-gender) but still will call him fella' is one of your garden's worst enemies if you live in a fairly warm climate or have a greenhouse up north! It's official name is Bipalium kewense (the latter part of the name because it was first discovered in a greenhouse at Kew Gardens.) It is believed to have originated from Indo-China and the rest...blah, blah blah you can get from the following web site including some interesting pics! He is potentially your worst garden enemy because everything in your garden depends upon your soil. If something begins to mess with the vital organisms to a healthy soil then this leads to all the more sterile, unhealthy conditions to the soil. We have only begun to tap the complexity of the interaction between microbes, fungi, and higher organisms that live either in or on the surface of the soil. One thing is for certain that if there are fewer earthworms and similar creatures which are the main diet of these planaria there is going to be a serious disruption in microbial, fungal, and things like protozoa, beneficial nematodes, tiny arthropods, and crustacea to name a few!
Here is a realy good web site to go to:

http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/land_planarians.htm

Here is a shot of how I found the two planaria...I am sure that they were not having sex! Mouth/anus of this creature is found towards the middle of the body. They are apparantly cannabilistic and this finding in my garden really supports that! The garden slug is shown for comparison. I have found these guys consuming earthworms before so I certainly can vouch for this behaviour as well!

Take a good look at this face as it is up there with the most wanted garden criminal list!

I find it most frequently on the surface of moist ground under, boards, logs, wood piles, rocks, flower pots and under mulch and compost. Planaria have a remarkable ability to regenerate themselves so disposing them in something toxic to their membranes like vinegar or maybe salt will do but is not good for your garden. They probably can survive a considerable amount of dehydration so do not just throw them into the garbage can!

I have tried to keep my blog positive and as exciting as possible to all of you nature lovers out there but some things like this just cannot be avoided. It is too bad that this is another one of nature's critters that was always in balance until we came along and it has followed us around most of the world and is now so unnecessarily out of place! All criticisms aside; I think that they are otherwise really neat creatures!

A quick note as per the use of vinegar. It is an immediate and effective way of totally demolishing a planaria! I tried sort of bunching up a planaria in the palm of my hand and added three drops of cider vinegar. There was the equivialant of a knee-jerk reaction and it was all over! I touched the former planaria and it was literally a mass of mush! The vinegar apparantly totally disrupts the cell walls of its outer mucous membrane like exterior so that it is no longer an intact functioning group of cells...thus the mass of goup left over!

Michael/natureguy

The Orangutan & The Hound Dog

2009-10-20T18:41:00.000-07:00

The Orangutan & The Hound Dog

No wonder that I am not a dad...I could never wait for NINE LONG MONTHS!!!

2009-10-13T21:55:00.000-07:00

Here is a VERY pregnant (more appropriately described as 'gravid') Green Lynx spider! Peucetia viridans is the official name for any of the more curious readers. Notice the "viridans" as the identifyer of the particular species...this comes from the latin word for green. Peucetia refers to the Lynx group of spiders.

This is not my pic but I wanted to show you another gravid Green Lynx spider that was identified as such from a reliable web site.

This is possible but not necessarily where you might find a Green Lynx spider. Unlike the Crab spiders who adapt their specific camouflage and choose flowers that most match their coloration where they await in perfect disguise for prey that they succomb with little effort the Lynx spiders are very energetic and stealthy predators! Both of these spider groups, the Crab spiders and the Lynx spiders are considered to be web-less spiders. This does not mean that they cannot produce the same "silk-like" threads that other spiders use for webs but instead they use their webbing as hold-fasts much like a climber might use to scale a cliff. It helps if a prey puts up a difficult struggle to attach a few threads to something to maintain position!

It has been several weeks (and I am already tearing my hair out!) momma Green Lynx spider has hovered so very protectively over her chache of eggs. She has not eaten anything and she looks so ematiated that it is a wonder she is still able to defend her young to be with such skill! What she does is kind of a dance moving round and about the egg case when there is a threat. Always here long legs cover the case like an umbrella.

