I am always a little bit amazed to see where food comes from. I mean where it actually comes from, not New Seasons. Around here, sure, you see neatly planted farms and orchards from time to time. But tropical Zanzibar, it wasn’t uncommon to see fruit dangling alongside the road.
Papaya were the one of my favorite. I had tiny one as an ornamental annual a couple years ago, but zipping along busy roads in a taxi through Zanzibar, we regularly saw two foot wide leaves topping 10 foot stalks with clusters of ripe fruit along the trunk. That’s a miracle.
With last week’s safari stories, I hope I haven’t given you the false impression that I’m a rugged traveler. While I’m not big on lounging by the pool, I’m generally not a camper, and I quite enjoy a hotel that makes pool lounging look like a good idea. Following our safari, we spent five days on the island of Zanzibar, which fit the bill nicely.
I love traveling, but one of my favorite things about vacation is coming home. It’s like a second vacation. You get to experience all the things you missed about home while you were away, with a fresh sense of appreciation. Vacation is still a fresh memory you get to relive, sifting through photos and sharing stories.
Justin surprised me with the safari as a 40th birthday present back in December. We had been batting around ideas for some sort of vacation this summer, and he let me babble on about Costa Rica or Iceland without tipping me off that he had something else in mind. He had done a bunch of research, picked out a camp, and stashed some extra vacation savings on the sly. (more…)
As a lifelong animal lover, going on an African safari has been a fantasy as long as I can remember. After months of research and planning, the big trip finally happened last week.
Technical difficulties here: I don’t know why some photos are getting flipped upside down when I add them to the post. Maybe because I’m south of the equator.
(Patricia here. I’m doing a little photo importing & inserting. All mistakes in i.d. and placement are mine. I’m sure Megan will set us straight upon her return home. Right now, she’s in the midst of 30 hours in route.)
Every garden needs some big-ass leaves. Who couldn’t use a little big-leaf eye candy to kick off the short work week? Tetrapanax ‘Steroidal Giant’ is kicking off the parade up top.
Not all garden chores are created equal, but many are enjoyable on some level, even if they’re grunt work. For instance, I don’t really mind digging out blackberries. Carefully using the pruners to grab the stems, disentangling them from nearby plants, chopping them into pieces that fit into yard debris bag. It’s mindless and meditative and satisfying to see your progress. And then there are the chores that just suck. For instance, the weedy bulbs, like the Hyacinthoides in the photo above by James Petts. I have Hyacinthoides, but they’re not as big a problem as my Star of Bethlehem, wild onion, and wild garlic. Mix those all together and you’ve got yourself a garden monster.
It is soooooo hard to take the advice of waiting and watching for a year after moving into a new garden. Knowing what I know now, I’d probably still make some of the same mistakes I made 15 years ago. If you move into a garden that doesn’t reflect your gardening style, you know there are certain plants you’ll never learn to love, although some might surprise you if you give them time. But the restraint it would take not to plant what you know you can’t live without, I honestly don’t know if I have it in me.
If I could point to my single largest mistake that I vow to never make again, it was failing to recognize the problem of invasives lurking in my soil. I was so new to gardening, I didn’t even know what I was looking at when my shovel would strike these tight clumps of bulbs. I remember wondering if they were frog eggs.
At some point I realized they were plants, and I thought, well, dividing them will surely be good for them, they’re probably pretty. I ordered loads and loads of compost to make my cement-like compacted soil more hospitable, and went about diligently hand digging the other weeds, breaking up the soil and turning in the compost with my digging fork. If you have dealt with any of these problem bulbs, you are probably cringing right now. That was my single biggest garden mistake of my life. (more…)
We get a lot of people searching plant lust for serrated leaves, and I often wonder, are people seeing some jaw-dropping Melianthus out in the world, and searching for the name? I can see it, because that plant is always love at first sight.
Or are people searching for any of the dramatic saw-toothed foliage possibilities they can get their hands on? I hope that’s it at least some of the time, because it means I have kindred spirits out there. You can never have too many serrated leaves, in my opinion. Here are several that have been occupying my wish list.
I bought a peony at a plant sale where it was labeled “Woodland Peony.” That should mean it is Paeonia obovata, although I tend not to 100% trust plant labels that don’t include a latin name. I can’t speak for all P. obovata since I just have the one, but this plant reinvents itself more than any other plant I’ve ever known.
I chose P. obovata because it grows in a semi-shady woodland setting, and because it allegedly has single creamy flowers. An unassuming mild mannered plant that fits in nicely with the surrounding plants in shades of green, gold, and white. But this plant does not bloom whatever color The Man says it should bloom. It does whatever it pleases, and reserves the right to change its mind day to day. (more…)
Turns out the grass isn’t always greener. I’m always saying, look at those lucky Californians, they can grow all the super cool stuff. But the drought and water shortage–not so lucky.
I enjoyed an article on Annie’s Annuals & Perennials’ blog this week. Nursery customers report feeling guilty about gardening. Some are planning on letting their plants die off.
But don’t freak out, okay?
The news coverage of the water shortage isn’t always helpful in giving people a realistic idea of what makes a measurable difference in water usage, so people are trying their best to do what they can to take shorter showers and stop watering their plants. Or in Annie’s experience, they’re yelling at strangers in public showers that they’re taking a few seconds too long. So what gives? Is your climate-appropriate garden slurping up all the water Californian’s need to live? Should you hassle strangers in the gym shower? In short, no.
Residential water accounts for about 5% of all California water usage according to the Public Policy Institute of California, so families cutting back 25% as mandated only saves about 1.25% of statewide water use.
Half of residential water use, or about 2.5% of California’s water is used on landscapes, so garden water is a good place to look for efficiencies at home, but that doesn’t mean we should aim for crispy brown yards everywhere.
Plenty of plants that are native or adapted to a climate similar to California are accustomed to drought and don’t need or even want frequent watering. Some edible plants may require more regular water, but 80% of California’s total water usage goes into commercial agriculture, and you’d be better off growing yourself a salad than eating a burger or a cup of greek yogurt for lunch, if you’re trying to reduce your overall water footprint.
However, not all plants are created equal. Turf grass is like a slacker friend who wears out their welcome crashing on your couch. It just sits there, doesn’t do much, raids the cupboards, uses up your shower water, and makes messes you have to clean up.
If I could offer any words of encouragement to people facing this task with dread, there are so many alternatives that are way better, I swear. No lawn mower, no regular watering, no chemicals, no dormant brown yards in the heat of summer. Instead you can get self sufficient, low maintenance plants with interesting foliage, flowers, and fragrance, making you, the birds, and beneficial insects happy. Plus, you get to feel good about your water saving ways, without critiquing the shower technique of strangers at the gym. Win-win-win.
Hats off to the gardeners who have done such a nice job ditching the lawn, it makes you wonder why we weren’t always doing it this way.
