I received a few garden-related gifts this holiday season. After one of the wettest Decembers on record in California, the soil is still too damp to plant anything in the ground but I did get a few of my new acquisitions potted up.
One gift arrived in the form of a Mountain Crest Gardens gift card. It came early enough that I was also able to leverage a sale then in process and free shipping so it was a deal all around. The plants I ordered even arrived just before Christmas.
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| I planted 3 small hybrid Aloes in a single pot I had on hand |
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| From left to right, the plants are: Aloe 'AJR', A. 'Crimson Dragon', and A. 'Talon'. 'AJR tops out at 12 inches tall and the other 2 run 6-8 inches tall. |
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| Although I don't collect many cacti, I have a soft spot for crested succulents. This one is Pilosocereus noblis f. cristatus. I stuck a decorative terracotta piece I found in the garden in the pot mainly to discourage any critters from digging there until the cactus beefs up. |
The friend who sent the gift card also brought me a plant I've never seen before.
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| Labeled as Primula clevelandii, this plant is now classified as Dodecatheon clevelandii (aka Padre's shooting star). It's a California native that goes dormant during the summer and fall, returning with the rain. |
I also received an interesting gift from my sister-in-law.
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| A package containing everything I need to grow Stroparia rugoso-annulata from The Mushroom Barn |
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| My biggest challenge was finding a spot to grow these mushrooms. The spot I chose wasn't perfect but hopefully it will do. I prepped the soil, broke up and spread the contents of the mushroom package, and then covered it with compost and wood chips. (I didn't have the straw recommended in the downloaded instructions.) I have a second package still awaiting preparation. |
Not all the garden-related gifts I received were living but they were appreciated nonetheless. In addition to two garden books, here are two others.
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| This desktop calendar was made up featuring photos from my blog posts |
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| Another friend gave me this sleek watering can |
I paid a visit to my local garden center on Monday but, as usual in early January, the shelves, if not bare, didn't offer much of interest. January is perhaps the slowest month during our cool season and, with Omicron surging here and seemingly everywhere, I'm once again staying close to home. I'm already looking forward to February, when the first signs of Spring's approach appear here. In the meantime, I'm focusing on garden cleanup and pruning. What are you doing in the garden right now?
All material © 2012-2022 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
Lovely gifts, lucky you. I'm particularly curious to see how the mushroom experiment turns out; it should be fun. I'm pretty sure my garden clean up will have to wait till late February. Waiting is so tough!
ReplyDeleteI'll be happy if the mushrooms just make an appearance, especially if January is as dry as expected. The instructions recommended planting the mixture near a sprinkler, which I did but that's not helpful when the irrigation is turned off for an extended period ;)
DeleteAs to garden cleanup, I have a hard time waiting until "late winter" on some of that too. I've already begun chipping away at some of it on the theory that spring comes very early here...
Sadly, The Mushroom Barn no longer lists the Grow Your Own Mushroom Giants Stroparia rugoso-annulata as a product or I'd be joining you in your adventure. I am a big fan of seeing mushrooms in my yard!
DeleteI'm sorry about that, Sally. When I was preparing my post, I checked their website and noted that it'd changed since I originally went online to download growing instructions. Maybe that particular grow kit is just a holiday offer :(
DeleteWhat wonderful gifts. Love the calendar with your photos. :) I've created those sometimes in the past. It's hard to imagine the soil too moist to plant...but I get it for your locale. Enjoy your gifts!
ReplyDeleteGetting 6 inches of rain in one month is a lot for us! We're expecting warmer weather next week and I anticipate that everything will start to dry out then.
DeleteWonderful gifts! I've never seen a watering can like that before.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year!
My old indoor watering can has seen better days so the new one comes in handy :)
DeleteI love those little Aloes-I should collect a few more of them. I seem to enjoy buying Aloes that get way to large for my garden. We are returning to a hybrid of working in the office and working from home effective on Monday. This means that at least for the next 60 days I'll be wearing my gardening clothes to work for 3 days a week and will be able to deal with the horrible weed problem I have on my lunch hour. Rain is great but the weeds love it too. I am at 18.5" so far this season !
ReplyDeleteEighteen and a half inches of rain! I'm so envious. That's more than we generally got here pre-drought. I'm currently sitting at 6.7 inches to date for the current water year, which is at least much better than what we got during the entire 2021 water year. Nevertheless, I've got weeds too - the blasted asters I painstakingly removed from the back garden in September is attempting a comeback but the worst weed problem is on my back slope. I may have to use a shovel to get those out. Best wishes with your new work schedule, Kathy!
DeleteThose are great gifts! I'm looking forward to seeing your mushroom harvest. I should try that... I bet they would grow like gangbusters in my shady yard. My garden activities right now involve trying to clean out and reorganize my shed. It would be far easier if I could drag things outside, but first it was snowy, and now it's wet. Waiting for a dry day...
ReplyDeleteWith all the rain you get up your way plus the shade, I think it's probably a sure thing you'd get bushels of mushrooms, Anna. Very few grow naturally here but there are some. I hope they don't infiltrate the area I'm growing the edible ones - I don't want to inadvertently poison myself or my husband!
DeleteWhat lovely gifts Kris and even more thoughtful lovely friends. I think the calendar made with your photos is especially creative. You have a bouquet of friends more lovely than any bouquet of flowers.
ReplyDeleteFriendship is the best gift of all!
DeleteI love your new agaves. I have 'AJR', and it gets even prettier as it puts on some size. Beautiful bicolor flowers, too.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to your mushroom experiment!
I love all your cool gifts!
Bi-color flowers! I didn't know that and look forward to seeing them.
DeleteI am very interested in the Dodecatheon as I convert more and more to CA natives. Is it possible for you to say what nursery that was purchased at?
ReplyDeleteI believe my friend got the Dodecatheon clevelandii at the Theodore Payne Nursery. It was labeled as Primula clevelandii.
DeleteThat watering can is a piece of art! Interesting the mushroom box didn't include straw...
ReplyDeleteI suspect straw was seen as too bulky to ship. Grass Valley, where the mushroom package came from, is a more rural area where straw/hay is probably easy to get hold of. Actually, there are horse owners on the peninsula here and I suspect I could find it but I decided to make do with what I had on hand.
DeleteYou got some very nice gift plants! The Dodecatheon clevelandii flower form reminds me of a Cyclamen. Both genera in Primulaceae. Looks like its habitat is Coastal Sage Scrub so it could do well for you.
ReplyDeleteI'm distributing collected rainwater to the driest parts of the garden and will start pruning the roses tomorrow. The cooler weather we've had has slowed them down. It has slowed the gardener down, too.
I've been using some of my collected rainwater too. I'd also planned to tackle pruning my rose bushes but, socked in by a recalcitrant marine layer this morning, it's cold and damp out there, making the task less than appealing. Of course, pruning my much smaller rose collection won't take much time to complete, whenever I start ;)
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