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Horridculture – Rocky XXIV . . . or XXV . . . or XXVI . . . Oh, I can not count them all.

another sequel

Winters are not very cold here. Otherwise, I might have assembled a fur coat. Instead, relocation of furs has been more practical than utilization. Besides, without exception, all were already in use when I encountered them. Actually, they were not relocated merely because I had no practical use for them, but, more importantly, because relocation was significantly less inconvenient to those who were wearing them at the time. Of course, it was not totally convenient either. That was sort of the objective. The inconvenience of relocation is a deterrent to those who wear the furs, who identify as racoons. They are unwelcome here. I realize that they eat mollusks and rodents; but neither mollusks nor rodents are problems here. I do not grow much vegetation that mollusks find to be appealing. Heather the kitty who identifies as a feline person is too proficient at deterrence of rodents to have use for any assistance. Actually, Heather is one of the two primary reasons that it is necessary to relocate raccoons. Rhody is the other. Unfortunately, raccoons have potential to become impolite or even dangerously hostile with my canine and feline housemates. Relocation does not permanently eliminate them, but it annoys them enough that, by the time they return, they are much more careful about avoiding us and our space. Also, their impressionable associates seem to learn from their examples. Because they can not be relocated off of the property, they go less than a mile away. So far, that seems to be sufficient. I do not know how long it takes for them to return, but I suspect that it takes quite a while. After this most recent relocation, I do not expect another relocation to become necessary until members of the most recent generation mature enough to become a problem.

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Six on Saturday: Firsts & Lasts

Angel’s trumpet should be finishing bloom by now. Instead, and even while their foliage is fading with cooler weather, their bloom continues. Only the unidentified cultivar with single pink flowers currently lacks open flowers, but even it is budded for potential later bloom. (I neglected to get a picture of a flower of ‘Charles Grimaldi’ angel’s trumpet only because two pictures of angel’s trumpet is sufficient.) While angel’s trumpet is finishing, Algerian iris and ‘Peach Delight’ ginger lily are blooming for their first time here and red butterfly ginger is generating bulbils for its first time here. I was not aware that this sort of ginger generates bulbils. Otherwise, I could have allowed the other gingers do so also.

1. Hedychium greenii, red butterfly ginger is making bulbils! I did not know that it knew how to do so. I am now glad that I refrained from pruning the bloomed canes out earlier.

2. Hedychium coccineum X cornonarium ‘Peach Delight’ ginger lily started to bloom so late that I did not expect for it to actually show this much color and confirm its identity.

3. Iris unguicularis, Algerian iris is also blooming for the first time here, since its arrival from Tangly Cottage Gardening. It should bloom more for winter. Is it blue or purplish?

4. Brugmansia, angel’s trumpet of an unidentified cultivar, species or perhaps hybrid, is trying to bloom with its last big single pink flowers of the season, and it just might do so.

5. Brugmansia insignis ‘Single White’ angel’s trumpet is my favorite in regard to bloom, but not one that I recommend. It is blooming nicely though, now that its season is done.

6. Brugmansia candida ‘Double White’ angel’s trumpet also intends to bloom until it no longer can. It bloomed only sporadically since spring, but better than the ‘Single White’.

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/

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Horridculture – Pave Paradise

