Garden Critters!

One of the best things about creating a garden is all the critters you attract.

I’ve already talked quite a bit about the California quail and their babies visiting the garden.

The other day I found this cool spider hanging out among the bells of Ireland.  Does anyone know what type it is?

This morning I was watering and noticed something big scurrying away out of the corner of my eye.  It appears I had soaked a poor praying mantis.  It climbed up on some Convolvulus to dry off and catch something tasty.

For a while I was lamenting the fact that no hummingbirds were visiting my garden. I’m happy to say they finally found me.  This little guy is often perched on the Cantua buxifolia where he can quickly defend the nearby Nicotiana mutabilis from bees and rival hummingbirds.  Kind of funny that I went out of my way to plant lots of orange and red flowering plants to attract the hummingbirds and their favorite is the pink and white Nicotiana.

So what are your favorite garden critters?  Anything exciting visiting your garden this summer?

 

 

 

 

Road Trip to Annie’s!

It was time to take a road trip to the Bay Area this weekend so I could stock up on plants from Annie’s Annuals for my garden.  I decided to take the scenic route up Route 1.

I stopped at Ragged Point and took a bunch of pictures of this hummingbird zipping around the Echium candicans.  Even though there are several species of hummingbird in California I always assume they are Anna’s hummingbirds I am seeing because I believe they are the most common year round residents.

They are fast little buggers but I got a couple of decent pictures.  Pretty sure this is the same guy but the red around their throat is only visible when the light hits it from a certain angle.

I pulled over to take a picture of this huge lupin.

Aside from lupins there were Oxalis, Ceanothus, mustard, and California poppies in bloom along the coast.  On my way back I took the interior roads and there were tons of almonds, cherries, and plums in bloom.  It will always be a bit strange to me that fruit trees bloom in the middle of winter here in California instead of in early spring on the east coast.

Since it was a Sunday I didn’t make too many stops because there were a lot of cars on the road and most of the parking lots were full. So I skipped the elephant seals and Nepenthe.  I did stop at the vista point to take a picture of Big Creek Bridge.  It was a beautiful clear winter day.

wooly Indian paintbrush

I believe this is Castilleja foliolosa but I’m not an expert on them.  I do know that they are hemiparasitic (derive some of their sustenance from the roots of other plants) which is why you don’t see them for sale as a garden plant.

So happy!  Every time I drive up the California coast I feel very lucky to be living here.

The waves were insane!  I tried to get a picture of some of the big ones but of course they wouldn’t cooperate.  The huge waves were shy and only came out when I put my camera away.

I spent Sunday night in Berkeley and woke up bright and early Monday morning and headed to Annie’s for a full day of shopping.

I made a beeline for this Athanasia pinnata.  I think it will make a really nice specimen planting in my mediterranean garden so of course I had to have one.

Megan from Far Out Flora (one of my favorite garden blogs) works at Annie’s so I let her know I was coming so I could say hey.

I had a long day ahead of me.  I was there for a total of 5 hours.  Even though I came prepared with a list and Annie’s is very well organized I always end up running around in circles like a fool.  Everyone that congratulated me for being a grown up and not buying that Globularia a few weeks ago can go ahead and revoke my adult status.  Things I didn’t plan on buying were literally leaping into my cart when I wasn’t looking.  To be fair it is a four hour trip so I need to stock up. And there is no other nursery in the world like Annie’s Annuals (and Perennials).  The type of plants they grow are the exact sort of plants that I am in love with.  It was a beautiful overcast day for taking pictures but of course it is February so the display gardens are not at their bloomiest best.  There are always display plants in containers in bloom though so I did take the time to snap a few pictures.

Platystemon californicus – cream cups

Nemophila menziesii ‘Penny Black’

Lupinus succulentus – arroyo lupine and Gilia tricolor 

Nemophila menziesii – baby blue eyes

Alonsoa meridionalis ‘Apricot’

I set a new record for amount of the amount of plants I can fit in my VW Golf!  Twelve and a half flats.  That is TWO HUNDRED four inch pots!

I purposely traveled light so I would be able to stuff plants in every available spot. I had added so many extra plants I was afraid I was going to have to balance a few on my head but as it turns out two hundred is pretty much the exact amount of plants that will fit in my car without resorting to heroic measures.

They all made it home with me safe and sound.  I spent all of today placing and planting and I have a lot more planting to do tomorrow.  My spring garden is going to be out of control!  Thanks Annie’s Annuals!

 

Cool Plant of the Week!

