It was magnificent while it lasted

This past weekend was filled with cactus excitement. Four of my cacti, fairly plain-looking most of the year, flowered. Actually, “flowered” is too lame a word to capture the magnificence of this event. “Exploded” is more like it. It was a floral firework display, and like any firework, it was short-lived. The flowers opened just twice, then it was all over. It must take a tremendous amount of energy to produce flowers almost as large as the stem itself!

Unidentified Echinopsis (scarlet-fading-to-coral flower)

All four cacti are Echinopsis hybrids. Echinopsis is a large genus of South American cacti noted for their large and colorful flowers. They range from small globular cacti to tree-sized species. There are many Echinopsis hybrids with flowers in myriad shades of red, purple, yellow, and cream. I think not even experts are able to tell them apart unless they are in bloom, maybe not even then. To me, it doesn’t really matter what variety they are. All I care about are the fantastic flowers.

Unidentified Echinopsis (scarlet-fading-to-coral flower)

Silky oak (Grevillea robusta) sighting in Davis

As I was driving to the public library last week, I noticed a group of trees covered with orange blossoms. I couldn’t quite tell what they were from the car, but they looked unusual enough that I decided to go back for a closer look. These are tall specimens, towering above the two-story apartment buildings along F Street, but with my telephoto lens I was able to zoom in close enough for a positive identification.

The leaves and flowers were a dead giveaway: These trees are Grevillea robusta, commonly known as silky oak, southern silky oak or Australian silver oak although not related to the true oaks (genus Quercus).

Sometimes what you get is not what you thought

About six weeks ago I bought a bunch of plants for a raised bed in a corner of the front yard. This included three Asiatic lilies: two cultivars called ‘White Pixels’ and one called ‘Lollipop’. This is what the label for ‘Lollipop’ looks like:

Compare that to the actual flowers, which just opened up:

Poppy love

Last month I got all mushy over the California poppy (Eschscholzia californica). But it isn’t my only poppy love. I’m just as nuts over the Matilija poppy (Romneya coulteri), which is at its peak right now. There’s a large clump in the park near house, and no matter how often I walk by there, I go gaga each time.

The Matilija poppy (pronounced “ma-TILLY-huh”) is native to the dry washes and canyons of Southern California and northern Mexico. It is named after a Chumash Indian chief of the same name. This shrubby perennial can grow to 8-9 ft. high and wide and thrives in dry, sun-baked situations. It’s very drought-tolerant once established and survives temperatures as low as 0°F (zone 7).

What have we got here?

About five years ago an online plant seller included a freebie in an order I’d placed. It was labeled Agave parryi and it was a bit of an ugly thing from the beginning—the runt of the litter, you might say. I stuck it in a pot and even though I gave it regular watering, it never transformed from a beast into a beauty. Every winter, it would develop unsightly brown spots—weird, since Agave parryi is very hardy—and dead leaves around the base didn’t make things better. Sure, I could have groomed it better but after a while I gave up on it and relegated it to the “ugly corner” near one of the vegetable beds.

May 3, 2013

A couple of weeks ago I noticed a strange sight. Something resembling a white asparagus spear was emerging from the center.

“No, it can’t be,” was my first thought.

May 3, 2013

Help a local high school raise money through plant sales

I can’t speak for other states or countries, but schools in California are suffering from ever tighter budgets, forcing cuts to programs that are deemed expendable. Often these are disciplines like art and music which have a far lower priority than English, math or science. Some schools are lucky enough to have parent-teacher associations which provide funding for such programs, others don’t fare so well. You can imagine that if art and music classes are on the chopping block, anything related to plants—like horticulture or landscape design—must be even lower on the totem pole.

Greenhouse at Woodland High School

My friend Sue, whose garden I profiled in this piece, has been volunteering at Woodland High School (WHS) in the nearby town of Woodland for over a year. Woodland High has commercial greenhouse facilities that had fallen into disuse after its horticulture program was cut. Working with Eric Dyer, the chair of the WHS agriculture department, Sue has breathed new life into the greenhouse and, with the help of student volunteers, has started to propagate succulents and other plants. The goal is to raise money at plant sales and farmers markets to offer more plant-related extracurricular activities for students.

Blue jacaranda sighting in Davis

Every year in mid-May there’s a spellbinding sight not far from our house. Yesterday I grabbed my camera to capture this fleeting beauty.

Planted in front of a nondescript apartment building is a blue jacaranda tree (Jacaranda mimosifolia) and it’s in full flower.

Weekend potpourri

The weather this past weekend was a preview of what summer will be like: 70°F by 10am and low 90s mid-afternoon. Luckily our humidity is low, but I still don’t enjoy working in the heat so I got up early to get some work done around the yard.

A week and a half ago I’d bought a tray full of 4-inch plants at Morningsun Herb Farm in Vacaville, 20 minutes west of here.

Plants from Morningsun Herb Farm

I planted most of these last weekend and the remainder went in the ground on Saturday.

Plants from Morningsun Herb Farm

The front yard in May

It’s been a while since I did an overview of the front yard. This is a good time because everything is actively growing.

The patio is home to many potted succulents. I’m trying to consolidate—and not replace the ones that died during the winter—but it’s getting crowded. Still, I like the multi-layered look you get from having plants here and there and everywhere.

Covered patio

Potted plants have also popped up along the walkway that leads to the front door. The gap you see is just wide enough for the lawnmower :-).

Succulent bed next to front door

The view you see as you enter the front yard from the driveway

Two first-time bloomers

I’m excited because two plants that have never flowered in our garden are blooming now.

The first is an Australian cordyline (Cordyline australis), one of two in our backyard. Check this post for background info and photos.

Cordyline australis