11/29/2006

Warning: may contain hippies!

A short documentary about organic farming in New Mexico.

Link.

11/27/2006

Sunset Magazine, December 2006

I keep thinking if I blogged points of interest (to me) in the various magazines I subscribe to, I would remember things better. I've been meaning to start doing this for a year now. Let's try it.

Things to check out slash keep in mind or maybe sneer at from the current issue of Sunset Magazine...

***

An approving article about the renovations at LA's Griffiths Observatory:
Looming high above Los Angeles, the Griffith Observatory looks to some like a classical temple, to others like the mysterious compound of a mad genius in a vintage science-fiction movie...

After a five-year-long, $93 million restoration and expansion, the observatory’s being unveiled, and the public again has access to this window on the galaxy...

The new observatory holds a 3,040-square-foot porcelain enamel wall that captures a sliver of space encompassing 1.7 million visible objects — galaxies, stars, asteroids. Compiled from actual observational data, it’s the largest astronomical image ever created, and called, simply enough, the Big Picture.

It dominates a gallery in the observatory’s addition, which was constructed underground to match the original building’s appearance. Within the gallery hang planetary models scaled to the circular, 200-seat Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon theater, which represents the sun. Earth is basketball-size, while Pluto — still clinging to its place in the solar system, at least here — has the diameter of a table-tennis ball.

LA Times story here .

***

Red Pig Tools--made to last for generations. "Everything is customizable--you can switch out handles, put an edge on a trowel, or weld a tread onto a shovel." These people are in Boring, Oregon (I'm not making that up), but apparently have no web presence at the present time.

***

Branch: sytlish, sustainable design studio, including patio furniture. www.branchhome.com

***

White-themed garden article. Hey, I just made a white-themed garden post this weekend! There's a small, not-so-much-maintained white demonstration garden at the San Francisco Botanical Garden. I actually like using white in the garden, and if I had a big enough garden, I think I would like to have a white room.

This article recommends: Sedum spathulifolium, Senecio cineraria (Dusty Miller), azaleas, hydrangeas, camelia, narcissus, cyclamen, and heather. Well, that's original.

What else can we think of?

Lots of (mainly) white flowering plants (with or without some color accent) come immediately to mind: Dahlia imperialis, x Halimiosistus wintonensis, Cistus aguilari, other white rockroses, Helianthemum apenninum, Carpinteria californica, Acanthus mollis, white-flowering varities of Ribes sanguineum, white Lapageria, white Mimulus, Romneya coulteri if you could keep it under control, that Japanese anenome you see blooming in August and September...

What kind of foliage would you use in a white garden? Glossy, glabrous green foliage would be one way to go: Griselinia littoralis, Coprosma repens... generally not plants I'm terrbily fond of. Stachys byzantina. Helichrysum would be useful. I have an Aristolochia with whitish venation on top that I forgot the species name of, but this Aristolochia littoralis could be interesting.

Earlier this year, a woman from Ohio won a container contest in Fine Gardening using mainly silvers and grays she got from foliage only: Muehlenbeckia complexa, Asarum violacea, Tulbaghia violacea 'Variegata', Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens' (because some black would be cool in a white garden!), Rex begonia, Salvia officinalis 'Nazareth'.

Anyhow, it's just fun to let the mind wander. Now I have that wandering in one place. Good! Back to Sunset...

***

Some recipes...

Caramelized shallot and walnut (Niman Ranch). 20 minutes to caramelize shallots, then add walnuts, a few sprigs of thyme, and a cup of dessert wine (i.e., Vino Santo) and simmer 5 minutes.

Several ways of preparing latkes, most of them taking more than one hour which guarantees I'll never make latkes.

Gourgères: a puff pastry for parties. Lots of recipes by Googling.

***

Okay, that does it for this month's Sunset.

What do you think?
I link a blog named Ocean in my blogroll; it belongs to a law professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. She doesn't blog about the law tho'. She blogs about things like this. Go check it out!

11/26/2006

My Thanksgiving dinner recipes, for Annie

Below is the potato tortilla recipe exactly as it's written in Vegetarian Times magazine (Jul/Aug 2006), plus some editorial remarks from me. The cooking times they describe are highly approximate. The instructions call for making two tortillas, whereas I make just one. To do this, I reduce the overall amount of ingredients only slightly (i.e., one bunch of asparagus, 4-5 med. sized Yukon golds--and I stick with the large whole onion and 8 eggs).

