They're spray painted!!

Is anyone else as horrified as I am?

Rain 2.27"; season total 5.28"

We've had a couple rain storms that left about an inch of rain, one in December and one last week.  That's a nice amount of rain for us, distributed over a comfortable amount of time.  My native plants are loving the cool and wet soil and hopefully setting their roots for summer.

1.12" rain 25 Jan.  The San Pedro Annex had 0.5".  I tend to measure more rain than the Annex, a 10 minute drive and at least one Sunset garden zone away.
0.25" 26 Jan
0.09" 27 Jan

- Posted at great expense from my iPhone

Green walls at Charles de Gaulle

I didn't get a chance to do more than snap a photo as I walked by, neither one of which is all that great. There were several of these were in the immense Gate M area.







- Posted at great expense from my iPhone

Recent rains; Season total 3.82"

14 Dec 2012 0.08"
15 Dec 2012 0.02"
16 Dec 2012 0.09"
17 Dec 2012 0.05"
18 Dec 2012 0.29"
19 Dec 2012 0.22"
28 Dec 2012 0.95" upon my return from vacation. Probably more since I'm told the rain came soon after the 19th.
06 Jan 2013 0.06"
10 Jan 2013 0.01" not actually measured - ground wet and v. minor puddles

Weather.com will display recorded precipitation if you select the monthly display, howver, I find that they are often quite different than what I record.  A brief search for confirming rainfall data on the web seemed to show that while wind speed and temperature were measured at 10 local weather stations (some private and some government run) not one reported rainfall.  It's hard to believe that this is true, so I will assume I'm looking in the wrong place.  The alternative is that rainfall reports are extrapolated from widely dispersed ground gauges or from radar images.  This seems a poor way to do business since rainfall can vary widely from my side of the hill (leeward of the ocean) to points only a short distance away (facing the ocean or on the flats).

- Posted at great expense from my iPhone

Large Toyon

This is one of the larger Toyons I've seen. It and some others of similar stature are located nearby in Peck Park. Maximum height by width given on the Payne Foundation website is 15'x15'. Las Pilitas says up to 20' tall if it's a happy plant.   This seems at least 30' tall.



Don't be confused because there's only berries on the lower branches - the Toyon has a tree-like stature in this photo.



- Posted at great expense from my iPhone

Peck Park

06 Jan with Dan Gutierrez


- Posted at great expense from my iPhone

Ceanothus across the Atlantic

It's December and the Ceanothus is in bloom. Well, at least in Mougins, France. Juli pointed this out to me.








The plant breeders of Europe have hybridized the Ceanothus and it's anyone's guess what the parentage of this plant is. Guesses anyone?

- Posted at great expense from my iPhone

Yerba Buena mildew problem

My Yerba Buena plant seems to have a mildew problem. It's in a pot that doesn't get direct sun this time of year.









I sprayed it with a jet of water from the hose and that washed a good amount of it off.


- Posted at great expense from my iPhone

Impressive grapes

This tall, vine-covered fence is located near the entrance to the Gardena Willows. I suspect that the vines are Vitis 'Roger's Red'.


- Posted at great expense from my iPhone

Rain 0.23"; Season total 2.05"

1 Dec 2012 0.03"
3 Dec 2012 0.20"

2.05" total rainfall thus far.

Don't set your expectations for either a wet or dry winter based on this data, however.  There is a 50% probability of rainfall between 0.16" and 3.71" at this time of year.

- Posted at great expense from my iPhone

Stroll to Pt Fermin and Pt Vicente

- Posted at great expense from my iPhone

Rain 1.30"; season total 1.82"

The storm that blew through Thursday and Friday left 1.30" in my back yard, bringing the season's total to 1.82".  This was a nice rainfall - never so heavy that it couldn't soak in wherever it fell.

30 Nov 2012 1.30"

Oleander Aphids - Aphis nerii

One of my native plant list serves has had these yellow aphids as a topic of discussion.  They are non-native and are presumed to have arrived with the oleander that is omnipresent in S. California.  They also like milkweed (Asclepias), which is what they are see on here.  I also have Oleander in the yard, but it was surprising how quickly these guys arrived and spread on the milkweed.  It was so fast that I thought for certain that I'd brought the plant home with an unseen infestation.

Crocus sativus - Saffron Crocus

I grew Saffron Crocus (Crocus sativus) at my other house and managed one meal from the collected stigma (the culinary term is thread) of the several bulbs that I planted. I blogged about it here and here.  The scent was incredible, but I think that I didn't manage the saffron threads very well because the cooked flavor was faint. Or perhaps I didn't have enough.  C. sativus is a mediterranean plant, so it's compatible with low water gardens and a prime choice for those that want to grow an exotic and expensive seasoning.

Besides kitchen uses, saffron has been used in folk medicine for centuries and more recently leaves and threads have been evaluated as anti-depressant and anti-inflammatory agents, with findings that the threads are pharmacologically active.

In late October of this year  I planted 70 Crocus sativus bulbs.  To spare you many pictures of freshly planted bulbs, I'll let you search Google for pictures of soil instead.

Fast forward to mid November, and we have action! The bulbs are poking their first leaves out of the planters in several areas. At Juli's house, where I planted a few days earlier, the signs of growth were slightly earlier, just as one would expect.