Anna's Hummingbird

Portrait by Brad Schram, who wrote the book on birding in Southern California [no, really, he wrote the book]. Brad is playing (his word) with settings and a new camera body here.

If you ever get the chance to hear Sheri Williamson talk about hummingbirds, give a listen. Not just because she wrote the book on hummingbirds (again, really), but because she's an excellent speaker, and because hummingbirds are awesome. Prodigious migrators, brainy as crows and parrots, masters of flight, and more beautiful than jewels, as you can see from Brad's photo. 

The Anna's is our most common hummingbird here in the foothills — in fact, I've only seen one other species in my yard this past year: a selasphorus, last summer. OK, a Rufous. Maybe. Though it might have been an Allen's:

In some areas, Garrett says, resident Allen's are now as familiar as the Anna's hummingbird, Southern California's most common.

"They're moving inland," Williamson says. "It probably has to do with gardens. It's evolution in action ... the evolution of an urban hummingbird. They're learning to live with people in new environments." [Link]

Sheri's blog is invaluable for anyone interested in feeding these little guys. I am shocked, shocked, to learn that there are chemicals in organic sugar...!

Here are a few photos of hummingbirds taken with an old iPhone, through windows, with way too much zoom, by someone whose hands aren't always steady, etc.

Four Anna's Hummingbirds at one feeder:

Keeping an eye on another feeder. The dead manzanita branches were schlepped down from the cabin: 

Shadow play: 

And finally, a handsome boy guarding yet another feeder. He's perched on an agave spine:

(Agave + needlessly ginormous pot = epic fail. Look, a hummingbird!)

When can I move in?

Heaven. From the Commune Residential Portfolio -- this is Foothill Road in Ojai.

The minute, no, the nanosecond I win the lottery I will be on the phone to Commune. I blame Desire to Inspire: they posted photos of the home above and another in Echo Park, interiors designed by Commune, and they are wonderful. The second home is on Elsinore Road, for those visiting the Commune site, or see Desire to Inspire's post here. 

The Despot loses a sale

At the orange big box on January 16: 'Ascot Rainbow,' a tempting spurge. See the little tag tucked in each pot?

Little tag's there on the left.

I have a spurge (Euphorbia characias ‘Glacier Blue’) that I like a lot, and I was tempted to buy 'Ascot Rainbow.' It's beautiful. I took some photos and drove home to think it over, the way one does, and decided to get one. Went back to the store a week or so later, and saw more of those little tags everywhere, on every succulent from big agaves to tiny mammillarias, on plants inside and outside, everywhere. So many of them I took a closer look, and they're not the usual ID/planting info tags.

The tag says something like, "This plant is free of aphids, mealy bugs, etc., etc. because it has been treated with a neonicotinoid pesticide."

Neonicotinoids... where have I heard that word before? Oh. Oh, yeah. "Pesticide blamed in death of 25,000 bumblebees in Oregon." That pesticide. From the Xerces Society:

• Neonicotinoid residues are found in pollen and nectar consumed by pollinators such as bees and butterflies. The residues can reach lethal concentrations in some situations.

• Neonicotinoids can persist in soil for months or years after a single application. Measurable amounts of residues were found in woody plants up to six years after application.

• Untreated plants may absorb chemical residues left over in the soil from the previous year.

• Products approved for homeowners to use in gardens, lawns, and on ornamental trees have manufacturer-recommended application rates up to 120 times higher than rates approved for agricultural crops. [Source]

Boy, I'd sure like some of that in my garden! But seriously, here I am trying to create a wildlife-friendly environment, trying to attract birds, butterflies, bees, lizards, frogs, trying to avoid this type of pesticide use, only to discover that every plant sold by the local Despot is a neonicotinoid time bomb of lethal residues. Great.

To be fair, at least the orange big box requires labeling now: U.S. retailers look to limit pesticides to help honeybees, said Reuters back in June when instead of paying attention, I was up in Big Bear singing "School's out for summer!" (Wonder if the blue big box requires labeling. Must ask.) Anyhow, on Monday I found a droopy, Dr. Seuss-ian  'Ascot Rainbow' at a local nursery that's more organic than not, and put him in a planter for now with a tiny Ceanothus 'Concha.' I hope he thrives.

Be a friend to all nature, little dude!

Sunday Pot Culture

Leo González has a Flickr photostream, not to mention a plant collection, that is the stuff dreams are made of. A succulent-lover's dreams...

It's everywhere I turn: Aloe marlothii. Those blooms...! I will have one someday, after I see how the little Aloe ferox does in these parts. Aloe marlothii... Aloe marlothii... 

Warm, sunny morning; cool, cloudy afternoon. I repotted some new agaves, and have the scratched hands to prove it. I watered a little. Swept — a biggie when your garden is mostly patio and you're a bit of a neat freak. Moved some pots around. Did a little post-freeze pruning/plant tidying. Took the potting bench apart looking for a spider: two black widows were hiding in the first agave I repotted, and I only caught/killed one, dammit. Anyhow, the new agaves seem happy to be able to breathe a little, and I'll post some "after" photos later in the week.

Backstory on these agaves: last month I stopped by a local business — the nice not-a-nursery-but-we-have-some-plants-for-sale-also-kittens — to look at their agaves and aloes. The plants were lined up inside the parking lot fence, no labels, no prices, and no one in the shop knew anything about them except that they were indeed for sale. After the helpful office people made a call to the shop owner and another call to the "plant guy" to get prices (small pots $5.00, big pots $10.00), I drove home with some aloes, an Agave filifera, and an Agave asperrima. Here's the asperrima, leaves rough as sandpaper [she said with asperity]:

There were three hearty plants bursting out of that pot, along with five or six pups and a mystery euphorbia. Look at those teeth! The nursery label brought back memories. Newell's was a great place, but they closed three years ago — how long were the agaves in that pot, I wonder?

Here's the filifera:

No spiders in this one — quite a few pups, though. Can't begin to describe how root bound these plants were, but agaves can be very tough, and I imagine they'll be fine. I'll pot up the pups and take them to the next CSS meeting. Both asperrima and filifera are quite cold hardy. Hardier than Aloe marlotthii, anyway, and marlothii is hardy enough for me ;~)

Flickr Friday: Round Valley

Beautiful California [heart]. Photo by Marc Crumpler on Flickr -- I've favorited just about every photo he's shared. More information on Round Valley here.