Although it's going to be 90° today, the nights and mornings are so wonderfully cool! It's officially hot days/cold nights- my favorite. It's also Banksia appreciation month. *I made that up.
The new growth on Banksia blechnifolia, sigh. Infatuated.
The tiny cone is peeking out behind last year's fuzzy grandpa.
This banksia prionotes, acorn banksia has been in the slope for 2 years and never produced flower spikes. With the fence removed and more sun exposure, I'd say it's responding with a "hell yeah".
This larger banksia prionotes has produced 9 cones this year!
It's quite insane to me that a plant can produce an ice cream cone-like explosion.
Over the weekend, I was lucky to have a visit from Sophia and Ivan! Ivan and I have been meaning to repot several things in the "greenhouse". Most of these plants live in Livermore, but belong to Ivan. Ariocarpus love heat, they've grown much faster here than in Berkeley.
He had to sacrifice the pots.
The sides of the plastic pots were bulging from the stout roots.
These roots look like a pair of legs!
He mixed up a special free draining mix, potted in terra cotta & back in the greenhouse then went! The little table is the mealy bug ward. Treated.
It feels so tidy!
We talked about how to improve the "chipped" in dirt stairs. I have some EdgeRight Corten steel edging they may work, I need a few more pieces.
Sophia and Ivan gave ChaptGPT a few prompts to get a mock-up. Ha ha ha!
We picked a TON of pumpkins from the garden up top. And did some midnight foraging - Ivan found some very overgrown zucchini. That's a no for me, I only like them when tiny.
And now for a segment I will call
THEY LIVE! Casuarina glauca 'Cousin It'. Mostly shaded spot by the front porch, plenty of water. Supposed to be a full sun plant, which I've learned the hard way - No can do.
I thought this was dead after I planted it last summer. Put the little rootball back in the pot, and tucked away. Lo and behold, Pteris cretica Albo lineata lives on. I don't think this is difficult to grow, I just pushed it with evening sun exposure.
Aloe polyphylla, 1 of 2. Finicky. I found these at a price I was willing to lose. Both in protected spots, we will see. Neither have really started the classic spiral yet. I may never actually see them spiral, as these are so persnickety. *I hope they don't read here.
Restio - I'm not horribly surprised it made it. Mostly, I was afraid of the soil drying out. Especially with being gone a few weeks over summer. The timer/sprinkler set up didn't fail me.
A couple updates on Aloe bloomers. Aloe africana
Aloe lukeana, the summer stressed foliage coloring blows me away.
That's a wrap! I'll be back soon with a couple things I'm working on. A small agave hill... not really a hill, maybe mount paltry?
And plantings in the meteorite have begun. Agave utahensis v. eborispina, agave albopilosa, mammillaria plumosa and ferocactus pringlei. For the remaining plantings I'd like to stick to small to very small agaves.
Cool nights make the hot days not feel as hot. There's a reset with the cool, I think.
ReplyDeleteI love the cool night and mornings, so fresh.
DeleteI too am responding with a "hell yeah" ha.
ReplyDeleteAnd those terra cotta pots are indeed tidy aka very pleasing. Well done.
Ha ha ha! Thank you :)
DeleteI hadn’t heard of the Project Monarch (conspiracy theory or otherwise). Solar-powered "BlūMorpho" transmitters that’s pretty interesting stuff.
ReplyDeleteI certainly have not heard of most of it, but I did like the aliens in the windows and the cow being abducted into the spaceship.
DeleteThe flowers from your plants are so unique and striking .
ReplyDeleteSome of those Australian & South African plants are truly out of this world!
DeleteBanksia appreciation month. I'm on board with that even though I only have two (one being blechnifolia, which I love).
ReplyDeleteAriocarpus: I always thought they were difficult, but now that I have two, I realize they aren't. They just want heat and a fair amount of shade. And yes, they have an impressive tap root!
ChatGPT Corten mockups: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Aloe polyphylla: If you can make a go of it, I will try again!
Aloe lukeana: I have no, but no sign of flowers on either of them.
Yes, Ariocarpus just turn the oven to 200° and let them roast! Haha. I think the true test will be winter for the polyphylla. I'm hoping they won't rot- but know it's a distinct possibility. That aloe lukeana had lived long in a pot (from Dry Oasis -from San Marcos) and I think extra happy to be in the ground? My other one isn't blooming.
DeleteBanksia appreciation month, yes please! Bring it on. That Aloe lukeana is HOT! I love the repotted in terracotta shot, always better than plastic. As for your new ChatGPT (Chapt?) stairs, do it!
ReplyDeleteThat aloe stops me in my tracks, I really love it. I've got some Corten steel on order, fingers crossed it all works out!
DeleteI miei occhi sono sempre felici quando vedo il tuo giardino! Gli Ariocarpus stanno per fiorire qui e spero di vederli prima del freddo! Quella Banksia prionotes è magnifica! So che ci sono arbusti simili che potrebbero andare bene anche nel mio clima ma non mi fido molto.
ReplyDeleteUn caro saluto e buon autunno.
Oh, grazie Gabriel. Il tuo giardino è bellissimo; credo che lo sia in ogni stagione. È un obiettivo a cui aspiro anch'io. Spero che i tuoi Ariocarpus stiano fiorendo in modo spettacolare: i loro fiori mi sembrano di seta. Buon autunno!
DeleteBe a trendsetter, TZ: a big yes to Banksia appreciation month! I haven't seen one in person(!) but OMG, they are so impressive!
ReplyDeleteExcellent and I assume exceedingly satisfying job repotting the succulents with Ivan. I love the tidiness of it all.
The last two photos: a stunning Mangave tucked between those cool rocks in one photo, and the 'stream' of little succulents that runs down the side of the 'meteor' in the last. LOVE!
Finally, I have two words for you: zucchini bread!
Chavli
Ha ha ha! I told myself this morning, to not miss a single day to look at those cones. They deserve the attention. Thank you, and I did make some zucchini bread - but I admit it's not my thing. I DO love pumpkin bread, and can consume an alarming amount of it.
DeleteWell, damn, it seems I've missed some of your recent posts too! Blogspot has really let me down of late.
ReplyDeleteYour Banksia are fabulous! (I recently planted my first one and it's struggling but I hope it'll come through.) I'm impressed by Aloe lukeana too - mine blooms at least 2x a year, albeit on a rather unpredictable schedule.
It's been so glitchy and unreliable, I know! Thank you. After killing a few Banksia , I realized at first they needed more water than I was giving them. Once established, they're fine getting dry.
DeleteThis was fun. :-)
ReplyDeleteLove the harvest photo!!
Thank you Carla !
DeleteI am fangurling over the Ariocarpus - Nice! Your AI enhanced garden reminds me of some of Kris's posts from that one botanic garden that puts on a non-plant display to attract non-gardeners in. Maybe they should have AI design the next attraction. The lights would keep you up at night.
ReplyDeleteThe lights would be a bit much!
DeleteMEGA zuchs! Yay! I love autumn, btw. The past few days here out on the coast have been so lovely. Thank you for sharing your lovely garden with us. x
ReplyDeleteWe've finally cooled a bit, yay! Yes I do love autumn, more like second spring. Thank you Bea.
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