I have extra plants! This is the first plant sale I have on craigslist. If you are in Los Angeles or near the Van Nuys area in the valley and in need of some succulents, come take a look. :) I have everything from cactus, to aloes, agaves, euphorbias, and smaller succulents for sale.
Click here to see our Craigslist ad!
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Dad's Bonsai regathered
When my Dad had his stroke in February of 2006, his Bonsai collection was scattered among family and friends. The first one I inherited was from my Aunt on March 5th, 2011 when I visited her house. She gave me a plethora of plants, and the first of my Dad's Bonsai that I brought home was the Ficus Insipida below. I am waiting for the other two companion plants to leaf in order to identify them.
Besides my Aunt, a family friend offered to take care of most of my Dad's other bonsai trees. However, soon after he took them, his life got too busy and couldn't afford to give them consistent care. My Sister called him to ask if he could allow us to take one back since I was learning how to grow Bonsai. In the end, he decided to give us most of them back. We took ten trees back from him and my sister kept two. I offered my brother to take any that he likes but he didn't want to yet.
My Sister and brother in law drove eight of my Dad's trees to my house on June 25th. I ran out and bought some lumber and concrete blocks to make two 10' benches.
The bonsai has arrived. They were in my side-yard here but I've already moved them to the backyard where they are not visible from the side yard. I also built a new side yard gate that is 6' tall and put a lock on it for safety measures.
Ficus Insipida is below. This is the first one that I received from my Aunt. This was when the journey of gathering my Dad's Bonsais began.
The two little brown stumps are hard to ID with no leaves. My best guess is Cyphostemma Simulans or mestoklema tuberosa. It's a shot in the dark but it's hard to tell with no foliage.
The first thing was to do identify them. This is what I came up with. There could be some error because a lot of Ficus trees look similar to me.
Ficus Palmeri below:
The two little plants are Ficus Petiolaris and their roots seem to be attached to the Palmeri.
Below is Ficus Microcarpa.
Ficus Benjamina, also known as weeping fig is below.
This is a Holly tree but I'm not sure which kind exactly.
Finally an easy one; Wisteria. Same one in my earlier post of Dad's Bonsai. :)
And another easy one; Olive.
These are big bonsai! A couple of them are about 3 feet tall and wide. The smallest one is the Olive, which is about 18" tall. I cut them back a little since these photos to make them a bit more compact so that they can fit on the bench without too much over-crowding.
Ficus like lots of sunlight. I put the trees in an open space with full sun so the soil dries out quickly in the summer. I water the small pots about three times a week and the deeper pots twice a week. On very hot mornings, i give the leaves a light mist. There is new growth on every tree even though they are shaggy looking. They are very established and hardy plants so it's only a matter of time before they will look more consistently maintained. Once they are more healthy, I will change the soil, re-pot, and start fertilizing. It's exciting to be the care-taker of some of my Dad's plants. I am glad to be up to the task.
Besides my Aunt, a family friend offered to take care of most of my Dad's other bonsai trees. However, soon after he took them, his life got too busy and couldn't afford to give them consistent care. My Sister called him to ask if he could allow us to take one back since I was learning how to grow Bonsai. In the end, he decided to give us most of them back. We took ten trees back from him and my sister kept two. I offered my brother to take any that he likes but he didn't want to yet.
My Sister and brother in law drove eight of my Dad's trees to my house on June 25th. I ran out and bought some lumber and concrete blocks to make two 10' benches.
The bonsai has arrived. They were in my side-yard here but I've already moved them to the backyard where they are not visible from the side yard. I also built a new side yard gate that is 6' tall and put a lock on it for safety measures.
Ficus Insipida is below. This is the first one that I received from my Aunt. This was when the journey of gathering my Dad's Bonsais began.
The two little brown stumps are hard to ID with no leaves. My best guess is Cyphostemma Simulans or mestoklema tuberosa. It's a shot in the dark but it's hard to tell with no foliage.
The first thing was to do identify them. This is what I came up with. There could be some error because a lot of Ficus trees look similar to me.
Ficus Palmeri below:
The two little plants are Ficus Petiolaris and their roots seem to be attached to the Palmeri.
Below is Ficus Microcarpa.
Ficus Benjamina, also known as weeping fig is below.
This is a Holly tree but I'm not sure which kind exactly.
Finally an easy one; Wisteria. Same one in my earlier post of Dad's Bonsai. :)
And another easy one; Olive.