I suppose I should introduce what would have been the likely daddy:

This should also demonstrate why they are called a Lynx spider. They patiently wait for their prey and when something of appropriate size moves within range they move as quickly and with the stealth of a Lynx, darting after the prey and they may or may not bring that prey to a meagerly webbed station as in this pic to consume it. Their legs are equiped with long stiff hairs...almost barb-like which allow them to literally cage in their prey as opposed to what many other spiders do throwing nets of webbing over their prey.

I hope to soon be able to show you all momma Green Lynx Spider's babies! I thought that I could wait until they were born to create the complete story...Like I said I would never make a good dad!

Love,
Michael/ natureguy

Young box turtle...always gets the best from our garden!

2009-10-12T02:13:00.000-07:00

This little guy is an orphen that I adopted, willingly of course, and has his home in a 100 gallon container with soil and his own swimming pool with constantly refreshed water; a brick "lean-to" for a hide-a-way. He is so spoiled because he gets these gourmet foods!

Dinner tonight has been black fly larvae for the first course. Long horned grasshopper for the second...and escargot for dessert

A WASP with another name!

2009-10-12T01:43:00.000-07:00

Not that I ever get political... but check out this WASP (I mean the real) wasp:

This is the Black and Yellow Mud-dauber Chalybion (Sceliphon) caementarium. I remember the shiny indigo colored mud-daubers from home in Illinois. It is still so amazing to watch them delicately scrape up portions of mud at just the right water content, form them into little balls that they can carry to their nest sites. When they reach their nest they mold this tiny portion of mud perfectly in a matter of seconds! We have allowed them into our house because...of course they are such magnificent creatures...they never harm us even though they have quite a potent sting!...and of course they create a balance in our wild garden environment. The primary food for their young is spiders. They will create very specifically sized cavities in the mud nest to house paralyzed but not dead spiders. These will provide the nourishment for the larval wasps. If I was aware for even a second that they were collecting our house spiders I would eradicate their nests inside of our house. After many years Carole has accepted that there are certain spiders that live in houses that are extremely benificial! Before I blubber about spiders I want to show you mud-dauber nests inside of our house:

This is an earlier nest in one of our rooms upon the glass cover for an incadescent over-head light. I never counted the many days it took for this lone female wasp to build it but it sure seemed like a really long time to me! Notice that the different colors reflect the various mineral and organic content of the mud that was collected. I watched her collect mud from many of the bog plants that I have that were planted in a sandy clay soil or other pots with a heavy clay loam soil.

The following picture as with the one above in another room of our house reflects hundreds of visits per day of a lonely and fertile mud-dauber wasp to create something that is so precise and functional in it's engineering as to put most of our 4-square efforts to shame!!!

Within these seemingly abstract globs of dried mud are the next generation of a wasp that has survived for millions of years! If for some reason they could not construct them in a certain precise fashion then they would probably cease to exist. We welcome them into our house just so long as they do not collect our house spiders that keep us free of mosquitos, troublesome gnats, and flies. I am not worried about our garden spiders as there is quite an abundance in our garden which is of course a blessing rather than a curse!

I will never resort to saying something as stupid as "Wasps are human too!" but believe me that they are definitely our friends and they are a very important part of the world that sustains us day to day!

Remember one important thing...It is not the current state of our economy that sustains us but it is these fantastic plants and creatures like the mud-dauber wasp that help create a liveable world for all of us!

I have a passion for nature in my own heart but for those also whom have preceded me!!!

2009-10-09T23:53:00.000-07:00

I decided to add this email that I sent most of you as an invitation to read and/or join my blog. For all who access it I kind of like the idea of sharing where some of my inspiration comes from. I have met many individuals in the past 50 odd years who have imprinted a love of nature upon me...it would require volumes to go any furthur than this...maybe some of those persons will kind of slip into my journal here and there!

