This is one of my Coleus from last year (2005). This was a tall Coleus that tried to bloom as much as it could.
I took cuttings of this to overwinter and it survived at work, but the main stem recently started to die and all I was left with were the small tips.
I cut the remaining tips off and those are now in ICU at home under growlights. They look like they may make it.
I just noticed that this photo was taken last year on Thanksgiving. It’s colors are very autumn-esque.
Taken on Friday on my way home from work.
Red-masked Conure (Aratinga erythrogenys) atop a traffic light on the corner of Drumm and Clay in San Francisco.
These are the bird featured in the film “The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill“. Here’s a link to rent it from Netflix.
After their tiff, they fell off, but were able to fly away without hitting the pavement (or cars).
I spent yesterday (Saturday) doing a little bit of cleanup on my three vegetable beds in the backyard.
Last weekend, me and some friends went to Alameda to have lunch and walk around.
We passed by this florist shop (on Park Street) that had a plant that I’ve never seen before. The label on it says “Sun Star”. Unfortunately, the shop was closed on Sundays.
[Added April 30, 2006] A Flickr user has identified this as Ornithogalum dubium, a South African native.
As I was walking from the carpool lot to my car, parked several blocks away, I noticed these seeds scattered here and there as if it was a trail marker. It was beckoning me collect it… so I did.
I have a feeling that some school children were eating “whatever this is” and spitting it out the seeds as they walked home. These may be Loquat seeds, but I’m not sure.
Once I got home, I took our dog Kelly for a walk. We walked all the way along the bay. She’s getting old, but she still enjoyed getting out. We saw these two doin’ it on a bush by the bay.
Finally, the sun began to set… and we headed back home.
The Hayward Kiwi branches that I got from the California Rare Fruit Grower’s 2006 Golden Gate Chapter Scion Exchange back in January have sprouted quite a bit and I’m not sure what to do with them. Should I:
1. Plant the whole branch in soil?
2. Cut the new (green) growth and root the cutting, then plant that?
3. Something else?
These branches (one male and one female) are sitting in water on my shelf under grow lights.
Before going to bed, I got the urge to do some planting… so, I:
1. I repotted the 2 small pots of Great Quaking Ornamental Grass into larger pots.
2. I repotted the Zygocactus cutting which have sprouted new leaves/stems into a larger pot.
I’m still disappointed by the sad looking Tomato, Eggplant, etc. seedlings, so I thought I would try an experiment. I wondered how the tomatoes would do if I took cuttings of them.
I cut them down, dipped the bottom ends into rooting hormone and planted them into a half potting soil/half perlite mixture. About 2 inches of the stems were placed in the soil. I then watered and covered them with a cut up plastic water bottle to act as a mini greenhouse.
Earlier at work, I went outside to take a break and noticed a beetle near the bike lane on it’s back struggling to get back up.
I was going to pick it up and place it on the grass, but was waiting for all these cars to pass. (Even though the cars are a bike lane away, I just wanted to be safe.)
As the last car was about to pass, a woman said “excuse me” to me and walked in front of me to get to her parked car… and accidentally stepped on the beetle.
Now he’s all mushed up :( the poor thing…