Instead of a cool plant this week you get a cool hummingbird shot.  Hummingbirds are so fast it is all about the luck when taking pictures of them.  At least for me it is.  I was at Montana de Oro the other day and took this shot at just the right moment to capture a dive bomb attack.  Hummingbirds are territorial little beasts!  Too bad about the stupid telephone wires in the background.  Who puts telephone poles at the beach?  Who does that?

 

Elfin Forest and One Hundred Page View Celebration!

As promised I have pictures of the El Moro Elfin Forest that I visited the other day.  But first I wanted to give a big thank you to everyone who visited yesterday.  For the first time ever I got over a hundred page views in a single day(one hundred and three to be exact).  That may not seem like a lot but my blog sort of stalled last year when I got sick after my England trip and didn’t post any updates for a while.

But now that I have moved and will be more directly involved in my garden designs and am finally able to keep a garden of my own this blog will be seeing  a lot more activity.  So if you are a garden blogger and are reading this spread the word to your viewers and any tips you have to improve my numbers or improve the look of the blog would be appreciated.  And non bloggers please spread the word to your garden loving friends!  Next goal one thousand views a day!

Also feel free to leave comments, questions or corrections on my posts and thanks to everyone who stuck around even when I went through a bit of a posting slump last year.

And now back to the pictures.  So the other day I walked over to the El Moro Elfin Forest Natural Area which is on the north east edge of town bordering the Morro Bay Estuary.  It is only a mile and a half away from my new place and I had been hearing about it for years so I thought I should finally check it out.

Well worth the visit.  The Quercus agrifolia that grow here are stunted due to the environment and instead of fifty feet they range from four to twenty feet tall.  The area is protected now and a boardwalk and trails meander through with amazing views of the bay and surrounding hills and lots of local flora and fauna.

The elfin forest is located southeast of the estuary and the bay.  You can see Morro Rock in the center of the photo.  This whole area is a bird watchers paradise. I need to get some binoculars.

Pale whitish-blue flowered Ceanothus cuneatus is in full bloom now and was swarming with buzzing honey bees.

Between the Ceanothus, sages, and Artemisia the air is wonderfully fragrant.

I have to admit that I only just learned there was such a thing as Paeonia californica last week.  So I was pretty excited to see them growing here.

A few along the trail were even in bud.  I have to remember to go back and try to get pictures of them blooming.

I’m not really a pro at identifying native Salvias but I think this is Salvia mellifera.

I had no problem identifying the Ribes speciosum blooming all over.  Fuchsia flowered gooseberries are a hummingbird favorite and they were buzzing all around the forest fighting over each patch of flowers.

This male Anna’s hummingbird stopped and perched to survey his territory.  No, really. I swear there is a hummingbird there.  Click the photo to enlarge it and press your nose right up against your screen.  I should have brought my better camera.

This is the sort of place that demands panoramic photos.  From certain vantage points you are just surrounded by beautiful sights. This is another picture worth clicking to see the original giant photo.  You can make out several of the “Nine Sisters” ancient volcanic peaks between Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo.  Morro Rock is on the left in the center of the bay, the small black hill bordering the forest is the appropriately named Black Hill, the large hilly area in the center is Cerro Cabrillo, and the really jagged rock formation off toward the right is Hollister Peak. Cool thing about Hollister Peak is that the owners of the land keep it all closed off as private property to preserve it.  While I am sure there are people who would love to climb all over it I kind of love that it is off-limits and hope it stays that way.

In a few spots the old gnarled trunks of the pygmy oaks are exposed along the path.  This lichen covered grove made a nice ghostly display.  If you visit the elfin forest be sure to stay on the marked trails and boardwalk. Aside from the Salvia, bracken ferns, and California blackberry under that grove I am pretty sure I can make out some poison oak.

The oaks are blooming now.  OK, maybe not as impressive as the Ribes, Ceanothus, and Arctostaphylos but still pretty neat.

Even the dead oaks are pretty.  On the right you can see Hollister Peak again.  One of the mos distinct hills in the area and definitely my favorite.  I’ll have to get some better pictures of it some day to share here.

In the center of the forest is the Rose Bowker Grove.  A boardwalk leads you right under the canopy of these pygmy oaks to a seating area where you can admire their twisted trunks.

Almost forgot to mention I saw a bunch of California quail running around in the brush near the entrance.  Well “saw” is a bit generous. I mostly just caught glimpses of them as they scurried about.  But I definitely heard their very distinctive quail noises.  Really just about the cutest birds ever.  Their babies in summer look like little walnuts with feet.  I’m hoping I can figure out a way to attract them to my yard.

I hope you enjoyed this little tour and if you are ever visiting the Central Coast consider a visit to the El Moro Elfin Forest.

Other things I liked about SoCal

Things I liked about SoCal, a set on Flickr.

Here are a few more pictures that didn’t make the cut but were still pretty cool. Click the thumbnails to see a description.

