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Adak, Alaska: day 2
Monday, September 7, 2015 (Labor Day)Since the sun doesn’t rise until 8:15 a.m. and I’d had an eventful first day on Adak, I sleep in and then go for a walk in the neighborhood. The houses in this...
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Adak, Alaska: day 3
Tuesday, September 8, 2015Day 3 on the island and I’m falling into a routine. Get up at 8 a.m. just before the sun rises, have coffee, do some work, then head out for a little walk before meeting up...
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Adak, Alaska: day 4
Wednesday, September 9, 2015Cousin Shannon convinces me to get up early so I can photograph the sunrise. We head over to the fuel farm and walk out on the pier. Just in time. The clouds light up with...
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Adak, Alaska: day 5
Thursday, September 10, 2015My last day on Adak. Our flight leaves tonight at 6 p.m. I eat my last bagel (brought from Anchorage) and then pack my suitcase. Usually I’m ready to go home at the end of a...
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2015 Succulent Extravaganza recap
It’s a tradition now: The last Friday and Saturday of September are reserved in my calendar for the Succulent Extravaganza. Organized by Succulent Gardens, Northern California’s premier succulent...
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2015 Succulent Extravaganza plant porn (1 of 2)
Yesterday I recapped the 2015 Succulent Extravaganza held September 25-26, 2015 at Succulent Gardens in Castroville, CA. It was a great opportunity to photograph the many thousands of succulents...
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2015 Succulent Extravaganza plant porn (2 of 2)
Day 2 of the 2015 Succulent Extravaganza (see posts 1 and 2) started bright and early at 8 a.m. I left the motel in Marina at 7:15 a.m. so I’d have extra time in case I saw anything worth photographing...
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Condominium complex water garden, Victoria, BC
Time’s a-flying. It’s hard to believe it’s been three months since our Pacific Northwest trip. I’ve already covered all the gardens I visited; you’ll find my posts listed in this handy overview. But...
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Easing into fall gardening projects
The transition from summer to fall is very fluid here in the western Sacramento Valley. It’s not like you wake up one morning and it’s autumn all of a sudden. Instead, it’s a drawn-out process, full of...
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Aloe mite sighting at Home Depot in Morgan Hill, CA
On the way home from the 2015 Succulent Extravaganza I stopped at the Home Depot store in Morgan Hill, south of San Jose. I got excited when I spotted a grouping of large succulents outside the...
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2015 agave report preview
A detailed update on the agaves in my collection is long overdue. I just started to take photos of the 100+ agaves I have in the ground and in pots, and I realized it would make more sense to do some...
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Ruth Bancroft Garden 2015 fall plant sale recap
The calendar may say October, but the weather gods don’t seem to have gotten the message: We still hit the low 90s virtually every afternoon. Last Saturday, I was already sweating at 9:45 a.m. as I was...
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Exploring the Ruth Bancroft Garden, October 2015 edition
It’s become a tradition now: At each Ruth Bancroft Garden plant sale, I first pick out the plants I want, then I stroll through the garden to see what’s new and revisit old favorites.It was no...
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Love it or leave it: front yard steel dividers
In the wake of California’s epic drought, more and more homeowners are replacing their thirsty front lawns with less wasteful alternatives. Most projects entail the removal of all turf. But just...
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Stapelia gigantea: stinky time is here again
October 14, 2015: Like every year at this time, the Stapelia gigantea on the front porch is getting ready to flower.October 16, 2015: The first flower unfurls.October 17, 2015: Three flowers are now...
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Surprising agave sightings at Home Depot
More often than not I rag about the big box garden centers—Home Depot, Lowes and their ilk—either because their plant selection is outdated (too many thirsty annuals, not enough climate-appropriate...
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Dwarf cowhorn agave (Agave cupreata)
In my previous post I mentioned that I recently found a dwarf cowhorn agave ( Agave cupreata) at a Sacramento area Home Depot garden center. I couldn’t resist since it was such a perfect specimen:Agave...
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Front yard desert bed at 1½ (October 2015 update)
It’s been six months since I last talked about the desert bed in the front yard (technically outside the backyard fence on the street side). As a quick reminder, this is what this area was like until...
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Green urn makeover: from mealybugs to strappy cool
One of the permanent fixtures of the front yard are two moss green urns on either side of the front door. We’ve had them since 2007 and they’ve been home to a variety of things, including feather reed...
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Aloe sinkatana surprise
The photo below shows three potted succulents in the backyard. The one on the left is Agave lophantha ‘Quadricolor’, pupping away merrily (the “mother plant” here is itself an offset from the original...
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