I mean the good type of Hummers: Hummingbirds! (Some types of which are already visiting the garden even though the flowers they like are most not ready yet. One of my Budlea plants died – from the frosts I think – and another is ill. I expect to get three more of them from the market this week. The hummingbirds like them (butterflies love them), although they prefer the Mexican Sage plants which are right […] Click to continue reading this post
No, not the name of a new Jazz singer as far as I know. Instead, it is the single most powerful source of a sweet scent in the garden. What has been happening is that the Jasmine has steadily crept up one of the palm trees, and is engulfing it in hundreds of tiny flowers. (Click for larger view.)
The scent from this is huge. For better or worse, the web does not allow communication of scents, and so I can do no more than offer this rather odd picture (the tree is quite tall, and so it is an odd one to take, and hard to get the right sense of the situation while letting you still see the plant), and leave the rest to your imagination.
The only downside to this wonderful scent is the fact that it is close to the group of […] Click to continue reading this post
The flowers from one of the earliest of the bulb varieties I planted late last year have started to emerge. Here’s gladiolus tristis:
Lovely aren’t they? There are many stems of these, with more and more opening every […] Click to continue reading this post
Here’s some remarkable news from the garden. You may remember that last April I noticed a tiny tomato plant growing out of a crack in some steps, and that I promised to keep an eye on it? (Picture, left.) Then later in July I reported that not only had it … Click to continue reading this post
Big rainstorm coming, and so I don’t think this beauty will be here in 24 hours:
These flowers are quite large compared to other roses I’ve shown from the garden – about 6 inches across. There’s a lot of pink, tending toward orange toward the centre. The powerful scent is just marvellous!
I always love it when these pop their heads out to sample the sun: […] Click to continue reading this post
Last week Saturday morning, I stepped out to the garden to do maybe forty-five minutes’ worth of much needed pruning. Sometime late in the afternoon saw me finish. Things just got way out of hand. More and more tools were assembled: …there was much in the way of climbing of … Click to continue reading this post
I accidentally used the term “de-gauss” (or perhaps “degauss”) in conversation the other day, referring to something I had to do for my well-being. I was asked for an explanation. Thought I’d explain what I meant to you too:
One of many effective ways to de-gauss: Get the best gin ever (Hendricks’), a decent tonic water, the very tastiest of lemons (it’s from the tree in the garden), a glass, some ice…*
…and a really comfy chair. Hey, it’s been a long and busy day.
-cvj
P.S. Oh. There’s some other use of the word involving getting rid of trapped built up magnetic fields, etc., etc. You can google that.
(*Yeah, I know it’s not a great snapshot, but you get the idea.) Click to continue reading this post
“..It’s pretty serious.” “Yeah…” (chuckle) “…right!” “No, it is serious… Your smoothies are going to be more expensive.” (Silence, as the enormity of this economic revelation sinks in…) * * * Part of a conversation I overheard between two students while I waited for a class to start. One student … Click to continue reading this post
Well, that flower that so many of you – like me – enjoyed so much a while back has opened up very nicely. So I thought I’d share an update photo of it: -cvj
The final rose or two before the big prune back, methinks. ‘Tis the season. These bushes are way taller than me now, and stretched a bit too thinly. -cvj
I’d like to wish a Happy and Successful New Year to all readers, whether you be regular, occasional or first time visitors! In a very short time, you’ve all helped make this blog into a pleasant, informative, and fun place to visit (certainly for me).
I’d hoped that this could be -and it has indeed become, with your help- a place that […] Click to continue reading this post
Some Winter gifts from the garden:
Spotted in Griffith Park on a quick hike: I’m thinking that this is a variety of bindweed (but see below*). I’m not sure though. Thoughts anyone? (Convolvulus sepium, that is.) Bindweed is a sort of wild morning glory, and this really
You’ll recall that I had a fig emergency not too long ago. Too many figs from my tree and (despite commenter Moshe’s suggestion to just eat them all) no inclination to eat them all in one sitting. Recipe ideas were considered (and thanks all of you!), and I made a decision. I was looking for a way to preserve them, not how to eat immediately them, and so sadly I did not take up all the lovely suggestions of things to do. By a day or two later I had several more, and so it became urgent. As hinted at by the post entitled “Jam Tomorrow” (which I took a while to deliver on – sorry) you can guess what I decided to do: Fig Jam, of course!
So I bring you the first of what I expect to be several trips to the kitchen on Asymptotia, where we go through all the steps together […] Click to continue reading this post