To all of you, both family and friends, I am really getting into this blog stuff! Special thanks to 'thebruce' my favorite dad and Paul Smith for their blessings...! You may both live to regret it! I look at this as my garden journal among other things so if none other accesses this at least I may derive the satisfaction of just writing it. There are so many events that I am sure that I will never forget yet they still have a tendancy to fade away without doing something like this!

This may sound totally crazy but I dreamed many years ago while I worked in this Olive St garden in San Diego where I still live with my wife Carole of somehow creating an active journal that I could mail out (later became email) to my friends and family through which I could share the many marvelous things that were happening all of the time! I was of course steeped with guilt because I was so horrible at consistently responding to family and friends. It never meant that I loved them any less it is just I have a strange way of showing it!

Dad (Bruce) invited me to become a member of his blog...so I did. There it was staring me in the face...this wonderful opportunity to fulfill one of my dreams! I started a blog which seemed like nothing at first until it really sunk into my computer-illiterate brain that this whole thing fit the picture that I had in my head perfectly!

You will see gradual and sometimes sporadic improvements. I do not operate like clockwork so there may be lulls just like in the seasons.

Since I am already so overextending myself blog-a-laciously I might as well add where a lot of my inspiration comes from:

First and formost, my grandmother Beth Stewart (my dad Bruce's mother) who filled me with awe for the small daily events that occur in nature no matter where you are but especially in a rural setting. She was an artist and a poet as well as a loviing grandmother. She loved to read the things that I wrote although they lacked the conciseness she brought!

Second, The naturalist and writer Edwin Way Teale who won the 1966 Pulitzer Prize for his classic 'Wandering Through Winter' I read several of his more than 30 books. 'The Grassroot Jungle" sticks out most in my memory. I found that laying upon my belly in a meadow could reveal amazing things!!!

Third but certainly not the least was an old, thick, hardcover volume of a scientist's exploration through some of the jungles of Africa. It was obviously written in the spirit of older scientific exploratiion. There was not yet the super-specialization of modern science. There was still room for DaVincis where one could not leave one stone unturned so to speak. There was a kind of awe in discovering every aspect of a square yard of jungle space, cataloguing everything plant, animal, and inanimate!

I have anguished that I have never rediscovered this book or the author! I at least retain the memory as inspiration for carrying on this kind of relation to our environment in all of us!

I have added more addresses to alert you to changes in my blog. If I have missed anybody it just because this still is a bit overwhelming. Feel free to pass on to others who would be sincerely interested (thanks Joan). Also I am in blogger kindergarten so I am open to any suggestions for layout, photos or anything else. I know I need some more editing, spelling, syntax etc. I will work on that!

I hope that you enjoy it half as much as I did writing it!

Love to you all,

Michael/ natureguy

Snakes in the garden

2009-09-16T22:53:00.000-07:00

When you go wild you must expect the wild to come right along with you! The birds come. The insects come. The rats, gophers and mice come. The frogs, lizards and salamanders come. Last but not least come the SNAKES!

To all the uneducated and in-experienced out there snakes are truly marvelous creatures! There are very few snakes that I have encountered...even the rattlesnake (not encountered here in my garden) that I would find offensive or difficult to deal with! There are a few snakes with a "quick" temper but for the most part they just want to be left alone and to go about their business. Rattlesnakes rattle because they want to tell you that you are about to step on them and that would not be good for either of you! Rattlesnakes are fat, sluggish creatures and have a difficult time getting out of the way! Their venom also allows them to numb rodents enough to eat them. The other more agile but similar looking snake is the Gopher snake. This snake is so powerful that all it need do is wrap a coil or two around its rodent victim or even press its powerful body against its victim in a borrow dug by the likely victim...thus the name of Gopher snake. No need for strong digestive enzymes here to do the work! Yes that is all the rattlesnake has. When it bites the powerful enzymes immediately begin to destroy muscle tissue which in the case of an appropriately sized rodent would render it totally passive for eating in a matter of seconds. If a rattle snake bit a much larger creature it would cause serious damage to the muscle tissue near the bite but not likely to be much worse unless the rattlesnake was something like 8 feet long! Some rattlesnakes have more potent venom than others but for the most part they are not deserving of the bad rap that they have been given!!! I would be more concerned about getting into your car and facing the traffic on the way to and from work each day! There is almost nothing in nature that is more brutal than the way a body can be torn up in the blink of an eye just because someone makes a stupid move on the freeway!

