Gardening

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Butterfly Sips from the Nectar Bar

I spotted this little lovely on the pansies this morning as I was sweeping the walkway. What a striking contrast against the purple flowers.

Initially, I thought it was a moth, but upon reading, it has the characteristics of a butterfly.  I’ve seen butterflies alight before, but this is the first time I saw one drink nectar from the flower.  How charming!

It’s a pleasure sweeping and raking pine needles after a storm, at least until the blisters form. Everything smells of nature’s musk.  There is nothing quite like it.  Do you think my little visitor agrees?
Orange butterfly

Orange butterfly on pansy

closed wings

PJ’s Nectar Bar at The PyjamaGardener

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The Caged Garden

It’s not pretty, but it’s working!

Introducing…my winter veggie boxes…now growing in a cage.

Garden Cage

Garden-in-a-cage

After a discouraging start to my winter vegetable garden where nothing came up, I started over.  To make up for lost time, I bought cell packs instead of seeds. The upper planting box simply failed to thrive. The lower box proved irresistible to the cats:

 “Did you put all that nice soil there for me?

Why thanks.”

Where's the door?

Where’s the door?

I cobbled together bird netting, chicken-wire and steel mesh to create a complete enclosure.  Water and sun can get in, but my four-legged friends can’t. I waited a week before writing about it, but I’m happy to report that Fort Knox for vegetables is holding tight.  I’m not planning any recipes just yet, but I’m feeling a lot more optimistic. Stay tuned!

cat on the garden box

Psst. Follow me.

Hodgepodge

I failed to include a photo of the Hodgepodge yesterday. Here is the current crop. (Thanks Sharon).

Garden Hodge-Podge

Garden Hodgepodge

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Just Visiting

Jazzy

Jazzy

My personal motto is that homes should be lived in and gardens shared. Visitors are a welcome treat. We’re all social creatures, heart and soul, no matter where you land in the social equation. Extroverts like to live large, while introverts find solace in the quiet in between. I’m a little of both.

My friend Jazzy has a day care next door.  In the late afternoon her young charges visit my garden and deck, running up and down the ramp, checking out the fairy garden and swinging from the Magnolia tree. Yesterday they were playing hide and seek.  It makes my heart sing when I hear their squeals and the sound of running feet.  Sometimes they’ll peer in the kitchen window to say hello. I love the open inquisitiveness of the under-five set.

Our neighbor’s cat likes to call our place home. He doesn’t get the attention he craves at his real address a few houses over, so he travels to find it. He sleeps in the garden, plays with one of my cats, and has mastered his way in and out of the yard through a hole I need to fix in the cat fencing. We love him like our own and would be heartbroken if they moved.

Mighty Mouse neighborhood cat

Mighty Mouse Neighborhood Cat

Squirrels, possums, raccoons, hummingbirds, snails and a myriad of other four to six-legged creatures also stop by. Though destructive at times, I’m still honored by the visit.  It tells me they’ve found a bit of nature in my backyard, a place to have a drink from the fountain or to eat a grub under the lawn.  I don’t garden for a living; I’m not selling crops.  So I work through my disappointment when one of them snaps a sunflower or digs up my (sniffle, sniffle) newly planted Snowdrop bulbs.  They’re busy living life to the fullest on a much-encroached planet.

squirrel on the fence

Isn’t he cute?

a pair of snails

A pair of snails heading home for the day

The welcome mat is forever unfurled.  Won’t you please come in?

Halloween Countdown

Ghost Pumpkin

The Ghost of Pumpkins Past

 

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SummerWinds Nursery Rebuilds

SummerWinds Acer

SummerWinds Acer survived the fire

It was a sad day for the community when SummerWinds Almaden Nursery burned to the ground in late August.  They’d done business in that neighborhood for 40 years.  The outpouring of support following the loss was amazing.

A few weeks after the fire, the nursery sold what remained of the undamaged plants and pottery at a three-day fire sale, with 10% of the proceeds benefiting the San Jose Firefighters Foundation.  Shoppers turned out in droves, contributing to the $14,000 raised for two of the foundation’s programs.

