Oh, Mr. Ripple!

Um.. what is going on here?

that's the top of Mr. Ripple

Earlier this year, I noticed some weird leaves on Mr. Ripple. He seemed to get it figured out... but now...

Oh!

A bloom stalk!

Cool! (also, Mr. Ripple is definitely king of the poppies)

Hm, that's growing pretty fast...

a few days later

For scale, Mr. Ripple is probably about 8 feet in width/height... before the bloom stalk.

close up - that's probably at least 10 inches?

Initially, the bloom stalk was curving sideways, but it seems to have grown out of that.

this was a week later

Another week, and it was higher than the 2nd story balcony:

cool cool

On 5/10, it's probably a good 10-12 feet tall... and shows no signs of branching yet

poppies mostly dead... 

Right. This is going to get interesting.

watch this space!

I'm excited that Mr. Ripple is blooming... and also wondering what i'm supposed to do with the giant bloom stalk later? And how he's coming out of that pipe. But those are problems for later! I wonder if i'll get bulblets or seeds?

An update will be coming later for sure!

(also, i deserve a gold star for not making any um... inappropriate jokes about Mr. Ripple, his stalk and his size. I mean, they almost write themselves by accident!)

Wednesday Vignettes: Rainbow / Indigo

...continuing the rainbow project! This started as a project during California's safer at home / shelter in place orders. Looking back at all the pictures i've taken of my garden, and finding a rainbow of colors. I was also inspired by one of my favorite artists, Philippa Stanton at 5ftinf and her book "Conscious Creativity", which talks about color collecting, texture and a ton of other things.

Inspired by her book, creativity, Instagram and with a lot of time on my hands, i went and found all the colors of rainbow in my garden. For today, here's INDIGO:

 You know, i had to look up what "indigo" actually meant as a color? It's a blue-ish purple. Turns out i have more of it than i thought. I really should grow those castor beans again... I'm going to post all the colors, so my apologies in advance if it gets boring... But i really wanted to find something positive out of the craziness these last few months. Up next: VIOLET

Poppies everywhere!

I know, i already did a post about the poppies... but a few weeks later, a follow up was needed! This was an amazing year for poppies in the back garden!

So many! This was in April

they look good from all directions

this spot on the steps became a favorite breakfast spot

In the afternoon they looked great backlit by the sun:

So orange!

They are mostly in the back corner, but working on taking over the whole DG area:

starting their march!

the whole corner

Now (mid May) they aren't looking their best... more brown than orange! I know i have to put up with the ugliness for a few weeks, so that the seeds get released for next year. I also have to remember to get some red poppy seeds for next year!

And now more weeding and repairing of gopher damage... sigh. See you next year poppies!

Wednesday Vignettes: Rainbow / Green

...continuing the rainbow project! This started as a project during California's safer at home / shelter in place orders. Looking back at all the pictures i've taken of my garden, and finding a rainbow of colors. I was also inspired by one of my favorite artists, Philippa Stanton at 5ftinf and her book "Conscious Creativity", which talks about color collecting, texture and a ton of other things.

Inspired by her book, creativity, Instagram and with a lot of time on my hands, i went and found all the colors of rainbow in my garden. For today, here's GREEN:

(not my garden)

(ditto)

(that's the Huntington)

Funny that green, the most common color, has the most pictures that are not from my garden. But there is something so soothing about large expanses of green.

I'm going to post all the colors, so my apologies in advance if it gets boring... But i really wanted to find something positive out of the craziness these last few months. Up next: INDIGO

Opuntia Blooms

Every year, numerous times, i curse myself for getting glochids all over myself. Why do i put up with these plants?

Oh yeah:

because of these flowers!

even newly replanted they bloom!

these ones (marcocentra) have always been my favorite

these defy being photographed!

This year was a long blooming year - as of mid may, there are still some buds waiting to pop.

This one is brand new/never flowered... i wonder what color it will be?

This was the first time I saw these flowers:

a very soft pink!

these are so loud they deserve a 2nd picture

these will also be a very soft pink.. but on purple pads

these are also new!

these will be yellow!

And then there is still orange and peach to come! I need to find some red flowering ones... 

(wait - no - i don't need more plants, and definitely not more opuntias. Although i forget the glochids soon enough...)

Wednesday Vignettes: Rainbow / Blue

...continuing the rainbow project! This started as a project during California's safer at home / shelter in place orders. Looking back at all the pictures i've taken of my garden, and finding a rainbow of colors. I was also inspired by one of my favorite artists, Philippa Stanton at 5ftinf and her book "Conscious Creativity", which talks about color collecting, texture and a ton of other things.

Inspired by her book, creativity, Instagram and with a lot of time on my hands, i went and found all the colors of rainbow in my garden. For today, here's BLUE:

(that's not my garden)

(not my garden either!)

Is anyone really surprised that blue equals a lot of desert sky and agaves? I'm going to post all the colors, so my apologies in advance if it gets boring... But i really wanted to find something positive out of the craziness these last few months. Up next: GREEN