Saturday Gardening And Puttering Thread [KT]

Hello, gardeners, putterers, photographers and admirers. Above, some real, outdoor-grown poinsettias, from motionview.

Christmas in rural San Diego county, poinsettias in bloom to the sound of frogs croaking(?!).

Today, our puttering segment is centered on photography.

From By-Tor, a hawk, adapting to civilization.

From a Friend of The Horde, some water droplets:

Plus Mussels and Barnacles:

Seed Catalogs

The rains have started here in California. Time to think about some fall-planted flowers. The kind that need some chill to sprout most successfully. Like larkspur.

The summary above was linked at Johnny's, where this really interesting summer squash was bred. Zephyr. It has some winter squash in its background. Keeps well in the fridge. Firmer than most zucchini. Nice flavor.

Have you picked out any seeds or plants for your garden yet?

Gardens of The Horde

Quercus John has an offer for The Horde:

I was doing some tree trimming a few weeks ago and had to cut quite a few low hanging branches of one of my favorite trees, blackjack oak (Quercus marilandica). It's a straggly tree only fit for firewood, but it does have one endearing feature: the young leaves in the spring are bright red, not green. This flush only lasts a week or so, but is always great to see. Here is a photo I took a few years ago.

Finally, I did collect a lot of acorns, so if anyone is interested in growing their own, please let me know and I'll send you some.

From Admirale's Mate, a reminder that it's not officially winter yet. "Why it's called Fall".

Le Garde Vieux sent in a photo of the last hibiscus of the season. Probably a native one, or a hybrid of a native.

From Wee Kreek Farm Girl, in the desert:

Another weird and wonderful thing happened in the garden last week. I received an African Aloe from a friend about 10 years ago, and it is probably the most expensive plant that I have, it has doubled in height over the years and this year it has decided to bloom. I don't know if you can tell from the pictures but it is about 5 feet tall and the trunk is quite unique. When I got the plant the gentleman said to not plant it next to anything that would receive a lot of water as they are greedy for water and will take all they can and it will rot them. So I am stingy with the water. I didn't know it would bloom, I have other aloes that do but wasn't sure that a tree aloe would bloom as well. I know there are many kinds of African tree aloes and I am not sure which kind I have but I love it. I do protect it from frost by throwing a pillow case over the top when it is going to be below 32 degrees.

We will be waiting to see if those blooms open.

You can see that the aloe has a trunk here:

Here is a Christmas Cactus in an unusual color from Lady Cutekitten

This is our Xmas cactus, Big Yellow, last week. This week it has 2 buds on every branch. In 8 years or so, I've never fertilized it. Our water is very hard, lots of minerals. I think that's why we get such good blooms w/o fertilizer.

My dad made the little wooden box under the branches; he was from Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania, and liked the intricate hex signs.

It was a rooted cutting in a small pot. No buds. But I needed a Xmas cactus so I bought it for $1 and it grew up to be yellow! How it ended up at the big-box store I don't know. Big boxes around here normally only carry pink, white, red, and, rarely, orange.

If you would like to send information and/or photos for the Saturday Gardening Thread, the address is:

ktinthegarden
at g mail dot com

Include your nic unless you want to remain a lurker.

posted by Open Blogger at 12:59 PM

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