I learned this week that rebuilding plans are already under way.  The remains of the building are now in a heap.  The lot should be cleared in short order.  As the new building is under construction, the nursery will open an “Enhanced Christmas Tree Lot” on Tuesday, November 20th.  In addition to fresh-cut trees, they’ll be selling poinsettias, fresh wreaths and garland along with seasonal bedding plants.   They’ll have other holiday goodies for sale as well.
Summer Winds Demo

Enhanced Christmas Tree Lot

If you live in the community, please consider stopping by.

SummerWinds Nursery
4606 Almaden Expressway, San Jose
Corner of Almaden Expressway and Branham Lane

Opening Tuesday, November 20, 2012

For regular updates, visit their website at SummerWinds Nursery San Jose  or follow SummerWinds Almaden on Facebook.

SummerWinds Alyssum and Begonia

Alyssum and Begonias surrounding the nursery sign

Morning Glory Vine

Morning Glory Vine growing along the fence in front of the nursery

Halloween Countdown

Spooky Pumpkin

Spooky Pumpkin

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Blooming Thursday: Global Gardeners

pansies

Pansies

As many of my readers put their gardens to bed for the winter, I stopped by a local garden center for some annuals.  It’s easy taking our moderate California weather for granted having lived here so long. I do remember the frigid winter days in Ontario, Canada, but as a child, not an adult.

I enjoy reading gardening adventures from around the globe. It’s enriching. My friends in the Southern Hemisphere are busy planning spring gardens. To the far north, snow is already falling, and seasonal clean-up is under way.  In the warmer climates, things are fuzzier around the edges, but the four seasons prevail.

In gardens everywhere, nature and nurture duke it out.  Tiny little seeds arrive with imbedded DNA.  Tuck one under some healthy soil, add water and sun and the seed will take it from there.

Sometimes, it is that simple. Often, it’s not. Birds vie for those seeds while small critters eat the seedlings. Insects take a bite out of leaves or host on tender stems.  This can kill a young plant before it gets a foothold on life. Mold, fungus or unwanted pesticides from a neighbor’s yard can wreak havoc on a garden life.

Yet year after year, we gardeners garden. Like the tiny seed, we too have our own gardening DNA. I know gardening is in my genes.  How about you?

Chrysanthemums

Chrysanthemums

Halloween Countdown

The letter B pumpkin

Today’s pumpkin is brought to you by the letter “B”

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Spring Bulbs: My Flowery Future Awaits

White Flower Farm Tulip

Photo Credit: White Flower Farm

I lovingly perused the Fall Netherlands Bulb Company catalog, then cast it aside. The pages, filled with promise and spring blooms, made my heart ache. Wouldn’t it be glorious having a spring garden filled with exotic blooms?  Nothing shouts spring, like a garden filled with crocus, daffodils and tulips. I wrote about my bulb-planting failures in August: Spring Bulbs: To Plant or not to Plant, and received the following encouragement:

Bob J. wrote:

Bulbs are so forgiving, even upside down you will get SOME to twist around and come up. I don’t even bother to refrigerate, and most of mine come up anyway. Maybe you are planting too deep, but you would have to drop them in a well for all of them to fail. My feeling is that something has dug yours up. Probably you are going to have to protect them from critters. I stick with Costco and Ace hardware cheapies and plant a few new ones each year.

So, I’m giving them a second try.  Following Bob’s advice, I stopped at our local hardware store, and picked up a few bags.  Since early frost is uncommon here, I’m popping the tulip bulbs in the fridge for good measure. Bob’s climate is a bit cooler than ours, and he occasionally sees snow.

tulip bulb assortment

Tulip Bulb Assortment
Van Zyverden

Then Boomdeeada wrote:

I’ve had mixed success with fall bulbs. My favorite was a tulip called Angelique. Shorter, blush pink, frilly. It worked well in my spring garden (Our house was Burgundy in color). I also planted a mass of yellow & pink, late bloomers on the lake front, they’d bloom along with the mauve lilac. But I was always adding more every fall. I don’t know why they fail, but sometimes there wasn’t anything to dig up. Like you, I do love the scent of Hyacinth, but even though you link indicates Zone 2, they never came back the next year. Don’t give up!