You either need two equally biggish skillets to prepare this dish, or be prepared to improvise, because you have to flip the tortilla half-way through. (I've done it three times now and it's never been a problem.)

1 lb. asparagus, cut into 3/4-inch lengths (about 3 cups)
1 Tbsp. plus 4 tsp. olive oil
1 lb. Yukon gold potatoes, peeled, then quartered, then sliced (about 2 3/4 cups)
1 large onion, halved and thinly sliced (about 2 cups)
3/4 tsp. salt
8 large eggs
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1 cup grated manchego cheese

1) Steam asparagus 3-5 minutes, or until tender. Refresh under cold running water and drain.

[Can take up to 10 minutes for thick asparagus.]

2) Heat 1 tbsp oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add potatoes, onion and 1/4 tsp salt. Cook 3-5 minutes, or until potatoes begin to brown, stirring often. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook 20 minutes, or until tender, stirring occasionally. Remove from skillet.

[Takes at least five minutes on my stove! When it's time, I cover the skillet tightly with aluminum foil and turn the heat down to low while I make the corn salad recipe below.]

3) Beat eggs, remaining salt and pepper in bowl. Stir in cheese and asparagus.

4) Add 2 tsp oil to skillet and increase heat to medium low. Pour in half of the egg mixture [if you're making two--otherwise, add all of it]. Sprinkle with half of potatoes, and cook 3 to 5 minutes or until bottom of tortilla is browned. [I was never able to determine if the bottom of the tortilla was browned--as if!] Remove skillet from heat; invert large plate over tortilla. Grip skillet sides and plate with oven mitts, an flip tortilla onto plate. Return tortilla to skillet, browned side up. [I don't know about you, but this sounds highly problematic to me. Just use another skillet, right?] Cook 1 to 2 minutes more, or until bottom is browned. [At this point, I just turn the heat down to low and let it sit there while I clean up.]

***

The recipe goes on to talk about transferring the tortilla to a serving platter, and serving it with Romesco sauce, but I don't like Romesco sauce and the tortilla's delicious without it and I generally like to effect as few "transfers" as possible in the kitchen. Serve it from the skillet!

***

Grilled Corn and Black Bean Salad

Toss together all ingredients in a large serving bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve.

4 ears corn. Slice off the kernels and saute them in butter until lightly browned and flavorful, about 10 minutes.
1 14-oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 yellow bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch dice [definitely use yellow]
3/4 cup grape tomatoes, halved
3 Tbsp coarsely chopped cilantro
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp lime juice
1 small jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped (about 1 Tbsp)
1/2 tsp. ground cumin

Enjoy.

11/25/2006

Two white flowers

In my garden.

The Dahlia imperialis flowers turn out to be white after all.

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One of my favorite rockroses.

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Cistus ladanifer? No. X Halimiosistus wintonensis.

Joaquin Phoenix

Tonight we ate dinner at Millennium, a fancy vegetarian (vegan maybe) restaurant downtown. I am 90% certain bootylicious indie film star (sometimes Hollywood blockbuster supporting star or minor blockbuster star in his own right) and notable vegetarian (vegan?) Joaquin Phoenix and his (female) date were seated two tables away.

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90% doesn't seem like a lot I guess, but I didn't want to stare. It would have taken some staring on my part because I'm not sure if I could spot someone like him on the street. I'd have to look for that funny lip scar thing he's got going on.

The woman at the table next to me (and next to, but across from the ostensible JP) did a lot of smiling during her dinner. The sort of smile that says, "OM[F]G!" She had a better view of him than I did until he got up to leave.

Maybe I should say 99% certain.

Isn't he the hottest?

I hope he managed to quit smoking.

ADDED: I filled in the details in the comments.

Ticket to ride.

The cash-strapped city, hunting for ways to make more money, imposed a 67 percent fare increase on cable cars 14 months ago. That decision raised the cost of a single-ride ticket from $3 to $5. Revenue jumped 33 percent, to $21.5 million, when comparing the 12-month periods before and after the fare hike. But with that came public scorn.

"We have gotten some negative feedback," Hammons said.

Critics include Mayor Gavin Newsom, who said he feared that the higher fare would be a turnoff to visitors eager to ride an iconic cable car and to locals who don't buy monthly Fast Passes that allow unlimited rides on any city-operated bus, streetcar or cable car.