These are big bonsai! A couple of them are about 3 feet tall and wide. The smallest one is the Olive, which is about 18" tall. I cut them back a little since these photos to make them a bit more compact so that they can fit on the bench without too much over-crowding.
Ficus like lots of sunlight. I put the trees in an open space with full sun so the soil dries out quickly in the summer. I water the small pots about three times a week and the deeper pots twice a week. On very hot mornings, i give the leaves a light mist. There is new growth on every tree even though they are shaggy looking. They are very established and hardy plants so it's only a matter of time before they will look more consistently maintained. Once they are more healthy, I will change the soil, re-pot, and start fertilizing. It's exciting to be the care-taker of some of my Dad's plants. I am glad to be up to the task.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Huntington Botanical Gardens Cactus and Succulent Show and Sale 2011
It was an awesome show. I am converting to Succulent Bonsai for sure.
These are my favorite photos from the show. Enjoy!
Don't worry be happy.
I love this tall plant in the back called Operculicarya decaryi.
Lithops dish. Living Stones.
Aloe Plicatilis
Ficus Lutea in rock clinging style.
Fockea edulis. Love the name, love the plant. Turn this plant sideways and I can call it a reclining nude style.
Last but not least is my favorite bromeliad called Deuterocohnia brevifolia. Air plants don't need soil and are related to pinneaples.
These are my favorite photos from the show. Enjoy!
Don't worry be happy.
I love this tall plant in the back called Operculicarya decaryi.
Lithops dish. Living Stones.
Aloe Plicatilis
Ficus Lutea in rock clinging style.
Fockea edulis. Love the name, love the plant. Turn this plant sideways and I can call it a reclining nude style.
Last but not least is my favorite bromeliad called Deuterocohnia brevifolia. Air plants don't need soil and are related to pinneaples.
Monday, July 4, 2011
More Succulent Window Boxes :)
The best way to get some mileage is to do it! So we made three more window boxes using the same ideas we shared with on a previous post. Mix different size succulents, vary the heights and shapes, use negative space, and we mulched this with black riverbed rocks and lava rock.
Graptoveria 'fred ives' in the foreground here. It's the biggest succulent in the boxes. On a side note, we saw a van at the Hungtington Library Succulent show that had a sticker that said "My succulents are bigger than your succulents."
Graptoveria 'fred ives' in the foreground here. It's the biggest succulent in the boxes. On a side note, we saw a van at the Hungtington Library Succulent show that had a sticker that said "My succulents are bigger than your succulents."
Plants in Shades of Purple
I love purple. It's sickening how much I love purple. (It's almost as bad as how much I love pink.) Right now, we're in the tail end of spring here in Southern California and many of our favorite plants are happy and in bloom. So while tending to the plants in the courtyard today, I realized how much PURPLE there is and I just had to snap a few photos to share. :)
Spanish Lavender - Of course, this is a no-brainer given its namesake. This stunning plant has pretty medium purple colored flowers. We keep them in a container at our gate and they have been thriving well. This particular type is a kind of Spanish Lavender which has a pineapple shaped flower.
Fuschias - The pink and purple variety is my favorite! Seeing the outer petals lift to reveal the deep purple interiors is breath-taking.
Pearle Von Neuremburg - This lovely echeveria is famous for its lavender and pink pastel tones. I'm certainly a fan.
Iresine "Blood Leaf" - It has bright tones of magenta interlacing with rich purple tones on the leaves. This particular photo shows it more of a jewel red, but in person, it's definitely more purple to me. In cool climates, they should be grown in a house or greenhouse, or they may be planted outside during the summer and brought in before frost. They should be grown in two-thirds loam, one-third leaf mold or peat moss and decayed manure. Water them abundantly while they are growing actively, otherwise moderately. Pinch the young growing tips to encourage bushiness.
Tradescantia 'Purple Sabre' - This plant with deep purple foliage has pretty tri-petaled flowers which popped up this weekend for us. This fun plant is great in full-sun or in partial shade with good drainage. I adore it and I'm still finding a place for it.
Spanish Lavender - Of course, this is a no-brainer given its namesake. This stunning plant has pretty medium purple colored flowers. We keep them in a container at our gate and they have been thriving well. This particular type is a kind of Spanish Lavender which has a pineapple shaped flower.
Fuschias - The pink and purple variety is my favorite! Seeing the outer petals lift to reveal the deep purple interiors is breath-taking.
