Ohio buckeye (Aesculus glabra) leaves and fruit
Fruit and fruit shells of Ohio buckeye (Aesculus glabra) - the shells (two split pieces behind the fruit) are not spiny like Horse Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum).
Every time someone asks me “what are the shiny brown things?” that they got from the ground underneath the Ohio buckeye (Aesculus glabra), I wonder what they did as kids in the fall. I grew up in England where we had horse chestnuts (Aesculus hippocastanum), very similar trees but bigger and with spiny fruit casings instead of the smoother ones in the picture. The fruit inside look the same though.
We would collect hundreds of the fruit, stomping on the spiny shells to get to the fruit inside.
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Squirrel eating a buffalo gourd (Curcurbita foetidissima)
Everywhere you look in the gardens is a squirrel eating something, burying something to eat later, or fighting another squirrel over food. Much as they can be annoying to gardeners I have to admit they are kind of photogenic…
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Recently I have noticed people commenting on the lack of ritual and disconnection from the seasons leading to the year seeming the same all the way through. It makes me realize how lucky I am with the work I do. Gardening has its own peculiar rituals that mean we cannot help but be highly aware of the changing seasons.
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Echinopsis 'Romance' flower
The South-American natives, Echinopsis, are not the most attractive cacti. They are often slightly off color with yellow or brown patches instead of a healthy green, they do not have particularly interesting spines and yet I cannot help but always have a few around. So what is their appeal? Why when space is limited to I feel the need to keep them in the collection?
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Dryland Mesa in bloom
Prickly pear cacti blooming in Dryland Mesa
Early mornings in the gardens are definitely peaceful and cool, however some gardens, like some people, are not at their best until well after lunchtime. The south end of Dryland Mesa is currently one of these gardens and the cacti flowers, which are at their peak right now, are definitely late risers, refusing to open until the sun is at its fullest.
Admittedly an early morning visit does have the reward of the intense chocolate aroma of the Berlandiera lyrata (chocolate flowers). The closed Eschscholzia californica (California poppies) have a certain charm too, it is fascinating to watch them open as the sun falls on them. By mid-afternoon though everyone has stretched and opened
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Teddy bear cholla (Cylindropuntia bigelovii) and Ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens) at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park CA
Evening primrose (Oenothera deltoides) and sand verbena (Abronia villosa) at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park CA
It is probably no surprise that many of our gardens are inspired by nature. Though many of the desert plants cannot handle our winters – these photos were taken in CA at exactly this time of year in 2005, whilst today it is snowing here – there is no reason we should not be able to grow many of the desert annuals. The sandy gravelly desert wash area at the south end of Dryland Mesa was inspired by trips to the California deserts and designed to provide a similar soil environment to the places shown in the photographs. This garden was affected by some of the construction this winter, but last week almost three pounds of seed was sown in the sand and gravel.
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Growing a dwarf banana in your home can help remove toxins from the air.
I guess I have always heard, and mostly disregarded, that having a few houseplants in your home helps clean the air. The idea of billions of plants and entire ecosystems cleaning the air for the planet makes sense but applying it to less than ten plants seemed a little far fetched. I never really checked the facts as I felt that if it was another reason to get people to grow plants, even if not entirely based in fact, then so much the better. When I came across a blog entitled ‘Best Air-Filtering House Plants According to NASA’ I was intrigued. A 25 year NASA study might be enough evidence to convince even the most hardened skeptic.
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This is one of our most frequently asked questions. In the middle of spring insanity I look forward to the peaceful time in winter when I can finally catch up on all those things I have been ignoring; yet now, in the middle of January, most of those same things are still waiting to be done. I know this is not just true for me but for most of my co-workers, but what are we so busy with?
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