Winter slice

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Apricot blooming in azure skies
Sweet peas: so called "fragrant mix", I think I'll stick with 'Cupani' next year
Howdy,

Our non-winter winter has sprung and early. Perhaps you keen gardeners here in So Cal have seen this too. Things are early.  One plant that seems so regular to me was pink jasmine, Jasminum polyanthum.  I started to see this guy blooming a month ago, when normally it begins to grace us with its banana-bubble gum fragrance in the later half of February.

Anyway, I'm totally enjoying the warm weather all the same, even if it has plants out of what I think is their normal cycle.  Today I was enjoying the early blooms of my apricot trees and sweet peas. Actually the sweet peas are pretty much on time, since I started them early autumn and put them in my sunniest winter spot to get early bloooms. I was disappointed with this "fragrant mix" that was so not fragrant.  Next year I go back to 'Cupani' the original sweet pea from Italy. 'Cupani' may have short legs (stems are so short sometimes hard to put in a vase) but damn what a awesome smell!

One other thing I will mention, I'm a bit worried about the apricot, as I see no bees around.  No bees, no apricots!  Maybe they are making their visits surreptitiously. All I can do is hope.

Kraut chronically...err.. I mean chronicles

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October a seed is planted
November a seedling transplanted
February a kraut fermented



For those of you who give a crap about cabbage, today would have given you joy. Waiting this long has really build up a lot of anticipation.  They have become like family pets, sitting, waiting out there. If only they knew what I had planned for them...

A brutal beheading happened here today, I callously cut three likely heads of cabbage from my patch.

I'm salivating at the thought of the alchemy that is sauerkraut. Essentially sauerkraut is only these two things; cabbage, and salt.  Everything else is created by microorganisms and time, beautiful right?  There are multiple organisms needed to take plain cabbage to the state that is sauerkraut, all of which are naturally present on cabbage (thank you kraut goddesses).


The sauerkraut process is simple:

Shred a cabbage (or three).
Add salt.
Pound into a container.
Keep air off proto-kraut ( I can make up my own words if I want).
Store in a place that isn't too cold.
Wait a week or so.
Enjoy.

BEES!

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Well, I have once again been bad and neglected the blog. Sorry about that.  I have been very busy though.  And I wanted to share with you my first beehive. Below are the photos taken today.  This is just after two weeks time from the initial installation of the bee package. We brought a pure European queen and intend on keeping the hive free of African genetics, which is of course a concern in our area. My buddy Geoffrey (partner in bee crime) took these excellent photos.  Enjoy!


Here you see the purchased foundation (wax sheet) and thicker comb that bees did more or less freeform 

Here I'm examining comb that is mostly honey

These cells are stores for a great variety of local pollens

Holding the frame to the sun allows me to see the comb very clearly

We left too much space between frames initially and the bees made this big comb by attaching it to the lid of the hive, it fell off when I opened the hive.  

Same large section of comb that is not attached to a frame.  You can see honey and capped brood cells!

Same comb, upper section close-up, lots of yummy honey.  I later wired this comb into a frame. Conform damn it!
another frame

Here I'm gently brushing the bees away from the comb.  Notice the centrally located brood cells.  We have a good queen!
Capped and uncapped brood cells

This frame has from top to bottom: uncapped honey, pollen stores and empty drawn out comb
Here she is, the queen has a gold mark on her back.  Even though I have set this frame aside she doesn't stop laying for a second.

More queen action

Here some spilled honey is being conserved (gobbled up) by this worker. Geoffrey and I had a little taste. You could tell the honey wasn't quite ready but it was delicious and decidedly HONEY!

HONEY HONEY HONEY!

Golden goodness
Another nice close-up. Did I mention how proud we are of our girls?!:)

They call it mellow yellow...

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This morning I was surprised to wake to overcast skies.  Some people hate these days, but I love them. I love the way it feels like morning all day long, even if it isn't good for telling time.  And I love the way softer colors pop under gray skies.