Link.

$5 to ride the freakin' cable car?! I had no idea. But I'm not a tourist, and I don't live in that part of town, so how would I know. All I can say is, that's crazy. The ride's not that fun. But if you're staying at a hotel downtown, and you want to get to Fisherman's Wharf or Pier 39 or Alcatraz, the cable car is the best way to go.

Whatever happens I don't want my not inconsiderable property taxes subsidizing cable car rides. I suspect most of that $5 ticket goes to paying the salaries of the cable car operators. I don't want to subsidize them either.

As far as I'm concerned the city can charge $20 for a cable car ride if people are willing to pay for it. If not, they can shut the cable cars down. Again.

They only brought them back the last time to generate tourist income.

Note: If you want to ride the cable car in San Francisco, get on at California and Market, not Powell and Market. You'll save yourself the indignity of standing in line behind 200 tourists.

The Great Garden Debate

A Horticulture Magazine symposium and debate on design, plants and garden style. "When the collector meets designer can they find common ground?"

Is it coming to your town?
January 27 San Francisco, CA
January 28 Portland, OR
January 30 Denver, CO
February 1 Glencoe, IL
February 3 Richmond, VA

I wasn't planning to go, but maybe I should! I would have fun! I think. It would give me something to blog about on January 27, that's for sure. I consider myself squarely in the collector category, although I don't like that word. I'm a gardener, and that's where it stops. If a gardener is also a bit of a designer and a horticulturist too, that's fine. But don't call me those things. I'm a gardener.

But anyway, the point is I'll go with an open mind. Ha! No, I won't. Why should I have an open mind? Everything I do in the garden, even to some extent this blog, I do entirely for my benefit. I'm not accountable to anyone. I'm not on a mission. There are those who are, but this about me, me, me. I'm going to go with my very opinionated, highly critical mind and be judgmental as all heck.

Nan Blake Sinton, Director of Programs at Horticulture Magazine, will emcee. Speakers are: Joe Eck, Mat Reese, Penney Magrane, and Wayne Winterrowd.

Eck (designer) will talk about creating framed spaces, harmonizing plants with buildings, and the like.

Reese will show pictures of Christopher Lloyd's garden at Great Dixter. Apparently, it's "the supreme example of the 20th century plantsman's garden". Well, I wouldn't want to miss that.

Magrane is a local designer who will talk about her work over the last 20 years in the Bay Area. She wants to share her detectiving skills with us.

Winterrowd will "explore the alchemy of plants" and how to harmonize plantings to avoid the garden of "bits and dots".

At 3:30, they throw it open for debate.

Go here to find registration info. And to see what the speakers look like.

11/24/2006

Mussel Rock Park

It's a nice day out and I thought it would be good to go for a walk. I looked online to find somewhere I've never been that I could drive to quickly. We have a bunch of open space preserves on the peninsula (more would be welcome, always) but most of them feel too out of the way for today.

Yesterday was a lot of laying around the house, watching movies. I need to take it easy. After all, I have to go back to work on Monday. That's only three days from now!

Judging by the map, this Mussel Rock Park looked promsing. A ten minute drive, right on the ocean, and I've never even heard of it before. I love coastal scrub. And the park apparently brims with geological interest.
Mussel Rock Park is a nature preserve that incompasses [sic] several very large and active landslides along the San Mateo County coast. The massive landslide deposits mask the trace of the San Andreas Fault here, where it runs offshore into the Pacific Ocean beyond San Francisco's Golden Gate. The high bluff along the skyline in this image has been a site of disaster for homeowners as the seacliff continues its natural collapse and retreat due to erosion and mass wasting. A smaller landslide in the foreground is forming on top of a more massive landslide that extends uphill to the base of the escarpment.

Here's the picture he's talking about, but you need 3-D glasses to enjoy it properly.

Well, I found it ho hum from a whoreticulture perspective.

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Those are the houses where the owners do not sleep well at night.

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Would you?

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This little series made me realize I need to take my blogging game to the next level. How lame to blog still photos of waves crashing on a rock when my camera can take a little movie that I could upload to YouTube! Next time.

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The best shot turns out to be the car I parked next to.

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Anita O'Day died.

Anita O'Day, whose sassy renditions of "Honeysuckle Rose," "Sweet Georgia Brown" and other song standards that made her one of the most respected jazz vocalists of the 1940s and '50s, has died. She was 87.

