Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans in disarray!

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

In my day, never was longer.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

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

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

The words do not have to be perfect.

The GOP is a fucking disgrace.

You are here: Home / Garden Chats / Sunday Morning Garden Chat: (Southern) California Dreaming

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: (Southern) California Dreaming

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From the always-excellent photographer & commentor BillinGlendale:

Since I rent The Cave, I don’t have an extensive garden. I’ve managed to carve out a space by the door and have some roses(not pictured) and some wild flowers.

As many of you know, I quit drinking about 7 years ago and soon afterwards decided I’d actually like the place to look a bit better. I purchased some window boxes and mounted them beneath the windows for flowers and spread out some wild flower seed in a bare patch of earth by my front door.

I had a nice growth of wild flowers, including California Poppies(our state flower). The second year, however, my landlord and his minions decided to ‘weed’ and pulled them all up. The wildflowers have been persistent and returned each year, except for the poppies.

Two years ago, I planted the roses and they produce a wonderful light purple flower to give the area a bit of permanence(and thorns to bite back).

A few weeks ago I picked up some California Poppy seed at the Big Orange Home Improvement store and they have begun coming up, but not yet blooming. Hence this post may show a work in progress.

These were all taken with a Samsung NX500 with a 45mm, f/1.8 2D/3D lens in 2D mode

***********
On the agenda here north of Boston today: Buying more fresh potting mix, for the latest batch of mail-order tomatoes. It rained quite heavily yesterday, so the big plastic bags at Mahoney’s will be wet and even heavier than usual, ugh. But if — against predictions — it’s still raining by the afternoon, I’ll have to wait until Wednesday or next weekend to procure it!

What’s going on in your gardens, this week?

Reader Interactions

84Comments

  1. 1.

    Darkrose

    I’m not a garden person, and I tend to skim over these posts. Tonight I didn’t, and oh, these are lovely Bill! I’m sorry your landlord pulled up the poppies ? but I do hope you post more pictures when the new ones bloom.

  6. 6.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    So I wandered about my yard yesterday (heavily wooded lot in the middle of a circle of heavily wooded lots), and I realized that all of my ash trees are dead. Large, small, it doesn’t matter – dead by the dozens. Sad part is that they made up a sizeable portion of the hardwoods. I’ve got some wild cherries and a few maples and oaks, The rest being a mix of pine and cedar (the pines being eaten up by borers).

    I figure some kind of blight.

  7. 7.

    SectionH

    Aloha Kakahiaka, rikyrah!

    Bill, @OP, sometimes just the bit of gardening you can handle is enough. We’re gardening on a tiny balcony facing the north (no sun for 6 months, period, we eke a few hrs a day in the summer). But we’re hanging in with there with pelargoniums and clivias. Cause damn, plants should grow.

    And you can has wonderful photos. As always.

  8. 8.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Emerald Ash Borer

    Emerald ash borer (EAB), Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire, is an exotic beetle that was discovered in southeastern Michigan near Detroit in the summer of 2002. The adult beetles nibble on ash foliage but cause little damage. The larvae (the immature stage) feed on the inner bark of ash trees, disrupting the tree’s ability to transport water and nutrients. Emerald ash borer probably arrived in the United States on solid wood packing material carried in cargo ships or airplanes originating in its native Asia. As of February 2018, it is now found in 32 states, and the Canadian provinces of Ontario, Quebec, and Manitoba. Since its discovery, EAB has:

    Killed hundreds of millions of ash trees in North America.
    Caused regulatory agencies and the USDA to enforce quarantines and fines to prevent potentially infested ash trees, logs or hardwood firewood from moving out of areas where EAB occurs.
    Cost municipalities, property owners, nursery operators and forest products industries hundreds of millions of dollars.

  10. 10.

    Baud

    Today’s outrage. Don’t click and comment unless willing to ruin the mood.

    ETA: Story is actually a few days old. I just heard of it.

  11. 11.

    Anne Laurie

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Emerald ash borer, I suspect. Local arborists (& town governments) are going crazy trying to keep the invasive buggers at bay.

    Not sure about your pines, but I know the MA arborists are bitching that too-warm winters aren’t killing fungi spores like they once did. Can you get a local professional to come look at your trees, see if there’s a reasonable treatment to save the pines at least?