So…guess what made it into my cart?  15 Tulip Angélique.  I’m so excited! 

Recommended planting months for our zone are October through December. The tulips have a few weeks to chill before heading outdoors. I also bought Tulip Attila and Tulip Passionale as well as Snowdrop Galanthus nivalis. Next up: where to plant my assorted bulbs and how to keep them under wraps till spring.  Suggestions welcome!

Resources:

Halloween Countdown

rock paper scissors pumpkin

Rock, paper, scissors Pumpkin

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Pumpkins: Just the Facts, Ma’am

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Pumpkins are so entrenched in our North American culture this time of year, that it’s easy to forget they’re not equally popular the world over.  They’re native to Central America and Mexico, but they’ve been grown in North America for five thousand years.

Bob's Pumpkin Farm, Half Moon Bay

Bob’s Pumpkin Farm, Half Moon Bay

Pilgrims learned to cultivate, grow and store pumpkins from the Native Americans.  Without them, they would have starved in those early 1600s winters. Pumpkin pie is traditionally served  at the Thanksgiving meal.  It’s easy to forget what a significant role it played in the early Pilgrim’s lives.

White pumpkin with flowers

Thanksgiving flower arrangement

We have a number of pumpkin festivals and pumpkin “patches” in our community.  We attended many of them when our boys were young, and were sorry when a few closed to make room for development.

The immensely popular Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival, dubbed the World Pumpkin Capital celebrates 42 years in 2012. The festival highlight for those of us serious about pumpkins, is the great pumpkin weigh-off.  Last year’s winning pumpkin tipped the scales at a mind-boggling 1,704 pounds. Unfortunately, the festival has grown so popular that it can take upwards of an hour to get to the center of town.  We joined friends for an off weekend last year, so we could drive through Half Moon Bay and along the beautiful coast, while avoiding the traffic nightmare.

Bob's Pumpkin Farm

Lifting Weights at Bob’s Pumpkin Farm

I dream of growing our own “Atlantic Giant,” out back, but lack the stamina and will power of the serious growers. It’s fun to read about the efforts the hard-core growers employ, and to see the amazing results.  It was quite the thrill growing a 62 pound beauty this year.

I can’t wait to see what the seeds and flesh are like inside.  My husband lovingly carves our pumpkins year after year.  We dry and store seeds for the following season and the cycle begins anew.

assorted pumpkins

2011 Pumpkin Crop

Pumpkin Facts

  • Pumpkins are a member of the gourd family, which includes cucumbers, honeydew melons, cantaloupe, watermelons and zucchini.
  • The largest pumpkin pie ever baked was in 2005 and weighed 2,020 pounds.
  •  In 1584, after French explorer Jacques Cartier explored the St. Lawrence region of North America, he reported finding “gros melons.” The name was translated into English as “pompions,” which has since evolved into the modern “pumpkin.”
  • Pumpkins are low in calories, fat, and sodium and high in fiber. They are good sources of Vitamin A, Vitamin B, potassium, protein, and iron.
  • The heaviest pumpkin weighed 1,810 lb 8 oz and was presented by Chris Stevens at the Stillwater Harvest Fest in Stillwater, Minnesota, in October 2010.
  • Pumpkin seeds should be planted between the last week of May and the middle of June. They take between 90 and 120 days to grow and are picked in October when they are bright orange in color. Their seeds can be saved to grow new pumpkins the next year.

 U.S. Census Bureau and the Guinness Book of World Records

Resources:

Halloween Countdown

Pumpkins and Flowers

Pumpkins and Flowers

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Freaky Friday: The Garden’s Dark Underbelly

It’s not all Sweet Alyssum and roses.  Every garden has a dark side. I’m sure it’s no accident that the spooky celebrations of Halloween coincide with the decay of fall.

Use your imagination and come with me as we travel the more sinister side of the garden.

bat wings

“Bat Wings”…or decaying leaf?

Spider in the gravel…look closely.

Rats Gone Bad

hollowed orange

Hallowed orange or hollow orange? You decide.

Tree RAt

Tree Rat or Field Mouse? Helping himself to an orange.

