Books + Videos

Our city library was renovating, so I haven’t been able to check stuff out. I check it tonight and they were open… so, yeay, I got some books:

– How Plants Get Their Names by L.H.Bailey
– Japanese Gardens in a Weekend by Robert Ketchell
– Creating Water Gardens by Ortho Books
– The Complete Book of Cacti & Succulents by Terry Hewitt
– Western Garden Annual 1994 Edition by the Sunset Editors

I also noticed that they had videos and DVDs, so I checked them out and to my surprise, there were garden videos (under 635). I was doublely excited when I found tapes of a series that I’ve been looking for:

– Gardening Naturally – Getting Started
– Gardening Naturally – Preparing for Spring

Both with Barbara Damrosch and Elliot Coleman. I recorded these way back when it aired on PBS (I think). Well, a coworker borrow it and lost it!!! I’ve been hoping I run into it on TV, but I’ve never seen it since… ’til now.

Baby Seedling…

As I was taking a break from work, I went to check if Mr. Dandelion was still under the tree on the sidewalk on The Embarcadero (San Francisco). I was surprised to see the seedling below. I’m not sure what it is, but it looks like a pine tree seedling.

Baby Seedling

Mr. Dandelion was gone, by the way.

I then thought, if the landscaper were to see it, they would just pull it out like a weed… so I pulled it up as carefully as I could, to plant in a pot. I kinda snapped the root, so I’m not sure if it’ll make it, but I guess we’ll see…

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year!!!

I finally was able to edit through all my photos from the San Francisco Botanical Garden. Below are 6 out of the 86 photos I posted on my San Francisco Botanical Garden (Dec 2005) album on flickr.com.

  

  

  

San Francisco Botanical Garden

Today, I took advantage of the break in the rains plus 11 days off of work and took a trip to the San Francisco Botanical Garden. I took numerous photos and will post them shortly…

Cactus Book…

One of the gifts I received from Christmas was “Cactus: The Most Beautiful Species and Their Care” by Elisabeth Manke. Thanks Howie :)

Garden Status…

I didn’t have work today, so I was able to do a little garden work and snap more pictures.

I checked the Brussel Sprouts and Swiss Chard and they are doing okay, but there was a lot of snail/slug damage :)

The Sugar Snap Peas that I planted on the 8th are sprouting. I can’t tell if the leaves have not opened up, or if they were eaten by snail, slugs, pill bugs and/or earwigs. I’ll have to recheck tomorrow.

I turned the leaves in the compost bin, and you can see the steam rising. Looks like the BioStack is doing a much better job at heating the compost up than my garbage can bins. I did notice these weird bugs under the lid with ants tending them, kinda aphid size, but they looked a little different than aphids.

The Dutch Irises and Spring Star Flower that I potted up on the 8th are emerging.

The Coleus survivors are surprisingly still hanging on, but I really should get some cuttings… and I should get off my behind and get the old aquarium in the patio and bring it in and put some grow-lights!!!

I started a Coleus group on Flickr…

I’m so excited, because I took my passion for Coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides) and started a group on Flickr devoted to… guess what?… Coleus!!!

My ultimate goal is to have a central location where you can view photos of Coleus from people all around the world. There is also an area where you can discuss these colorful plants.

Coleus

So, if you have any Coleus photos and a Flickr account, stop by an share with the group. Here’s the link:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/coleus/

( Also posted in Gardening )

Found Christmas Kalanchoe + Wierdo Kiwi Fruits

As I was walking to carpool after work and saw some broken Christmas Kalanchoe plants. Knowing me, I searched for any leaves that were broken off. I was able to collect these, which I’ll try to propagate.

Found Christmas Kalanchoe (Kalanchoe blossfeldiana)
Found Christmas Kalanchoe

Once I got home, I took my Mom grocery shopping and we saw these weirdo Kiwi Fruits which we bought for a $1 (for 4).

Weirdo Kiwi Fruits
Weirdo Kiwi Fruits