OK noone likes to hear this in this blog when they are looking for more garden magic! It is exactly this kind of contrast in the kind of life that we live that makes the garden become an even more magical and greater learning experience! We begin to understand than nature is NOT our enemy; but is in fact our best friend! It is the things that we do to ourselves in our industrious cities when we have destroyed most of the nature around us just to make the most immediate future full of riches for US! (there is no concern for our children other than some kind of trivial inheritance that would be only a minimal fraction of any present wealth!)

Back to the snakes. Yes...they are truly magnificent creatures! Evolution has done it'self proud! The snakes in my garden have been as follows...some were probablly introduced and some were native:

Gopher Snake- one occurrance

CA King snake- several occurrences. One year there were numerous young. Mostly due to neighborhood releases of captures from the mountains and foothills inland from San Diego.

Striped Racer- native, one occurrance

Coachwhip snake- native, several occurances. One capture to view up close of this truly beautiful snake! Observed them in trees as they are certainly agile climbers! This snake is so fast that you are not even sure you saw it before it was gone!

Night snake- possibly an endangered species. A small very timid snake that has poisonous fangs in the rear of their jaw as opposed to a rattle snake or coral snake. Regretfully in the 20+ years that we have been here I have only seen and captured one! Although poisonous you would literally have to force open it's mouth and hold it on your very little finger (if you even have it) for a substantial period just to get a small amount of poison in! Get over this poison shit!

[Ya know, at this rate I am going to have to do a blog about SPIDERS!!!]

Last but not least is the absolutely handsomely atired Ring-necked snake. If this snake were 10 ft. long instead of 10 in. it would be displayed in a prominant place in all the the zoo's reptile houses! If you have ever seen a King cobra (a relative, believe it or not!) Imagine it with a brilliant orange and red belly with black spots upon the sides! This snake was happening long before Sachs-5th Ave! I hope to have a few pics to substantiate my designer claims!

natureguy, Michael

I thought I had all the wildlife figured out here!

2009-09-12T00:26:00.001-07:00

(excuse the coffee pot scene in our kitchen...believe me all you moms out there I do not want to encourage this kind of stuff but I just happen to be the chief cook and bottle washer in this house so I can do whatever I want!!!)

So I walk out into my back garden as usual to do some watering. I hand water some of the plants near the house with a watering can because they are drier than the rest. Walking towards the hose to do the rest of the watering this shiny squiggly thing darts across my path. Of course I do not hesitate to grab it. Voila! I am holding in my hand a beautiful Ring-neck snake! Such a little almost worm-like snake less than 12" long yet he(she) curls the lower parts of the body in such a way to flash the brilliant orange-red under parts and tightly grasps my fingers with the supple body. It is really neat that this critter is related to the constrictors like the rat and gopher snakes and has the same clinging way of crawling about as opposed to flaying about as a garter snake would. Of course as with many snakes when caught also exudes a skunky kind of musk that would make a normal person let go!

Notice that the tail is tightly curled revealing the flashy under colors. That is how this clever snake escapes predators. This particular snake has survived because of its good genes. It lost part of its tail instead of losing its head which is where any would-be predator would go for! Sometimes it is better to play the FOOL than stand up and fight...especially when the odds are against you! Unfortunately if the predatator had been a King Snake...see the following...then there would be no foolery to escape!

