• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

T R E 4 5 O N

You can’t love your country only when you win.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

The revolution will be supervised.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

Chutkan laughs. Lauro sits back down.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

Ah, the different things are different argument.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

This fight is for everything.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Trump’s legal defense is going to be a dumpster fire inside a clown car on a derailing train.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Mobile Menu

  • Winnable House Races
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • Balloon Juice 2023 Pet Calendar (coming soon)
  • COVID-19 Coronavirus
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • War in Ukraine
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • 2021-22 Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Garden Chats / West Coast Sunday Morning Garden Chat (Part Three)

West Coast Sunday Morning Garden Chat (Part Three)

by Anne Laurie|  April 13, 201412:39 pm| 17 Comments

This post is in: Garden Chats

FacebookTweetEmail

hbm geraniums-and-pansies

From commentors MaryG and Higgs Bosun’s Mate:

HBM found this wrought iron plant hanger lost behind a camellia bush. My mom got it at the thrift shop in the 60s for peanuts and it always lived on her fence right outside her dining room table. She loved to be able to switch in her three best flowering pots into it to impress the ladies who came over to play bridge. HBM cleaned it up and planted geranium slips from around the yard in it last summer. They are getting ready to bust out.

We also planted two hanging baskets with one four-inch pansy in each one, you can see the yellow one in the background; the blue one has completely filled up its basket, but it’s between blooming cycles at the moment. They should last until it gets hot in June or July.

hbm iceland-poppies

This is half of a six-pack of Iceland poppies we got at Roger’s Gardens, an expensive but amazing nursery in Newport Beach, CA.

We didn’t have enough pots, so rather than buying more we planted some things in baskets that had been kicking around in the garage waiting to go to the thrift shop. We thought it was such an original idea until we got to Rogers and they had tons of them, selling for a lot more money.

hbm blooming-succulents

Lots of succulents are blooming, some with flowers prettier than others.

hbm spectacular-succulent-bloom

This one is the showy exception; I don’t know the variety name, as it’s one of the big-box-of-cuttings I got on eBay.

I think it might be one of the ones that dies after blooming, so when the show is over I’m going to try to plant some of the offshoots or stem. I am learning to buy the smallest pot of anything I want; I’ve been able to divide even a $1.98 two-inch pot of succulents into three more plants of some varieties for a really low cost per plant. Some asshole stole a Coke box out of the driveway with a big crop of leaves becoming puppies in it, so disappointing. They probably killed all my little babies. HBM has put up motion lights outside. When he first came to stay with me, he was hyperalert and barely slept. Now he gets so much exercise from walking Leland on the beach trail and doing all my projects that he sleeps very soundly and didn’t hear a thing. That is a blessing.

hbm lemon-tree-very-pretty

The little lemon tree has lots of little green fruit starting…

To be continued, next week!

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Civil Disobedience – The Next Reform?
Next Post: It’s fun to eulogize »

Reader Interactions

17Comments

  1. 1.

    Litlebritdiftrnt

    April 13, 2014 at 12:46 pm

    Heads up everyone I just discovered a new TV show on BBC America “In the Flesh”. It is about zombies but it isn’t if you know what I mean and it is brilliant. Check it out.

    MaryG and HBM are doing an epic job with that garden. It is looking absolutely beautiful.

  2. 2.

    Mnemosyne

    April 13, 2014 at 12:51 pm

    I talked to a nice lady from the National Wildlife Federation at our company’s Earth Month event last week, and she gave me her email address so I can get information from her about what plants to get to attract hummingbirds and butterflies when we move into our new apartment.

  3. 3.

    kc

    April 13, 2014 at 1:17 pm

    Nice!

    Great idea for the baskets. Do you line them with something first?

  4. 4.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    April 13, 2014 at 1:25 pm

    @kc:

    I paint the baskets with Thompson’s Water Seal. I then line them with cocoa mat. The water seal makes them last and the cocoa mat keeps the soil moist between waterings.

  5. 5.

    kc

    April 13, 2014 at 1:38 pm

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate:

    Thanks! I have several baskets taking up clost space. Can’t wait to try this.

  6. 6.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    April 13, 2014 at 1:39 pm

    Awesome garden, HGM and Mary G! Thanks for showing us, AL. Don’t overlook eBay as a source of inexpensive cuttings. I got an amazing mixed set of dayliliy fans for $4, shipped. There were at least a dozen.

  7. 7.

    ? Martin

    April 13, 2014 at 1:42 pm

    I’ll be driving past Rogers Gardens in about 20 minutes. Love that nursery. I think it’s more than safe to say they are the nursery for the 1%, but if you are after an unusual plant, they’ll usually have it, and if you’re after something nicer than the generic stuff you find at Lowes (tools, pots, planters, anything decorative), they’ll have that too, in spades. You can spend an absurd amount of money there, but if you’re judicious, you can find some really nice, unique stuff and not spend too much.

