Manzanita Gall

I was walking down the street and saw this plant and was sort of baffled by it. Have I seen this before? Maybe? Anyway, I took some pictures and googled around.

So, these are caused by aphids. They are eating the leaves and cause the leaves to create this redish gall around the aphids. I’m still sort of having trouble picturing exactly what is happening here but the link above has a pic of a manzanita gall cut open and filled with aphids. I never took the Pests class at Merritt and clearly I should have!

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Plant Combo

Sphaeralcea ambigua, Dichondra argentea 'Silver Falls', and Carex testacea.

I got this Sphaeralcea from Mountain States Nursery a few years ago, I can’t remember what variety this nice peach color is. The yard was still being trampled by construction so this spot was where I put all my randomly acquired plants. So far I have NOT cut this plant back in the Fall so it tends to get leggy and awkward looking. It really should be cut back to about 6 in when it is done flowering.

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CA native plant seeds

The S & S Seeds site has a bunch of cool seed mixes AND the extra cool thing is you can request a custom mix based on your particular criteria.

Their database for searching plants is also very granular and so useful.

Picture of bright orange California Poppies,Eschscholzia californica, in full flower and the interesting seeds heads that are exposed when the petals fall off. In the background and out of focus is a Convolvulus cneorum, a low ground cover with silv…

Picture of bright orange California Poppies,Eschscholzia californica, in full flower and the interesting seeds heads that are exposed when the petals fall off. In the background and out of focus is a Convolvulus cneorum, a low ground cover with silver-grey foliage and white flowers.

Iresine herbstii 'Aueoreticulata'

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Iresine herbstii 'Aueoreticulata'

This is also called Beefsteak Plant. This particular plant is hanging out outside my hair stylist building. Normally this isn’t a plant that we see planted outside in our Mediterranean climate. But it’s doing quite well in this protected area with reflected heat in a container.

I love how vibrant the variegated leaf and bright pink stems are.

Garden Tour - Keelya Meadows

I absolutely love the book Fearless Color Gardens by Keelya Meadows. I knew she was a local designer because she has a little exhibit at American Soil and Stone and I knew her home garden was open sometimes but I was not sure of the details. I joined the Garden Conservancy this year and lo! her garden was on the Open Days list! I made T. come with me.

I love all the quirky paving, concrete forms, and amazingly fun use of color. I wish my own garden was just like this. It was a bit over the top for T. though and I suspect he will object.

I’m desperately in love with that leopard-spotted Ligularia and must acquire one for myself immediately.

Right Tree, Right Place

This is a handy tree guide made up for PGE by California Polytechnic State University for the Bay Area, Northern and Central California. If you're working on a site with power line issues this tool can be quite useful.This page has some handy guides for selecting the right tree for the right place based on some other guidelines like allergy and toxicity or fire safety.

You can order a Right Tree, Right Place poster from PGE here and download a cute poster for Palm trees appropriate for use near power lines.

The people who planted redwoods right next to the power lines at a recent client's property could have used this guide 15 years ago...

Sunset Headquarters in Menlo Park

I heard the Sunset headquarters is going to move so I wanted to dash down there to visit it before it relocated. When I first moved to CA I worked just down the street but did not know about Sunset magazine at that time. Nor did I particularly care about gardens at age 19. Anyway, my friend and I jaunted down there to take some pics.

I’m so glad we did! I just love the color and texture they are playing with. The bright orange, round trellis is also speaking to me. I would like to own this moon gate trellis for myself!

Buckle Up - There are many pictures.

I have an absurd amount of photos and I simply am having trouble picking which ones to upload so there will be a lot. I have already lost the actual garden info so this is for your eyeball enjoyment only.

This garden was amazing.

Look at this gorgeous copper gutter. I want this.

Look at this gorgeous copper gutter. I want this.

I like how they carried this purple color throughout the garden

I like how they carried this purple color throughout the garden

Laura goes to Washington DC

This is my first trip to DC. I know a lot of folks go to Washington in 8th grade. I’m not sure why I did not. My confession here is that I did not realize that “The Smithsonian” is, in fact, a bunch of museums and they are all free. damn! I need to bring my kid here soon.

I’m here for the APLD Conference. This is my first one and I do not know anyone here. I made my reservations with a little padding so that I can at least explore a little bit. There is so much to do and I am a tad overwhelmed and having to talk myself down from trying to do everything. I can not do ALL THE THINGS. I also do not want to discount the value of vaguely wandering. :D

My first foray from the hotel brings me to this sweet garden and bird habitat! Such luck! Lots of pictures here of plant combos and textures that caught my eye. Also, a mondo grass lawn!? It’s cute!

I went to the Natural History Museum after hanging out in this garden and then headed to the Space one. Along the way there were MORE PLANTS!

Then I went to Washington Station (I think) which is basically a mall because I wanted to go to the Moleskine store. I did buy a new notebook and a little sleeve thingy that goes over it and zips to hold a few pens.

Moving a giant-ass palm

Here I am driving along and I see this truck with a massive palm all over it! How cool to see how they are moving it. I wonder what very large crane (VLC) is waiting to put it in it’s final place!? Where is it going?

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Characteristics of CA Native plants w/ APLD and Cal Academy of Sciences

I joined APLD folks to talk to people about CA native plants at the California Academy of Sciences. I like to do this sort of thing.

Here are some of the characteristics of native plants that help them conserve water:

Slivery grey leaves with little hairs reflect light help keep a plants temperature down in hot dry climates.

Small leaves help plants conserve water because less surface area means that leaf will lose less water.

Waxy leaves serve as sort of a waterproofing that reduces transpiration.

Thick succulent leaves trap and conserve water.

Look at all those adorable signs MF made! So cute!

Look at all those adorable signs MF made! So cute!

Trees for Children's Play Environments

So plant ID classes can be very challenging. I’ve got some brain differences, including mild dyslexia, and memorizing a ton of plant names AND how to spell them is almost prohibitively impossible.

I’ve managed to soldier through life and all previous plant ID classes fairly well until taking Tree ID last semester. My LAST plant ID class required for me to graduate. I swear this one upset me so much because some large percentage of the grade was going to be on SPELLING. Spelling!!?

One of the grand things about life today is that there is the internet (a series of tubes) and spell check. Dyslexic people every where rejoice! Anyway. I have a Fine Art degree! Don’t ask me to spell!

For my final project for that class I had to get away from things I am bad at that make me feel terrible and like I am failing in 3rd grade again and get back to things I am good at, like illustration. I decided that illustrating a bunch of beautiful trees would sooth my fevered soul.

And, to make it more complicated (hello ADD), I thought it would be cool to turn those illustrations in to a book. Of course, I did not complete the project. I completed enough for the class but not quite enough to finish the actual book. I used Blurb to layout and print the book even though it wasn’t finished. I can finish it another time, right?!

Here are a few of the illustrations. I drew the whole tree and then a detail.

The Blurb software is called BookSmart and it’s … just okay. The final printed book is a little paperback and is so cute!

Here is the cover and some layouts

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Fun at Tilden Botanic Garden

I really love Tilden Botanic Garden. For one thing there are about one million little bridges. And there is just a pleasing variety of microclimates and fab plants.

On our last outing there we sat around and used nature to make some tiny, ephemeral art. The second one is a nudibranch or maybe a paramecium. I realize a botanic garden probably isn't the right venue for this but I did it anyway and it was pleasing.