For Ruth

Before I get back to the business of talking about the garden, I would like to finally fulfill a promise made to a friend months ago, literally. Ruth Bavetta, who has been a guest here previously, has had some seriously awesome good fortune this Spring, with her artwork and poems popping up online and in print. She has been sending me links and I have been collecting them with the goal of posting them all in one place. I meant to do this so long ago, but then there was this biology class….so now, as promised, I submit my link collection;

1) Visual poetry…these are among my favorites.

2) Some artwork…I love the way she deals with light, and also there’s a great photo of Ruth’s beautiful smile🙂

3) Another gallery of art…”Sister Ann, Sister Ann” is my favorite!

4) Poetry at “The Barefoot Review”

5) Poet of the month – February 2012.

6) More of the visual poetry, and a great site for female artists.

7) “Let There Always Be”…I love this poem – one of my favorites!

Congratulations, Ruth, for the accolades! You deserve it, and I’m so very happy for you. If there are any pertinent links that I missed, please forward them to me and I’ll do a supplement post.

A Photon of Light

Hello, everyone – I hope this finds you all happy and healthy and ready for Spring. This past Thursday marks the end of one of my two science classes this semester. It was a class condensed into half a semester and, although it was not a difficult class for me, I’m glad to finally have a little bit of wiggle room in my schedule and taking that final was a load off my mind, literally.

Also, I seem to have made it past the most difficult part of my biology class. The first half of this semester felt like trying to run through pea soup. Today, it’s rainy and windy and flowers are blooming…all those little signs of Spring are recharging my batteries and the world feels less oppressive and serious.

There haven’t been many opportunities to get outside with my camera, so I’ve been clicking with my iPhone on the run, which is the source of all the pictures I’m sharing today. The tulips are especially exciting because I planted them this winter just so I would see them during the semester when I don’t have time to garden. Turns out, I did the right thing and I’d like to thank myself for the forethought. Thank you, self!

One of the most wonderful things that happened turned out to be a very quiet personal moment in the middle of a difficult biology exam last week. We have been mired in chemistry for the last few weeks and I was getting lost in the details and hadn’t been outside in what seemed like forever. I missed gardening and it felt like I would have my nose in a textbook forever and ever…So one of the test questions was to write out in great detail the process of photosynthesis, paying special attention to the part when energy from the sun is transformed into chemical energy in a plant. I took a deep breath and began….”A photon of light from the sun is captured by a complex of light-absorbing pigments embedded in the thylakoid membrane of a chloroplast located in the cell of a leaf.” Somewhere in the middle of writing that sentence, I heard the poetry. I suddenly remembered why I was there in the first place and what all the work was for. The rest of the answer flowed out of me like the lyrics to a favorite song. It was one of the happiest moments EVER! The section on photosynthesis is over and we’re moving on to genetics, but that brief moment of deep and nerdy bliss in the middle of a test was all it took to put the fragments of ‘me’ back into a cohesive whole. It was a good day. I came home and planted seeds to celebrate and while I was out there, I took the following photo…a million photons of light showering my tulips with magic.

Insane for the Light

....the brightest of light in the darkest of seasons

“Tell a wise person, or else keep silent,
because the mass man will mock it right away.
I praise what is truly alive,
what longs to be burned to death.

In the calm water of the love-nights,
where you were begotten, where you have begotten,
a strange feeling comes over you,
when you see the silent candle burning.

Now you are no longer caught
in the obsession with darkness,
and a desire for higher love-making
sweeps you upward.

Distance does not make you falter.
Now, arriving in magic, flying,
and finally, insane for the light,
you are the butterfly and you are gone.

And so long as you haven’t experienced
this: to die and so to grow,
you are only a troubled guest
on the dark earth.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Oh, Monday, I wasn’t ready!

...Passiflora edulis

First of all, thank you so very much to all of you for your kind words of praise for the last post pairing featuring Ruth Bavetta’s poem, “Autumn Harvest.” It was a pleasure to be able to break open my very first pomegranate and I can’t wait for next year’s harvest. Stayed tuned for more of Ruth’s talent featured here in the months to come.

...Muir Woods, California

Also, for those of you who requested seeds from my ‘Black Hollyhock’ plant, I will be picking up the padded envelopes today, packing and mailing tomorrow. There are still some seeds available, so don’t hesitate to speak up if you’d like some. And now, I’m off to get busy on the remainder of the year. There are three papers to write, the final to prepare for, lots of year-end business to attend to at work and the big bad holidays are coming. It’s a busy time for everyone so, however you choose to celebrate, avoid, or survive the holiday season, I wish you all the very best of winter cheer…until we meet again.

Autumn Sacrifice

Ladies and Gentlemen, please help me welcome back our dear friend and talented poet, Ruth Bavetta. Her poem “Autumn Sacrifice”, which originally appeared in Spillway, is the perfect way to show off the first pomegranate to come from my fledgling tree. Thank you again Ruth, for sharing your talent.

...Punica granatum - November 2011

Autumn Sacrifice

~ By Ruth Bavetta

When I bring the pomegranates into the kitchen,
already my hands are stained with red.

The bruised globes, with their gaping wounds,
ooze crimson onto the white tiles.

The hard dry skins resist my knife.
A slip, and my blood mingles with the fruit’s.

Cooked with sugar, thickened, poured into jars,
the jelly is both sweet and bitter.

(Previously published in Spillway)

...A plate of rubies

Black Hollyhock Seed Giveaway!

...dark chocolate, almost black

It’s one of those rainy winter weekends when I get to catch up on those garden tasks that do not require my presence in the great outdoors. So yesterday, I sat and pulled my black Hollyhock seeds out of their capsules. There are quite a few! So, I’m going to share them with you. How awesome would it be if next Summer my little flowers, which originally came from Andrea, were spread about the country making someone else happy?! If you’d like to try some in your own garden, please make a comment here with your address in it and I’ll mail you an envelope of Alcea rosea seeds – most likely ‘Nigra’ or ‘Watchman’ cultivars. All comments are approved by me before going public, so I’ll just keep it our little secret and then let everyone know when I run out. Not to worry though, because next fall there will be more, that’s the beauty of plants and seeds.

A Walk in the Park

Hello. I hope this brief post finds you all happy and well. Things have been a bit intense lately, at work and school and especially in my head. There is a team presentation due in class today and another test on Thursday. After that, maybe I can breathe a little bit for a couple of days and think about something else. In the meantime, I wanted to share some photos with you. These were taken in the canyon just North of our home on Sunday. It had been raining and the canyon was beautiful, all the leaves are turning too. Funny, Tom and I wouldn’t have gone on that hike, but I needed some photos of poison oak for the class presentation and it forced us out there. We were both so happy and vowed to go again this coming Sunday. Enjoy:

...Fall colors: Toxicodendron diversiloba (Poison Oak!)

It stopped raining just long enough for our hike, and the blue sky was beautiful.

...blue sky through a Sycamore tree

We found some juicy looking mushrooms growing on an oak tree.

...fungus on oak

I really really LOVE Sycamore trees.

...California Sycamore

This one is surround by a carpet of Poison Oak, which is also growing up the trunk – beautiful and very itchy.

...it really needs a tire swing.

Sometimes, when I’m in this canyon, I forget that it’s right next to the highway.

...a place to rest on the way home.

Dear Future Self…

Dear Future Self,

I hope you like the tulips I planted.

Love,
Me

Tom brought me a bag of tulips. I mixed the colors up so they would be random.

Ok, it’s the time of year to plant bulbs and corms! A month ago I had decided not to plant anything until Spring, giving my soil a chance to rest and time for me to bring in a truck-load of compost. Then Tom brought me a bag of tulips and I just had to prep a bed and plant them! He also brought me a bag of compost, remembering my plans. He’s just the most to say the least.

In front of the bench along the outer edge of the meditation circle, where they can be seen from the patio and my bedroom window.

So the compost was worked in and the soil was turned over three times to a depth of, well the depth of my pitchfork blades, about 8″. Plant your tulips in a well drained area so they don’t rot over the winter and put them in about 5″ deep. That should just about do it. Check back in Spring!

Tom's Gnome keeps out the rif-raf, when the cats don't knock him over.

