Category: Gardening (Page 2 of 178)

There’s only one plant in my back yard that is from the previous owner. It’s a Christmas fern. It’s tough, and green, and covers the water pipes my hose is connected to.

And the termite tenting killed it.

Yesterday, I was cutting away some of the dead leaves.

And then I saw it – a new leaf! It’s all green and alive-looking!

I’m so happy! The fern is alive!

I planted some chocolate flowers (berlandiera lyrata) this summer. My first flower opened about three months ago. Now the plants are really big, and there are LOTS of flowers.

Yesterday on my way to our two-hour Saturday church choir rehearsal (which I am mentioning for memory archive purposes), I could smell the chocolate flowers when I stepped out my front door. The scent was so strong and delicious! Yum!

There are a lot of flowers now. My roses are suffering from some kind of affliction, so they look bad, but the chocolate flowers? They’re looking sunny and cheery and beautiful!

I found out there was an orchid show happening at the Huntington Gardens this weekend! I was so excited, because I have often found out about events like this after they are already over.

I went yesterday! It was so cool. There were many gorgeous displays in the show:

I was excited to look at show-winning phalaenopsis orchids, since that’s the kind I grow in my bathroom.

But the other varieties were amazing too. From tiny…

…to giant…

…and all shapes.

I loved this color:

They even had a display in the stairwell:

There were also vendors there. Wow, was there a lot of stuff for sale:

The orchid window in my bathroom is so small, I was being really good about saying “no” to my impulses to buy. But then I saw this orchid for sale, which would grow outside.

I have LOTS of room outside, so I got one!

It grows big. I’m excited to see if I can get it to thrive!

My tiny African violet is blooming! It’s called “Rob’s Twinkle Blue”. I was so excited to get it a couple of months ago.

The flowers are tiny, and they stay cupped instead of opening flat.

I’ll have fun watching it continue to flower.

The lady at the succulent store on Saturday told me about the annual succulent sale of the Long Beach Cactus Club. It was yesterday! What a coincidence! And it was just about two miles up, on the exact same street as my school! What another coincidence! I HAD to go.

It was at a small community center. The first room had several cactus vendors:

The next room had some chairs set up for their auction. Here are some of the items:

The auction was my favorite part. It was fun, and so interesting. The people all loved succulents, and were excited to see large specimens, and plants that were offered by locally famous plantsmen, and they were even excited about pots that were made by locally famous artists. It made me want to bid for the things!

I didn’t. But I did buy two plants. I got a copiapoa hypogaea, which I have been looking for for ages. I had one back in Maui, and have desired to have one here. I was so happy to see one!

I also got a haworthia fasciata, which is a pretty common succulent, but this is a variegata, which means it’s a really light color. I have been looking for one for ages. I had one back in Baltimore, and have desired to have one ever since. I was so happy to see one!

The guy I bought the plants from was so knowledgeable. It was fun talking with him. He was telling me that the copiapoa lives in a place where it rains once a year, but it has daily fog. It’s wetter here (which is a funny thing to say about LA), but he said it could actually grow in the ground here. He also said that it has a long tap root, like a turnip, and that in nature, it often pulls itself under the sand until it rains, when it pops up and blooms. Fascinating! If he wasn’t so busy, I would have asked him about more of the plants.