danger garden

Wednesday, January 27, 2021

Wednesday Vignette: look, up there in the sky!

January of 2014 and completely by accident I happened upon a Portland house with cactus on its roof (photos here). Over the years I tried to find it again, I was curious to see how the opuntia were doing. Were they still there? Had they multiplied? Try as I might I wasn't able to locate it. Then out of the blue I got an email from my friend Doug Norseth and he'd happened upon the same house, and took note of it's location! Naturally I did a drive by.

The cactus are indeed still there, but in the 7 years since I first photographed them they hadn't grown much, if at all.

I find this all very curious. If I were going to plant opuntia on my roof I'd go a little wild. If one or two plants made it through the first year then maybe a dozen plants would follow—but that's me. Obviously these folks are happy with just the two plants. Good on them. I am happy to see they're still there all these years later.

Weather Diary, Jan 26: Hi 41, Low 35/ Precip .20—some of which fell as snow

Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Carnivorous close-ups

As I mentioned when I shared the photos I took in Evan's garden (here), I desperately need to figure out the finer points of taking photos with my COVID camera (so called because I purchased it as lockdown took place last spring, and then didn't touch it for months). One afternoon recently the sun and shadows provided such strong lighting conditions it was a fun time to work with it. Here is a Darlingtonia californica pitcher.

The windows that confuse and exhaust the plant's victims "if I try just a little bit harder I'm sure I can get out this way..." are evident all across the top of the pitcher.

Moving to the sarracenia you can see the downward pointing hairs that make it difficult for the prey to climb out of the pitchers. Slide down so easily, then fight your way back out...

I did a brief search to learn if the water that fills the pitchers in a strong rain plays a part in the process, but couldn't find anything to substantiate the idea.

Please speak up if you know. I swear I once read something about the reflection encouraging victims to take the plunge.

These are such interesting plants.

I count myself lucky to be able grow them.

Weather Diary, Jan 25: Hi 44, Low 36/ Precip trace

Monday, January 25, 2021

It was Portland's wettest day in over 3 years, why not stop and take photos of a desert garden?

It was a very wet day, yet here I was driving right by a garden I'm rarely near ... so of course I took a little detour. These photos aren't great, the light was bad and there was no way I was breaking out the real camera in the rain, so the phone would have to do. If you're curious here's a post with photos of this garden on a sunny day back in 2011: "I am not in the desert southwest" and one from 2012 that's busting out with blooms all over the place: "More Cacti blooming in the wet gray Pacific Northwest…"

It's only fitting that we start this rather wet tour with a rotted, moss-covered, opuntia ...

Wowsa, the Yucca rostrata has put on a few feet of growth since I first saw it. I do like the look of the old leaves left in place, but as someone with a small garden I decided to cut them away on my plant, to give me more space to plant.

Everything has grown so much since I first saw them. Starting this tour with the mossy opuntia may have given the wrong impression, as most everything is extremely healthy and good looking.

Well okay, not all ...

Yucca in the hellstrip ...

And turning back around to focus on the main garden.

A nice clump of Agave parryi, maybe var. couesii.

A few pups have busted out of the low retaining wall.

Agave salmiana in the back, maybe?

Another view ...

And another ...

I thought this was a fun shot, the property line between the crazy plant person and the neighbor. "Yo! Your plants are leaning over onto my lawn, AGAIN!" ...

Moving back across the plant filled front garden ...

Here you get a glimpse of a piece of plastic tucked over something. More on that in a bit.

Oh yes! What looks to be a fern volunteer, probably blown in from a neighbor, right in the middle of a very spiky opuntia.

Those flawless agaves again.

Here's what my camera saw when I stuck it under the plastic protection. Maybe there is a bit of rot that the owner is trying to hold at bay?

Just a few more images to wrap up this soggy grey visit ...

Interesting to see my yucca wasn't the only one that was pollinated here in the Portland area. I wonder if the moth has moved north?

Weather Diary, Jan 24: Hi 41, Low 39 / Precip .36

Friday, January 22, 2021

The Huntington: agaves and yucca and aloe... oh my!

Perhaps I saved the best for last? Nah, it's all good in the Desert Garden at the Huntington. Besides this isn't really the end, I still have photos to share from the other parts of the garden.

Aloe 'David Verity' I believe, but then again my aloe knowledge and ID skills are minimal at best.

Such an interesting way this agave has of fanning out it's huge leaves to display the growing bloomspike.

Sweet! Agave nickelsiae has got to be one of the most strange and yet beautiful of the agaves.

Agave titanota, another gorgeous agave.

The bright yellow number is a Hechtia huamelulaensis.

There were several different labels in this patch of spiky goodness, Abromeitiella lorentziana and Abromeitiella brevifolia were two. I believe these are synonyms for the same plant.