The Ring -neck snake would not normally be found in my location. It is usually found in moist areas of the mountains and riparian habitats and meadows of the foothills. It just so happens that I have enough moisture and plenty of frogs, worms, and insects to give it a wonderful home! I removed a intruder kingsnake several months ago which would have had this little guy as an appetizer! The kingsnake was one that probably escaped from a would-be young herpetologist who caught it in the mountains and brought it home. I love kingsnakes especially because they eat rats and mice but they eat just about everything else! Daa! That is why they are "king".

I have not seen a Coachwhip snake in a long time. These are magnificent creatures in their ability to burst into great speeds for such a relatively small creature. They are also great tree climbers and thus prey upon birds, eggs, and young as well as rodents, lizards, etc. They are also closely related to the ring neck snake. They do not use constriction like the king, or gopher snake but have powerful muscles to apply pressure against their prey with their bodies as they are swallowing it. Usually the prey is small and is consumed so rapidly that there is no need for any kind of constriction!
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Part 2:

Just look at all the yummy stuff that we throw away from our kitchens! This is BSF paradise!

By the way, if you have heard rumers that BSF takeovers of your kitchen garbage scraps seem to repel fruit flies and the common flies that harrass us continually you would have heard the absolute truth! I rarely see any flies about this garbage container...and by the way they apparently digest all kinds of garbage so thoroughly that there is VERY LITTLE ODOR! I also get this wonderfully disgusting looking thick "tea" which the plants just LOVE!

I have these neat butterfly cages (or tents) complete with a view window side and a zip side for access. I placed a container of compost as an experiment which houses primarily larvae of the Black soldier fly. I wanted to have more control over later stages such as pupation and emergence of adult flies. The goal is to be able to successfully produce large numbers of black soldier flies for use in converting kitchen garbage almost overnight into useble compost for the garden. They seem to also have the ability to repel the usually pesky fruit and house flies! Once they are started the will apparently eat just about anything with very little of the odor that would be associated with other flies. I have several pics which I hope to be able to share.

(photo courtesy of paulwhwest)

(one of my garden budies!)

You have to notice that the thorax, which is the middle part of the insect body, appears to be armored much like a Roman soldier! Daa! maybe that is why they are called Black soldier flies! By the way the word thorax comes from the Latin thorac-, thorax breastplate and Greek thorak-,thorax. Therefore the Black soldier fly seems to display the ultimate thorax!!! Wheee! HOO Haa! Yeaa!

I tell you if I came face to face with something like this I would just as likely make like a plant or a dead twig or something like that!

It is hard to really call them a fly...I have a feeling they might be insulted! They could easily make a handsome wasp!

Two little lovebirds they are! I am sure that if I hadn't caught them in a yoghurt container they would have soon made love as black flies do. (I admit that I cheated and put the yoghurt container in the frige for a few minutes to get this picture! I would have taken more but they buzzed off a couple of seconds after this pic!)

(Not my pic but an unknown from a BSF web page)

At any rate this leads to my other neat little story...

I happened to find once again, the same praying mantis female that I had found in the garden and released into what I thought would be a more appropriate area of the garden for it's survival. This time I put it into my "butterfly tent" with the compost tub...The very next night as I was getting ready to go to bed I walked into my bedroom just as this fluttering thing came at me through the open slider door opposite my bedroom door. I reached up and grabbed it and what do you think it was? The odds are probably a million or more to one but yes it was a mature male mantis. You might think that I have a garden of mantids. I do not!!! Since that time which was a couple of weeks ago and before that time the only mantids that I have seen were the much smaller native species and these two of the typical"released insect control" species. I am in the garden every single day and see all kinds of stuff like my ring neck snake but ther have been no other mantids!!! So...do ya get it! Is it FATE or what?!

Now, of course this was a match made in heaven! Over a period of many days there was this dance where the male stayed about 1 ft away from wherever the female was. For fear that the skinnier, weaker male would be consumed I made sure that the female had plenty to eat. (she was gettiing big and fat) I noticed how touchy the male was at this point when I tried to offer him an insect- he violently reared up and spread his wing in a manner that made even me jerk back! Apparently that is how he could also keep the potentially cannibalistic female at bay!

