Lantana Replaced with Wildflowers

That’s what I hope will be the result! Sadly, my lantana plants looked like they were stricken by some type of disease. To prevent potential risk for spread to surrounding plants, I removed the lantana. It’s a necessary part of routine garden maintenance.
In their place, I sprinkled wildflower seeds. I purchased a plastic bucket of seeds [...]

Bird Grasshopper Nymph

This bird grasshopper nymph (Schistocerca sp.) was a few feet away from several of my container plants, clinging to the side of my house.  I had just finished removing some old vegetation from my backyard and there it appeared. Maybe the vegetation was its home and it was unexpectedly shaken out?

Watermelon Plant Growing in Container!

Oh, I can’t tell you how excited I am! This is my very first successful effort in growing watermelon from seed. It is looking very healthy and I’d planted several seeds in other containers that have been “quiet” so far.
I am hopeful that I’ll be enjoying at least one yummy watermelon by summer’s end!

Trees as Weeds

I’m guessing this is a baby palm tree, but it was not planted by me. Likely, a seed was dropped by a bird and landed in the soil and began to germinate. In any case, these particular trees sometimes appear in various parts of my garden and even between cracks in my cement patio. Right now, [...]

Tomato Seedlings in Different Stages of Development

My Black Krim tomato seedlings are plugging along nicely in their containers. Started from seed, these are the tomatoes that have been most successful in my garden in growing into seedlings, compared to other seed varieties.
In each container, I’d sprinkled multiple seeds, in hopes that at least one seedling would emerge. As shown in the photo [...]

Dragon Tree in Container Nearly in Flower!

Dragon tree, how do you do it? A little over a year ago, I had a few branches of  my mature dragon tree trimmed, but kept all of the tree branch cuttings, placing most in 5-gallon containers.
Once again, this powerhouse of a tree surprises me: one of these cuttings has not only survived in its 5-gallon [...]

Bell Pepper Seedling

My one (!) cherished bell pepper seedling is looking mighty healthy! It was started by seed and planted in a container.

Tomato Seedling Transplantation

I transplanted several tomato seedlings today. I had 21 5-gallon containers to begin with. Although all were sprinkled with various heirloom tomato seeds, not all of the containers had seedlings. Some had multiple seedlings in their containers, others with only one, still others with none at all.
With a trowel, I carefully removed several seedlings and transplanted [...]

Cassin’s Finch

A little bit blurry, taken from behind my home office window this morning, but this beautiful male Cassin’s finch made a quick visit to my backyard.  Click on the photo to get a better view of the rosy red head, throat, and rump. He’s a stunner!