Succulents and More™

I'm old enough to have experienced plenty of ridiculousness from city offices, but this might take the cake. A couple of days ago, we received this City Tree Planting Notice: Nothing too unusual there, you might think. The Urban Forestry Division of our great town removed one city tree on our property and will replace it with another. Except look at the date of the letter: September 23, 2021.  The tree that started all this—a Bradford pear, arguably one of the nastiest and trashiest trees ever to torture this planet—was removed by the selfsame Urban Forestry Division on October 24, 2019. That was 706 days—or 1 year, 11 months, 5 days—ago. October 24, 2019, the last morning we had to tolerate this Bradford pear. It was removed later that day. October 25, 2019, the day after the Bradford pear had been removed. (The Asian lemon bamboo to the left of it is now gone, too—cut down by yours truly to let in more light.) Granted, a year and a half of the last two years have been anythi...

In a typical week, I spend Monday through Friday chained to my desktop computer. Garden interactions are brief and limited to looking or taking quick snapshots. But on Saturday morning, I spring into action.  Throughout the summer and fall, the first order of business is handwatering the pots in the back and front yard that aren't on drip irrigation. That takes a solid two hours. Then I move on to the chores on my list, whatever they might be that particular weekend.  By the end of the day, my back—and muscles that go unused during the week—often ache. Even if I don't complain much, my wife somehow can tell: “Overdid the weekend warrior things again, didn't you?,” is a typical response. To which I offer my grumbling assent. Weekend warrioring may not be the must efficient way to get things done, but for many of us, it's the only way, sore muscles and all. Here's what I got done this past weekend. Project 1: Move out agave, move in cycad The agave you see in the pho...

Last Saturday, I visited Peacock Horticultural Nursery  in Sebastopol, about 80 miles west of here. As their website says, “it features unusual, hard-to-find, and interesting plants for both serious collectors and garden dabblers alike. The owners, Robert Peacock and Marty Waldron, have created an intimate West [Sonoma] County setting for diverse plant collections well-suited to Northern California climates, including air plants, pitcher plants, bromeliads, a few house plants, palms, ferns, Australian plants, cactus, conifers, succulents, maples, and plants for a shady garden and more. Hopefully, you will have some time to explore all the nooks and crannies of the nursery. Although you will see our large selection of succulents and cactus as soon as you step out of your car, please explore the nursery to find many varieties of plants. Check out the shop with house plants and hand made pottery. Check out the shady areas of the nursery for shrubs, trees, ferns and perennials that enj...