I probably should have kept track of the timing but one day the male captured the love of his life! He was obviously a skillful and healthy male as he had succeeded in grasping her in the precise spot at what you or I might consider "shoulders" where here powerful for-feet conect to her narrow thorax. One thwarted move to achieve this would have made him just another meal for the female!

Now If you thought this was going to be a one-night stand you would be way out in left field! Several days went during which the male may or not have been successful in copulating. They broke up for a day or two and then again they were together again. This time there seemed to be some real action...Apparantly it all depends how ready the female is.....hmmm?!

So, ok it is now three days since they have separated. I fed the female yesterday and today. The first day she started to lay a foam nest then abruptly deserted it. 2nd day gave her a big meal. Today gave her another good sized insect. She seems to almost be doubling her size! I cannot find the male anywhere. He has possibly been eaten or has served his purpose and died of exhaustion from all the maneuvering and postulating! I suspect she will be laying soon after a couple of good meals.

By the way...the black soldier flies are doing great. There are several that have dropped to the floor of the netting cage to pupate.

I need to figure out how to do pics...as I have much of what I have described in pictures. Hope to add these soon. (Rather than delete this line I am proud to say that I figured out all of the steps on my own to download off my camera via my Kodak software, edit the pics, download to my computer and then put them into this blog!!! How is that for a self taught computer-illiterate die-hard old hippie?!)

Signing off as your,

natureguy

Michael

Oh September, September...!

2009-09-07T04:23:00.000-07:00

My lovely nature goddess... now you desert my garden of your usual tendernous only to make it a virtual desert with your harsh dry winds and fiery heat! You convinced me with your lush blessings upon my flora and now you take so much away before I even know what you are about!!!

Yes, it is that time of year where all of those who chosen to be consumed by the dreams of the perfect world of So. CA suddenly realize that this is not always so! (not to mention that we could possibly crumble off into the Pacific at a moment's notice if the Earth's crust makes a hiccup!) When we burn...we really burn!!! No matter how much we want to avoid it...it just makes for an even BIGGER burn! It is a part of nature that we live in a zone where the earth's crust tends to shift as well as in a desert environment that needs to 'shed it's skin' periodically in order to maintain it's health!

We can blame it on those cigarette smokers who throw their hot burning butts out as they drive by...but we cannot deny that we have interferred with and contributed to the fires that produce 100 ft. flames instead of 10 or 15 ft. at the most! We destroy so much of the natural habitat and we do stupid, greedy things like plant Eucalyptus trees and similar fire-yummy trees and shrubs. Some of us dump crap down the gullys and canyons like mattresses, sofas, and all kinds of garbage! What about all those weeds that we have introduced and weep down the slopes of our lush and rich gardens into the coastal chapperal below...right about now they are just at the right stage to light a magnificent bonfire!

Yet we cry out for help to aid us for a disaster that is "an act of god" beyond our control! So many homes lost to the fiery demon! We were stupid enough to live here and we are still more stupid to blame something or someone else for this occurrance!

Maybe someday we may be able to understand the earth's tectonics where we might be able to influence related events...but there is far too much evidence to suggest that it is by our own folly and greed as well as a consistent ignorance that we are inundated by the fires that we have experienced in the last decade!

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It was rather unintentional that I started this blog...and it is rather obvious by my lack of attention to it that it has been a seemingly trivial commitment...

So, here I am once again!