Making the Best of a Bad Situation.

For the past eleven years or so I have spent most of the time living in apartments. When I was going to school in the Bronx I lived in an apartment in midtown Manhattan that barely has enough light for houseplants.  But at school I was surrounded by plants and on the weekends I would garden at my fathers house in New Jersey so I survived.

But California has been mostly apartment living and I have to say I am getting a little tired of it.  My dream of course is to live out in the country on several (flat!) acres with lots of sun and room to make any type of garden my heart desires.

Until that happens I have to just make the best of it. My first experience gardening in Southern California was on my balcony in Santa Monica where I lived for two years. It was only about forty five square feet but it was a southern exposure six blocks from the ocean.

The views were great.  The ocean to the west took up most of my view and was what sold me on the apartment.

My beautiful ocean view. Catalina Island was visible on clear days.

When I moved into the apartment I discovered that when you were out on the balcony you also had a view of the San Gabriel Mountains.

San Gabriel Mountains covered in snow in winter.

Now all my life my only views had been of walls and other apartment buildings so as you can imagine I was pretty excited.  But I was even more excited to start a balcony garden.  At this point I hadn’t been able to do any gardening for about two years I was starved for plants.  Any plants.  I pretty much just ran to every nearby nursery and bought every brightly colored thing I could find.  In the past I had been quite the plant snob but now I didn’t care. I just grabbed everything in sight.

I just wanted color and lots of it. So I set about creating a cottage garden on the fourth floor.

I decided my garden needed a purpose so I decided to make it a hummingbird garden. I bought lots of Salvias and Pelargoniums and anything else I could think of that would attract hummingbirds.

I am happy to say it was quite successful. I had a contant buzz of hummingbirds visiting my fourth floor garden.

The view from my living room was pretty great.

I was pretty happy the first year and had some really nice specimens.

Viola Etaine

Salvia patens

The hummingbirds loved the garden and as plants went out of bloom I would toss them to make room for new ones and I even started growing plants from seed.  The balcony was always over planted and I usually didn’t have much room to walk around out there.

Annas Hummingbird

Cuphea viscosissima grown from seed.

I rigged up some shelves to make the most of every square foot.

Now the weather in Santa Monica this close to the ocean is mostly really cool and quite nice.  winter, spring, and summer it is sunny but we often have a thick layer of fog rolling in off the ocean.  It reminded me a bit of northern California weather.  But the fall can be brutal.  Temperatures would jump to a hundred degrees and the sun felt like it was cooking you from the inside.  You feel as if one day you are in San Francisco and the next you are in Pasadena.

Salvias do OK in large pots but with that kind of weather and in that exposure I needed to water them every day.  So I started phasing them out and began collecting succulents.

I started collecting succulents at the end of the first year and slowly began replacing my water thirsty plants.

Senicio rowleyanus inflorescence.

Fenestraria rhopalophylla subsp. aurantiaca

Crassula Campfire To get it this red in winter I neglected the plant all summer long leaving it in full baking sun with little water. After the fall and winter rains it starts to green up again.

After two years of living in Santa Monica I got a bit bored and decided I wanted something new.  Yes I had an amazing view but my balcony was so small and the apartment itself was rather drab.

I found a place in West Hollywood with beautiful hardwood floors, stainless steel appliances, glass tiles in the bathroom, a washer and dryer INSIDE the apartment, and best of all a balcony with a southern exposure that was more than twice as big as my old one.

I was so excited about the rest of the apartment that I didn’t really examine the balcony closely enough.  I moved in December and it rained for ten days straight.  I remember thinking “Wow all that rain and not a drop of water on the balcony. I’m not as exposed anymore.  That roof really covers the balcony well.”  A short time later it occurred to me that the only reason that this balcony had any sun at all was because it was the middle of winter.  Sure enough the closer we got to spring the higher the sun got in the sky. My sunlight began shrinking bit by bit and now I have a bright shade balcony with absolutely no full sun. The roof overhang protects me a bit too much.

Lots of room but not a lot of sun. All the succulents have been moved to the ledge and shelving in the brightest spot. If there is an earthquake they will go crashing to the driveway below.

So my poor succulents will have to hang in there.  I’m hoping that the bright light will be enough for them to get by until I move again.  The Nicotiana mutabilis that I started from seed last July is doing OK but had to be staked.  I am making the best of it though.  I started up some mixed containers of shade loving plants like Fuchsias, ferns, and Abutilons.  I ordered a bunch of large flowered begonias which will hopefully be really happy.  In the meantime I keep dreaming of that house in the country that will be mine one day.

At least the Ledebouria socialis and Haworthias should do OK.