Pearle Von Neuremburg - This lovely echeveria is famous for its lavender and pink pastel tones. I'm certainly a fan.
Iresine "Blood Leaf" - It has bright tones of magenta interlacing with rich purple tones on the leaves. This particular photo shows it more of a jewel red, but in person, it's definitely more purple to me. In cool climates, they should be grown in a house or greenhouse, or they may be planted outside during the summer and brought in before frost. They should be grown in two-thirds loam, one-third leaf mold or peat moss and decayed manure. Water them abundantly while they are growing actively, otherwise moderately. Pinch the young growing tips to encourage bushiness.
Tradescantia 'Purple Sabre' - This plant with deep purple foliage has pretty tri-petaled flowers which popped up this weekend for us. This fun plant is great in full-sun or in partial shade with good drainage. I adore it and I'm still finding a place for it.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
The Courtyard - a fresh canvas
I'm currently working on both the courtyard and the backyard. The courtyard is only about 15' wide and 15' deep. The backyard is about 60' x 60' so that's not going anywhere fast.
Here is our courtyard. There's a bunch of plants in nursery pots and I just installed a cover using shade cloth and some cedar lumber for the framing. Although we are using drought tolerant plants and succulents, many of them need partial shade or at least some protection from the hottest parts of L.A. summer. It gets quite toasty here.
The courtyard is so small, I don't think I will make a drawing to plan it out. On our travels to Europe a few years ago, we decided that Barcelona was our favorite place. It was the colorful mosaics, the energetic Spanish culture, their diversity, friendliness, gourmet seafood, sangria, and their art that attracted us. We decided to bring some of those Spanish influences into the design of our courtyard. It is a million degrees outside so this small project will probably take quite a while since we're not in a rush. There will be lots of crafty work including vertical succulent frames, perhaps acid etching the cement, and maybe install a console table or hang a piece of framed art. The ideas aren't set in stone yet.
Below are photos of a couple of plants that we're starting off with; Agave Victoria Reginae (Queen Victoria), and Portulaca grandiflora (moss rose). More to come later.
Here is our courtyard. There's a bunch of plants in nursery pots and I just installed a cover using shade cloth and some cedar lumber for the framing. Although we are using drought tolerant plants and succulents, many of them need partial shade or at least some protection from the hottest parts of L.A. summer. It gets quite toasty here.
The courtyard is so small, I don't think I will make a drawing to plan it out. On our travels to Europe a few years ago, we decided that Barcelona was our favorite place. It was the colorful mosaics, the energetic Spanish culture, their diversity, friendliness, gourmet seafood, sangria, and their art that attracted us. We decided to bring some of those Spanish influences into the design of our courtyard. It is a million degrees outside so this small project will probably take quite a while since we're not in a rush. There will be lots of crafty work including vertical succulent frames, perhaps acid etching the cement, and maybe install a console table or hang a piece of framed art. The ideas aren't set in stone yet.
Below are photos of a couple of plants that we're starting off with; Agave Victoria Reginae (Queen Victoria), and Portulaca grandiflora (moss rose). More to come later.
Monday, June 6, 2011
The Desert Garden of Ordinary Heroes
Construction of our Desert Garden is complete! We agreed to name it The Garden of Ordinary Heroes because it is dedicated to our parents. Below are photos of the overall design. My plan for the planting area is to build a raised bed so that it would help the soil around each cactus drain better. Here is the general idea model of how I would sculpt the earth. The overall size of the garden is 40 feet wide by 20 feet deep. The raised areas for planting range from 6" - 12" varying depending on the size of the lava rock used. I tried to spread the rocks out so that no one area would have too many rocks . Smaller pieces of lava rock were lodged in the soil to help support the plants and keep a structure for the plants. The design is a compromise between formal and informal elements. Although I wanted to keep it looking very maintained and orderly, I did try to space things out in a more random and natural way in each smaller areas.
Here's what the finished construction looks like. On the little planting island on the bottom, there is a very small Mama Bear Manzanita (Arctostaphylos) tree. It is native to Santa Monica and is very drought tolerant once established.
In the photo below, you can see the purple leafed plum (krauter versuvius) in the top left corner.
You can see that every cactus is planted on a slightly raised bed from 6" - 8" taller than the ground level for better drainage. In the photo below there are three sticks on fire plants, one golden barrel cactus (Echinocactus grusonii), one fish-hook barrel cactus, a few dwarf blue chalk sticks (senecio serpens), a reddish flapjack (kalanchoe luciae), and some pork and beans (senecio rubrotinctum) to the bottom right.
