Whale, because I luv you!

Ok, last of the Valentines Pictures. This one was just too cute to not share.

Romantic Valentines day? Fail!

I had this great fantastic idea. I would send an email Valentine to BH every day starting on the 1st. Most of which you saw here. A few you didn't. With little captions. Some of which you saw here. Some you didn't. A little personal note of I love you every day. Some romantic. Some funny. Some meaningful to us.

Truth be told, didn't go over so well. Not that he didn't love his little Valentine surprises every day, he did. He did, but, some needed explanation and overall he didn't really get it. I was way bummed. Oh well. I got him a little teeny tiny gift, more of a joke really, and that he liked the best of all. (he doesn't want me to tell you what it is, sorry)

Tonight I make scallops. Seafood is my traditional Valentines gift to my family. I picked up Shrimp Scampi and Wilson Creek Almond champagne for the boys and a pound of scallops for me and BH. I've been craving scallops of late and thought I'd prepare a romantic little dinner for us. The weekend was a bust. BH worked Saturday and yesterday we made a trek out to the OC to have a birthday dinner with dad. So tonight I'll make the scallops and we'll have some Almond Champagne and light a few candles. Valentines Day can be any day, right?

I will tell you what I got my folks for V-day. I got my mom her favorite macaroon cookies tied with a huge red bow and my dad got a bundle of onions. No really. Dad and I love to garden and whenever I'm able to I pick up something fun for him to grow. He's grown onions before and has been griping about his garden for the last month. I found this huge bundle of Washington onion starters at Wally World. There has to be at least 100 starters in there. I selfishly pulled 10 or so starters out of there and pulled an ailing mint plant from it's perfect for onions pot. Filled it with fresh dirt and the starters. We'll see. The mint by the way has been with me for more years than I can remember. It's never done well here no matter what the season. It is now in a clump in the yard. I'm tempted to pull some starters from it and start again. But then, how expensive is a little minty herb? A couple of bucks at most? I don't use mint much. We'll see. Maybe in it's exposed condition it'll thrive. Or maybe the bunnies would like it. I'll keep you posted.

In the mean time HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!! The year of the. . what was that? Tiger? For reals? You hear on the news today about Tigers little honey's pregnancies? So sad. Happy Valentines Day darlin.. sheesh..

I hope this is a better year for the Tiger. I don't know how it could get any worse.

But that's what happens when you've been a bad bad boy.

Garden Porn. . .

Not to be confused with midget porn or anime porn

My passion flower

getting ready to open up

almost there

LOOK!

Looks a little like an alien

or something

Bells from the garden

they matured so late and were so small that I decieded not to eat them.

Pretty color right!!

Garden Porn Sexy Squash

Again a garden post with a little age on it. I really really enjoyed my garden this year. Could have been better and I've learned a few things. I don't think I'll ever be able to have the garden of my dreams here in LE but I keep trying!



Now that the weather has cooled some. It's not cold mind you or even cool by a long shot, the air is, I must say at least breathable now. My purple rat cage bottom makeshift squash garden is lookin mighty fine. There are flowers. Flowers flowers everywhere flowers.

See the stick? The bell pepper stick? I should've known it was being chomped by something evil and green.See how healthy and green it is?But the best part. A squash! A squash. Can you believe it.
Will wonders never cease.
Tiny yes but it is in fact a squash and I do plan to eat it.

I had every intention of eating it. It never really got big enough to slice and cook. Maya B surprised me by eating most of this plant and taking delicate bites out of the squash. I'm just happy someone could enjoy it.

YUK!!!

I have to many drafts to ignore so I'll be dredging those up until I deal with any brand new posts. This post features the horror one never hope to find in their garden. EVAH!!

See this?No it is not a stick. It is a bell pepper plant. Stripped of all it's leaves. All but one. This sort of happened overnight. Upon closer inspection I found these.Tomato worms ! ! Disgusting! Don't believe me? Look here.

And I was just starting to have hope that I'd have peppers.

NOTE: The bell pepper stick recovered and produced the most beautiful purple bells I've ever seen. They were to small to pick and eat so I just enjoyed them on the vine until they withered and died. It was a happy death.

NaBloPoMo 2009!!!

Wait wait wait!

I'm not ready yet. I'm a little looney right now and I didn't pick a theme as I have in years past and as I did last month. This counts as a post, right? Lovingly swiped from Can't remember didly.
Here's a draft from who knows when.

Well whadduknow. I have flowers. And Fruit! Wanna see? Look close. Wait. Let me get a closer look for you.See? No?

THAT my friends is a bell pepper!

