August 10, 2015

Summer vacation

At the cabin. Rainy afternoon in the San Bernardino National Forest, and a manzanita in a dart of sunlight.

Speed blogging tonight. Photos from a summer that was lazy and happy and busy all at once.

Metcalf Meadow, up the road.

Salvia pachyphylla at the Xeriscape Demonstration Garden in Big Bear Lake.  

A work shed on the Big Bear Xeriscape Garden Tour. (The garden was wonderful, too.)

Back home in the foothills.

Aloe karasbergensis.

Agave potatorum var. verschaffeltii.

Pomegranate bloom on a young tree, a volunteer from the school garden.

Objets trouvés.

What I saw last week when I went to buy a new kitchen faucet...

And look what was still there today!
:~)


6 comments:

  1. Looks like you had a great summer! But it's not ever yet :-).

    I wish the Lowe's up here in Northern California carried "Australian Outback Plants." Did they have grevilleas and banksias, too?

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    1. So over :~) Love you, day job! Didn't see any grevilleas or banksias. Dozens of 'Cousin It,' a few species of Callistemon, Eremophila, Melaleuca, and some other eucalyptus.

      The succulent selection was insane. I want to run back and pick up a Pedilanthus macrocarpus (big ones, $20 if I remember right), but I'm getting conflicting feedback on frost tolerance. And I worry about Altman Plants' use of neonicotinoids... sometimes labeled (Home Depot), sometimes not (Lowes). I should call 'em, see what's going on.

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  2. Amazing to find Moon Lagoon there! I get you with the speed blogging. It's just so hard to sit at the computer in summer. So I'll quickly finish and say that Salvia pachyphylla is incredible.

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    1. Yes, crazy to see Moon Lagoon there, and crazier still that in a town filled with gardeners (and, ahem, the oldest garden club in California), both Moon Lagoons were still there after a week. Maybe 'eucalyptus' scared folks off -- lots of huge, troublesome eucs in these parts.

      I love Salvia pachyphylla so much. Saw it growing wild along SR 38 when I drove up to Big Bear last week.

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  3. A place like your summer cabin would be perfect to spend the entire summer. Do you stay for a while, or just a weekend? I really need to get out of here and go up high soon.

    Salvia pachyphylla...a great plant I would see at my last home (Albuquerque), but never here.

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    1. Hi, David -- thanks for stopping by! Ah, the cabin [heart]. Been spending summers here (yes, I'm at the cabin now -- Labor Day weekend, yay!) since I was a zygote. My home down the hill is just an hour away, so I'm back and forth, fetching mail, watering, etc.

      I'm going to try Salvia pachyphylla at home. I've heard it described as "challenging," and it's natural habitat is higher -- home is 3,000 feet, and I've only seen it growing wild above 5,000 -- but we'll give it a try and see what happens.

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