The Savage Garden

“Every stress leaves an indelible scar, and the organism pays for its survival after a stressful situation by becoming a little older.” ~ Dr. Hans Selye

....weathered, yet beautiful...Muir Woods, California - Sept. 2011

Yesterday was an awesome day. There was a big test in Botany, which was my focus for the last week. We have been studying cellular respiration, and photosynthesis. They are very similar, with one being basically the reverse of the other. That kind of fooled me into thinking I was going to memorize it without a lot of pain. I was wrong. We’re talking about 100 different steps and half that number in atoms and molecules of this or that chemical, which dance around and punch each other out until they make molecules of yet more this-y and that-y chemicals. There are no generalities either. Every move, every chemical, needs dissecting and remembrance. There was no high school biology for me, so now that I’ve caught up a little, I find myself thoroughly humbled by the elegant and complicated brew that Mother Nature has managed to cook up. She’s a bad-ass and I wish she would have imprinted this knowledge on my gray matter. Indelibly. Well, it’s over for now and I can catch up on other parts of life. Like my new plant!

..Carnivorous Pitcher Plant...Nepenthis x mixta?

Sunday, Tom brought me a Pitcher Plant. A Nepenthes x mixta hybrid, most likely. These are among the easiest to care for in the carnivorous plant world. This is great because my last try at carnivorous plants did not end well. It was years ago, but I kept the book I bought for reference, since I knew I would someday have another one. The book, “The Savage Garden: Cultivating Carnivorous Plants” by Peter D’Amato is now on my reading list, especially the chapter pertaining to my species. It gets excellent reviews, and I kept it all these years for a reason.

...a pitcher full of digestive fluid. Bwahahahaha!

Carnivorous plants are nothing less than utterly awe-inspiring. Their response to living for millenia in crappy soil conditions, was to modify their leaves into all sorts of contraptions like pitchers, pipes, and snapping jaws. All of this so they can lure insects, and sometimes small rodents, kill them slowly, then live on the nutrients left by the decaying bodies. Plants don’t sit around and whine about the cards they were dealt or envy and get angry at the carrot living in a garden full of luscious, mineral-rich soil. They just take care of business. I have a serious respect for plants.

...Enter at your own risk. Insects, ye be warned!

“Ah, but we are splendid devils, aren’t we? “Hunters of the Savage Garden,” I said.
The Vampire Lestat
-Anne Rice

Tiny Grandeur

The botany class I’m taking has introduced me to the microscopic world. The first time we looked at plant cells under a microscope, I could hardly contain my excitement. The other students were not jumping up and down so I tried to maintain my composure…mostly. There were suddenly a million things I wanted to bring to class so I could see what they looked like 100 times their normal size. A thimble sized ball of moss looked like a huge forest through one microscope, and I can see tiny green packets of chlorophyll floating in plant cells through the other one. It’s all very exciting and sometimes I get carried away with my eye glued to a lens and am the last person cleaning up after class. My professor seems patient and mildly amused, for now. So, when I came across this collection of prize-winning photomicrographs this morning, I thought I would share them with you. There are not very many of them, enough for a few minutes’ break in your day. There are even a couple of plant specimens, so you can see what I’ve been gazing at in class. Digital photography has come a long way and I can’t wait to see what they come up with next. Enjoy:

Tiny Grandeur at Live Science

Many Thanks

Many thanks to all of you for your kind words and positive reinforcement following my last post. The collaboration with Ruth was a resounding success and I can’t wait till our next one. I’m sure I speak for both of us when I say that the response from our audience put some much needed wind in the sails. Most of us take photos, write poetry, paint or draw, garden – whatever form the creative process takes – we do it because we love it, audience or no. But, when it brings even the smallest amount of pleasure to someone else – well, it’s a pretty awesome feeling. Plus, I made some new friends. Thank you again, Ruth, for sharing your wonderful words and your kind friends with me. Until we meet again…

...Muir Woods - California - September 25, 2011

Late September

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce a talented poet and artist, Ruth Bavetta. We met online several years ago through a mutual book friend (thank you, Ginnie) and have been corresponding ever since. She has agreed to let me post a few of her previously published poems here on my blog. This is perfect timing, since I’m embroiled in some biochemistry at school and haven’t been up to the task of posting – stay tuned in the days to come as I post more of her work with some of my photos. Enjoy…and Ruth, thank you so very much for sharing.

...The Muir Woods - California - September 25, 2011

Late September

and so still much to do—
the bending over the bowl
of dough, the mending
of socks worn through the toe,
the paring of peaches, lovely
in their waning.

Statice beyond the glass, lusterless,
like fog against a window, fading
purple blossoms dry
as paper. Dusk is brittle
on my shoulders. I will leave
as I came in, already falling.

~ by Ruth Bavetta

Previously published in Verse Wisconsin Online

...The Muir Woods - California - September 25, 2011

Still Weaving

...the neighbor's tree is in bloom and tiny yellow blossoms are dropping like rain

Pardon my absence, ladies and gentlemen, but I’ve been busy with a passionate love affair…with science! I am loving my new botany class. Learning the new biology vocabulary has been super intense and now we’re moving into the chemistry. That’s even more intense. Not sure how I’m going to remember all these little atomic formulas but I’m certainly going to try.

...green grasshopper resting in the Sunshine

Also, our professor set up a few plots on campus for us to garden. We started last Saturday and I got a good feel for what it’s like to start a community garden. It was so uplifting to spend a little time on a beautiful morning all pitching in to turn the soil over and over, sift out the lumps, and pull weeds. We got it ready and next time we’ll do the planting.

Staking our claim!!

All that turning over and perfecting of the soil in preparation for planting has inspired me to do the same to my soil. So many plants have been overcrowded for so long, it’s pretty exhausted and cramped soil. For the rest of the year, I will be removing weeds and plants that need division. The soil will get fluffed and turned, fluffed and turned, fluffed and turned. Next Spring it will be much more receptive to something new. The plants I choose to keep will have more room and grow better. That’s the plan anyways.

...a lovely abandoned spider web

Today I found this spectacular tomato hornworm, or Manduca quinquemaculata. Those tomatoes weren’t doing well, so I left it there to enjoy the buffet. Maybe she’ll still be in the backyard later and I’ll get to see her in moth form. They’re about the size of a large hummingbird – quite amazing really.

...Manduca quinquemaculata

Right next to the hornworm, I found a Deadly Nightshade plant. This is some seriously exciting news and I will share the photos later when I do a little research. Right next to the Deadly Nightshade, was this garden orb weaver spider, most likely some species of the Argriope genus. They’re common in gardens and are generally quiet and stick to themselves. This one has a broken leg but is still manning the web, although the web itself looks messier than it did a few days ago before she broke her leg. Maybe she got in a fight with a bird and won. Hey, we all have hard times but we keep plugging along weaving our web the best we can right!? Right!

...garden orb weaver against California blue sky

The Purple Gladiolus

When we moved into this house in December of 2004, my son Thomas and I planted several bags of bulbs purchased from the local nursery bulb bin sale. There wasn’t any landscaping here at the time and it was the season for planting them, so that was pretty much the first thing I ever did to the house to make it a home. Years later, the purple Gladioli still come up, bright luscious purple happiness. Ahh, home.

There are more than 250 species of Gladiolus, most of them native to South Africa. Gardeners call them bulbs, but they are technically a corm. Bulbs and corms look alike and are mostly treated the same, but the difference is on the inside. If you cut open a bulb, you’ll see it’s made of layers of modified leaves called scales. Like an onion.

But, if you cut open a corm, it’s solid tissue all the way through. What you’re planting when you plant a corm is a piece of stem, complete with nodes that will grow into a plant and roots and give you a big happy purple flower. When a root grows directly out of a stem or a leaf, it’s called adventitious – which mostly means it’s in an unusual place.

The brown papery skin covering on a Gladiolus corm is called a tunic, another modified leaf that the plant uses for protection from animals and insects, or getting soggy when there’s too much water in the soil. It also keeps too much moisture from escaping the stem before it can start to grow into a plant.

Some corms have contractile roots. This means that these roots will literally contract under ground in a way that pulls the corm deeper into the earth allowing for temperature control and space for growth above the original corm.

As a matter of self defense from animals who find them tasty, corms will develop cormels which are tiny and get left behind in the soil to grow new corms.

Some corms can be dug up, cut into pieces and replanted for more new plants.

I don’t dig mine up, I leave them be and they do their thing.

The older I get, the more I appreciate plants that do their thing without my intervention.

These are among my favorite plants in the garden, mostly because of their color and the ‘fleshy-ness’ of the flowers.

They bloom in Spring at the same time as the Matilija Poppy flowers and the color contrast is gorgeous.