Here in my nascent "Golden Garden",  Achillea 'Moonshine' is really standing out as the doer and the champ that it is.  Being a hybrid it shows true hybrid vigor, I've seen it blooming at all months of teh year in So. Cal.  Silver foliage is another reason to choose this cultivar over A. millefolium. You may also be pleased that it is clumping, not spreading. And... the individual flower clusters last a very long time!  Enjoy!

Mary Lou's tour (come see my garden for yourself)

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Many of you out there in Orange County and Long Beach and elsewhere fondly remember a little nursery called Heard's Country Gardens. Tucked away in an odd quasi industrial area of Westminster sat a nursery that was the brainchild of Mary Lou Heard.  Filled with rare perennials, it captured the hearts of gardeners in the area.

Once when I was 15 or 16 years old I went to Heard's with my grandma to pick out some herbs.  I was visiting from Northern California and loved to see the variety of plants that the nursery had to offer.  There were few people in the nursery that day, and Mary Lou was grooming plants in the 4" area. I said to her "I love this blue eyed grass, it grows on my parents ranch", Mary Lou said something like "I like it too, it's one of my favorites", then I said something to the effect of "it's a tiny iris relative you know" and Mary Lou said plainly "no, it's not".  I then asked Mary Lou if she had a plant encyclopedia where we might check the plant's family. She showed me directly to the book.  I was right. Mary Lou offered me a job on the spot.  I told her the 500 mile commute would be tough and that I'd probably better finish high school.

Later when I was 19, I was living in the area and looking for work. I went and asked for the job she had offered me. She took my number and said she would call me. I heard nothing for two weeks. At this point I called and was asked "how can I help you" to which I replied "I want you to hire me".  She did.  And so began my career in horticulture.  At first I was just a leaf picker and a hose dragging waterer, but every week with the help of Mary Lou and others in the nursery I learned about plants. So many plants. Mary Lou kept such a wide variety around and sometimes there would be a flat of plants in one day and you wouldn't see them again until the next year or ever.  But I learned them all, or at least as best as I could.

I worked for Mary Lou for about 5 years, until she closed the nursery.  After two years of battling colon cancer she had to let the business go.  Later that summer she passed away.

There are countless stories I could tell about Mary Lou, but the thing that I want to share is that she had a pure love of plants and gardening.  That is why she started the garden tour.  Mary Lou always wanted it to be about real people and real gardens. She wanted people to be able to share their love of gardening with each other.

Today the garden tour lives on in her name.  It benefits a women's shelter, a horticultural scholarship and a cancer charity.

After all these years my garden will be on the tour, I think Mary Lou would be proud.  I hope you all can come see my garden this Sunday 10am to 5 pm.

Here is the info:

In case you forget, my name is Dustin

heardsgardentour.com

addresses for the tour

Here are some before and after shots.




Front yard early 2010


Frontyard 2012

Frontyard 2010
Frontyard 2012


Backyard 2010
Backyard 2012

Former Walt Disney House for sale

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Former Walt Disney mansion just came on the market. 4 bedrooms, 5 baths, with a great screening room, & original bar (feels like your own speakeasy!). Located in the hills of Los Feliz, on about an acre of land sits this spacious French Normandy home with vibrant tiled bathrooms. Great location, gated, views and a pool. 4053 Woking Way, Los Angeles, CA 90027, listed at $3,650,000.

Wonderful Craftsman in Echo Park

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New to market.. this immaculate craftsman home is located at the very top of Echo Park Ave. Every part of this house is so well crafted, from the windows to the flooring, to the light fixtures. The owner did such a nice job. The house also has elegant wallpaper in the master bedroom and in the bathroom. 3 bedroom, 1 3/4 bath, built in 1911, a little over 1900 sq ft on the interior. 2424 Echo Park Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90026. Listed at $699,000.