Happy Holidays!

Courtesy of Dover Publications

Hope your spirits will be bright this holiday season! Happy Holidays, everyone! And may butterflies always come to your garden!

California flora

One of California's unusual flowering bushes


White crane among waterlilies

Lily hangs over the sidewalk.

Italian and Thai Basil

My dining room is fragrant with the smell of basil. I think it's the purplish Thai basil that's giving off the herbal fragrance. I planted both kinds this summer in the garden and have potted them for the indoors. I only hope they will survive in front of the south window, and may have to give them and the other indoor plants some artificial light.

In the green mix by the window are a long box of basil, a large pot with a banana plant and its large sucker (making it two plants), a lemon leaf tree, and a small planter with philodendron, a palm, and a few other tropical plants. I often lose the herbs in winter from lack of light and maybe some neglect. Will see how they do this winter.

Robin's Nest Revisited

I'e been neglecting this blog terribly, even though the garden is full of birds and critters, a few new plants and flowers, and there is a lot to post about.

Back to the robin's nest. We found out that robins can lay eggs up to three times a year, beginning in spring and through summer. A robin, I don't know which, has been coming back to the now empty nest. It has been sitting and fussing in the nest on and off and seems to have been fixing it up, maybe for another clutch of eggs?

However, I haven't seen the robin in a few days. Abandoned the nest again after buzzing back and forth to it, like a mother with empty nest syndrome (laugh)? My better half had left a long green water hose on the lawn. I hope that sight didn't scare the robin away! I wouldn't mind looking at another set of eggs getting hatched right outside my front window!

Anyway, I rolled up the green snake-like water hose and it's now out of sight! We'll see if said robin(s) come back!

A Robin's Empty Nest

Another empty nest! Today, the second of the two fledgling birds flew the coop,literally. The first one left yesterday and must have come back today as the second followed it out of the nest to the dogwood tree nearby. Now they have both flown off.

We had watched a robin build her nest over the past month and then settle in. When I came back after a 10 day vacation, I saw two large chicks fluffing and preening in a nest in the tall woody bush outside the front window. Mother bird would fly out to get food from the grass after a rain, but had back up food sources - a serviceberry tree in the front yard and a sour cherry tree in the back, both with lots of red fruit.

Now both chicks have flown the coop and I admit I miss watching them, almost as much as I missed having my own empty nest years ago when our second child left home!

Wonder if another robin will find the nest next year, if it will last that long!

I'm glad to see our garden supporting wildlife!

I have photos, but will post these later.

The Trail of the Wild Rose by Anthony Eglin, review

Gardners who love a mystery might like this book which discusses roses from China and the influences they had on the varieties of modern rose we have today.

The book weaves botanical and horticultural information throughout.

"The introduction of the China roses to Europe changed rose culture forevermore. Chinese roses offered several distinct traits that had been lacking in European roses of the eighteenth century." Ch. 13, p. 106.

This is a garden mystery written by Anthony Eglin, The Trail of the Wild Rose: An English Garden Mystery, published 2009, in which plant hunters are being targeted by an "assailant" in Britain.

Click here to see a review of the book: Trail of the Wild Rose.

Double Hibiscus

Summer of 2007.




Harvey, our bichon, thought there was a two-eyed monster by the back fence and barked at these white hibiscus one dusky evening. I had to walk up to the plant and give the flowers a shake to show him they were harmless!

Wide as large saucers, white and red hibiscus were blooming in the front and back yard. A second hibiscus opened up right next to the first and created this image of a double bloom.

I've since moved all the hibiscus plants to the backyard so they wouldn't have to bend and stretch to get the full sun.