The best photos are actually taken in the evening when the darker shades of purple don’t get washed out by the Sun.

I always take a hundred photos of every flower.

No, I do not think that’s excessive in any way.

Here’s a rare photo of Tom in the garden.

I made him pose there so I could see how tall the Gladiolus growing in the meditation circle gets. This one was about 6’4″. It’s always much taller than me.

Next year they’ll come up again and I’ll be reminded of my favorite color, a day fondly spent digging in the Earth with my son, and the ever-eternal optimism that is Spring.

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

The past two weeks have been super extra busy and exciting. Learning an extensive science vocabulary and settling into a new semester has eaten up my free time (happily so) and this weekend is a full working weekend. Whenever people get excited about the 4th of July or Labor Day holidays – or most ‘national’ holidays, I tend to cringe inside. These are never great holidays for me since they fall during the busiest time of the month for my business. If I do choose to take the time off completely, things do not go well in the long run. We’ve learned to just bite the bullet and work through, enjoying the holiday as much as we can but keeping our I’s dotted and T’s crossed. Mostly I don’t mind because we take our time off elsewhere and it’s part of being self-employed. Sometimes however, it makes me a little grumpy…like this morning. So, before hitting the office, I went out to water a few plants and readjust my attitude in the garden and soak up a bit of the morning Sun. Then I saw it – the loveliest flower blooming under the bedroom window. I didn’t know it was growing and I hadn’t known it was blooming and I don’t remember planting it. A complete surprise gift from the garden just in time to get my attitude back on track. It’s a Gladiolus callianthus and one of those things I buried and forgot. I’m so glad I did.

Gladiolus callianthus - September 2011

The more I looked at it, the more interesting it was. Like how the topmost petal has no color when the other petals do.

Or the fact that the purple coloring is so dark it looks brown, and the anthers are HUGE.

I hope it cheers you up as much as it did me. Whatever you’re doing this holiday weekend, be safe and have as much fun as you can. Summer is on her way out and, before you know it, we’ll be discussing holidays involving witches and goblins, turkeys and fires in the fireplace. I’m looking forward to Fall, but I always do that right about now.

Ok, time for me to get back to my job before Tom catches on to the fact that he’s over there working hard on our financial reports and I’m over here playing with pictures of flowers….Happy Labor Day!

The Proboscis and the Butterfly.

The heat and the need to study are keeping me out of the garden today. I’m ok with that. There is a HUGE new vocabulary to learn for class and most of the outdoor plants don’t need anything but water right now. So, as I head off into a cool part of the house to learn about the chemical bonding habits of hydrogen molecules and why that matters to plants, I will leave you with a butterfly I met at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco when we were up there last month to visit Terri and Emily. Happy Sunday!

meet the Tiger Longwing Butterfly (Heliconius hecale)

I got to looking at the photo and noticed how well I could see the proboscis, which is a straw-like mouth, curled up and quite visible. It’s hard to get that in a butterfly photo since they usually flutter off when you approach. So, I enlarged the photo – I think this is a pretty awesome picture of a butterfly and she looks quite lovely against her green background:

…along came a spider.

Spiders have an exoskeleton. As they grow, the exoskeleton becomes too small and splits open and the new and improved spider leaves it behind. We do not kill spiders at my house – ever. So, as you can imagine, I run across quite a few exoskeletons. This batch of “Daddy-Long-Legs”, aka Skull Spiders (Pholcus phalangioides)was found during my last major cleaning sweep. It was in a wreath hanging over the fireplace which hadn’t been touched since last winter. They are tiny, maybe a centimeter across, and look like spider ghosts – make sure you enlarge the photo to full size for full impact. Very awesome.

...the discarded exoskeletons of the common 'Pholcus phalangioides'

It has long been believed, even by myself, that they are one of the most venomous spiders but are not dangerous to humans because they cannot pierce skin with their fangs. This has been proven false, thanks to the crew at Myth Busters.

It is true that they eat other spiders, which is why I leave mine alone. They are also quite skilled at catching flies and mosquitoes that make it into the house. They really earn their keep in late summer when the crane flies (we call them mosquito hawks) are in full swing. They don’t bite humans but they are big and gross and I’m eternally grateful to the spider I see has caught one.

It may seem kind of gross to think of all those spiders running loose in my house, but really there aren’t that many because when you leave Mother Nature alone, she manages to balance those things out. If there isn’t anything around for a Daddy-Long-Legs to eat, it will eat another Daddy-Long-Legs. Besides, I would rather have a lovely spider hanging out in the corner of the ceiling than breathing in a bunch of pesticide. Also, the ‘catch and release’ program is much better than killing something that doesn’t deserve to die. Hopefully I didn’t give anybody the creeps today!

A Shiny New Semester!

Yesterday was the first day of the new semester. Crashing the Chem152 class proved unsuccessful, so I’m sticking with the Botany class and lab. Next semester I will try to make up a few more credits with extra classes, but for now I can just focus on the subject which most interests me and pour all my scholarly love into the one class. Here’s our new textbook:

"Botany - Plants, People, and the Environment" by Linda Berg

I was also advised to order “Botany for Gardeners” by Brian Capon, which I did and can’t wait to get started on.

The syllabus mentions two field trips; one to Balboa Park and one to Florida Canyon, which is close by. We will be running around identifying plants. I cannot tell you how excited I am about the field trips! This class will build heavily upon the Botany class I took last semester, but with more hard science. We learned how to use microscopes yesterday and I got to look at plant slices on little glass slides. Let me just say that I’m totally in love already. Yay!

…the roses blooming outside…

“One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon – instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today.” ~ Dale Carnegie

the back yard through the yoga studio window

sometimes I abandon the yoga in favor of gazing aimlessly out the window

Tuesday’s Muse

…and the alligator lizard said, “Maybe we aren’t supposed to always feel like we belong. There are so many places you can be, so be in the place that makes you feel good.”

Alligator Lizard - August 14, 2011

Hummingbirds

The Hummingbird

Came the spring, I picked a corner and
set my mind to making a flower
garden in the midst of this mass of
weeds unattended through
Winters toughening of the soil.
I tilled, and pulled, and turned, and broke, and bled…
The soil was perfect now…
But, alas! The puppy was fervent in her efforts to help me dig!
So I cut, and I sawed, and I nailed,
and created the most beautiful little picket fence with a gate…..
and planted a tree……
and planted my flowers…
and tended and watered and weeded
and nurtured all through the Spring and Summer months….
To this day, this perfect Autumn morning,
while standing in my doorway,
sipping that first cup of coffee….
I saw the fast-beating wings of that little faerie,
flitting from flower to flower…
was all worth it in that one moment.

~ by Christopher Griffiths

From this April 2011 - the Hummingbird nest outside the bedroom window - these two are only about an inch long and cuddling to fit into a nest the size of a walnut and made of mostly spider silk. They had a wonderful Mom.

And the humming-bird that hung
Like a jewel up among
The tilted honeysuckle horns
They mesmerized and swung
In the palpitating air,
Drowsed with odors strange and rare.
And, with whispered laughter, slipped away
And left him hanging there.

– James Whitcomb Riley
(from The South Wind and the Sun)

Listen

When Someone Deeply Listens To You ~ by John Fox

When someone deeply listens to you
it is like holding out a dented cup
you’ve had since childhood
and watching it fill up with
cold, fresh water.
When it balances on top of the brim,
you are understood.
When it overflows and touches your skin,
you are loved.

When someone deeply listens to you
the room where you stay
starts a new life
and the place where you wrote
your first poem
begins to glow in your mind’s eye.
It is as if gold has been discovered!

When someone deeply listens to you
your bare feet are on the earth
and a beloved land that seemed distant
is now at home within you.

Faded Rose - August 2011

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present the Iris:

Well, I had planned to write a little article about the Iris and how it was named after the Greek goddess of the rainbow, spokeswoman for gods and mortals, escortress of dead women to their final resting place in the Elysian Fields. Also something or other about the French and their royal ‘Fleur de Lis’ but then I got to looking at the photos of my Iris Triplets from this past Spring and decided to let the flowers talk to you instead….

Tuesday’s Muse: Butterflies

Butterflies never fail to cheer me up. When they follow me around the garden it makes the time spent there seem sacred somehow. By some strange and awesome coincidental timing, that Butterfly and I happened to be in the same place at the same time to visit the same plants. When you think about how fleeting a Butterfly sighting is…well, I think it’s all pretty special. If I am looking out the bedroom window and see one in the garden, it inspires me to immediately find a reason to go there and frolic a little myself.

