Weeding, with Less Effort

Weeds, the bane of many gardeners’ existence (including mine). Yet I take pleasure in time-saving garden maintenance activities. Last week, we had several days of rain. The soil remained moist for several days after, making the soil quite loose, an ideal situation to easily remove weeds with my bare hands. I’ll be doing more of [...]

Succulent: Mother of Pearl or Ghost Plant, in Flower!

This certainly adds warm sunshine to any winter day! Rain is expected in my area tonight, but not before I snapped this photo of flower stalks blooming in one of my mother of pearl or ghost plants (also known as Graptopetalum paraguayense). This is a very striking and dramatic display – click on the photo [...]

Red Cestrum: Flower Bracht in Bloom!

The waxy flower brachts of my red cestrum (also known as Cestrum fasciculatum Newellii) have finally reemerged. This is the first of the beautiful, deep raspberry-magenta brachts to bloom.  This photo I took a few minutes ago.  We have had a few days of rain here and the wind was gently blowing. It was remarkably still for [...]

Roses: Belated Winter Pruning

I will be pruning my roses within the hour. In previous years, I’d prune my roses by mid-January, cutting down my roses to about one-third to one-half their height. Tending to some unexpected car troubles and work at the office, I’m now ready to prune. No worries: roses are resilient and can withstand a pruning [...]