And more to come. Look at all the flowers! ! !

I hope they get big enough to eat before it gets too cold.

Mystery bulbs

Mystery bulbs.A few years ago, one of the gals in our Fall Tea group gave us these bulbs. She got them from her sister that had brought them back from England. She only knew that the flowers were white. I stuck them in my aloe vera pot and every year they come out and grace my yard in these delicate little bells.
Putting them in with the aloe vera is great. I always forget about them and then 'POOF' they pop up in the spring and give me this beautiful show. When they die off I just clip the dead off and leave them. Sometimes I separate the bulbs. I pulled them out this summer when I got some kind of crazy but that appeared to be eating the bulbs. They are safe inside now.

I need to do some fall clean out and transplanting gardening. It's getting grody out there.

Garden Porn "'Passion Fruit"' edition

I have this Passion Fruit vine here that I picked up from the Farmers Market.I managed to fid a spot on the patio with hopefully enough shade to keep her cool. And then one day, while watering I see this!!AN EGG!! No not really an egg but a passion fruit. A PASSION FRUIT!! How did this happen? I know of course how it does happen but these vines have the most beautiful flowers. I check and water this plant every day. I never saw the flower. I never saw the fruit that got this big just hangin there.

And very very green. I was a little worried that it had fallen off prematurely and may not ripen. But left on the counter it started to purple up.

Jbug had never tasted a passion fruit. We cut it open for her. It wasn't quite ready as it was a little tart, still yummy.My first fruit of the season and I missed the whole show!

When garden porn goes terribly wrong

Yeah, the heat has done it's dirty work. These Armenian cukes died a slow and painful death.
These are squash, I think. I can't remember anymore. I know that this container housed cukes, squash and 3 varieties of bell peppers. They are hangin in there but I doubt there will be fruit here.
I don't know why this ended up on it's side. It's an artichoke and it's doing ok. No sign of flower though. humpf

Another cuke. It's not going to make it and I think I'll put it out of it's misery soon.

My mint got scraggly the bells are pitiful. The time and chives flowered throughout the heat and I doubt I'll be able to use them until winter.
This is a fuzzy succulent that I have planted in my aloe vera pot. Look! It's got flowers!
And this is my Passion Fruit vine. Looks great! I don't know if it'll get fruit on it this year as I think it should have flowered already. We'll see.
This is in the Passion Fruit pot. I thought there might be enough shade here to actually grow some cilantro. But no. I'll continue to throw more seed here as it looks as though I could grow some when the temps drop. Also there is some unidentified succulent growing in this pot which I find rather ugly. I need to move it but it's too freakin hot to play outside.
And this is the mystery tree. It's beautiful. It doesn't seem to be the least bit bothered by the heat and I've had it in full sun all summer. The leaves look like apricot leaves, but not exactly.

No sign of flowers so I doubt I'll have fruit.

I'll keep you posted.

Mystery weed

There's a weed growing out of the middle of my cactus. I tried to pull it but it was just too strong and I just ended up leaving it alone.
At first it looked like a grape vine. I'd had a grape vine at the old house but it died and I just planted something else in the pot. But, it's not a grape vine. It looks more like a tree, like a fruit tree.
See! What the heck is it?

Anyone? Anyone?

Garden Porn gone wrong

More drafts dug up for your enjoyment. Or my laziness. Or my not wanting to waste the time and effort I put into taking the pictures, uploading them and then doing a little writing.Hibiscus
I call this my Charlie brown Hibiscus. The one on the left dropped all of it's leaves last year. All. I thought it might be too hot but the other one gets more sun and it was bushy and full and beautiful. Now this year, the second one did the same thing. WHAT UP???

Bay Leaf

This is a bay leaf bush. Or rather a bay leaf twig. Here's the story. I've bought Bay leaf plants off and on for years. I get to keep them maybe a month before they give up the ghost and look like this. So I give them to my mother. Where they become bushy and huge and supply her and me with more bay leaves than we can possible use in a life time. Moms bay is so overgrown that we decided we'd try to get a plant off it. You know, get the shovel, take a sucker off, no problem. BIG PROBLEM. BIG. The thing was so attached that mom grabbed a hatchet. And then proceeded to try to remove the sucker from the main plant nearly removing my arm as well. Oh it was good times. Then I get the sucker home, plant it all nice in a pot, where it proceeds to die a quick and hopefully painless death. I've trimmed it way way back and I'll continue to water the stump all summer. (note: I do not keep it all summer)

I doubt much will come of it, but you never know. (except now you do)

Dredging drafts

Time to clean out all those posts that have been marinating in the drafts folder for. . .months.

