Tiny transient plants

It's been a busy week for appointments and, with rain complicating matters on Wednesday, I got relatively little done in the garden.  However, I did spend several chunks of time pulling weeds, especially on the back slope, taking advantage of the lower temperatures to tackle that thankless chore while the fire ants are still inactive.  While I was pulling up large clumps of grass weeds weighed down by muddy soil, I caught sight of something green I'd never noticed before.  At first I wondered if it could be lichen, which I've never seen locally, but my phone identified it for me, correctly on this occasion I believe.

This is Lunularia cruciata, aka crescent-cup liverwort, one of the world's smallest plants.  It's reported to have antibacterial, antifungal, and antioxidant properties.  It's native to the Mediterranean area but it's gone "wild" in California.

Unlike lichens, which are described as symbiotic combinations of fungi and algae, it turns out that liverworts are plants, ancient ones at that.  According to Britannica, fossils of liverworts more than 470 million years old have been found in Argentina.   Liverworts are related to mosses, which are also ancient plants.  Both are classified as Bryophyta.  They both lack vascular systems and produce spores rather than flowers.  Both have also managed to survive and thrive through dramatic changes in earth's climate.

Moss is also a relative anomaly here, albeit something we see on a seasonal basis provided we get a decent amount of rain.  This year's rainfall is proving to be almost as substantial as what we got during the last "water year" (calculated from October 1st through September 30th of the following calendar year).  Even though our total to date is just over sixteen inches, the accumulation of moss looks thicker than ever.  It's particularly noticeable on my shady, east-facing back slope.

Closeup of a relatively chunky segment of moss, which seems to like growing next to the concrete block stairs

View of the moss-lined stairs on the route down to the bottom of the slope in January

View along the route up the stairs in March with the moss even thicker

And it's crept to the top of the concrete stairway in the main level of the garden too

Moss has also fared well in the crevices between paving stones in many areas.  I've heard people complain about moss creating a slipping hazard, particularly when it shows up in paved areas, but it's not been a problem here.  For one thing, our summer heat sends it into a rapid retreat.  But I've also read that it's not moss but rather algae, which develops under similar circumstances, that creates slippery surfaces.  You can find an interesting article about the myths regarding moss here.

I like the soft footpath that moss creates in areas of my garden.  It's too bad that most of these disappear once summer arrives.

Moss-coated front garden path from the driveway to the lath house

Much as I appreciate the bright chartreuse green color of these transient plants in my garden, I recognize that they may have less appeal to some readers.  Here are a few of the newest spring arrivals in my garden to give you a jolt of color to start off the weekend.

Arctotis 'Large Marge'

"Blue" Freesia

Iris hollandica 'Sapphire Beauty'

Leucospermum 'High Gold' (which I formerly identified as 'Goldie' based on the seller's ID)

Tulipa clusiana 'Lady Jane'

Enjoy your weekend!

All material © 2012-2024 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

 

Wednesday Vignette: Moss, mushrooms, berries & bells

The garden responds to rain - even when it's not much - with subtle embellishments.  Moss and mushrooms probably aren't very exciting to most people but they aren't something I've seen much of recently. 

The dirt path between the driveway and the lath house is now covered with emerald green moss, which is surprisingly cushy

Mushrooms have popped up everywhere

Not to be outdone, seemingly overnight, shrubs and trees are clothed in berries and bells.

The Auranticarpa rhombifolium shrubs, leftovers of the original hedges planted by prior owners, are nondescript most of the year but they're covered in pumpkin-shaped orange berries this time of year.  As the berries dry, they break open to display sticky seeds.

The strawberry trees (Arbutus 'Marina') are cloaked in bell-like flowers.  It may be a product of my imagination but the flowers seem more profuse this year, possibly due to cooler-than-average temperatures, early rain, and a delay in my usual tree-trimming schedule.

Fall offers as much joy as spring, especially when rain adds its magic.

For more Wednesday vignettes, visit Anna at Flutter & Hum.

All material © 2012-2021 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Wednesday Vignette: Moss

Moss makes me happy.  I don't know why that is but I'm always delighted when it appears in our garden.  Maybe it's a reminder of the rain that inevitably precedes its appearance.  Maybe it's that it asks nothing of me.  Or maybe it's that it covers bare stretches of dirt in bright, beautiful green.

Moss forming on the area above the concrete "stairs" my husband put in to provide safe passage down the steep back slope, some of it an almost florescent green

It temporarily fills in the cracks between the paving stones that make up the large, otherwise barren space that is our driveway.