pavement within pavement within pavement

The Santa Clara Valley really is, as it was formerly known, the Valley of Heart’s Delight. A long time ago, it was famous for vast orchards that thrived in its exemplary climate and soil. The climate is still here, but so are nearly two million people who now live where orchards formerly were. Not so much of the formerly productive soil remains exposed, and almost none is appreciated for its potential. Urban development continues to expand to occupy more of it. At a strip mall in the Berryessa District of San Jose, I noticed what appeared to be gravesites of small patches of once exposed soil that died slow deaths after all other soil around them was developed. The concrete pavement outside of and below the yellow curbs was likely the original parking area, walkway and paved patio, which were separated from each other by what was likely small landscaped patches of exposed soil within and at the same level as the yellow curbs. Sometime after the area outside of the curbs were paved, most of what was likely exposed soil within was also paved with exposed aggregate concrete, leaving only what was likely three smaller square patches of exposed soil, perhaps for trees to survive in. Eventually, even these three smaller square patches of exposed soil were also paved with simpler concrete. It is impossible to say why all this concrete pavement was necessary, or why exposed soil was so objectionable. Perhaps the dirt was dirty. Perhaps it was infested with weeds. Perhaps all this concrete is some sort of Brutalistic art. Regardless, the good soil below is now useless. The patio now lacks shade from trees. A little bit more of the Santa Clara Valley can not sustain any vegetation. A little bit more of Paradise is paved.

Brutalism?
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Six on Saturday: Red Flag Warning

A Red Flag Warning that began Thursday night continues at least until five this evening. Arid wind severely increases the risk of wildfire during this time. The strong wind can be hazardous, even without fire. Big trees become big problems.

1. Wind developed soon after sunrise yesterday. I tried to get a picture of foliar debris as it fell from the forest canopy, but took only this. Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood makes the background, with Quercus agrifolia, coast live oak in the lower left quadrant.

2. Turkeys should hide from such wind. This one was alone and in a hurry, likely to find a sheltered situation with others, and just as likely, after shredding the red berries of the firethorn, Pyracantha coccinea. I saw no others as the wind continued through the day.

3. Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood is remarkably stable but structurally deficient where exposed to wind, which is why it grows in dense and mutually sheltering colonies. These big fractured limbs are very heavy, and fell with deadly velocity from very high up.

4. Umbellularia californica, California bay is often destabilized by structural deficiency. In other words, although its trunks and limbs are generally not structurally deficient, rot often compromises the structural integrity of the roots, which then become destabilized.

5. Two California bay trunks that destabilized and blocked the road in the picture above are obscured on the ground by their own foliage here. The fractured trunk that is visible was not structurally deficient, but was pulled down by the other two as they destabilized.

6. Hedychium coccineum X coronarium ‘Peach Delight’ ginger is likely too late to finish blooming. I would like to see it bloom to confirm its identity, but may need to wait until next year. Although irrelevant to the wind, I thought I should feature at least one bloom.

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/

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Horridculture – Pilferage

Cuttings could have been taken more neatly than this.

Aeonium arboreum, tree houseleek and a few other succulents within my tiny downtown garden are very important to me. They are from the former garden of a friend who passed away years ago. They have performed very well for this particular application since their arrival. They are resilient and undemanding, and provide delightful foliar color and form. The darkest bronze cultivar of tree houseleek that I ever grew arrived with them, but over a few months, was stolen until none of it remained. As the first few cuttings grew enough to become prominent, they were either taken completely, or deprived of their upper foliar rosettes. Any remaining rooted but bare stems eventually succumbed as any subsequent foliar rosettes that they generated were also taken. The surviving succulents remain only because they are both less popular, and too numerous for complete depletion. Actually, I would not mind if those who find these succulents to be appealing sometimes take a few pieces. I merely find their lack of tact to be annoying. I expect them to know better than to take the last of something. Also, I expect that they should have enough sense to take bits from where they would not be missed, and to do so neatly, without leaving broken stubs. Quite a few stems are sometimes overgrown or extending awkwardly outside the planter box, so should be removed anyway. Many stems that are overwhelmed by upper growth could be removed without compromising collective visual appeal. That might actually be a common occurrence that I am not aware of because it is done properly. Stems of these succulents can be easily broken neatly at their unions, without leaving stubs, so pruning shears are not even necessary. Fortunately, these damaged tree houseleeks will recover like they and other succulents always do.