  15. 15.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: A ten dollar bill. A ten. Nobody has counterfeited tens in a hundred years or more. The stupid will kill us all.

  17. 17.

    Mary G

    When they get enough water, California wildflowers are beautiful, especially when Billin is taking the photos. Thanks!

  18. 18.

    satby

    @rikyrah: Good morning?!

    @OzarkHillbilly: @Baud: Good morning! I read stories like this and immediately assume the complainant and arresting cops were white. And I hope the guy goes on to also sue the city for wrongful arrest too. And wins both suits and is homeless no longer. Fucking travesty.

  22. 22.

    Nancy

    The wildflowers look like larkspur which has naturalized. I love those flowers. I’ve found that they grow beautifully if the seeds scatter somewhere other than where I tried to plant them, so I’ve learned to accept the wisdom of the larkspur and enjoy them no matter where they are.
    Your’s are lovely.

  25. 25.

    mad citizen

    We lost about six ash trees to the dreaded pest a few years ago. Although the other trees have filled in, I’d much rather still have the ash trees. For thing, the cost of removing them…

  26. 26.

    mad citizen

    Listening to our favorite Chuck Todd on Sunday Today: he says Mueller knows a lot more than we do about the investigation (duh!); that the public is always three to six months behind the investigation.

  27. 27.

    Lapassionara

    Lovely photos. Thanks for sharing.

    Good morning. I have a question. Yesterday morning, out of a window, I saw a squirrel tearing away at one of the Japanese painted ferns I had planted. He was tossing it around in a frenzy, as if it had harmed him in some way.

    I replanted it, but I am wondering if I should move it. Could it be too close to his acorn stash? Does anyone have any other ideas?

  28. 28.

    debbie

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    Emerald ash borers have decimated trees around here. They’re even removing healthy trees, I guess, to keep the damage from spreading. Most of the huge, stately trees I climbed and ran under and around when I was a kid have disappeared and have been replaced by skinny little saplings. Very sad.

  30. 30.

    satby

    Hershey is extremely excited when it’s time for his medicine. Another casualty of the opiate epidemic?

  32. 32.

    Denali

    Planting/weeding/planting/weeding.

    The chimpmunks are the troublemakers in my yard.

  34. 34.

    Baud

    @mad citizen:

    he says Mueller knows a lot more than we do about the investigation (duh!); that the public is always three to six months behind the investigation.

    And Chuck Todd is three to six months behind the public.

  37. 37.

    Baud

    @debbie: I checked the comments and the events happened in 2015. So it’s a systemic problem rather than a Trump-specific problem. Still outrageous.

  38. 38.

    Jager

    Mrs J and I will be planting creeping ice plants (delosperma) this morning on the hill. I discovered something yesterday about my new pressure washer, if I twist the nozzle all the way to the left it creates a beautiful, misty spray. The flowers in the front yard were happy when I turned it on them. Continuing on the garden theme this AM, I drained and cleaned our fish pond last week, planted new lily pads and a few other plants, now the pond is clean and fresh and home to a dozen gambusia and two dozen goldfish.

  39. 39.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Time to go to a fence stretching “party”. We have a half mile or so to put up. I’ve had fun before, this weren’t it.

  41. 41.

    debbie

    @Baud:

    You’re right, of course. Offensive whenever it happened, but worse is that it still could happen.

  45. 45.

    satby

    I have to mow again, but rain is predicted for the today and tomorrow, darn ?.

    I also have to get the grass out of my raised garden bed, it’s taking it over and getting it out will be a nightmare without uprooting the iris and other flowers I want to keep. At least with the rain the ground is soft.

  46. 46.

    Gin & Tonic

    I know this time of day also draws out some football fans here, so before I head out for a long couple of days, here’s a news flash: the UK has decided not to renew Roman Abramovich’s (owner of Chelsea FC) visa.

  48. 48.

    Elizabelle

    Good morning, all.

    Thanks to Bill in Glendale, for some daytime beauty too.

  49. 49.

    tobie

    Beautiful pictures, Bill in Glendale. I think the purple flowers are larkspur–one of my all-time favorites. Thanks for bringing that beauty back to mind!

  50. 50.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    Morning all, I thought I take a bit of snuggle time with the girls and be here to respond to your comments real time, but snuggle time lasted a bit longer than anticipated. Thanks much for the kind comments. I’ve got some pics of the roses and I’ll take some when the poppies start blooming,.