Not What They Seem

choking vine

The Choking Vine? Snaking and staking the trellis.

mottled leaf

Urban Decay

shrunken head

Shrunken Head?

stink bug

I’m a Stink bug. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Cavernous Lair

Something Wicked This way Comes

Something Wicked This Way Comes: Black Widow Haven

Halloween Countdown

Cat on Pumpkin

It’s The Great Pumpkin, Lindy-Lu!

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September Treats: A Little of This and That

purple flower polka dot plant

Tiny purple blooms dot the Polka Dot plant

My garden’s been busy over the weekend. In just 24 hours, the Pink Polka Dot plant produced several flowers.  I didn’t know the plant would actually bloom.  All plants have a flower and a fruit, but many are subtle and therefore go unnoticed. Tiny purple flowers dot the plant.  They’re quite small, no bigger than a centimeter, but they look vibrant against the mostly pink and green backdrop of the spotted leaves.  What a fun discovery.

yellow daisy like flower

Three cheers for yellow!!!

Also growing in one of the pots is a fresh, yellow daisy or daisy-like flower.  It’s another surprise from the packet of wildflowers planted in early spring. Every few weeks, a new flower appears. Today’s gorgeous bloom is as bright as a sunflower, but smaller in size. Yellow flowers are the garden cheerleaders: upbeat and sunny.

In that same pot, one or two fuchsia cosmos remain, a nice backdrop for the hummingbirds darting in and out at the feeder.

bird house gourd

Bowling-pin Gourd

I smiled when I rounded the corner of the trellis and saw a rapidly growing birdhouse gourd still thriving on the vine.  Most of the early fruit was small, but this latest gourd is growing at break-neck speed.  In its present form, it reminds me of a bowling pin.  Several smaller gourds grew up the trellis to the side of the house and they now hang below the eaves like a string of Christmas lights. Every time I see them I get a good giggle.

Tomorrow is October 1st with a projected temperature of 94 degrees Fahrenheit  (34 degrees Celsius). Crazy weather!  I’m starting my Halloween countdown in earnest tomorrow, featuring something seasonal daily.  Stay tuned.

I love October!  How about you?

cosmo and hummer

Cosmo and Hummingbird
Beauty Times Two

Christmas light gourds

Who needs to hang Christmas lights?

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Winter Garden: Above and Below

winter seed packetsI’m branching out this year.  Now that we have raised planting beds and a gravel and stone walkway, winter gardening holds more appeal.  Year one I planted fava beans as a cover crop, digging the plants back into the soil to add nitrogen.  Year two I planted broccoli.  I bought seeds, but waited too long to plant them, so I planted six starter plants instead.  Two survived and produced a few yummy florets, but it bolted early and that was that.

I’m hoping the old saw “three’s a charm” is true, and that year three will be a roaring success.  Here’s what I’m planting.

Above-ground vegetables include:

Lettuce Leaf Red Velvet

Botanical Interests ® Lactuca sativa.  The seed packet promises “wine-red leaves that are sweet and tender and will make any salad memorable.”  Red-leaf lettuce is delicious and brightens up a salad.  It will be such fun to grow my own.

Early Green Broccoli

The Seeds of Change® tag line is “goodness from the ground up.”  I love that! We all enjoy broccoli, which is to say, three of us really like it and one of us reluctantly agrees it’s not half bad. Let’s hope we have a better year.

Below-ground vegetables include:

Radish Crimson Giant

My eyesight has officially failed me. I thought I was buying beets. These “crimson beauties” were my sister’s favorite growing up. Now my oldest son is a big fan.  Here’s hoping garden beets taste just as sweet as the ones that come in a can!  Here’s hoping, too that I can still find a pack in the garden center.  Apparently we’re also growing radishes!  Now that is embarrassing.

Chives Common

I prefer the Latin name Allium schoenoprasum.  I’m not sure I can pronounce it but it sounds far less demeaning than the moniker “common.”  The Botanical Interests seed packet says “heirloom, with beautiful edible flowers and delicate onion flavored foliage.”  It also says “very easy to grow.”  Count me in!

I’m off to get my nails dirty.  If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, are you planting a winter garden?  Garden tips appreciated.

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