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Seventh on Saturday . . . and Eighth and Ninth – Omissions

Six on Saturday is, as should be obvious, limited to six. Therefore, I omitted a few of the pictures of colorful berries that I took last week. The first of these three of the omissions is likely the most important, but was omitted because its berries are not quite as colorful as they will be as they ripen a bit later. The other two were omitted because they actually justify omission. I mean that they are nothing to brag about. However, I did not want to delete their pictures that they were polite enough to pose for without sharing them here.

7. Callicarpa americana, American beautyberry was one of several gifts from Woodland Gnome of Our Forest Garden. I had never encountered it prior to its arrival, but wanted to grow it for years! These berries will soon ripen to a slightly purplish but bright bubble gum pink. Although I am typically not so keen on such bright color, I find their oddness to be very appealing. There is a white cultivar, and I do typically prefer white, but I want to grow the typical sort that grows wild within its natural range, rather than any cultivar.

8. Viburnum tinus, laurustinus fails to impress me. I realize that it is popular elsewhere, and that I should learn to appreciate it, but nonetheless, its allure somehow escapes me.

9. Cotoneaster pannosus, silver cotoneaster, to me, is even more unimpressive, perhaps because it is a weed locally. Berries are not colorful for long before turkeys destroy them. What is worse is that turkeys do not seem to eat the berries. They just shake them off the stems, and just leave them to decay on the ground. Berries that manage to ripen are not as vibrant red as firethorn berries, but are a somewhat grungy brownish or orangish red.

This is the link for the original Six on Saturday, for anyone who would like to participate: https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/six-on-saturday-a-participant-guide/

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Six on Saturday: Berries

Brightly colored berries are ripening for both migrating and overwintering birds who are enjoying the abundance.

1. Rosa californica, California wild rose produces nice small hips, but then defends them within a thicket of very thorny canes. Birds have no problem flying in from above to take all they want. I get only what is left when it is time to cut the thicket down during winter.

2. Sambucus cerulea, blue elderberry is one of only two of these six that is designated as a berry by its common name, but is the only one of these six that is not a berry. Its fruits are drupes. Its jelly wins ribbons every time I bring it to compete at the Harvest Festival.

3. Cornus florida, flowering dogwood should stay almost fruitless. Yet, it produces more berries than the red flowering currant produces. It and the red cestrum are the only two of these six that are not native here. Rhody says it is dogwood because the ‘bark’ is ‘ruff’.

4. Ribes sanguineum, red flowering currant should produce more berries than flowering dogwood, but this is about as abundant as it gets. The berries do not even look appealing enough to collect. Their flavor is no more impressive than their oddly grayish blue color.

5. Cestrum fasciculatum ‘Newellii’ red cestrum berries are toxic, like those of snowberry and flowering dogwood. However, they are not toxic to birds who sometimes eat them as soon as they become colorful enough to be pretty. Birds can be pretty in the garden also.

6. Symphoricarpos albus, snowberry is a rather skimpy species. Its thin and wiry stems form low and sparsely foliated thickets. It only stays because it produces these unusually white berries. It might be prettier and more prolific if coppiced during winter dormancy.

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/

Posted on by tonytomeo · 4 Comments

Horridculture – Keep Out!

Gilroy City Council does not endorse this landscape.

Corner lots can be challenging. Even if paths do not get worn diagonally through front lawns, vegetation between curbs and sidewalks is likely to get trampled. The pavement in the foreground of this picture connects the sidewalk to crosswalks for the two associated streets. (I realize that this is not a very good picture, and the blotched out poster for a candidate for Gilroy City Council could not be erased completely, but I took it from a car while stopped at a stop sign.) Vegetation for this particular application must be durable, and perhaps deterrent to trampling. This particular vegetation certainly conforms in that regard. However, there is no polite way of saying how extremely dysfunctional this landscape is. Firstly, from the get go, it is very dangerous to anyone who might simply trip and fall as people sometimes do. Secondly, this landscape will become more dangerous as it matures. Although most of the already crowded agaves seem to be a somewhat compact cultivar that should not reach very far over the sidewalk, the specimen at the center of the bottom of the picture seems to be a variegated common century plant, which has potential to reach halfway across the sidewalk. Thirdly, the entire hot mess will be hideous as it soon needs to be pruned for clearance. The sago palm will soon reach the sidewalk like the common century plant. Pruning will destroy their foliar form. The Mexican fan palm should eventually grow upward and out of the way, but will eventually prevent the streetlamp from illuminating a portion of the sidewalk close to the corner, where illumination is relatively important. Fourthly, this collective herd of wickedly hateful vegetation will soon be too congested to remove litter or weeds from; and curbside landscapes such as this innately collect litter.

