Iron Bunny with New Aloe
New Cactus
Dead or Alive?
Bunny Memorial Patina 5 February 2018
Bunny Memorial Patina Today
New Plants for Succulent Gardens
I have been looking at the little iron bunny in one of my succulent gardens. It seems to disappear into the soil. Had thought that laying a bed of flat grey rocks for it to sit on. Today when I was visiting the neighborhood nursery, I saw this plant.
I have a rule when purchasing plants. They must be planted the day they are purchased.
Today was unusual because it was and still is raining. Rainfall on the CA Central Coast is a bit of an odd occurrence.
I slipped on my seldom used raincoat, pulled the plants out of the pot…
Eight aloe and a cactus.
…and popped them in the garden.
Placed one directly in front of the little iron bunny with two more plants in an imperfect triangle.
Three aloe in a previously open space in the garden.
Two small aloe juxtaposed with some plantlets in the making, all near the memorial bunny.
The volunteer cactus could use a dusting.
Tomorrow when it is no longer raining, I will remove the soil from its spines.
Don’t Give Power to Charlatans
“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”
― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
Nature at Its Best
Washington State University Alumni Magazine
I received my MFA from Washington State University in Pullman, WA. While there, I was using cuttings from trees and plants in my mixed media work. I became a bit familiar with some of the folks in the Horticulture Department when I was looking for potential sources for art materials. Not only did I find great materials, I also found starts of numerous plants that I grew in my studio.
While I was traveling over the weekend I read the Washington State Magazine Summer 2017 issue. The magazine is full of interesting information about folks at WSU and alumni. Since I have been caring for Monarchs in my gardens, I specifically wanted to read the article about Monarchs.
After reading a number of interesting articles, I read an article on the Newsmedia page about Linda Chalker-Scott’s book, How Plants Work: The Science Behind the Amazing Things Plants Do (Science for Gardeners).
I read the excerpt available on the amazon site and decided to purchase the kindle version of her text. Even though I love books, especially beautiful Timber Press books, I didn’t want to wait 2 days for delivery.
Linda Chalker-Scott also posts on the Garden Professors blog. After reading a couple of posts, decided to subscribe.
Patina Gone Crazy
After a short time this occurred–
What was the patina used for? I strung together 3 kinds of shiny steel washers in code for a 3-bunny gravemarker.
This is what the washers looked like when they were removed from the solution.
And now as part of the grave marker–
Eventually the piece should become rustier, more aged, a bit more similar to the oxidized bunny marker.
This is another memorial for a bunny burial space.
Used the same washers to make the coded memorial piece. I suspect that they have oxidized because the area of the garden gets watered frequently and the little inlaid ceramic cup does not have a drainage hole.
How many bunnies do I have buried in my courtyard? Eight. That sounds like a lot of bunnies. Eight bunnies have lived with me during the past 25 years. My oldest bunny lived a long, but not long enough 13 years.
The simple rust promoter formula found online.
Sweet Essence of the Magnolia and Brugmansia
The small Magnolia in the back garden is in bloom. Last evening I noticed the fragrance of the Magnolia was combining nicely with the delicious fragrance of the Brugmansia.
The tall tilting tree is actually a Brugmansia.
The Wisteria covering the deck was quite heavy last year, casting shade. So the Brug is growing toward the light. When the flower cycle ends, I will cut it back.
I grew the Brug from seed several years ago. I have taken cuttings and harvested seed pods to make more plants.
A recently harvested Brugmansia seed pod.
I remove Brugmansia and Datura pods to prevent anyone from snagging them to use inappropriately.
The Brug was grown from seed purchased from Seedman.com. The site has seed for a variety of plants and a great place to find seed for unusual plants.
Time to Retire My Rabbit Mug?
This has been an annoying allergy season. Had been taking loads of antihistamines, now on Sudafed and Aleve. Symptoms often wake me in the middle of the night. Sometimes I need to take addition doses of Sudafed.
Tuesday evening I left my rabbit mug half filled with water on the bathroom counter, the top covered with a kleenex. Wednesday night the mug was still waiting to be used. As I removed the kleenex I noticed the exterior of the mug looked odd, stained.
When I looked inside the mug, the glaze looked stained.
And what happened to the water?
When I held the mug it felt cold. If water can be pulled through the small fractures in the glaze surface, what else might the mug contain? Was the glaze fired to maturity? Is it possible that some of the glaze ingredients are toxic? What have I been drinking with my orange juice?
Yep, time to retire the mug.
Datura Pod
Last Datura Pod of Volunteer Plant #2 in Succulent Garden
Bees Buzzing and Brugs
When I was painting shelves in the backyard, I heard a constant buzzing. I looked up at the Brugmansia in bloom above me. Bees were everywhere.
1 Bee
2 Bees
3 Bees
What were they doing???