  53. 53.

    chris

    Nice pics, Bill.

    My garden is blooming too. Couple of days ago we found the first blooming Rhodora, a wild relative of rhododendrons. Pic with bonus Bert who manages to get in most shots.

    ETA Zoom in for the colour.

  54. 54.

    Steeplejack

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Well, that’s inconvenient. What was the reason given?

    ETA: Other than beating Manchester United for the F.A. Cup title yesterday.

  55. 55.

    MagdaInBlack

    Going to a Rare Breeds show…I’m feeling my roots and need a critter-fix. ?
    ETA..that would be Livestock Rare Breeds, not pets..

  56. 56.

    JPL

    @debbie: Maybe someday that will be true. Yesterday a friend mentioned that she wished Trump were a dem, because he would have been impeached and removed from office already.

  58. 58.

    Miss Bianca

    @OzarkHillbilly: sounds like a scourge like Dutch Elm Disease, which took out all the gracious elm trees that used to form cathedral-like archways over the suburban Detroit streets where I grew up…sigh. haven’t been back for years, and they’ve all been gone longer than that, but it still hurts my heart to think of them all coming down, and how it changed the character of the place so much.

  59. 59.

    O. Felix Culpa

    Lovely pix, Bill! We’re trying to get some wildflowers growing in bare patches of earth around our house.

    In other gardening news, I finished constructing my 4′ x 8′ raised garden bed and hoophouse, and filled it with soil and various amendments. Many thanks to Ozark for the construction tips. Today’s project is to put in the drip irrigation and start transplanting the tomato, pepper, and snow pea seedlings. Will then start direct sowing of other plants like radishes, carrots, and various herbs. Swiss chard is coming along nicely in my stocktank planter, and lettuce and tatsoi are flourishing in another container. The columbine, catmint, and lavender are blooming in our north-facing pollinator garden, but not much evidence of bees yet (too early?). The hummers are visiting, though.

    ETA: Does anyone know about mason bee houses? I’m considering installing some on my property.

  60. 60.

    germy

    @Miss Bianca: A few years back I read about a project to bring back the elms. They were trying to create a blight-resistent variety of Dutch Elm to repopulate our towns.

    I lost track; don’t know if they’ve made progress.

  61. 61.

    Miss Bianca

    @germy: I think I heard that there had been some success in breeding resistant elms. American elms, that is. For some reason, the “Chinese elms” that seemed to spring up like weeds all around Paonia, while I still lived there, seemed completely resistant to everything except blow-torches and axes! A “trash tree” if ever there was one – scrawny, blowsy, and unattractive. Totally unlike the elms I remembered and loved. It was so disillusioning to realize I could hate an elm tree of any variety!

  62. 62.

    raven

    This is my first post from my new office space after 14 years in our combo office and studio!

  63. 63.

    Miss Bianca

    @O. Felix Culpa: your garden sounds lovely! We have hummies up here – don’t know anything about mason bees, I’m afraid – I take it that they are non-honey-producing pollinators?

  66. 66.

    HeleninEire

    @Baud: He should also sue the cashier. He won’t get any $ but that person needs some serious stress in their life.

  68. 68.

    Raven

    @JPL: I’m moving into our guest bedroom. I bought an old school wood desk and it’s much deeper than the door/file cabinet I’ve been on all these years. I’m supposed to get a veridesk from work but I’m not holding my breath for that. I have a lot fo hardware, printer, scanner, external disk drive and I’m going to leave it all up there so this should be fine. It will be negotiating work time behavior that will be tricky. She’s noises as hell and talks really loud on the phone so we;lol havre to figure that out.

  70. 70.

    Kathleen

    @mad citizen: I heard the Toddler burble as well and said to the TV, “Well, Chuckles if you and the rest of the Village Media had maybe even looked at the Steele Dossier and investigated the implications instead of flogging Clinton and her emails, we might know a tad more.” Fucking Fascist Fluffing Weasel.

    ETA: Thanks so much, Billin, for the gorgeous photos.

  71. 71.

    Raven

    @Steeplejack: It’s a no choice. She’s retiring and my office has been in the same space as her studio and there is NO way we can be in the same space.

