tz_garden

 A monster has outgrown her pot.  I doubt I could've done this project justice without Ivan & Sophia's help.  At the very least, I would've made a terrible mess inside.   Basically all roots in the pot. Unfortunately, we had to kill the nice pot. Ivan crushed charcoal, mixed in moss and made a great mix for a moss pole to support the monstera. He was covered in charcoal dust!  The finished moss pole, over 6' tall. Voila!  Back in the front room, no worse for the wear.  *Excuse the messy floor. Lowe's has marked down almost all their pots by 40%, I snagged a few talavera pots.  They aren't my "go to" but I think a few thrown in for color are nice.  Balloon cactus in a rounded pot, I'm hoping in a few years this will look a bit like a hot air balloon. Dancing preying mantis spotted, go get the dang grasshoppers! Silver ball cactus, Parodia scopa grouped together in a shallow gray pot. A talavera strawberry pot stuffed with various succulent cutti

 A quick check-in, we left for a week long vacation to Florida and came back with covid.  Ugh, really knocked my socks off.  I'm fighting back now tho and on day 6.   Yesterday I was able to go for a really short run and putter around the garden for the rest of the day.  I didn't get anything substantial done, but it sure felt good to be outside.  In the past few days, the Drimia Maritima, sea squill has started blooming and the Amaryllis Belladonna a few days later.   The crinums in the front are later than the crinums in the slope (less sun).  I believe these are 'Ellen Bosanquet'.   The pumpkins are going completely bonkers, I threw down several different types of seeds - so I'll have to wait and see what I've got. The Scadoxus is scadoxing!   Crassula falcata bloom is so vibrant, this one is later than the rest - it is under shadecloth as I'm protecting the banksia for it's first summer.   It's fun to come home and be able to "see" grow

 A new project! I can't be the only one who gets excited about rocks.  Sophia and Ivan helped me gather some free rocks at American Soil & Stone in Berkeley.  Then we went in and purchased a few as well.  I'm excited to add rocks, ledges and plants to the slope to really get that "full" look I love.  As much as I admire a clean look, I can't seem to live with it. I had to spend a couple hours picking up all the leaf debris, etc., this is an ongoing weekly job.  These sunburst aeoniums get a little dappled morning sun and shade the remainder of the day, probably why they look pristine even in August.   Thankfully, I do have 2 of the large green bins. I will try to have restraint around the golden barrels, I think they look best mostly by themselves.  Here we added some large flat rocks for "ledges".  Thankful that Ivan lifted the large pieces for me, that big rock holding the puddle was VERY heavy. Started adding rocks and plants here... hmmm, doesn&#

 I'm off to Orchids in the Park @ Golden Gate Park, San Francisco this morning -after a quick run.  I went out for a quick looksee in the back and was pleased to see this sweet zephyranthes bloom.  I don't remember planting, and after a quick look at bulb orders from last year only found an order from Plant Delights for zephyranthes Batik - which this is obviously too pink to be.  So either they did a switcheroo - or I I picked this up who knows where?  Yesterday, it looked like this - a bright magenta little stick.  I'm surprised I even saw it in the slope. I get over excited at bulbs, hahaha.  It's incredible what blooms they push out.  We went from picking only cherry tomatoes, to all the varieties ripening one or two !  Mmmmm, so good. Have a great day, hopefully it is not too scorching wherever you are!