Garden blooms

This Lantana is really beautiful right now.  Despite it's non-native status, I like it quite a bit.  I don't think this form is widely available now - it has a thick central trunk and then spills over onto the ground.



This climbing penstemon is at home next to the Lantana


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0.04" rain; season total 7.07"

This storm seemed like so much more, but in the end it was only 0.04"

31 Jan 0.04"


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Pride of ownership

I found a neighborhood in Goleta that seems to cultivate the lovely Oxalis pes-caprae (sourgrass).

It was such an inspiring sight that I thought I'd write a little tribute.
 
Oxalis my love, I wish you were in front of me
I'd pluck your sour stems to chomp
and hope they had no dog pee.
Then I'd cover you under with cardboard and mulch
in a garden recovery strategy









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Sunrise, 1/28

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Triteleia laxa, Ithuriel's spear, or grassnut

Triteleia laxa, Ithuriel's spear, or grassnut

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0.30" rain; season total 7.03"

27 Jan 2015 0.30" rain

I expected more rain given the severity of the storm as I drove through it, but I guess I was wrong.




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Bulb season

Bulb season has arrived in Southern California. It's been here a few weeks for me with my first bloom of Tritelia laxa on Jan 8:



Last year I had a practice of shaking the seeds from each bulb back into its pot. In some cases this is paying off handsomely.


One issue is knowing one from the rest.


However in many cases the blooms are distinctive and timed particularly. This is Triteleia laxa (previously Brodiaea laxa) also known as Ithuriel's spear, now with two blooms. This is always the first to bloom.


I added Fremont's Star Lily to my bulbs this year. It used to be known as Fremont's Death Camas Lily. Fun stuff.

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E. terracina pulled versus date: Is there a useful trend?

Here's a graph of number of E. terracina pulled versus date starting in 2013 and going to 1/2/2015.  This is based on my personal data from Lunada Canyon covering the same hillside area of perhaps 5000 ft^2.

I'm observing that:

1.51"; rain; 6.73" season total

10 Jan 2015 1.51" (0.55" at the San Pedro annex)


Last weekend's storm was outstanding, with steady rainfall that soaked in.  Relatively speaking, I got a lot at my house compared to the San Pedro annex, which received about 1/3 of my total.

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From the point of view of the ground

You're looking at this fallen tree from the point of view the ground once had.

This brings to a close, for now, the bent and twisted series.

Waterman Peak hike

My buddy Dan, his brother, and I took a hybrid trail + cross country route to Waterman Peak a few months ago. It's great to relive that hike today when the weather is much colder. I held on to this posting for a while in draft status because I thought I'd identify some plants, but I'm setting it free now without doing that homework.

0.1" rain; season total 5.22"

31 Dec 2014 0.1"

The San Pedro annex had 0.25", so once again there is no easily identifiable correlation between the two locations.

This was a cold storm as promised by the meteorologists. I read the rain gauge on the 1st of the new year and it was just under 0.1". My experience is that there isn't too much evaporation so I rounded up to the nearest increment on the gauge.


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