Posted on by tonytomeo · 2 Comments

Six on Saturday: Fake Autumn

Daylight does not last quite as long as it had earlier in summer. Shadows stay noticeably longer. Summer actually ended about two weeks ago. For now it is early Indian summer.

1. “Bunny Xing” is as irrelevant to autumn as it is to Charing Cross Road in Los Angeles. I just found it to be amusingly odd that a neighbor seems to be protective of wildlife that can be so detrimental to some gardens here. Bunnies fortunately do not bother us much.

2. Juglans nigra, Eastern black walnut or Juglans nigra X hindsii, royal walnut, yellows early, more likely because it is tired of summer heat than because it anticipates autumn. Both walnut tree types naturalized from understock that sustained old walnut orchards.

3. Quercus lobata, valley oak typically but not always begins to brown after walnut trees yellow. This yellowish color is likely a result of the weather cooling a bit before warming again. This species is native nearby, but may have naturalized here after getting planted.

4. Acer rubrum, red maple is likely only coloring because it is distressed by confinement of its roots within its big clay pot. Recent and suddenly warmer weather after seasonably cooler weather may have accelerated the process. I really want these trees in the ground!

5. Helianthus annuus, sunflower mysteriously appeared precisely where we should have but neglected to grow sunflowers this year. This is the only one, but it is enough to show us what we are missing because of our lack of diligence. It is only a bit early for autumn.

6. Rhody is ready for autumn. More specifically, he is ready for cooler weather. Although it was scarcely more than ninety degrees yesterday, and only for a few hours after noon, it seemed to be unseasonably warm, after earlier weather was already beginning to cool.

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/

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Six on Saturday: Copy Machine

This is not about a machine that makes copies. It is five pictures of copies and a machine that Rhody could make very good use of.

1. Citrus paradisi ‘Marsh’ grapefruit was doing well until some sort of caterpillar that ate much of the foliage off of the passion fruit vines found it. This is an ungrafted cutting, so could eventually grow into a humongous shade tree if it survives this late without leaves.

2. Santolina virens, lavender cotton needed to be removed from one of the landscapes. I did not want it all to go completely, but none of it was salvageable, and I had not grown copies of it earlier. Happily, I found that this single dinky copy somehow got left behind.

3. Kniphofia uvaria, red hot poker is one of those common perennials that I had wanted to grow, but never did. Fancy cultivars are now more common than the common simple species. Finally, I managed to acquire three pups from an old and abandoned landscape.

4. Archontophoenix cunninghamiana, king palm, or bangalow palm or piccabeen palm, is one of the popular palms of coastal Southern California that I would like to grow here. Naturally, but just as naturally without any plans, I procured about two dozen seedlings.

5. Musa acuminata ‘Golden Rhino Horn’ banana pups have grown like weeds since their arrival last June, and now, one of this pair is generating either another pair of pups very closely together, or a single pup that is already extending its first frond away from its tip.

6. Rhody is a terrier. In other words, he is terrestrial. Instinctively, he wants to dig in the earth. His type was bred for pursuit of terrestrial vermin, such as gophers. They need no excuse to dig, of course. Furthermore, Rhody requires no justification for his technique.

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/