Link.

I'm a huge O'Day fan. Her Sweet Georgia Brown is incredible, but her catalog hides a number of fascinating, lesser hits people should hear too.

If your education in the great jazz singers begins and ends with Ella Fitzgerald, please consider giving O'Day a whirl. Start here, here, or maybe here if you've got some money burning a hole in your pocket. Plus, fall/winter is the best time of year to listen to jazz. Let the music warm you up. (You know, with some wine.)

Her biography is very entertaining too. If I have some time later, I'll try to transcribe some of my favorite parts.

11/23/2006

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone's having a nice day. We stayed home. We stayed home, and lied to our families. We told each set we were going to the other one's this year...and we stayed home.

Choosing to be honest and stay home would not be an okay option with my people. Very bad. Lots of guilt. Shame. Regret and disappointment. Bad, bad news.

Well, whatever! When you can't handle the truth, you end up getting lied to. That's life. I don't make the rules.

We had waffles for breakfast.

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And then we snuggled on the couch and watched movies all day. X-Men 3 wasn't all that bad, and Monster House was great! Yeah, those kinds of movies.

Then I made dinner. Asparagus and potato pancake with Manchego cheese...

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and a black bean and roasted corn salad with chiles and lime.

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Now we're going to watch another movie. Syriana, I think.

Sshhhh!

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"More recently, the British Medical Association recommended that doctors on hospital wards not wear ties, because they are seldom washed and can carry antibiotic-resistant bacteria."

Link.

Fetal animal babies

Programme makers also reveal the moment at eight weeks when a baby dolphin learns to swim while in the womb. During the next few weeks, it develops flippers, a tail and a blowhole before being born after a year, and must be able to quickly swim to the surface to take its first breath of air.

Experts also found that at 24 days, the dolphin embryo develops tiny leg-like buds, which then disappear over the next two weeks.

After 11 weeks, the dolphin embryo's fins display bone structures resembling human hands, which experts believe may show that dolphin ancestors were land dwellers.

The footage also shows how many animal embryos are like human ones.

"The incredible thing about the early images is how we all look very similar - it is obvious we humans share a common mammalian ancestry very early in life," said Mr Dear.

Link.

If I planted those geraniums, this is how I would have done it.

"I thought the outrage was misdirected and misplaced. The attention and money Simpson (and Fox) would have garnered from the deal are not half as outrageous as the fact that every day he walks free. The real outrage is the trial that declared him not guilty: the judge, a fool and incompetent whose love of publicity turned the trial into a circus; the defense lawyers, not one of whom could have doubted the man's guilt yet who cynically played on the jury's ignorance and latent racism to win a disgraceful verdict; the prosecutors, total incompetents who bungled a gimmie, then shamelessly cashed in afterwards; the media that turned the brutal deaths of two innocents into TV's first reality-show soap opera.

Worst of all was the jury, whose perverse verdict was the most brazen and lawless act of nullification since the heyday of Strom Thurmond. Sworn to uphold law, they decided instead to hold a private referendum on racism in the L.A. Police Department."

Link.

11/22/2006

News from the small city garden

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For a guy who's all obsessed with native plants, it's embarrassing that the biggest plants in my garden right now aren't natives. They're not even that interesting or original or inspired. Echium candicans? Geranium maderense? Yeah. Well, that's in the process of changing. Most of the best stuff I have I'm growing from seed so it's all small.

I just started laying out the cobblestone path a couple weeks ago. The weather's been good for that kind of work. The ground is soft and it's not too hot out. Funny, the garden looked like this just five months ago. Lots of work going on.

The broccoli (not from seed) is on the rebound from some massive bug munching in September and October.

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The brugmansia flowers really are pink. Lots of new bamboo coming up...

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Oh, look. Another geranium.

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The roof garden you've heard about.

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The view from the roof, looking east.

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11/21/2006

A church that wanted to do something special for Hurricane Katrina victims gave a $75,000 house, free and clear, to a couple who said they were left homeless by the storm. But the couple turned around and sold the place without ever moving in, and went back to New Orleans.

"Take it up with God," an unrepentant Joshua Thompson told a TV reporter after it was learned that he and the woman he identified as his wife had flipped the home for $88,000.

Link.

11/20/2006

Macro-focus bee photography.

Link. Via.

11/18/2006

Depressing!

The sun went down before 5 p.m. tonight, and by 5:30 it was pitch dark. Ugh!!!