I am sure that I speak to a sky without the sun, the moon, or the stars. Still here is what I have yet to say:

It is unbelievable how many little Pacific tree frogs are about in my garden! I still see the regular adults in far fewer numbers but I sometimes have to be careful where I step or move around a potted plant for fear of squashing one of them! I account the prolific outcome of this last winter's breeding season to the late appearance of the Dragon flies. The larvae of the dragon fly esp. the one's that are in the "darner" group can get quite large and are aggressive enough to capture a swimming critter that is larger than they are. They are quite capable of capturing fish and tadpoles. I do not condemn these magnificent creatures! They offer many benefits. The adults consume many flies, gnats, and mosquitos on the wing. The larvae consume huge amounts of mosquito larvae. The dragon fly also has great mystical significance. It is an admirable symbol to apply to one's life! They are a feat of technical engineering in flight and have survived since before the dinosaurs with almost no changes to their already perfect structure other than size or color!

Back to the froglets...If i leave a small container of water or the watering cans or a bucket of cuttings...there are one or more little froglets that appear the next day. I have cuttings that I sometimes leave in quart size containers outside my back door in the shade...inevitably a little bugger will take up residence for a few days or more!

I really do miss the breeding chorus of the adults. They came opportunistically early this last season and of course ended earlier. I am thankful for this(missing most of the dragon flies) as now I am inundated by cute and often quite humerous little froglets!

I hope that I will not be so tardy with news and comment if there is anyone out there willing to participate here. I equally hope to respond in a more timely fashion to any who approach this blog! There may still be hope for me!

Michael

Spring has sprung in leaps and bounds!

2009-04-13T20:31:00.000-07:00

OK by popular request I blog on!

Before I even get to spring I can't wait to tell you about my new crush. As always I think she is the most beautiful thing in existence! She is flashy yet subtle. She opens up to reveal this incredible light within! She is seemingly unpredictable like a chameleon yet changes only more subtly with the seasons. Her colors are predominantly chartreuse and light green spanned by a red-pink that carries a hint of the amethyst jewels to come. Each graceful arch is topped by a delicate spike of light pink starry flowers. As spring arrives the flowers change in an unusual way. Instead of flowers dropping as say on an apple tree and forming a fruit from the 'scar' left by the flower Her flower makes a slow transformation to a dull reddish fruit. As late winter "wears" on (as only it can for us southern Californians...ho-hum!) these dull chubby casts of the former delicate pink stars seem to take over even the pink stars. Here we are on April 13 and seemingly overnight these formerly delicate pink spikes of flowers turned dull reddish lumps have suddenly begun 'bursting' amethyst jewels. These fruits would be a phenomenon if they were more that 1/4" in diameter. I can imagine one of these the size of a cantalope seen in late afternoon. The semi-transparent, translucent outer surface takes up the ambient light and draws out the deep amethyst colored shape in the center as though it were embodied within something between ice and jello. As you move this "cantalope" sized fruit the light plays tricks that make it seem as though there is a living, moving embryo inside!

I want to clarify that this observation is cumulative and that I was not "high" other than by the twilight of the day which is my favorite time of day. It is the time that I see colors and smell smells better than at any other time.

Getting back to this sensual beauty which you must assuredly realize is "only" a plant otherwise I am in deep doo-doo with Carole.

Her name is Phytolacca esculenta, known to some as the Asian Poke Weed. The poke weed that we may know in the US is a mostly southern grown plant made famous by a phrase in a rock song which goes like this- "...poke salad Annie..." What is unique about my Annie is that she grew up from birth in my garden. She is a seedling of the variegated form of this plant which I had purchased from a rare plant nursery. I had lost the original plant which I was (so I thought) totally in love with. The variegation was subtle yet beautiful...yellow, gold, chartreuse all on the same leaf. When the seedlings no longer displayed the delicate variegation of the leaf I was almost ready to at least totally ignore these plants forever. Some glimmer of hope that one might develop this beautiful variegation...resuscitate the remaining plants...pot them up and through a bit of fertilizer or pull a few weeds around...OH what rewards! Get that variegation mind-set out! You have got something way more beautiful than that! Now I have a plant that could truly be described as a chameleon among plants. It is a subtropical plant from China. It is not for someone who needs plants like roses all over their garden. It likes protection from the hot sun and needs regular moisture. It is probably short lived...comparable to an impatiens which is a common plant usually sold as a annual. It also does not seem to develop a woody stem as in the other more "woody" perennials comparable to say fuchsias.

