Sunday Best – Winter Flowering Cherry
Six on Saturday: Slim Pickings
Perhaps flowers were not the best subjects. They are quite scarce about now.
1. What is this? It grows like ground cover. Although it has not yet bloomed profusely, it blooms with a few flowers continually. I am not keen on it, but I want to know what it is.
2. Rosmarinus officinalis ‘Prostratus’, trailing rosemary blooms a bit less during winter, but seems to never be completely without bloom. Hummingbirds are pleased with these.
3. Coleonema pulchellum ‘Sunset Gold’ breath of Heaven probably should have stopped blooming by now; but I must not complain if it insists on blooming right through winter.
4. Rosa spp., rose bloom is finally succumbing to wintry weather. I do not know if this is because of the earlier rain or more recent chill. Other roses have been pruned for winter.
5. Erica spp., heath is happy to bloom through winter and perhaps into spring. I have no idea what cultivar this is, and I do not remember when it started blooming in November.
6. Rhody has been absent from Six on Saturday for quite a while. He is not easy to take a good picture of. This week though, it might have been easier than finding a sixth flower.
This is the link for Six on Saturday, for anyone else who would like to participate: https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/six-on-saturday-a-participant-guide/
KPCR Garden Report Update
Now, it is a bit more official. I have an appointment at 11:00 tomorrow morning, Tuesday, January 13, for the first episode of the KPCR Garden Report. I do not yet know if it will merely be recorded for later broadcast, or if it will be broadcast directly, but I suspect that it will be broadcast directly. More information about the KPCR Garden Report is cited by the recycled article below:
November 5, 2025 – Nothing is official yet. I am hopeful, though. I am currently in training to establish a new Garden Report on Pirate Cat Radio KPCR-LP 92.9 FM in Los Gatos, KMRT-LP 101.9 FM in Santa Cruz, KVBE-LP 91.1 in Portland, and online at KPCR.org. For me, it is daunting. However, those training me are confident of my ability. I have no problem talking about horticulture for an hour. My difficulty is operating the necessary electronics. It is not much, and actually looks quite simple. I am just not comfortable with it. I am intent on doing what I must, though. I miss my former Garden Report gardening shows on KSCO 1080 AM in Santa Cruz and KBCZ 89.3 FM in Boulder Creek. Ultimately, I would like to post recordings of the new Garden Report here on the blog, or at least post links to such recordings. I am told that is not difficult to do, if I record the shows, which is apparently standard procedure. I still need to find “intro” music for the beginning and end of each show, but I believe that I have a source for that. Goodness, although I know this should be easy, I am nervous!
Sunday Best – Scented Geranium
Six on Saturday: Silly Succulents
Five of these six succulents have weirdly silly common names. I did not notice until after I got all of their pictures.
1. Carpobrotus edulis or Carpobrotus chilensis, pigface is a new acquisition that should help stabilize a sandy bank in one of our landscapes. It came from a beach in Santa Cruz.
2. Aeonium arboreum, common houseleek not only has a silly name, but also has a silly form, with wide foliar rosettes suspended by lanky and otherwise awkwardly bare stems.
3. Graptopetalum pentandrum, bluebean is not actually within any of the landscapes. It is a diminutive specimen that remains potted in the nursery. I am unsure of its identity.
4. Echeveria elegans, Mexican snowball contrasts splendidly with the limey green of the common houseleek, which it grows at the base of. I would not mind more of these about.
5. Crassula ovata ‘Hobbit’, Hobbit’s pipe, like common houseleek, is silly both in name, and in form, with these oddly tubular leaves. It is a lighter green than typical jade plant.
6. Crassula ovata, jade plant is the only one of these Six that lacks silliness. Its bloom is too cute in closeup view to omit, though. Besides, Six on Saturday is better with flowers.
This is the link for Six on Saturday, for anyone else who would like to participate: https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/six-on-saturday-a-participant-guide/
Sunday Best – First Forsythia Flowers
Six on Saturday: First Six of 2026
Even if there were plenty of flowers to take pictures of, I have not been in the landscapes much while it is so rainy. These are from the nursery.
1. Opuntia ficus-indica, prickly pear pads were found at the dump while other landscape debris was being dumped. I was not involved. However, I will be pleased to install them.
2. Buxus japonica, Japanese boxwood turns so yellowish during winter, that it seems to have died this year. We have been trying to find a use for this specimen for quite a while.
3. Canna indica ‘Alaska’ canna is obviously not ‘Alaska’, which has simple green foliage. I suspect that this is ‘Tropicana’. I hope that its spotty foliar discolorations are not virus.
4. Canna indica ‘Australia’ canna got plucked where it migrated a bit too far. These pups will be canned and grown for other landscapes. Surplus might be shared with neighbors.
5. Sarcococca ruscifolia, sweet box produces black berries. Apparently, such berries are red before they ripen to black. I was not aware. There are typically not enough to notice.
6. Sarcococca ruscifolia, sweet box berries are unfortunately poisonous. Otherwise, they look like they might have culinary application. They are unusually abundant this season.
This is the link for Six on Saturday, for anyone else who would like to participate: https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/six-on-saturday-a-participant-guide/
Sunday Best – Daffodil
Six on Saturday: Stormy Weather
Several days of stormy weather were predicted, and came with a flash flood warning and a tornado warning for Christmas, but it really was not that bad. No floods. No tornados.
1. Sandbags were readily available for those who might have needed them for the storms that were expected. The wind was strong, but the rain was not as torrential as predicted.
2. Hedera helix, English ivy and a rotten stump of Lithocarpus densiflorus, tanoak were among the vegetation debris that needed to be removed from roadways after the storms.
3. Pseudotsuga menziesii, Douglas fir contributed to the mess as well. This small bit did not reach the ground, though. Larger branches interrupted electrical service to the area.
4. Cyclamen persicum, florist’s cyclamen looks rather shabby after so much windy, cold and rainy weather without interruption. The weather should be a bit drier for next week.
5. Iris unguicularis, Algerian iris has been more resilient to the weather; and it has been blooming for a long time. This might be its third appearance here in my Six on Saturday.
6. Leucojum vernum, snowflake is what we know as snowdrop. Now that snowdrop is so commonly available online, there could eventually be some confusion with their names.
This is the link for Six on Saturday, for anyone else who would like to participate: https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/six-on-saturday-a-participant-guide/
Major Cutback
After several years of posting daily to this blog, I must cut back drastically. My posts for Thursdays and Fridays had been recycled articles from my gardening column, going back for as many years as this blog has gone forward. So, since this blog began eight years ago in September of 2017, the posts for Thursdays and Fridays have gone back for eight years from 2017, which was 2009. (However, I believe that I posted articles for 2010 twice inadvertently.) These recycled articles will no longer continue to be posted here. Furthermore, the elaborations that I post for Wednesdays and the pictures that I post for Sundays will no longer continue to post regularly. I may post them occasionally, but more likely will not. I hope to continue to post for ‘Six on Saturday’, but I am not even certain about that. Ultimately, I will only commit to posting my gardening articles on Mondays and Tuesdays, since I write those articles for the gardening column anyway. Blogging has been fun, but it is also a time consuming commitment. I may enjoy it more when it is less of a burden, and without the sometimes redundant and sometimes outdated recycled articles.
Tony Tomeo 