What's that on the garden wall above the iron Butterfly gate?

a Butterfly, of course

Yes, it is already August!

The Cattails - Summer 2011

The fact that it’s already August blows me away. Now the countdown to the new semester begins. Time to get some school clothes lined up and things squared away that I will not want to deal with once classes start on the 23rd. Mostly, I just need to get everything in my universe simplified and organized so I have a smoother time of it all the way round.

Borage blossoms - Summer 2011

One of the more frivolous things I’m squaring away is my category section. Recently, I realized I have 96 categories. What the hell?! This is what happens when you’re in a hurry all the time and not thinking things through. What a jumbled and confusing mess my little blog is. So, some of the categories will be deleted or consolidated to make future entries and reference more expedient. I’d like to start putting more of the actual science I’m learning on here, so I might need the room for newer categories. This will give me an opportunity to glance back over all my entries to see what I’ve done because every time I post lately I get a sense that I’ve already said that exact thing or posted that exact photo…it’s disconcerting to say the least.

Bee with Evening Primose

There are also a lot of posts without categories or tags and I will be fixing those as well so I can look up information when I need it. The thing about this blog for me is that by the time I get to the posting part, I’ve already spent a bunch of time with the actual plant, doing my research, and playing with the photos – I have little time or energy left for the actual writing, categorizing, tagging, etc. and that will only get worse when school starts and I have more urgent priorities. So, I’m trying to consolidate the process…for example: my iPhone can double as the camera, the iPod, and also my research books on those days when I’m pressed for time. Now, I can even post on WordPress from an app on my phone (once I figure out how to do it) so I’m hoping all this modern technology is going to make my life easier. We’ll see.

The mesmerizing center of a Hollyhock bloom - Summer 2011

The classes coming up for me should be fun…I’m taking another Botany class and this one should have a lot more science than the last one. There is also a lab that goes with it so I can wait to see what that’s all about. The other class is Chemistry and also has a lab. I’m on the waiting list for that one so I don’t want to get too excited just yet. That’s all I handle this semester without taxing myself and my business. So, I’ve got to really enjoy the next 3 weeks of freedom as much as I can while working really hard to get everything caught up and finished so I can start the new semester with a clear head and an empty ‘in’ box. I can totally do that.

a tiny Arugula flower - Summer 2011

Resurrection

Resurrection
~ by Eileen Rosensteel

I plucked out my wing feathers-they said I belonged on the ground.
I stopped dancing and singing-they said I had no rhythm.
I silenced myself-no one was listening.
I stitched my eyes shut-So I didn’t have to see what was happening.
I dug my own grave and lay in it-So I didn’t have to feel the pain.
So I could be at peace
In the emptiness.
There in the pit
I found my bones
In the marrow of my bones
There was strength
In the pulsing of my blood
There was rage
In my flesh-Desire
I clawed my way out of that grave
Using my strength, rage and desire.
Carefully I cut away the stitches
To see the truth
I whispered my words to myself
I started to sway and hum
To my own music
Now I am gathering feathers

~ taken from We’Moon Calendar 2011

a gathering of feathers

Venus, what lovely hair you have.

There are about 200 different species of Adiantum ferns. Mine is the species capillus veneris, or Venus-Hair Fern. They are tropical natives and like to live in the misty shade near waterfalls, so I keep mine indoors by the living room window and spray it with a spray bottle a lot. My spray bottle always has just a tiny bit of Miracle Grow in it, which I only use on house or potted patio plants. I have read that you should never spritz the leaves of your Maidenhair Ferns, but I only do it near the base of the plant and it’s thriving so I’m not going to question my decision to break that rule. It seems to like what I do and my orchids seem to like being near it so I keep them all together.

Maidenhair Fern - just getting started

Every once in a while I give it an aggressive haircut. There is always a moment of panic that it will not grow back, but it always does. In between the more aggressive cut, I keep the older, leggy and browned parts cut back which stimulates brand new little green furls of ferny happiness.

The Magic Unfurls

They can be propagated by diving the plant. Mine should probably be divided since it’s been in this pot for several years. I imagine it may be claustrophobic so maybe I’ll do it next Spring. They tend to go a bit dormant from September to March, so don’t get discouraged if it looks a little ‘off’ during those months. Propagation can also be done using the spores, the little tiny brown button things on the underside of fern leaves. The spores and the part of the leaf that they’re on turn brown when ripe. Since I always cut off the brown parts, I never have spores. No problem though, because I have never really wished for two ferns, always being happy with just the one to take care of.

like a miniature tropical rainforest

They definitely do not like to dry out and don’t really like direct Sunshine, just lots of light. The profile they make against the window is charming and always cheers me up for some reason. It’s one of my ‘happy plants’ I suppose.

Fluffy and Cheerful

This is the picture I took of mine this morning. As you can see towards the center there are some larger brownish leaves. This is where the spores will be. It has been a while since I trimmed it and it looks healthy and lush. I’ll probably leave it alone until next Spring except for a little trim here and there. The pot that it lives in has no drainage and, although it seems fine and is thriving, I should give it some room and proper drainage eventually. For now, it’s pretty.

Adiantum capillus-veneris

A bit of folklore…Adiantum is a Greek word and basically means ‘unwetted’ since the plant can be immersed in water and come out with completely dry leaves. This is how it came to be called Venus Hair representing how tidy her hair was when she arose from the foamy depths of the sea. As a plant of Venus it is said to grant grace, love, beauty, and fabulous hair to anyone who wears it, or so it was believed.

Earthworms Rock

There can be as many as half a million earthworms on an acre of land. The wilder field earthworms can live 4-8 years but our garden variety will live about 2 years under the right conditions. In that time they burrow and push air through their tunnels which loosens, mixes and aerates the soil. This helps the plants get to the nutrients and promotes good drainage. Chemical fertilizers may harm them, since they’re sensitive to changes in their dirt, so think about that next time you buy a nitrogen-high fertilizer at your nursery since this may prove fatal for your little friends. Give them and your garden mulch instead. As worms consume dead plant matter, they convert it into nutrients that plants can actually digest and they leave all that goodness behind in their poop. They can poop their weight in castings every day. Castings or worm poop, actually called Vermicast, is an excellent natural fertilizer for your garden and can be purchased by the bag at your local garden center. Lots of people have little earthworm farms so they can have extra castings at the ready. You can keep worms in a chest of drawers filled with composted organic matter and shredded paper. Maybe some day I’ll try it. Earthworms also provide a major food source for other critters like birds, rodents, snakes, beetles and snails. They are also a multimillion dollar international business, being imported and exported. So the next time you see an earthworm on the sidewalk, do Mother Nature a favor and plop it back in the dirt.

Magical Earthworm Poop

Make a Wish

Go ahead, you know you want to.

the most fabulous part of allowing Dandelions to grow is that there is always a poof ready for wish-making

Tuesday’s Muse: Hoarders

Lettuce...going to seed in the Summer heat

Yep, you read it right. The Hoarders are whispering in my ear: “Don’t keep that stuff, it will make you crazy and your kids will hate combing through it when you kick off and die!” I have even been guilty of hoarding plants, trying to keep the smallest little lettuce plant alive past its due date when I could have spent that time doing something more worthwhile, like painting my toenails or sipping herbal tea. Or caring for a plant that actually mattered. So lately I have been getting rid of things, books, clothes, junk in the potting shed, junk everywhere. There were even four pairs of my shoes in a bag that went to AMVETS yesterday and those of you who know me well know how difficult it is to get rid of shoes.

"Rawrr!" ....one of my long dead orchids...she had cute teeth.

From now on if I have it in my hand or it meets my gaze it’s going on my brain scales to be weighed for worthiness. Do I want to keep cleaning, dusting, watering, moving, staring at, or rearranging whatever it is for the rest of my days? No? Out with it then! Time for a major purge. The lighter the load the faster the middle-aged community college student right? Right! Time for stealth and no matter how fond you are of something, having it saps energy in strange ways so it better provide enough payoff to balance out the equation and there aren’t very many things that do that. There are plenty of cherished gift objects that I will keep and there will be more space in which to appreciate them properly.

