Time for a haircut for the Tufted Hair Grass. Here’s how they look after trimming.
Category Archives: Sustainable design
Un-green ad campaign
I found this on the porch. It contains cardboard, plastic foam and one lousy video DVD containing about one minute of promotional video for an unknown product made by an unnamed company. Its raw materials were harvested or pumped out of the ground, processed using water and energy, formed using more energy, prettied up withContinue reading “Un-green ad campaign”
The incredible flying circus
The Aster chilensis is blooming, and it’s the biggest insect party of the year. The plants are covered with skippers, with frequent visits by mason bees and other creatures. Despite its Latin name implying South American origins, it’s a California native – but from the Southern part. It’s common name, California aster, makes its originsContinue reading “The incredible flying circus”
Testing a new plant: Dicliptera suberecta
Uruguay. I’ve never met a plant from there before, yet there it was at the nursery: Uruguayan Firecracker Plant (Dicliptera suberecta). The plant, in a four inch pot, was covered with bright red-orange tubular flowers, the type that shout, “hummingbirds!”. It has fuzzy gray leaves, suggesting that it might be a water conserving plant. OtherContinue reading “Testing a new plant: Dicliptera suberecta”
Swallowtail updates
July 10th: At least two of the eggs hatched (I can’t find the others). That was about four days as an egg, since it was laid on July 6th. No time to waste! July 20th: One caterpillar is dead, but others have molted from their black and white form into gleaming green and black beauties.Continue reading “Swallowtail updates”
California Native Plant Society garden
The California Native Plant Society (CNPS) hosted a fun, informal event in the native garden of the Historic City Cemetery in Sacramento (on Broadway). They’ve been working on this garden since 1997, so many of the plants are getting mature. Many dedicated volunteers work regularly to maintain the existing plants and add new ones.
Native plants, native bees. Alien plants, alien bees
You might think that bees think like this: see nectar, drink nectar. Find pollen, collect pollen. Simple, but incorrect. It’s more like European bees have European tastes and native bees have native tastes. Our familiar honeybees originated in Europe. They generally like European flowers: thyme, rosemary, lavender, mint, oregano, stone fruit and apple blossoms. YarrowContinue reading “Native plants, native bees. Alien plants, alien bees”
It’s bug eat bug out there!
As we were eating some strawberries, a ferocious creature crawled out of the bowl, it’s wickedly fanged head moving back and forth as its spiny body moved forward. Luckily, it’s a very small ferocious creature or I’d have been its lunch. The creature, an aphid lion, is the larval form of a lacewing, a fairylikeContinue reading “It’s bug eat bug out there!”
Ladybug, ladybug
A bit of information on ladybugs and ladybug larvae, your allies to control aphids.
Dirty hands: demolition & fun with recycled concrete
Who says landscape architects never get their hands dirty? That they sit at their computers from the rising of the sun to its sinking in the West dreaming of landscapes, creating plans and never having, say, a pair of pants ruined by getting splashed with uncured concrete. Well, our showcase garden isn’t going to buildContinue reading “Dirty hands: demolition & fun with recycled concrete”