This sadly was written in May and I completely forgot all about it.

It's just starting to get hot here. I think my plants are ready for the summer.This is my scented geranium. Rose, I think. Maybe lemon, I'm not sure. It was huge and lovely during the fall. Also quite over grown and in need of trimming back. Which I did. I also got a small packet of California Poppies. I sprinkled them throughout the pots to see what would happen to them and them promptly forgot all about them. Those feathery looking leaves are the poppy.

I have no idea what this is called. I call it the onion plant. It grows all bulby out of the garden just like an onion. It has green leaves like an onion. Then it sprouts these monstrous flowers that flail about in an unattractive manner. I hate this plant but BH loves it so I water it and love it and. . . then it needed to be transplanted. NEEDED! It got so rootbound that it cracked the pot. I had to chisel the roots out of there. I gathered up as many babies as I could and put them in a pot with some fresh dirt. It'll grow I've no doubt. Nothing can stop this beast.
I call her Miss Beetle. . I don't normally name my plants. It makes it harder later on to dig them out and transplant. I'm afraid if they die I'll be sad and who needs that? But this is special. This is a lemon verbena. Remember Miss Beetle on Little House? She loved lemon verbena, it was her favorite perfume. If you run your hand over the leaves you can smell the scent on your hands. It always reminds me of Little House on the Prairie and Half Pint. I found this at the 99 store. I know! I couldn't believe it either. It was kind of ratty and sad but it has perked up. Hopefully she will get beautiful and bushy for me this summer.

A miniture rose. I forget the color of it now. Jbug got it for me for my last surgery. Whenever I need more plants for my garden I'll just have another surgery. I'll make a wish list.
Tarregon.
I don't use tarregon much. It's kind of licorichy, which is a little wierd for some people. It's great for chicken or fish. I don't cook a lot of fish and I am not fond of this on fish. It is nice for salad dressings though. Still, I mostly just love to have it in my garden. It grows from a rizome, like ginger, and it usually goes domant in the winter. I usually forget which pot it's in and plant something else in the pot and the wierd cycle starts all over again. This year I planted a lemon balm. A beautiful fragrant plant that takes over everything. So I barely noticed when the tarregon came back this spring and nearly killed it. Again. I carefully pulled the lemon balm out and planted it in another pot.

Lemon balm
I am pleased to announce that both are doing fine after their surgeries.

Mint
What can you say about mint. You gotta have it in your garden. It grows like crazy so keep it contained, or really, you will be sorry. It's great for garnish and it's pretty, so that's a bonus.

Oregano and lemon balm
I know their are a bunch of different varieties of oregano and I can never remember which one this is. Not that it matters, I don't really like oregano and I only use it, sparingly. I've had this plant for over a year, I don't think I've ever used it.

The aloe vera and British mystery bulbs, oregano and lemon balm.

Thyme.
An herb I love and use plenty of. Unfortuanly I can never get a plant big enough to support my needs.

This, I think is called Donkey tail. It's a succulent that doesn't look very pretty here, but it will. While out on a Notary call I noticed the owner had transplanted this little darling and there were bits and pieces everywhere. I asked if I could take some home and they gave me a whole bag full of trimmings. I've hearby scattered them throughout my pots. Some will not get enough sun. Some will get to hot. And some will let me know how happy they are to be in my garden.

In the meantime, it looks like this. I'll keep you posted.

Chives
La la love chives. I have had to separate, thin and transplant this plant numerous times. It grows like crazy and makes me very happy. One little problem is that it is always in flower. You are not suppose to use herbs when they begin to flower as it reduces/changes their flavor. I use it all the time and it tastes just fine. Wish I could get it to stop flowering. At least for a little while.

Basil.
I so love basil and can think of a hundred things to do with it. I buy a plant every year and the minute it hits my yard it bolts and then I can't use it. I mean I would, but the flowers reduce the leaves to nada and the flowers are not good for anything. So last year I bought this African Basil. The grower said it was periennal and I'd have basil in my yard all year. I had dreams of fresh picked and prepared pesto, all year. Ahhh, but it was not to be. The minute I got it in my garden, it bolted. Ok, no problem, let it run it's course and in the fall, cut it back and see her leaf up all fall and winter. Come fall I trimmed all the flowers off. They grew back. Then I cut the whole thing back to almost nothing. It's diffecult to tell from this picture but the minute it leafed up, it flowered. I keep pinching off the flowers but it refuses to be tamed. I have had this a year now and I've yet to do anything with it.