The resident Muse at Summers Past Farms

Books are being donated to a worthy cause if I never intend to read them again. The internet has changed everything – there’s no need to keep CD’s or DVD’s or books that aren’t special. I’m not even selling any of it because, as my brilliant daughter pointed out after watching an episode of “Hoarders” with me, my time is valuable and selling stuff online takes up lots of time and that cost has to be weighed against something. Suddenly I’m feeling free of the weight of things and finished with that dance I do all the time of organizing and shuffling things here to there and back again because I think of a better place to put it. Now, the better place will be ‘outta here’ and I am free. Free Free Free. I hereby refuse to be manipulated any further by inanimate objects. Amen.

another of my long lost orchids...we loved them, every one.

The San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers

As promised, I took a lot of photos on the tour of the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers. Terri and Emily took us there because the special exhibit was out of Amy Stewart’s book “Wicked Plants” which I have read and loved. The old Gothic conservatories and hot-houses are another love, so basically it was an awesome day all around spent with some of my most favorite people in the world ever. Thank you, Terri and Emily 🙂 I was going to find the names of all the plants and label them for you, but that would keep me from posting them sooner. Basically, enjoying the photos this time is better than worrying about the names. There are orchid things and waxy things and steamy things…mostly tropical things and some poisonous things…enjoy.

Toxic & Poisonous Plants

The Walter Andersen Nursery has a section of handy fliers customers can take for quick gardening information. One of my favorite fliers was a list of toxic and poisonous plants. It’s handy because it describes the specific plant part to be avoided. It always amazes me how many common plants are toxic and I have finally become a smarty pants and forced myself to wear my gloves more often in the garden, even though I seem to be constantly missing the left hand…who keeps taking my left hand glove?! Anyway, I was planning on typing it here so I would have the list to memorize, but I found it online so decided to cut and paste instead – with all due credit going to Walter Andersen for sharing this awesome and important information. Thank you! (also, I did not edit or proofread the list in any way so any spelling issues or missing Latin are not my bad…and my inner OCD wants to add a lovely photo of each plant, but I locked her in her room for the day)

Toxic & Poisonous Plants via Walter Andersen Nursery:

Botanical Name * Common Name * Part of Plant

Agave spp. * Century Plant * Sap

Alamanda * Yellow Alamanda * All Parts

Alocacia spp. * Elephant Ear Plant * Juices

Amantis * Mushroom, many varieties * All Parts

Alstromeria * Peruvian Lily * Leaves, stems – dematitis in some

Amaryllis belladonna * (not common Amaryllis)Naked Lady, Belladonna Lily * Bulbs

Apple * Apple * Seeds

Asclepias * Butterfly bush, Goose plant * All Parts

Atropa Belladonna * Belladonna * Leaves, Fruit

Azalea spp. * Azalea * All Parts

Buxus sempervirens * Boxwood * Stems, Leaves

Brugmansia * Datura, Angel Trumpet * All Parts if Eaten

Brunsfelsia * Yesterday, Today & Tommorow * All Parts Suspect

Caealpinia spp. * Mexican Bird of Paradise, Poinciana * Pods, Seeds, Serious Illness

Caladium spp. * Caladium * Bulbs, Leaves – Swelling of Throat

Carica * Papaya * Sap

Carissa grandiflora * Natal Plum * Sap Suspect For Some Reason

Caryota palm * Fishtail Palm * Seeds

Catalpa spp. * Catalpa * Flowers

Catharanthus roseas * Vinca, Periwinkle * Sap, stem, leaves

Cestrum * Night-blooming Jasmine * All parts

Clitocybie spp. * Mushrooms * All parts

Colchicum (Not Crocus sativus) *Autumn Crocus, Meadow Saffron * All parts

Colocasia spp. * Elephant Ear * Juices can cause swelling of mouth

Convallaria majjalis * Lily of the Valley * All parts

Corenocarpus laevigata * New Zealand Laurel * Fruit is very poisonous

Crinum spp. * Crinum Lily * All parts

Cycas spp. * Cycads or Sago Palm * Seeds

Daphne odora * Daphne * All parts, especially fruit

Delphinium * Delphinium, Larkspur * All parts, especially seed

Dicentra spp. * Bleeding Heart * All parts, especially fruit

Dieffenbachia * Dumb Cane, Dieffenbachia * sap burns mouth, may cause swelling

Digitalis * Foxglove * All parts

Duranta repens * Sky Flower, Golden Dewdrop, Pigeon Berry * Berries are poisonous

Euonymous spp. * Burning Bush * Bark, leaves, seed

Euphorbia spp. * Candelabra, Pencil Cactus, Milk Bush * Sap really burns

Euphorbia * Poinsettia * Leaves, flowers, sap at most mild irritation if any

Ficus spp. * Fig, ornamental Rubber Plants * Sap, rarely causes irritation

Galanthus nivalis * Common Snow Drop * Bulb is toxic

Gelsemium sempervirens * Carolina Jessamine * All parts

Gloriosa rothschildiana * Climbing Lily, Glory Lily * All parts are poisonous

Hedera helix * Ivy varieties * Leaves, fruit not usually a big problem

Heliotropium arborescans * Heliotrope * All parts can be toxic

Hyacinthus orientalis * Hyacinth * Bulbs

Hydrangea * Hydrangea * Leaves, buds suspect

Hymenocallis spp. * Peruvian Daffodil, Basket Flower * Bulbs are poisonous

Ilex spp. * HollyBerries * suspect in some varieties

Iris * Iris * Rhizome

Jatropha spp. * Coral Plant * Sap, seed, fruit

Lantana camara* Lantana * Fruit

Ligustrum spp. * PrivetLeaves, * fruits cause gastric distress

Lobelia spp. * Lobelia * Most contain poisonous alkaloids

Lycospermum esculentum * Tomato * Leaves

Milea * China Berry Tree * Seed is poisonous if eaten in quantity

Mistletoe * Mistletoe * Seed

Myoporum spp. * Myoporum * Fruit and leaves

Narcissus spp. * Daffodil, Jonquil, Narcissus * Bulb

Nerium * Oleander * All parts

Nicotiana spp. * Tobacco, Nicotiana * All parts are poisonous if eaten

Omithogalum * Pregnant Onion, Star of Bethlehem * Bulbs especially poisonous

Parthinocissus quinquefolia * Virginia Creeper * Leaves

Pedilianthus tithymoloides * Redbird Cactus, Slipper Flower * Sap

Philodendron spp. * Philodendron * Stem, leaves

Pieris * Lily of the Valley Shrub * Leaves and nectar are poisonous

Plumbego capensis * Plumbego * All parts may cause irritation

Plumeria * Frangipani, Plumeria * All parts may cause irritation

Polyscias spp. * Aralia, Ming Aralia * Stems, leaves, flowers

Potato – Solanaceae * Common Potato * Green skin and shoots can be toxic

Primula spp. * Primrose * Leaves

Rhododendron * Rhododendron, Azalea * All parts

Rhubarb * Rhubarb * Leaves, use stems only

Ricinus communis * Castor Bean Plant * Leaves, seeds or beans

Solandra * Cup of Gold Vine * All parts suspect

Solanum spp. * Potato vine, Nightshade, Jerusalem Cherry * All parts suspect

Taxus spp. * Yew * Leaves, seed, stem

Thevetia spp. * Yellow Oleander, Thevetia * All parts

Wisteria spp. * Wisteria vines and trees * Seed, flowers, pods

Zamia spp. * Zamia, Sago Palm * Seed

This list is to be used as a GUIDE and is not complete. If you have any questions or concerns we suggest you call the POISON INFORMATION CENTER (800) 876 4766. Not all plants listed will cause death. Some may cause skin rash, irritation, burning (especially mouth and eyes), upset stomach, they are included too. A good rule of thumb is if you don’t know – don’t eat it. Better safe than sorry. (Walter Andersen Nursery)

Just a Note…

Well, let me just say I’ve been having a wonderful time lately and haven’t had the opportunity to post. I even skipped the Tuesday’s Muse post this week because She and I were busy playing elsewhere. Things are coming along swimmingly and the garden is thriving in the mid-summer heat. We just got back from a lovely weekend in San Francisco as well. There will be lots of photos of plants to post from our visit. I’ve also been ruminating on some serious cleaning out and editing in my life, house, garden, and this website. Everything is chaos and there is too much STUFF. So, I’ve been busy busy busy. Perhaps this weekend I’ll have a good post ready, as soon as I can focus on one single thing instead of 800 as I’m doing now. I’ve learned to indulge myself in the ‘too many irons in the fire’ phase because eventually it all comes around to making sense. But not yet. In the meantime please enjoy this hot steamy photo taken in San Francisco at the Conservatory of Flowers where Terri and Emily took us for an awesome tour…more on that later…

San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers - Wicked Plants Exhibition - July 2011

Weeds

You’ve all heard me spout off about the virtues of weeds. My daughter, Terri, sent me an article yesterday which has an awesome little slideshow introducing several weeds and their unique personalities. There were a couple I’d never heard of, some I know all too well. I’m busy today getting fitted for a new tooth (YAY!) and running lots of errands, so I will leave you with the article – make sure to check out the slideshow, that’s where the good stuff is. Thanks, Terri!

