A bit of November color

Kumquats and Pokeweed and Hachiya persimmons

great new-for-me reading matter!

And if you haven't discovered this blog for yourselves, now is the time! I spent about 3 hours last night reading all of this fellow's wonderful entries and looking at his great pictures.
www.http://east-side-patch.livejournal.com/1658.html
I hope this works for you. He just started it in April. In Austin. I was so inspired that I had to fight the urge to go out and rake new pathways in the dark.

November blooms

I don't know which aster this is other than its huge and only mildly interesting to the deer's gastronomic preferences. The Lion's tail is almost smothered.














This lovely Nerine was a surprise. I'd totally forgotten that Angela had shared her bulbs with me..goodness knows when!

This bud was a fabulouos surprise a couple days ago. This Stapelia was given to me as chunks and pieces from my daughter a few years ago. This is the first time it has bloomed. (at least, I hope it will actually bloom..that some dang squirrel doesn't leap up and break off the bud!) I may be moving it away from the house when the bud does open because I'm pretty sure it isn't one of the nice smelling ones~

fall color and shroomies

The color show that the Virginia Creeper puts on in the fall makes all its other naughtiness bearable. This was my greeting upon arriving home after work yesterday.
And this morning's greeting was Gnorris-the-Gnome standing waist-deep in a brand new crop of shroomies. Or toadies? I'm too lazy to look these things up right now. Maybe my daughter will happen to look at this blog and leave her educated guess. She's "into" fungi.

He needs a little OBAMA sign that won't run in the rain. ;>)

OMG! RAIN!!

We hadn't had any measurable rain since May 24th, '08, so this totally dust settling wetness that started late yesterday afternoon is most welcome. Now if we can just have a nice wet winter and a fabulous snowpack in the Sierras, we might ease our drought situation. The nearest lake to me, Folsom, is at 25% capacity. That pretty much makes it a puddle.
Nice to have a puddle from sky droppings instead of a forgotten running sprinkler...

This rain does mean that the Chasmanthe will now be springing out of the earth in great green masses, covering all manner of lawn mower obstacles and turning next spring's first mowing into an...adventure... Sure do wish the deer would develop a hunger for Chasmanthe.

October birds in my yard

Bird list for October...so far...
1. Scrub jay
2. American Goldfinch
3. Oak Titmouse
4. Mourning dove
5. Northern Flicker
6. Bewick's wren
7. House finch
8. White breasted nuthatch
9. Anna's hummingbird
10. Sharp-shinned hawk
11. American robin
12. Cedar waxwings
13. White crowned sparrow
14. Bushtits
15. Nuttalls woodpecker
16. American crow
17. Black Phoebe
18. Lesser goldfinch
19. Gold crowned sparrow
20. Dark eyed junco
21. Red tail hawk
22. Yellow billed magpie
23. Yellow rumped warbler (Audubon's warbler)
24. Northern mockingbird
25. Mallards (fo)

some fall color

Angela's Strawberry tree, Arbutus Ericaceae.
My Virginia Creeper. Parthenocissus quinquefolia.

the Vinca Battle

To make room for new and improved, I hope, landscaping, this patch of Vinca Major had to be removed. I'd been wanting to do this for years but its such a formidable task that it was easier to just Grinch about it. But then my wonderful neighbors came over a couple of weeks ago to move chips into other parts of this Not-So-Secret-Garden and that finally got me in gear.
This was last weekend. The little patch in front is mostly Japanese Anenomies that the deer had forgotten to eat. Of course, now that all the vinca has been removed the deer will probably dine on what's left of the anenomies. Did discover that vinca is not too hard to remove using one of those little claw/blade thingies. (if I was clever the photo of such a tool would be here). Naturally there are always a few hidden roots that suddenly grow leaves and start the process all over but if one pays attention and gets them in their youth so to speak, the stuff can be kept under control.
Here is how it looks at the moment. It will eventually have some ornamental grass clumps, and lots of Mexican Lobelia, Sticky Monkey Flower, California fuchsia, and other things native and/or drought resistant.

My intention was to work more on it yesterday but my back muscles finally went on strike and I decided to get a haircut instead. Oy, did I ever get a haircut! I won't need another one for months! Yikes!

Fabulous neighbors!

This is chip pile #2. It is mostly, if not all, eucalyptus judging by the nice odor. Some of us were smart enough to actually wear the provided masks, others of us will probably cough for a few days. Breathing dusty-moldy air is probably not the healthiest of activities. Luckily there was a brisk wind blowing the cloud of dustmold away from us.
I thought I wanted to move back to Oregon. What was I thinking? And leave wonderful, crazy, fun neighbors like this behind? Karen, Jan, Elisa and David moved, in 90 minutes, the amount of chips it took me four days to move by myself. Plus they all took some excess plantlife from my overcrowded space to theirs. We now must decide who's yard gets The Crew next.





This is where the pile went. There WAS a photo of what's left of The Pile but my computer just ate it. Looks like she-who-knows-not-how-to-use-her-camera (that would be moi) had macro on for this shot. oops. This is the 25' x 75' not-so-secret-garden that will eventually sport mostly native plants. It will be pretty eventually, trust me. There is still much vinca major, Bermuda, mint, and other things to remove and then some of the existing plants will be divided and moved hither and yon. Or yawn. Unfortunately this shot does not show either of the two OBAMA signs posted. It does show the American flag which I've decided is NOT just the symbol of the republicans. Its OUR flag too. I'm not a "flag waver" but I am tired of the assumption that only republican houses post our flag.