In the photo below; in the front bottom is an agave shark skin (A. Ruth Bancroft), behind him is an agave paryii truncata. To the left of the Agave paryii, is an agave kissho kan. The white fuzzy columnar cacti in the back are wooly torches (cleistocactus strausii). The little green plant to right of it is an euphorbia resinifera. The purple paddle and ball cactus in the back is a prickly pear cactus called Opuntia Santa-Rita 'Tubac'.
The amazing flowers you see come out of a couple of kinds of Schick Hybrid Echinopsis Cacti. One is called Echinopsis Don Juan which has a magenta colored flower. The other is Echinopsis Sorceress, which has a deep red flower. These cacti are only about 2" in diameter across the body. They are globular in form and very easy to overlook when not in bloom.
The flowers are usually more than twice the size of the cactus.
The Old man of the Andes cactus is on the left of the island from this point of view. On the right is Cereus Peruvianus Monstroso, a cool night flowering cactus. In between them is a mammilaria cactus.
Here's a reverse shot with the old man of the andes on the front right. The textures and contrast of the different sized red lava rocks are very pleasant to the eyes. I used 3/8", 3/4" as a ground cover, and 4"-24" to build the borders and raised planting beds. I probably moved about 2 tons (4,000 lbs.) of rock, including the California Gold crushed rock, Malibu cobblestone, and lava rock around within the two and a half months that it took me to construct the garden. So guys, be prepared to lift if you are going to attempt to build one for yourself. There will be plenty of lifting to do and lots of tanning also.
I hope you enjoy my design. I would like to give thanks to my Aunt and Uncle Yoko Sato, and our friend Michelle Loon as well as Mr. and Mrs. Loon for donating so many of the plants that we used for our garden. This garden is dedicated to my wife and our parents.
Here's what the finished construction looks like. On the little planting island on the bottom, there is a very small Mama Bear Manzanita (Arctostaphylos) tree. It is native to Santa Monica and is very drought tolerant once established.
In the photo below, you can see the purple leafed plum (krauter versuvius) in the top left corner.
You can see that every cactus is planted on a slightly raised bed from 6" - 8" taller than the ground level for better drainage. In the photo below there are three sticks on fire plants, one golden barrel cactus (Echinocactus grusonii), one fish-hook barrel cactus, a few dwarf blue chalk sticks (senecio serpens), a reddish flapjack (kalanchoe luciae), and some pork and beans (senecio rubrotinctum) to the bottom right.
In the photo below; in the front bottom is an agave shark skin (A. Ruth Bancroft), behind him is an agave paryii truncata. To the left of the Agave paryii, is an agave kissho kan. The white fuzzy columnar cacti in the back are wooly torches (cleistocactus strausii). The little green plant to right of it is an euphorbia resinifera. The purple paddle and ball cactus in the back is a prickly pear cactus called Opuntia Santa-Rita 'Tubac'.
The amazing flowers you see come out of a couple of kinds of Schick Hybrid Echinopsis Cacti. One is called Echinopsis Don Juan which has a magenta colored flower. The other is Echinopsis Sorceress, which has a deep red flower. These cacti are only about 2" in diameter across the body. They are globular in form and very easy to overlook when not in bloom.
The flowers are usually more than twice the size of the cactus.
The Old man of the Andes cactus is on the left of the island from this point of view. On the right is Cereus Peruvianus Monstroso, a cool night flowering cactus. In between them is a mammilaria cactus.
Here's a reverse shot with the old man of the andes on the front right. The textures and contrast of the different sized red lava rocks are very pleasant to the eyes. I used 3/8", 3/4" as a ground cover, and 4"-24" to build the borders and raised planting beds. I probably moved about 2 tons (4,000 lbs.) of rock, including the California Gold crushed rock, Malibu cobblestone, and lava rock around within the two and a half months that it took me to construct the garden. So guys, be prepared to lift if you are going to attempt to build one for yourself. There will be plenty of lifting to do and lots of tanning also.
I hope you enjoy my design. I would like to give thanks to my Aunt and Uncle Yoko Sato, and our friend Michelle Loon as well as Mr. and Mrs. Loon for donating so many of the plants that we used for our garden. This garden is dedicated to my wife and our parents.
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