Here’s the link at Slate.

A sweet little Dandelion I met on the way to school one day.

Tuesday’s Muse: Chaos

“It turns out that an eerie type of chaos can lurk just behind a facade of order – and yet, deep inside the chaos lurks an even eerier type of order.” ~ Douglas Hofstadter

Queen Anne's Lace

My mind is full of Chaos today as I make a million decisions about the new semester. The school’s website list of available classes looks like Chaos to me. The rest of my college career stretches out forever ahead of me in dark and terrifying Chaos. I had Chaos for lunch. The Greeks respected the idea of Chaos so much they made her an awesome deity from which all things sprang. If that’s the case, then I just need to be patient with the ‘formless state’ of my thoughts and let Her Royal Highness Miss Chaos mold my ideas into something brilliant and creative and by Thursday when I register for classes I will know just what to do…Right?!

Sunshine and Tiger Lillies

I’ve been busy and didn’t garden the past week. But, as always, Mother Nature moves on without me. The Tiger Lillies are in full bloom. Quite spectacular aren’t they?

Tiger Lily - yellowish white with brown spots - Summer 2011

The white ones may be my favorite. Something about the barely there lemon yellow tinting and fleshy-ness of the petals, the soft brown freckles.

Catching the light of the Summer Sun

But then again, the yellow ones are like fireworks and never fail to catch my eye in the garden when they’re blooming.

Like fireworks on the 4th of July

The shot below is the perfect way to study plant parts, should you be so inclined. The long yellow stem-like things with the fuzzy brown package at the end are the stamens which are made up of the filament (the little yellow stem-type part) and the anther (the fuzzy brown package). The anther is in the business of manufacturing pollen, which is what the fuzzy brown stuff is. The stamens, including the filament, anther and pollen, are the male part of the flower.

The yellow stem-like structure with the brown ring around the end hanging down in the center is the female part of the flower, or pistil. It’s made up of a stem-like tube called a style and the little brown ring at the end is called a stigma. At the base of the style, deep inside the flower, are the eggs and ovaries. Sperm cells from a grain of pollen left on the stigma (little brown ring) will germinate and grow its own delivery system, called a pollen tube, that extends down the style to get to the ovules at the base of the pistil in order to impregnate the eggs – and that’s basic plant sex. Woo! This complicated process is aided by all the spots and stripes and contrasting colors, which are actually road maps to let pollinators (bees and birds and such) know where all the action is, like Mother Nature’s version of flashing neon signs in the Red Light District. Didn’t know you were going to have a brief sex-ed class today, did you!? Happy Monday!

This is where the Magic happens

Deep Summer

Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability. ~ Sam Keen

Ophelia by John William Waterhouse

Tuesday’s Muse

She whispered
softly in my ear
something about a Hollyhock.

…just the one.

the ever-prized almost black Hollyhock

even Segundo was impressed

Mr. Segundo Fitzhugh Northcutt

(to those of you secretly mocking my Tuesday post on a Wednesday…yes, I am aware – I rarely get to take the 4th of July totally off work, but this year I did and I have been widdershins since. No worries, by Friday I will have that brain wrinkle ironed out)

Velcome to my La-BOR-a-tory

Since I was already cutting herbs for drying last week during the New Moon, I decided to start my asexual plant reproduction experiment, otherwise known as making new plants from cuttings. It is and has always been a very common garden task. However, I have never been really good at doing it. Usually, I’m quite happy having one of a kind plants in the garden, unless it’s a seasonal vegetable. This year, Andrea and I made a pact that we would try to swap and share cuttings as a way of saving money, getting new plants, and also as a learning experience for me. Having had poor results from previous efforts, this time I promised myself to try and do it right. So, I got some Rooting Hormone and some little peat pots and set up a lab zone on the patio. We’ll see how it goes.

The official Asexual Plant Reproduction Staging Zone aka the patio

The Rooting Hormone will stimulate your cutting to make roots where there are none. There have been times when I skipped this product and have always been rewarded with death and destruction. It’s a common product available in most garden departments.

Rooting Hormone

The potting shed was full to the ceiling with 10 years worth of collected plastic nursery pots in all shapes and sizes. I finally had enough of shuffling them around and sent them away in a recycling bin. These are my new organic, biodegradable, single use peat pots and they are so clean and easy to use, take up no space, and make me so happy I don’t know why I didn’t do it sooner!

these little organic pots are the cutest

When choosing the right specimen for cutting/rooting make sure you know your plant. Not every plant is appropriate to propagate this way. Then there are differing degrees of ideal woodines: soft, hard, semi-ripe, ripe etc. Google your plant and you’ll quickly know what time of year and what type of stem to use. My choices were from stems that were mature enough to survive, were in the middle of growing so I know there’s LIFE in there, and not from parts that were blooming, since I want the flowers and seeds of these plants later.

the perfect specimen for my experiment - this is Clary Sage

You want to cut your stem a couple inches below a leaf crotch. Not all experts will tell you about the leaf crotch, but in my experience it’s an important zone. The leaf crotch area will get buried and from there down to the end of the stem is where your new roots should grow, providing your plant can change gears from leaf growth to root growth before it dies. It’s a tricky process for a little plant just taken away from it’s happy place.

the crotchal area - home of future roots

Right in the crotch between the stem and the leaf is a bit of plant called an ‘axillary bud’ and this area should be trimmed flush to the stem.

cut the leaves and axillary buds off

Now we make a wound in the plant with a knife so the Rooting Hormone can get inside and stimulate the plant’s root-making skills. This is the part I don’t like, maybe because it’s called a wound.

my least favorite part of the rooting process

Make sure this entire area is moist and then dip it in the Hormone Jar, swirl it around to make sure some gets into the wound, then tap off the excess.

let the Root Magic commence!

Plant in the appropriate Rooting Medium. There are different products for this part of the plant’s journey and it may be worth looking them up if you’re going to do this type of thing with all seriousness. Not one for seriousness in the garden, I’m using some potting soil I had laying around. Fingers crossed. Press the soil just enough to make the plant secure without rubbing all the Hormone off.

tucked firmly and safely

Now it’s time to look at what you’ve got and trim off what you don’t want. The ‘terminal bud’ – or very tip of the plant where all the ‘tallness’ growth happens, needs to come off. Any extra big leaves, stems, and flowers need to come off too. The plant needs a couple leaves so it can continue to make food for itself, but not so much that it drains energy away from making roots.

time for a final assessment

On this Clary Sage (Salvia sclarea) the leaves are really big so I cut one off, leaving one medium and one small sized.

no need for excess baggage when trying to put down new roots

I should probably also cut the remaining top of the stem down a little further, now that I’m looking at the photo.

now we're ready to join the others

Place your cuttings in an area where they get a little Sun, but not too much. Too much heat and Sun will accelerate the transpiration process (water loss through the leaves) and that isn’t good when a plant has no roots. So keep your little plant preschool moist but not too moist – we don’t want moldy squishiness either – and give it the right amount of Sun and Love and cross your fingers. Remember that cuttings typically wilt or rot very easily, so don’t feel bad if it happens to you. The internet is full of hundreds of slightly different methods for this type of propagation. There are many methods much more advanced than mine, but this is the way I’m trying it this time…after all, it’s an experiment! If all is lost, we still have our Mother plant and the rest of the Summer to have another go.

lined up on the observation deck

Bye Bye June!

Well, I don’t know about you, but I found June to be most satisfactory over all. It was a weird month as I caught up to many projects, some of which are almost completely finished. Very careful to not start lots of new ones like I usually do, I’ll be free in July to focus on getting everything off my old ‘to-do’ lists and take a trip up to see our daughter and her wife in San Francisco for a weekend.

ye olde oregano patch

Most of my gardening efforts have been pulling weeds and clearing out dead things to make room for the tomatoes that are slowly growing. Slowly since we have had a lot of the usual June ocean cloud cover which cuts our daily Sun down to about 4 hours a day. Today, I will go out to collect herbs for drying. The New Moon makes it a perfect couple days to do that. It’s good for the plant’s regrowth to cut extra herbs on the New Moon.

