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California Poppy: No Nectar, Just Pollen
The latest edition of Fremontia, a publication of the California Native Plant Society (CNPS), is devoted to the state's declining prairies and...
Worker bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, foraging on a California poppy. (Photo by Gary Zamzow)
This photo, of a female sweat bee, Halictus ligatus, on a gumplant also appears in the Fremontia article. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Male cuckoo bee (Triepeolus sp.) foraging on a gumplant. This is another photo in the Robbin Thorp. piece. Cuckoo bees do not gather pollen. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
It's Not Just the Bird
As a gardener, November means many things to me. I count my blessings when I think of the hardships our forefathers endured, and feel so fortunate that my life is much easier than those pioneers had it in the beginning of their life in the 'New Frontier'. As I rake the leaves of my neighbor's trees, pull weeds, check for insect pests and pathogens that can overwinter, amend the soil in my raised beds, add protective mulch and plan for my next season's garden, I realize that I have nothing to complain about.
How lucky I am that I have the benefit of stores to purchase supplies to make this garden grow. All I need to do is decide what I want, do the research in books or on the Internet, drive to the store and purchase or order via catalog or a web site. Oh, sure, I do have to bend, stretch, reach and lift -- not to mention dig and water. But it is a labor of love not to mention the healthy exercise, vitamin D, and fresh air I am receiving.
So in this month when we think so much about Thanksgiving, I wish to declare my thankfulness to my ancestors who made all of this possible. In addition, I am grateful for my family, friends and world. May each of you reading this enjoy November in any way that makes you happy.
begonia
Those Fascinating Heliconius Butterflies
Those fascinating Heliconius butterflies... Heliconius butterflies will take center stage, so to speak, when James Mallet of Harvard...
Doris Longwing (Lapus doris viridis) at Puentes Colgantes near Arenal Volcano, Costa Rica. (Photo by Hans Hillewaert, Courtesy of Wikipeda)
Mums the Word
Fall is here and while we feel the growing season has come to an end, we still have many options for both fall color and veggies.
Several years ago a new type of chrysanthemum was bred, called Belgian and Prophets they boasted hundreds of blooms per plant and by using different varieties their blooming season could be extended out to about 6 months.
There are "very early", "early", "mid", "late" season mums. Some early season mums will bloom as early as late June, while the late season bloomers have a limiting factor being frost. Mums can be found in a variety of colors including yellow, white, bronze, purple, and red being the more common colors and now so some hybrids showing bi-colors are showing up such as a yellow with a bronze edge.
Tips & Tricks:
1) 4 inches high on the fourth of July-Years ago my grandmother shared a little garden rhyme with my mom pertaining to mums, she sited "4 inches high on the Fourth of July", cut them back to 4 inches, unless you have some very early bloomers you may wish to leave them alone of cut the back, they will flower again for you in about a month. Keep them blooming longer by removing/grooming spend blossoms. Instead of just taking of the bloom and leaving a bunch of unsightly sticks, when deadheading, prefer to run my forefinger and thumb down the stem about 5 inches and snip or pinch there.
2) Lasso them in, being such abundant and happy growers mums can be over zealous and spread in to what some feel is an unsightly manner. If you wish to keep them more controlled with regard to symmetry, secure a round of twine or green garden tape around them as they reach 1 foot tall.
Often Mums from the florist or from the floral department are given as a hostess gift in a pot or purchased as a treat to add color to the fall entry. Do not hesitate to remove the mums from their pot and plant in the yard when you are done enjoying them as they will give you year after year of happy returns. And if you are really tricky, take a cut stem from an arrangement and stick it in the ground where it will stay moist but not wet, in a few weeks you will have a new plant. Mums must have full sun. while the prophets and the belgiums used to be clearly marked, that seems to have gone by the wayside. I suggest journaling when your mums bloom and make adjustments to their placement and/or propagation accordingly.
Final cutbacks after first killing frost can be done in December or January or when ever they have been blackened or unsightly.
Next month...Winter flower options for your garden, Helebores, Cyclamen, Camelias, Berginia, Brunnera.
Trees Toppled by Space Shuttle Trip
Old. Sick or dying. Creating a havoc on sidewalks. Non-native. Not heritage species. These are some of the reasons given for chopping down 400 trees that once grew along the 12-mile stretch of road traveled by the space shuttle Endeavor on October 12-13. From Los Angeles International Airport to Exposition Park, Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus spp.), Jacaranda (Jacaranda spp.), and others were toppled to make room for the NASA transporter carrying the 75-ton, five-story tall spaceship that measured 122 feet in length and 78 feet wide.
Photos of the gaping spaces and enormous trunks left behind after tree removal can be viewed online at the link listed below. Some trees were more than 80 years old. While I don’t label myself a “greenie,” I am a softie for all things living, especially big and tall, old trees. For me, something seems amiss when a single two-day road trip trumps a survivor with almost a century of growth.
Certainly, the California Science Center expects the shuttle, which CSC president Jeffrey Rudolph called “a historical piece” and “a national treasure,” to draw 800,000 visitors a year. And by 2017, the center plans to build the shuttle’s permanent home—the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center complete with launch pad and replica fuel tanks and rocket boosters. Also, CSC pledged $500,000 for road improvements and landscaping, promising to replant more trees than were removed.
But I wonder about the arboreal impact on people in communities (Westchester, Inglewood, Los Angeles) now living without wind protection, air filtration and summer shade from those big and tall, old trees. In the dialogue of history, will anybody mention the measure of their worth?
Click below for link to a slide show of post-removal median strip in Inglewood, CA:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/19/us-usa-space-shuttle-idUSBRE88I01D20120919
Tree removed by space shuttle. (c) LA TIMES