I love my neighbors!

LED

I LOVE LED lighting!

Recycle!

What to do with a nice ceramic birdbath, an old rusty wheel rim and a too-heavy-to-move olive tree stump? Well............ You stack them all together and voila! And my dear friend, Angela, suggested that I plant succulents in the nooks and crannies of the root mass. Capital idea!

The birdbath itself wouldn't balance on the uneven root tangle so it had been on an ugly board..which was a'tilt, which made the water uneven and just looked tacky. Of course, it was that way for months. Maybe even years.

The rusty rim used to be something that hung from the Pineapple guava and actually held a rolled up hose..when I bothered to roll up the hose...No wait. It must have hung from the olive tree that was next to the guava. The olive went down in last winter's wind storm. (different olive tree, yes) The rim has been just hangin' out and looking tacky.

Olive wood is tough as nails so this stump should be able to accomodate the birdbath AND a succulent garden for many years. Oh I just can't wait to get out there with my cactus & palm potting mix and a bunch of succulents tomorrow!!!

Amaryllis by Morning

This has been a bumper crop year for Naked Ladies. (amaryllis belladonna) Perhaps they really do prefer very droughty conditions because though I've watered much less this summer, the Amaryllis (amaryllisi?) have been popping up since early August, and are STILL surprising me. They have come up in places I'd never seen them before. They bloomed in pots (had planned on taking some with me when I moved) so so much for the "do not disturb" theory. They supposedly like well drained soil..I guess my hardpan drains well enough.

I have been trying to post a slide show of all the different clumps of blooming Amaryllis but for some reason (Vista?) that hasn't worked the 42 times I've tried this past week. I'll keep trying because they are quite lovely as well as prolific.

What a surprise in the Bletilla striata bed!
And a potted surprise!

Who needs a gym?

This beautiful pile of chipped up trees and shrubbery greeted me when I got home from my real job Thursday evening. Since I'm not moving to Oregon afterall, I decided that there were (are) lots of pathways and bare areas that need(ed) a good 6" layer of woodchips to foil the mud clumps that otherwise stick to the feet of those who dwell here in the winter.
This is (was) the pile by Monday evening. I shoulda weighed myself Friday morning and again Monday eve. I'm pretty sure my jeans are looser! Now I am looking for one of those Shiatsu massaging thingies that can be placed in a comfy chair for "massage on demand". I don't think I can wait until Christmas.

I've also got orders in for at least two more loads of chips. Three would probably be best. It has been a few years since the pathways were last "mulched" and the Mud Fairies have once again taken over. Ok, the Dust Fairies are in control for now, but eventually the rains will return. Won't they?

Dang deer!!

There once was a lovely young Dogwood growing down by the redwood trees. Granted, its placement was not so good..the redwoods forcing the little dogwood to bend towards the sunshine, but it did bloom there and was a bright spot in an otherwise dark part of the yard.
Wednesday night I came home from work and saw that the dogwood was leaning more than usual and was looking rather tattered.



On closer inspection it became obvious that Tripod had been using it to scrub the last of the velvet off his considerable antlers. The little tree is completely girdled and will not survive. Too bad he didn't scratch his itch on that stump of a pine tree not 3' away!

Venison is beginning to sound like a treat....even though I don't care for the taste. Jerky perhaps. Grrrrrr.

I feel sorry for the deer. They have been pushed away from their traditional grazing areas along the river by the human penchant of building starter castles with huge walls around their perimeters. ("We want to live near 'nature' but we don't want it to bother us")
The deer have moved into the subburbs and have taken up residence where the neighbors don't have WALLS around their properties. Though I'm happy to give them a safe place to live, I am worried about the population. Currently there are two does, 3 fawns, and Tripod-the-buck spending most of their time on this 2.5 acre property. The does and the fawns do travel to neighboring lots but Tripod can't jump fences anymore so he's here 24-7.

ahhhh. Compost!

One morning last week I forked the first third of the left compost bin into the other compost bin. (Duh. The first TWO thirds. The third third went into the flower bed!) The mornings have been cool and lovely to work in. I am lucky not to have to leave for work until 10:00a.m. so I can gets lots done.

My brother made these duo bins for me several years ago. I'd only had to whine for two years before he caved in.


This little feller was filled twice with the nice compost and yes, some of the yummy dirt from the bottom of the bin. This thing holds a bit more than 5 gallon bucket-load.



















This is the litle flowerbed that benefited from the compost. Things are rather crammed into this bed because, until I decided to make a flower bed in the dog's yard, this was the only fenced area available. (deer you know.)

Since I'm not moving to Oregon afterall, the bazillion things that had been living in pots for the past 2 years, are now getting to live in the ground...hence the crowding. I like the crowding but it is a bit of a challenge to weed. And as you can see, not everything has been unpotted yet.

Potted things that the deer had been ignoring are suddenly being tasted by the fawns so sometimes pots just get moved into the fenced area with the promise of later planting.

Freddy The Frog

A close up of the new pond mascot.