Spread the herbs out so they get lots of air.

I’ve probably said all of this before, but today it makes sense to repeat it to myself…There are a couple rules I try to follow when gathering herbs:

1) Don’t take more than 30% of a healthy plant. Being a little conservative yet more consistent with collection will keep a plant lush and thriving, instead of shocked and stunted, trying to recover. There are exceptions to this rule, like all rules. If a plant needs an aggressive chop, then let it have it – but always on a waning or new Moon.

2) Gather your herbs no later than mid-morning. The Sun has had time to dry the dew off and get the plant’s Mojo working but not enough time to start breaking down the volatile oils and juicy alkaloid stuff that we want at optimum levels in our collected parts.

What parts you collect, leaves-roots-stems-flowers, depends on your herb and your needs, so keep that in mind when planning ahead. Give them a good rinse and they’re ready to dry. Most of mine get dried on plain unbleached craft paper that comes in a big roll. Sometimes, depending on the herb, I hang big clusters upside down by the stems. Keep them in a cool, dry, out of the dust area and maybe turn them over every few days if their leaves are big. After a couple weeks, they are ready for storage. Mine get stored in jars that I collect along the way and I make sure to label them since a lot of herbs look the same after they’re dried.

I really love all my mismatched recycled jars.

3) If you’re after an herb for its roots, you may not want to touch it for another Moon, letting it mature in the summer Sun. For seeds, definitely do not cut off the flowers now or you will not have any seeds later! That sounds only sensible, but I have done it before without thinking. Yes, I can be a little impetuous.

the seed head of the Fennel herb

Remember, if you’re packing up seeds to share or store, put their name and date collected on the packaging so you won’t have to question yourself later.

Packing up seeds to share.

If you’re not after an herb, it’s also a good day to collect blooming flowers for vases. The plant will get a good trim for regrowth as the weather heats up and you’ll have something pretty to look at. I don’t know if I’ll have time for cutting flowers today, we’ll have to see. My camera froze yesterday, so until I get it fixed there won’t be any new pictures and getting that taken care of will be my priority. Enjoy your day and I’ll see you next month.

"Girl with a Basket in a Garden" by Knight Daniel Ridgway

Tuesday’s Muse: a voice from the past…

Self-reinvention is everything
Spin many nests . . .
Molt, Rest, Molt again…

Before she left our current dimension, my adopted Wise-Mother Ginnie told me many smart things. Whenever life got overwhelming I would pour my heart out to her and she always had the right words for me in return. Some were her own, some were the words of others. She was a word collector with a brilliant mind that was like a perfectly organized Super Filing Cabinet. She had been a librarian and I never met anybody whose profession fit them as well as hers. Some days I miss her voice and her word-magic in my life so much it hurts my stomach.

The words above were a response from Ginny at a time when my life had been undergoing gut-wrenching and overwhelming change, and all of it against my will. For some reason, these words were in my head when I woke up this morning. Probably because I have been thinking a lot about change, the fear of change, changes that happen against one’s will, inevitable change, the embracing of change, and the futility of ignoring change, for better or worse. Also, I have been changing. I’ve been getting some serious rest and relaxation for the first time in a long time and I like it so much that I’m doing everything I can to insure that I get to have it even after I go back to school in the fall. Everything I do lately gets filtered through my ‘change lens’ with a question of whether or not I should change the way I do it, or stop doing it altogether. Even the way I sleep has undergone a drastic change. The top sheet is off and I sleep sideways in the bed with a single loose blanket and no pillows, totally free-form, and my long-running shoulder pain is suddenly gone. Why did I have to sleep in one direction in a bed tucked in on three sides? Who wrote that rule and why did I follow it even though it didn’t work for me? Stupid. Fear of making a change. Anyways, changes have been going on all over the place.

It’s pretty scary to make changes. If you change jobs because you dislike your current one, you’re happy and terrified all at once. Even an unsatisfactory job is a comfort in ones life and changing that throws one off balance for a while. Deciding to change your diet and exercise routine is ominous and doomed for failure unless you completely embrace certain changes. Saving money and getting out of debt means changing the way you treat money – that’s totally terrifying. Even deciding that certain things you’ve been doing in the garden are not really worth the time and effort can cause a hyperventilated panic attack, because it means changing the routine, doing away with the familiar.

Today, I decided to stop composting until I finish school. Simple enough, but I was strangely hesitant of facing the fact that I no longer wanted the extra task of keeping track of kitchen and garden scraps and caring for my electric composting machine. It almost felt sinful and I don’t really believe in sin. Tom suggested I do it the traditional way with a big can and I said no, no I just want to have a life free of compost thoughts for a while. Is that ok? He said “it’s already done, you’re free, feel better?” – yes, yes I do. Every time I turn around I find something similarly outdated that I want to change or eliminate, streamline or throw in the garbage. What will I do with that extra time? Something exhilarating and valuable, something that impacts life in a profound and beautiful way. Or maybe an extra nap now and then.

The words quoted at the beginning of this post were words Ginnie told me every time my life was undergoing dramatic and traumatic change and I was fearful or weary, not rolling well with the punches. They were from a poem by Amy Gerstler and I haven’t read it in a couple of years. Today it was perfect. Thank you, Ginnie.

Advice from a Caterpillar
by Amy Gerstler

Chew your way into a new world.
Munch leaves. Molt. Rest. Molt
again. Self-reinvention is everything.
Spin many nests. Cultivate stinging
bristles. Don’t get sentimental
about your discarded skins. Grow
quickly. Develop a yen for nettles.
Alternate crumpling and climbing. Rely
on your antennae. Sequester poisons
in your body for use at a later date.
When threatened, emit foul odors
in self-defense. Behave cryptically
to confuse predators: change colors, spit,
or feign death. If all else fails, taste terrible.

I wonder if he smokes a hookah?

Take me to the Fair!

Tom and I took a few hours off last week and went to the Del Mar County Fair. We hadn’t been in almost a decade. Everything was the same. I had to have a corn dog, like always. We looked at the livestock and I remembered the years of my youth spent in the country. The smell of manure does that to me. It wasn’t unpleasant. The smell of manure I mean.

Baby goats are the cutest thing ever. If only they had fit in my purse!

According to the sign, these two goats are named “Beyonce” and “Maybeline” which is why they got their pictures taken. I really do love goats.

Beyonce and Maybeline are too busy for a photo shoot.

We looked at the winners of the flower contests and I enjoyed waltzing around saying ‘oh I can grow a better Rose than that blue ribbon thing’ until I ran into a purple Dahlia bigger than my head. That shut me up. I didn’t take a picture of it because displaying that prize-winning flower on my website didn’t seem right. I did get pictures of non-award display plants that tickled my fancy:

The 'day-glo' colors of this Bromeliad reminded me of an aerobics leotard I had in the 80's.

I fell in love madly with a Fuschia

Bloomers and Petticoats

or maybe a ballerina in a tutu

Years ago I dragged Tom through the gardening displays making mental notes about the garden I wanted ‘some day’ and yesterday I walked through thinking ‘wow I totally did it’ and that was a great feeling!

African "Lion's Tail" fit their description perfectly

We visited the vegetable and farm displays, always my favorite.

can I get an "Amen" up in here?!

I loved the colors of this Cabbage

A Sea of Sunflower Happiness

There's always time to stop and talk to a Bee

We looked at the photography exhibits and I thought about the dilemma I’ve had over whether or not I should put my name or website on all my photos. Some garden bloggers do that, something written across every photo they post so that it’s there forever like a big scar. It’s been on my mind for a year and half now and I firmly decided at the Fair that no, no I will not put any identification whatsoever on my online plant photos. Yes, I took them and they are technically mine. But, it’s a photo of the natural world which does not belong to me. There have been billions of poppies bloom on the planet throughout the course of history and capturing an image of one more is not something for which I need permanent credit. My intention is to share that moment in time with you, and I do it freely. If someone wants to ‘steal’ a photo of a flower from my website, that’s a good thing for the world. If someone wants to print it, frame it, and enter it in a photo contest, then they had more gumption than I did and I hope it wins a ribbon – woo! Perhaps I’ll change my mind one day, perhaps not.

Ok, does anyone know what this is?

We saw everything in three hours, mocked everyone’s fashion choices, wondered at the numbers of people in line to eat deep fried butter, bought a ‘ratchet pruner’ , which has become a new favorite tool, and now we don’t have to go back for another decade, unless I decide to enter a flower growing contest. No, definitely not.