    I would get my geraniums and native plants, fruit trees, and the like down at Green Thumb – they’re also pretty nice, and have a lot, but are more reasonably priced. I’d put them midway between a Lowes and Rogers. Not that much further down the road, and right by the 5, so it’s a pretty easy in/out. And Tommy’s is practically across the street, so grab a proper gardener’s lunch.

  8. 8.

    ? Martin

    April 13, 2014 at 1:44 pm

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate: The Thompsons is a great idea, I never thought of that. I gave up on the baskets because they wouldn’t last, but I think I’ll take a another go at them now. Well, I also had a problem with what appeared to be carpenter bees taking up residence in them. That was a bit odd.

  9. 9.

    nellcote

    April 13, 2014 at 2:40 pm

    I’ve been able to divide even a $1.98 two-inch pot of succulents into three more plants

    I’ve been getting mini roses and azaleas at the supermarket in 4 inch pots. They usually stick 4 or 5 starts in to make it appear fuller. You can carefully seperate the plants and they’ll each grow into a full size plant or in the case of the azaleas into instant bonzai. Super money saving!

  10. 10.

    Betty Cracker

    April 13, 2014 at 3:30 pm

    Great job on the garden, you guys! I hope the bastard who stole the Coke crate tripped and fell on it and got splinters in his nut sack!

  11. 11.

    sempronia

    April 13, 2014 at 3:57 pm

    Last October, I planted tulip bulbs outside my apartment building. The management is too cheap to landscape, so it’s like my own little personal protest. Just yesterday I found two tulip shoots poking through! Maybe this interminable East Coast winter is nearly over!

    I’m enjoying these garden dispatches from Southern California…makes me homesick.

    – native Angeleno

  12. 12.

    satby

    April 13, 2014 at 4:46 pm

    Mary, any advice about propagating Peruvian Lillies? I just bought the most beautiful one, “Indian Summer” and I want to try to grow more. I know they’re tubers, but everything I read implies that they have to grow several years in the ground before splitting.

  13. 13.

    imonlylurking

    April 13, 2014 at 4:49 pm

    HBM has put up motion lights outside. When he first came to stay with me, he was hyperalert and barely slept. Now he gets so much exercise from walking Leland on the beach trail and doing all my projects that he sleeps very soundly and didn’t hear a thing. That is a blessing.

    You are a good egg, MaryG.

  14. 14.

    Mary G

    April 13, 2014 at 5:02 pm

    @satby: I’ve never had much luck with Alstroemeria/Peruvian lilies, but here is a link as to how to grow them from seed pods of your best flowers.

    This site says not to divide them as it will take 2-3 seasons for them to recover.

  15. 15.

    satby

    April 13, 2014 at 5:42 pm

    Thanks MaryG!

  16. 16.

    Phoning It In

    April 13, 2014 at 7:10 pm

    @Mnemosyne:I’m in Oregon, and I have a hummingbird-yard.

    Crocosima ‘Lucifer’ is a guaranteed magnet, and as a bulb, it does OK in a pot with little care. July blooming. The birds monitor the blooms for ‘readiness’ and will do battle for the patch. Other varieties, not so well, at least where I’m at, but we have spoiled hummingbirds!

    Salvia ‘Wendy’–it’s 3′ tall, hot pink, and beats fuchsia hands down when I have them both out. Salvias in general draw hummingbirds. Blooms mid- to late summer, sometimes longer.

    Butterfly bush (Buddliea)–dark purple varieties get visitors.

    Penstemon ‘Cathedral Rose,’ if you can get it, but any purple or pink penstemon seems to work.

    Dahlias are supposed to be a draw, but I haven’t seen success in several years.

    And, of course, the feeders are reliable. I save money making the sugarwater myself.

    Good luck with it!

  17. 17.

    Jane2

    April 13, 2014 at 7:11 pm

    What a riot of lushness, HBM and Mary G! You give me hope that I too will see a green growing thing or two soonish.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

Political Action

Postcard Writing Information

Recent Comments

  • frosty on Helping Ajabu, Take Two! (Sep 26, 2023 @ 5:20pm)
  • Subsole on Biden on the Picket Line (Sep 26, 2023 @ 5:19pm)
  • WaterGirl on Helping Ajabu, Take Two! (Sep 26, 2023 @ 5:18pm)
  • Jeffro on Biden on the Picket Line (Sep 26, 2023 @ 5:18pm)
  • Barbara on Biden on the Picket Line (Sep 26, 2023 @ 5:17pm)

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
We All Need A Little Kindness
What Has Biden Done for You Lately?

Balloon Juice Meetups!

All Meetups
Talk of Meetups – Meetup Planning

Fundraising 2023-24

Wis*Dems Supreme Court + SD-8

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Mailing List Signup
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)

Twitter / Spoutible

Balloon Juice (Spoutible)
WaterGirl (Spoutible)
TaMara (Spoutible)
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
TaMara
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
ActualCitizensUnited

Join the Fight!

Join the Fight Signup Form
All Join the Fight Posts

Balloon Juice for Ukraine

Donate

Cole & Friends Learn Español

Introductory Post
Cole & Friends Learn Español

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!