Go here to chart your way out of despair. The sunset will be back at 6:00 p.m. in San Francisco on Feburary 28, 2007.

I'm marking it down on the calendar.

I get full sunlight back in my yard at the beginning of April. Which makes March my hardest month. So close, yet so far. At least March is still super-rainy most months. It only rains in April on bad years.

(No need to rub it in if you live in Hawai'i where the daylight hours don't change that much.)

Garden news.

I brought this underperforming pot down from my roof.

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I like the strawberry. The birds like it even more. The strawberry can stay.

I can't remember the sedum's name. I snipped a bit of it from my granddad's garden (which means dear don't eat it, otherwise they would have--not a problem for me in the city, but fyi). Anyhow, I have more of it now than I know what to do with. Since the sedum has some sentimental value coming from granddad, and I've been composting an awful lot of it lately, it also stays.

So... death comes for the Calibrocha and whatever that other thing is. Some Gilia, I think. What do I replace it with?

These aren't even up yet.

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The ones that are up won't work.

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The fuchsia and cineraria are shade-lovers, and this pot goes on the roof. The two seedlings with compound leaves are Calliandra eriophylla. They would work, but they're still very small, and I have other plans for them. Note: I sowed eight Calliandra seeds, and got only two germinations.

These plants are all too blurry to use.

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Ah! I just remembered I recently found a Berberis wilsoniae on the freebie pile at the Botanical Garden. In fact, that plant came to me right after I started loving it. How nice. I was obviously meant to have this plant, and now I finally have a place for it.

Berberidaceae commonly have bright yellow roots.

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I forgot that until I pulled this one out of the pot. They're yellow like that just under the bark too. People used it as a dye.

I stick in the Berberis, with a little clump of bunch grass that divided in two, a top dressing of compost, and voila. This is what I end up with. Nothing fabulous, but it will be fine on the roof.

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Why is my yard so muddy? Because it was sloping and I leveled it and didn't sow any grass seeds where I took up the old sod. I'm planning to go lawnless. It's a work in progress. It's all a work in progress.

Dahlia imperialis buds.

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Do you think less of me for having a Brugmansia? Sometimes I think less of me for having it.

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What about the bamboo? Do you think less of me for having bamboo?

In my defense, the Brugmansia was at least supposed to have pink flowers. Wayside Gardens sent me one with yellow flowers. I generally don't like ordering plants from catalogs or online*, but that's what happens when you drink and web-surf. (And the bamboo was my boyfriend's idea.)

*Unless it's Annie's Annuals, then I don't have any problem with it.


UPDATE: The Brugmansia flowers are pink-tinged after all. I didn't notice it until today. I'm sorry I disparaged Wayside Gardens for sending me the ordinary yellow when in fact I got the pinkish white just as I ordered.

11/16/2006

"Spurred on by a growing number of offbeat performance venues and enterprising young classical musicians, New York is experiencing a boom in small, largely below-the-radar concert series. There are opera nights at a Lower East Side dive bar, chamber music concerts at a boxing gym beneath the Brooklyn Bridge, contemporary music at a cabaret in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and avant-garde fare in a silo on the banks of an industrial canal."

Link.
"San Francisco resident Matthew Shinnick tried to sell a pair of mountain bikes on Craigslist late last year. He attracted a buyer, received a check in the mail -- and ended up handcuffed by police in a downtown Bank of America branch and jailed for almost 12 hours."

And had to spend $14k to clear his name.

The police deserve at least as much blame as the bank.

Link. Via.

11/13/2006

Untranslatable words.

"Of all the untranslatable words that I came across, the one that would be most useful for me is the Danish word hugge. It refers to an ambiance that is achieved with close friends and it includes a setting with food, drink, lighting, music, etc. I've seen it described as 'cozy+.' It's a kind of private and intimate moment that the Danish have with their nearest and dearest friends but they never do it with foreigners. In fact, when foreigners seek to have a hugge experience with the Danish, what they get instead is the fake or psuedo hugge that the Danes reserve for outsiders. The Danes even have a hugge nook, a little private place in their home where a feeling of intimacy is created and where the hugge takes place. It's a safe corner that is instantly satisfying and cozy and where you spend time with your very closest friends and family."

Link.

It's cold and pouring

and I couldn't be happier. Unless I'd already dug in my tulips. Which I haven't. But I will soon.