Tuesday’s Muse, thy name is Summer

Well, Happy Summer Solstice! It’s warm outside, the day is long, Sun is shining, and plants are growing. The garden was left alone today so she could bask in the Sun while I worked elsewhere. Tomorrow or the next day I may start trimming up some things since the Moon is waning. The biggest job at the moment is keeping everything watered, but I expect that at this time of year. One thing I am celebrating today is an Orchid ‘re-bloom’ and I’m very proud of this one. It’s not easy for most of us to keep Orchids alive, much less do so until it blooms again, which sometimes takes two years. This ‘Tie Dye’ Phalaenopsis is a beauty that managed to survive my worst care record in history last semester. There were a couple buds that fell off during the last week of school because I was late watering, but I put a little extra love into the process for a while and she rewarded me…

'Tie Dye' Phalaenopsis Orchid

One by one, 15 blooms.

Will they all open?

The end bud here is smaller than a pea:

The tiniest of spider webs.

Reminds me of an inkblot test…what were those called? I forget.

I remember now: Rorschach!

It also looks like an alien in the center of a fancy personal spacecraft:

an alien from outer space?

Or maybe it’s just beautiful.

Summer Solstice - 2011

Lazy Sunday

Today, I’m going to honor my lazy bone. Sometimes you just have to take a day and do nothing, to melt into yourself and emerge later as something new, something fresh. Or perhaps just something that looks rested. Happy Lazy Sunday, and to all the awesome Dads who never get enough credit and who suffer through ill fitting boxer and hideous neck tie gifts, Happy Father’s Day! Go take a Dad-nap!

Segundo, King of Cat Naps

Pause to Wonder

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.” ~ Albert Einstein

Bee and Fennel

Tuesday: Date with the Muse

Date with the Muse

The sun shines
in bright defiance
of the dark horizon
shadows wrestle
with the light
I am showing up
for my date with the muse
she is lounging
in the pear tree
discussing with the blossoms
the anticipated flavor
of the fruit.

by Lisa Kagan (excerpt)
from We’Moon Calendar – 2011

Sunlight and shadow at play in a frilly yellow Gladiola

Today’s Lunch Special: Flowers with a side of Mud

Today I went outside to do some transplanting for lunch. The lens on the camera has been cleaned…sure enough, there was a sticky sunscreen blob right in the center. At least I’m remembering to wear sunscreen! Joining me today were a pair of mud daubers who took advantage of my muddy transplanting mess. They’re very noisy so I wasn’t afraid of stepping on them in my bare feet. They sound like an amplified mosquito. They’re quite pretty in the sun. This one came back to the exact same spot every time and enthusiastically stuck its little face as far down into the mud as it could, sticking its rear-end up in the air. Admittedly more interesting than my transplanting work.

my noisy digging buddy

My Jade plant, or Crassula ovata, has needed transplanting for quite a while. It prefers to dry out in between watering, but the pot I had it in did not have a drainage hole in the bottom. Forgetting that fact, I had over-watered and it was withering from the goopiness. The new pot has drainage and I will not water it for a month just so it can air out. Jade plants are low maintenance and can be an indoor or outdoor plant. They are evergreen and will bloom if you give it enough sun. Lots of sun will give the fleshy leaves a little pink color around the edges and a Jade plant left in shadier areas will get very glossy very dark jade coloring. They are known as money, luck, or friendship plants.

Jade and Mother-in-Law's Tongue

The Mother-in-Law’s Tongues, or Sansevieria trifasciata, also got a new home. Oh, I just love Latin plant names! These succulents make excellent houseplants. They spread by a creeping rhizome, so they do well outdoors as well, as long as they don’t get too much sun. Mine were outside and I will leave the bigger ones out, putting this little one in the house to see how it does.

Mother-in-Law's Tongue - long, sharp, pointed

To test my camera lens for cleanliness, I got a close-up of the ‘Cape Town’ Blue Felicia, or Felicia amelloides, which is always one of my favorite flowers to visit.

'Cape Town' Blue Felicia

Also got a close up of the Euryops chrysanthemoides, or Daisy Bush. Euryops means ‘large eye.’ Yes, I agree:

Euryops chrysanthemoides

And just because I was having fun, a lovely picture of the Hydrangea. There will be no taxonomic info on my Hydrangea because there are a hundred different species and one species has over 600 cultivars. One day I may identify mine, this is not that day.

Hydrangea pamelopticus - teehee

Thanks for joining me for lunch, now get back to work!

…the leaves were calling me.

I meant to do my work today,
But a brown bird sang in the apple tree,
And a butterfly flitted across the field,
And all the leaves were calling me.

–Richard Le Gallienne (1866–1947)

Miss Peanut answers the call of a Mint leaf

Well, the last week has simply been heaven. Every spare moment was spent planting the seedlings started during Spring Break. Several huge cans full of grass and weeds were pulled as well. There is still a lot to be done, but the garden looks tended again. It’s impossible to express just how good for me this process has been. My intellectual pursuits of the last 20 months were very intense and I had not been grounded in the way I need, which is that special brand of grounded I only get from, well, the ground. All head and no body makes one a bit insane after a time. The garden is medicine. My muscles are delightfully sore and I have a touch of color back in my cheeks. The weather was even on my side with cool cloud cover and a bit of rain midweek. The photos all came out with a bit of fog in the center, so I apologize for the quality – not worth retaking them though. Let’s just pretend that I was going for that vintage nostalgic hazy days of summer sepia toned wonder and call it a day. Later I’ll clean the lens, since I know I probably thumbed it with sunscreen. We get messy when we’re gardening 🙂

Somewhere around 42 Tomato seedlings went into the ground in various spots around the property. They had priority, of course. Those are the leftover winter peas drying on the tops of the stakes so I can plant them later.

the Brandywines are in the ground and all is right with the world

The Artichoke seedlings, 4 of them, came from last year’s fruit.

Artichoke seedling

I found a bird’s nest, probably doves, in a burrow on the ground in the meditation circle. This makes four nests that I save in a special place in the potting shed. They are among my favorite things.

I have quite a growing collection of bird's nests in the potting shed

The Hollyhock seedlings are from Andrea’s seeds, so of course I’m hoping for dark colored flowers!

Andrea's Hollyhock seeds are finally in the ground

Tom bought me an upside down hanging Strawberry planter so I would have more than just a few ripe ones at a time. He loves me.

Tom's Topsy Turvy

There were at least three of these cans full of grass and weeds pulled out to make room for seedlings.

out with the old - in with the new!

At a certain point, I had pulled out so many plants needing new homes, I had to spread out over the lawn. I find I have to make a mess before I can bring about any kind of order.

finding joy amid the chaos

There is still a lot of transplanting to do; finding new homes for what I dug up, re-potting things that have grown out of their pots, moving all succulents and cacti to pots leaving more ground for herbaceous plants, etc…

looking for new homes

When I get it all cleaned up, probably by the Full Moon this coming Wednesday, I’ll be able to sit in my rocking chair and celebrate with a juicy glass of wine. In the meantime, the bees are busy gathering pollen…

greedy little bee in an Agapanthus

…the flowers are blooming…

Roses and Grapes and Andrea's birdhouse

…completely oblivious to the fact that I’m literally turning the entire garden upside down. The only ones to really notice have been the spiders, but we get along famously as long as we respect each others space.

the ever-faithful Feverfew

Tuesday’s Muse is a Waxing Moon

The Muse was whispering in my ear before I was awake, before the Sun came up. She said, “The Moon is waxing in Virgo and it’s June so get your big ass out of bed and go plant something!” It just so happens I had some seedlings just waiting for the perfect moment.

Seedlings started during Spring Break

So, before and after work, I’ll be out in the garden celebrating the best Moon for gardening, the warmth of summer, and the fact that I actually have gardening time since I’m not currently a student. It doesn’t get any better than right now! There will plenty to do since I have to clear space for the seedlings, which means pulling tons of grass and weeds and transplanting things that are in the way but I still want. When I get it done, I’ll share photos….don’t want to spend a single minute indoors unless I have to and the ‘have to’ moments are reserved for work and sleep, mostly in that order. So, thanks to the Muse for the wake up call and to Mother Nature for the warm soil. Until we meet again….

That Flower

“I decided that if I could paint that flower in a huge scale, you could not ignore its beauty.” ~ Georgia O’Keeffe

rainbow sherbet rose