by angela@diggingbliss | Mar 18, 2006 | Uncategorized
Here are a few photos of scenery, exhibits and items I particularly enjoyed. If you go today or tomorrow, be sure to attend some of the excellent seminars and come prepared to lug home a bunch of plants and bulbs and garden tools and gismos and gadgets. A lot of smart folks bring those collapsible shopping carts on wheels.
Plants I bought:
- Epiphyllum ‘Tele’ from Epiphyllum World. Epis are my new addiction.
- 2 tree peonies from The Lily Pad
- Heuchera ‘Chocolate Ruffles’ from Digging Dog Nursery
- Dierama pulcherrimum from Digging Dog
- Persicaria virginiana ‘Lance Corporal’ from Digging Dog… nope… just discovered the plant was mislabeled. If or when I figure out what I bought, I’ll report back.
It was a beautiful sunny day in the city. Keep both hands on the wheel when photographing while driving.
Striking wall-mounted pots planted with the unfortunately named Senecio rowleyanus, a.k.a. String of Pearls
“The Junkman’s Paradisio”
This is my kind of garden… a rough and tumble mix of herbs, recycled art, pots, painted raised beds, herbs, edibles and a compost bin.
“Pod”
Arizona State University’s “Jelly, Bean and Me”. This display will freak your freak. What’re college kids smokin’ these days?
This is your asparagus on steroids.
“Livin’ Cheap in Baja”
“A Garden Railroad”
Chelsea Antiques has these great giant metal roosters. I want one for my front yard. Tee hee.
The Original Living Wreath by Margee
www.livingwreath.com
These are so cool!
View from inside the “women’s” restroom… Are the hydrangeas there to prevent us from mistaking a urinal for a toilet? We chicas are smarter than that. If they’re there purely for a splash of color, well, then BRAVO!
Heading home around 4pm. Traffic wasn’t too bad. It only took about thirty minutes to get over the Bay Bridge. Last year I left the Cow Palace a little later and it took me over an hour to get over the bridge… in the rain, bumper to bumper.
I always like to swing by 4th Street in Berkeley on the way home to hit a few stores and grab a bite to eat before heading back to Sacramento. The AeroGarden pictured above was at Sur La Table. Neato, huh?
This year, we got some lovely takeout from The Pasta Shop and ate it in the car. I love eating in parked cars. A lowfat mocha (no whip) from Peet’s a couple doors down gave me enough caffeine to counteract the pasta and allowed me to remain alert for the drive home. New sights, new plants, good food, good coffee, good company… what a fun day!
by angela@diggingbliss | Mar 16, 2006 | Uncategorized
One of my favorite GardenWeb threads is “I’m Lazy– What can you root in plain old water???”. Did you know that pricey bunch of Italian basil rotting in your fridge roots easily in water? No? Well, plunk some of those stems in water and shout, “Pesto!”
Here’s what else lazy rooters are rooting in plain old agua:
euonymus
rosemary
geranium
impatiens
willow
coleus
mint
mock orange
african violets
passion vine
tomato suckers
oleander
hydrangea
forsythia
snowball bush
gardenia
weigela
ficus
bay laurel
persicaria
lamium
oregano
sweet potato vine
pineapple tops
christmas cactus
hardy mums
philodendron
pothos
flowering quince
petunia
snapdragon
salvia
sedum
lemon grass
begonia
butterfly bush
mandevilla
fuchsia
abutilon
tropical hibiscus
wandering jew
spider plant
angel’s trumpet
diascia
pineapple
aucuba
There’s some discussion about “water roots” making it in soil, and one suggestion was to transplant when the roots are “an inch to and inch and a quarter long” and haven’t yet differentiated into water roots and can still become soil roots. Bears experimentation, I’d say! If I have a chance, I’ll check my plant propagation books and see what they say. I’ve had great luck rooting Persian Shield in water and growing it in the garden and I paid absolutely no attention to root length. Still, I’d like to explore further.
by angela@diggingbliss | Mar 14, 2006 | Uncategorized
My tomato seeds arrived yesterday from Tomato Growers Supply. Gotta get those babies planted! Working in the greenhouse on a rainy day is pretty fun except for the fact that water drip drops through the roof while I’m working. Still, the little space heater keeps things toasty and my radio keeps my ears happy.
by angela@diggingbliss | Mar 14, 2006 | Uncategorized
Looky what I got at Costco. Look for these varieties and many more at Costcoriffic prices.
by angela@diggingbliss | Mar 11, 2006 | Uncategorized
On the plus side, it’s not raining. On the minus side, it’s too chilly outside to do anything but run back inside! I was resigned to the necessity of tackling deferred domestic drudgery today, but then I saw my morning glory seeds bursting to life in a water-filled juice glass. Saved by the seeds.
They were an impulse purchase (Raley’s sells morning glory seeds? Cool!). I’d decided to plant them in the ground in early April until I lifted the seed packs off my kitchen counter yesterday and discovered they were wet. Whatever the cause, I needed to nick and soak the seeds in case they’d been inadvertently awakened from dormancy. The packet recommends using nail clippers to nick the hard dark seed coat. I nicked, then I plopped and today I planted all fifty or so plump, already-sprouting seeds.
I mixed a pack of ‘Early Call Mix’ with a pack of ‘Flying Saucers’ so I’ll be looking at an unrestrained mix of lavender, white, hot pink, purple, pale pink surrounded by white and “tie-dye” blue and white.
I’ll be checking today’s mail for tomato seeds. My TGS order is taking its sweet time getting to me from, jeeze, where the heck are they? They’re in Florida! I can just picture a heroic Floridian mail carrier rescuing my seeds from snapping alligators or crocodiles or whatever man-eating creatures accompany them on their daily mail routes. If the gators didn’t get my tomato seeds, then maybe a hurricane did. Luckily, I’ve got ‘Black’, ‘Celebrity’ and ‘Copia’ already up and runnin’ in the greenhouse.
Well, it’s time for me to face the cleaning music. That’s it… I need some cleaning music. Wonder what’s new on iTunes?