So nice to know the garden's getting watered, and I'm not doing it. I have a year-old, natives bed that I fretted about every time I watered. One is supposed to water California natives for the first year, and I did that, but it never stopped me from worrying about whether every application of water was rotting their delicate little roots and killing off the precious mycorrhyzae. Now I don't have to worry about it anymore because it will be cool and rainy between now and April. The supplemental watering is done. California natives evolved getting water on cold rainy days. It's when you water on hot summer days that does them in.

By all visual signs, I didn't kill anything this summer. Although I do have two underperforming manzanitas I wonder whether I should have watered differently*--Arctostaphylos densiflora 'Sentinel' and A. densiflora 'Howard McMinn'. Both are said to be very garden tolerant. Not so much in my hands. Well, they have several cold rainy months ahead to get their acts together. And if they can't, they're gone because my yard is too small to tolerate underperformers. Not when I've got Arctostaphylos bakeri 'Louis Edmunds' and A. pajaroensis 'Lester Rountree' on the go. So good luck, Sentinel and Howard. It's do or die time for you.

*I'm actually thinking it's a soil problem, not watering, but this is a post about watering, not soil. For a good soil post, follow that link.

11/12/2006

Inter-rainstorm road trip

Yesterday was rainy and wet; tomorrow will be too. Today is sunny and beautiful. Better hit the road.
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The easiest pleasant drive out of San Francisco is south down Highway 1. Today that trip starts with a stop at Macys to return a shirt. This is me waiting in the car while my boyfriend does that.

After a quick stop, we're moving.
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Could there possibly be a more lovely place name than Half Moon Bay? Not to me.

This road goes all the way to L.A. where people call it "the PCH", as in the Pacific Coast Highway. You will never hear anyone from Northern California ever say that. We call it Highway One. Or simply, One.
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See the stairs up the side of the hill? And the tower in the trees? It's a WWII-era watchtower, and those stairs have no railing. The most thrilling, dangerous thing I've ever done was walk up those stairs and climb that tower at about two in the morning with some college friends after a Butthole Surfers concert at the Fillmore in 1987. It was the first month of my first year in college. Five of us were sitting together having a late dinner in the dining hall. Someone mentioned off-handedly that it would be fun to go see the Butthole Surfers. Everyone agreed, so we got up and went.

You'd think California would have knocked that tower down by now. But there's just a sign saying "Do Not Enter". Yeah, right.

If I could have one memory in my life sharpened and clarified, it would be that night. Sitting up on the watchtower with my four new best friends (sophisticated, precocious kids far more interesting than anyone I'd ever met), in the cold night, with the wind blowing in our faces, staring straight into the biggest full moon I've ever seen, I remember thinking, "This is my life now, and I love it." I wanted to freeze the moment and remember it forever, but I don't. It was late, and I was tired, and the whole thing's rather fragmentary. But I drive down One several times a year and I see that tower and it makes me feel happy. (This time, like all times since 1987, I just drive by.)

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11/11/2006

It's been slim pickins for whoreticulture visitors since I started me new job.

I worked the sale at the Botanical Garden this morning...last one of the year...so I got to be outside during the daylight for a change. Here are some random pictures. I have guests coming over for drinks and dinner in 15 minutes. No time to tell a story.

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Remind me to tell you the story of those stones.

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This is what I look like, btw. In the dark with no flash taking my own picture. I must have been drunk. (Psst! I often am!)

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Who says we don't have fall color in California?

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We offerred these Hedychium for four dollars. They're ten feet tall. White flowers, very fragrant. I work in natives, so I don't know the species name. No one bought any of them until the last five minutes, and then one woman bought all of them. Can you tell they're ten feet tall? I don't know where they were hiding in the nursery; I've never seen them before today.

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Some Pacific Coast Iris hybrid. Noone bought this for an hour. An hour! What kind of person walks by this plant...making free plants!...and doesn't buy it? That '8' you see is the price. $8! People! When you see something like that, you buy it! Okay? You buy it. I took this picture before the sale.

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I didn't mean to upload this picture, but here it is anyway.

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Eriogonum arborescens w/ Epilobium canum. I love it.

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Okay, gotta go. Sorry it's been so lame here lately. More later!

Added: a few more pictures.

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(whoops... I didn't notice the coupler in there.)

The Gunnera go down for the winter.

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R. laetum x lowii:

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I'm off on a roadtrip, between rainstorms.