Six on Saturday - Random pretty pictures

Most of these aren't even from June - but thinking back to this Spring (what a strange time!)

so pretty!

a jumble with easter eggs

I was very excited that Queen's Tears decided to bloom!

more cacti flowers

a few of the original ice plants are still hanging on

all the other random wildflowers that bloomed alongside the poppies!

Soon I'll get back to posting recent pictures of the garden!

Six on Saturday (make that Sunday) - 5/10/2020

Is this just an excuse to play with portrait mode on my phone?

Yes? But "snow in summer" was a willing subject

Not all the pictures are close ups - the poppies look(ed) great this year.

basically taking over that corner

More pictures will be coming soon enough...

The opuntia are getting ready to pop!

that's not an opuntia flower :) 

It's not just poppies in the garden - not sure what this cute little thing is, but it's fighting for space with the poppies

I'm sure it will turn out to be evasive or something... but it's cute for now

Portrait mode is the only way i can get in-focus pictures of the grevilleas

i think our quick heat bleached the color out of these?

Portrait mode also blurs out all the weeds i haven't pulled yet, and the gopher damage. The stupid gophers didn't get this yellow hersperaloe!

excited that my protection system is working... and that i'm getting a yellow bloom!

The cherries are back!

soon they will be red!

Happy Spring!

Six on Saturday: Weird cherry tree, and new pots!

Just for fun this weekend, here's a look at six random things in my garden...

First off, my very strange cherry tree - can you see it blooming here?

it's on the north side of the house

It's done this the last few years - bloom on the bottom half of the tree first. I assume it has something to do with the roof line of the house?

a closer picture

In a few more weeks, the top will have flowers, and the bottom leaves. In a few more months, there will be lots of cherries, which is really all that matters.

(also - note to self - prune those opuntia...)

Next - i refreshed some of the hanging pots in my garden! I'm still amazed i can keep these alive! This is one of the new ones:

just some easy succulents

 This one is in a bit more exposed location - it already has sunburn:

but hopefully it will adjust...

 both pots have a spot that's clearly rock mulch - that's where the ice cubes go! I water these pots with ice cubes... so that the water can actually soak into the pots. I've had luck with string-of-pearls surviving, so let's hope that continues!

These next two pots are going on their 3rd year!

this one looks much better now that i watered it...

this one looks kinda bad, TBH, but this plant is definitely surviving

I should get around to adding some more plants to that second pot. Perhaps i should brave the garden center next weekend for my weekly "leave the house" adventure/support local businesses, while maintaining social distancing.

Weekend Wrap up: Gazania everywhere

I continue to be grateful to my garden for being a great place to be distracted, relaxed, and learn that control is just an illusion. I spend all sorts of time figuring out where plants go, and which ones i should get, and then the garden says: "What you need is Gazania"

and so therefore, there were Gazania on the hillside

You can buy different colored ones at the garden centers. In my experience, they don't really last. I've never bought yellow or orange ones. But that's what the garden decided it liked, in all the different colors. 

yellow with orange stipes

more orangy and dark

orange

yellow

and this color combo

Not just content with showing me that it's better than me at picking flower colors, the garden also showed that it's much better at picking where to plant them than any planting scheme i've ever come up with:

the right hill side

Here's to hoping we get more Spring-like days soon! 

Six on Saturday & Saturday Pruning

This might seem like a strange plant to "prune", but my Opuntia ficus-indica 'Burbank Spineless' has become really overgrown. Some of the pads are so heavy, they break off the plant. Last year, it bloomed noticeably less than before. This is what it looks like now:

the yellow & brown patches are in part due to the snow & water

 It's kind of all over the place, as you can see from this side:

more wide than tall

I really want it to grow like some of the larger ones at the Huntington - woody at the bottom, and more tall. So a few hours later, i was very happy that this plant has no glochids, and had this:

a little better?

Still a bit unbalanced from this side.

Looking at these pictures, i may go pull out a bit more, and see if i can get it a bit more up-right looking. I also want to see what new pads will grow this year. I'm not worried about this plant coming back from this pruning, since it usually grows pretty quickly

And here are two other pretty pictures to close out this "six on saturday":

new rose buds and foliage on the plants i pruned back a month ago!

i also uncovered the stairs on the hillside again!

That last picture has some ugly bare spots, but that's because of our cold winter... the ground cover should grow back quickly now that Spring is (almost!) here!

6 on Saturday: pretty pictures

Spring (well, late winter) cleaning continues. I hate gophers. Instead of focusing on that though, here are some pretty pictures of the garden:

the first acacia to bloom this year!

finally an in-focus grevillea (lanigera, but more pink that the one in front garden)

the almond tree is blooming (late)

the new foliage on these roses is very green

the fact that these two pots of succulents aren't dead is a small miracle

it starts: the first new pond plant!

Now i will get back to cleaning up the hillside. And looking up insulting names for gophers... Happy almost Spring!

6 on Saturday: looking back at Joshua Trees in the snow

After the late December snow, i stopped by the Prime Desert Woodland Preserve for some unusual views! The snow did two things: put the Joshua trees in some odd company, and make the dry stream beds be actual streams. It was cool to see the park in such a strange setting.

water!

this was the day after the snow - the melt patterns were interesting

more water

lots of animal tracks

the green really popped

no snow on the joshua trees anymore - but plenty left on the ground

By 1 January, all the snow was gone, and even the mud had dried again. Its amazing how quickly the moisture gets sucked into the ground. I'll be looking back at these pictures in the summer for sure!

Six on Saturday - 6/23/2018

Six things in the garden today, to distract me from the heat and long to do list...

Mangave kaleidoscope approves the mulch matching it's stripes!

Lots of soft plants!

balanced with spiky agave shawii (I think)

Eucalyptus macrocarpa new growth is pretty

Butterfly bush perfuming the patio

These little cacti keep jumping in my cart...