Moss adds life to the permeable paving without interfering with its function

Moss isn't as common here as it is in rainier climates and it doesn't develop fat clumps as it does elsewhere.  It largely disappears once our cool, rainy season is over, although it hangs on in one spot in the front garden.

This dirt path used to be entirely in shade with hedges on both sides, providing a perfect environment for moss year-round.  Now that the hedge on the left has been removed, I wonder if the moss will hold up to the increased sun exposure during the warm weather months.

Ming, who I lost to long-term illness in 2014, loved this area of the garden

Ultimately, maybe it's just that moss heralds the new plant growth that comes with cooler weather here.  Even as winter has only now arrived, the appearance of the moss has me scouring the garden for the first signs of the promise of spring.  And there are some!

From left to right, all at the bottom of the back slope previously devastated by the heatwave that kicked off the summer of 2016, fresh foliage of:  Zantedeschia aethiopica and Centranthus ruber; noID Narcissus; and self-seeded Pelargonium "White Lady' 

More on the wonders of moss can be found here and here.  Visit Anna at Flutter & Hum for more Wednesday Vignettes.


All material © 2012-2016 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Walking with Ming

Ming is the older of my 2 cats and, for some time now, he's been in ill health.  He's got a host of long-term medical issues but, within the last few months, I've had to confront the possibility that, even though he's just 12 years old, I'm likely to lose him sooner rather than later.  I'll spare you the details of his medical problems.  Suffice it to say, my current focus is on doing what I can to give him as much quality time as possible and providing him enjoyment for whatever time he has left.

He's been an indoor cat all his life but, every once in awhile, he manages to escape through a door that isn't closed quite tightly enough.  Those brief adventures are clearly something he revels.  However, letting him roam about on his own would be risky - he has absolutely no street smarts and drivers in our neighborhood aren't particularly careful.  We also have a serious coyote problem and their hunting activity is no longer only a nocturnal pursuit.   I've tried putting him on a leash/harness but this causes him to panic.  So I recently began taking him for supervised walks around our property without a leash.  Perhaps because he's now so frail, he's less inclined to run off on his own so this is working fairly well.

Our daily walks also give me a cat's eye view of my garden, allowing me to catch details I might otherwise miss.  I thought I'd share one of our recent walks with you in pictures.

Ming leaves his screened porch off the house

"Come on, what's holding you up?"

Iceland poppy blooming in the bed off the side yard patio

Moving on into the backyard

Ming isn't impressed by Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt"

But I am - of my 4 'Cousin Itt,' this one in a pot appears to be the happiest

"Are you taking pictures again?'

Nothing in the back patio interests Ming today and he heads back to the side yard

"Now what's holding you up?"

Pipig's sleeping peacefully inside the house - she lacks Ming's appetite for adventure

Ming takes a short cut into the area behind the shrub border along the street 

He ignored the Brugmansia I planted a few months ago - it has some ragged leaves but it's grown a lot

He was unconcerned by the fact that the neighbor's shrub has seeded all over

But the woodpile held endless fascination

I was surprised to find that an orchid (no ID) I generally ignore had bloomed - the mother of one of my husband's colleagues brought this home from China

Ming struts down the narrow pathway between 2 shrub borders running parallel to the street, now covered in moss 

We discover that something has gotten to the pumpkin arrangement along the driveway

Ming stops at the front door, probably wondering why it's closed

He's more interested by leaf debris than anything in the front border

He ignored the latest bloom produced by Hemerocallis 'Spanish Harlem'

He wasn't particularly interested in Leucadendron 'Wilson's Wonder' either

However, I was impressed to see that it's already developing cones

He really likes the Carex oshimensis 'Evergold' growing along the garage in the vegetable garden area

But he ignored the fuchsias

He checked out the raised vegetable beds, this one planted with herbs

But, surprisingly, he ignored the flock of small birds (Lesser Goldfinch maybe?) perched in the now-bare Persimmon tree

"Why is the garden gate closed?"

Fallen leaves are the most interesting thing in the dry garden (and mom won't let him scuttle down the slope beyond like he's done before because she can't keep up without risking a fall)

Time to head back to the backyard

"Now that I'm out, I want back in"

After ousting Pipig from her basket, Ming took a brief nap to rest up until his lunch was ready.

These days, the only thing he likes better than a walk is to eat.  If only he could put back on some of the weight he's lost...