  74. 74.

    debbie

    @raven:

    I do like your new space. I’m curious to see how a veridesk works for you. I love the idea, but if I try standing for hours, it really takes a toll on my knees.

    I see you too are trying to make your chair more comfortable. I’ve had the same kind of issues. Think about getting a bungee cord chair like this at the Container Store. It comes with and without arms, and it’s really made a difference for me.

  76. 76.

    raven

    @debbie: The veridesk I’m supposed to get move manually but it’s supposed to be petty easy. My chair is also from work and it’s a really expensive Herman Miller and it has served me well.

  77. 77.

    debbie

    @raven:

    I have that same chair at my job and also use cushions in addition. As office furniture goes, they are pretty good.

  78. 78.

    No Drought No More

    Mark Sumner, Daily Kos: “Because everything seems to be about 10 times as awful, and 100 times more blatant, than it previously seemed”.

    And it was already hideous.To think, people once laughed when I sat down to play the piano. Also, when I spoke in terms of Trump’s eventual execution, or incarceration in a super-max prison hill the day he dies behind its bars for the crime treason against the United States Of America.

    Keeping the wisdom of George Schultz uppermost in mind, i.e., “there’s no such thing as a finish fight in Washington D.C.”*, the truth remains: you can’t fool all the people, all the time, and Americans that laugh last, laugh best.

    *(keep uppermost in mind, too, that none of today’s congressional republicans signed the surrender at Appomattox, much less pledged themselves to preserve, protect, and defend the United States from enemies either foreign or domestic…… Oh, wait a minute. They all did, didn’t they?

    I know what I consider them ALL to be. What do you call people like that?

    One last deep thought: the democratic party across-the-board found the plot to war in Iraq either incomprehensible and/or too shameful to acknowledge, but turning a blind eye to the is current republican party treason beneath the black flag flown by Donald Trump will not fly. The admonitions by Schiff, and Lieu, and Thompson, and too many other congressional democrats to ix-nay on the impeachment-A is irresponsibly unpatriotic. They are all fine people, mind you. But they are so fucking wrong, and should be as ashamed of themselves as those sick democratic senators that endorsed a torturer to run the CIA to even suggest as much at this point in time).

  79. 79.

    opiejeanne

    As always, very nice photos, Billinglendale. Larkspur, larkspur, and I don’t know what the white one is. Probably someone’s already identified it above, but I’m off outside to pull some weeds. Unless it rains.

  81. 81.

    Gvg

    @Miss Bianca: there are resistant American elms on the market, have been available for several years. Even Walmart carried them when they were new. Generally had cultivar names like Heritage and Frontier. Also there are resistant American chestnut trees that can be had. 95% or more American genes. A guy named Dunstan found a blight resistant tree in I think Ohio and crossed it with some Chinese and European chestnuts to increase blight resistance then back crossed for American gene traits for several generations. his grandson got them to market about 30 years ago. The majority of the breeding was done in Florida but the trees were planted all over for testing. There is commercial production here around Gainesville. Look up Dunstan chestnuts.
    Invasive tree killers coming in on packing materials has a long history and may have done more economic damage than intentional smuggling. Formosan termite is another hitchhiker terrifying to southern homeowners and costing billions. Love bugs are mostly a nuisance but there is a wooly aphid or something killing hemlocks in the Appalachians.

  82. 82.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Raven:

    Ah, got it. So the old space was basically a time-share. Hope the new one works out for you.

  83. 83.

    TerryC

    If it’s not one thing it’s another. I don’t do annuals, I grow trees. Planted a couple thousand a year for the last four years of retirement.

    We lost all our mature Ash over the last fifteen years. Baby ones grow but eventually die. I have a lot of Elm, as well. Last year for the first time I lost a bunch of pole-sized ones to Dutch Elm Disease. We’d been okay here with it for 32 years and I have some really big Elms that have so far survived.

  84. 84.

    Dan B

    O Felix Culpa @59

    Mason Bee houses can be bad for the bees. They’re good the first year but parasites invade and wreak havoc in following years. There probably are ways to eliminate the pe so don’t rule them out until you do some research.

    Ash Borers are likely to cause problems with ecosystems and with related things like cooking tools since wooden spoons and wood cutting boards are Ash. Our native landscapes are vast but the assualts on them are accelerating. Which issue will be the ‘o-ring’ / coup de gras?

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