I took a day off of work today to bring my mom to a doctor’s appointment. Before we left, I had the chance to check out the back garden, which I hardly get to see in daylight since the days are so damn short.
I turned the compost in our new Smith & Hawkins BioStack Composter, which I won at a city composting workshop, and can definitely feel the heat being generated. I want to get another one, so if you are in the San Francisco Bay Area and want to get rid of yours, I’ll take it.
Last time we were at the filipino grocery store, my mom bought bought some Star Anise seeds. That got me wondering if they will grow, so I got four seeds and placed it on a a wet paper towel to see if they will sprout. If they do, I can try to grow some in the spring.
Star Anise seed pods
Will these four seeds sprout?
Two weekends ago, I was down in Milpitas (California), and noticed this Coleus-like plant in my sister-in-law’s sister’s garden. She didn’t know what it was, but gave me a couple cuttings.
Here’s the unknown plant
I just placed an order on Rosy Dawn Gardens for so many Coleuses. I know I ordered maybe too much, but I just couldn’t stop… and I’m treating myself for not buying a lot of junk this year… so that’s my excuse. I can’t wait until the spring.
I was watching a recording of People, Places & Plants (ep. 123) and saw three plants that I want:
– Farfugium japonicum (Leopard Plant)
– Coleus “Amazon”
– Coleus “Dip’t in Wine”
I’m watching Martha on my TiVo and she just said that apples are in the rose family… I didn’t know that.
Even though it’s raining and only 47°F outside, I am freezing.
We had a couple days of frost and I panicked yesterday when I saw the tips of my coleus withering away… So I got a pair of scissor, and hurriedly took cuttings, making sure to label them. I also collected the seed stalks and put them in bags to dry.
I brought a few to work and my coworker Cheri graciously offered her window sill for me to place my cuttings to over-winter. I told her I had a ton more at home and she she to bring them over; she doesn’t mind. Thank you Cheri!!! Hopefully they will survive and and can plant them in the spring.
I’ve also been surfing Rose Dawn Gardens website to see what Coleus to order for the spring.
Last night, I downloaded garden photos that I took over the weekend from my Canon PowerShot SD100 Digital ELPH, and was disappointed at most of the photos… most of which were of Coleuses. The photos were either blurry or the colors seemed really flat. I’m not sure if my camera is dying, if there was not enough light or if I was out of the macro focus range.
I’ve done some research and decided to buy a new camera with better macro capabilities. I came up with the Canon PowerShot A610. It’s minimum focus distance is 1cm, as opposed to my SD100’s focal range of 10-47cm, so hopefully I can get really close and capture those fine details. Plus, I won’t have to fix most of my photos in Photoshop before posting.