Here is a list of all these wonder colors and changes on these new seedlings-

Cool weather- new growth chartreuse to light green highlighted by reddish edges and subtle reddish veining. Stems more reddish than later. Flowers develop as delicate pink with pinpoints of reddish color. Older leaves are light green.

Warmer weather-new growth chartreuse with reddish-purple "touches" turning almost primrose yellow, then a green infusion begins at the tips of the pointed leaves and "consumes" the yellow until the leaf is a mid-green.

Summer weather seems to numb the plant a little. Growth and flowering continues but much more weakly. Gentle pruning seems to get it through the heat. Still it is showy and a deserving plant at this point. I am glad that I kept a back-up of seed even if I lost the original plant that I thought was so fantastic!

Wow...! I suddenly realised I have had a 10 hour day and I am trying to put all the zillion of thoughts in my head into my spring notes.

More is coming later...spring has revelry of stories to come.

Is it really mid-winter?

2009-01-25T22:38:00.000-08:00

I grew up in Northern Illinois most of my younger years. I had an idea of mid-winter that is really nothing like what I experience now. The closest that I can come to describe it under N. IL conditions would be a prolonged spring.

Little Anna apple has decided to join the Dorsett apple tree in bloom. She has a slight pink-red blush to her pettles which was enough to attract at least one honeybee today.

The Goldfinches from half of San Diego apparently have decided that I am a major provider of Nijer seed. I must fill the "thistle" socks every 2-3 days! There are three socks and each one takes about a quart of nijer seed. I hope to get a good picture soon. It is amazing to see up to 16 or so finches on a sock at one time!

I continue to work on many of the bulbs that I failed to plant in the ground and remain in pots from previous years. I have so many areas of the garden that I want to work over or repair and I certainly have quite a pallette of bulbs to plant everywhere. Rodents are always a consideration in a wildlife garden. The bulbs that I have planted that have been the most resistant to gophers, rats, and mice are Amaryllis Belladana, Ipheion uniflorum, Narcissus sps., Tulbaghia simlleri(formerly T. fragrans, the tuberous Alstroemeris, Gladiola tristis (yes, how triste...this extremely fragrant orchid-like glad is used at funerals in its native south Africa), and Freesia laxa (formerly Anomotheca laxa). Bulbs that multiply rapidly enough to always stay one step ahead of foracious rodents are Sparaxis, Babiana, Triteleia (formerly Brodiaea), Iris species and relatives, ie. Morea and Sisyrinchium fair very well. I have so many other bulbs to try in the next few years. Since I have an extremely limited budget I do not have any qualms about buying 6 bulbs that will give me 30 or more bulbs that I can plant is 2 or 3 years. That way I have a pallette of 40 or 50 species and varieties of bulbs!

"Dead of Winter" in San Diego

2009-01-18T19:22:00.000-08:00

Don't know where this will lead...I guess I now have a blog.

Been doing a lot of work with bulbs esp. those that will return year after year here in San Diego. Love bulbs. They grow with so much energy and look so good even if for a short time. They usually require little if any care as long as they are situated in the right location. They survive on neglect most of all!

The Pacific Tree Frogs have been singing stronger and stronger through the nights. They usually don't mind me even if I walk through the yard with my headlamp on.

Still getting an occaisional Alpine strawberry...yummy!

Dorsett apple just lost most of its leaves and voila...already blooming!

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"Phew! I'm not going to try a flip like that again until I've lost at least a 1/4 #!"

Our new dog, Sophie, at first seems like lots of fun as she is so playful... then she doesn't seem to want to quit until she is exhausted! She is a Chihuahua/Terrier/whatever mix. "

"Ok now I really have a neck and back ache...please don't make me do that again!!!"