Seedlings! Must move them closer to the window. It's quite difficult to grow these in my bedroom. Like the rest of this country, the seedlings are now leaning slightly to the right.
Collard tree. Part of the Dr. Suess collection of plants. They remind me of the tree that Yertle the Turtle sat on the nest.
Skinny collard, yet to be tall
Will take time, summer or fall.
No cute turtle perched upon it's leaf
Maybe a squirrel, damn fruit thief.
Rosebec tomato. A rare Canadian variety. So rare that nobody except Jimmy knows anything about it.
Green Zebra. Is this growing? Don't all of these tomato plants look the same? How am I supposed to tell them apart?
Paul Robeson. A Russian variety named after the opera singer and civil rights activist. This variety won best of show at the 2000 Carmel TomatoFest. Unlike the mustard green seedlings, this tomato leans towards the left.
Goosecreek. Jimmy's family heirloom tomato. I quote heirloomtomatoplants.com
"This delectable, historical family heirloom is the rarest plant we offer. The flavor and color run deep in Goose Creek, a stunning ruby-red globe, juicy, very sweet and intensely tomatoey as if injected with concentrated tomato flavor, just ambrosial. I've rarely tasted a tomato to compare. Averaging 6-7 ounces, with very few seeds; it has now made my top 3 list.
This family treasure comes to us from renowned edible landscape expert, Jimmy Williams, owner of Hayground Organic Gardening in California whose home garden we found to be an enchanting escape. Jimmy and his Native Island Gullah-Geechee ancestors are descendants of slaves brought in bondage to the coastal islands of the Southern United States to grow rice for plantation owners.
The seeds of this sublime fruit have been passed down through generations since the 1800's when Jimmy's great-great grandmother, a young Caribbean slave, smuggled them with her aboard ship. When the ship docked at Charleston, near Goose Creek, South Carolina, she had the treasured seeds with her, hidden deep in her pocket, and planted them that first spring. Jimmy's grandmother, Elouise Watson, shared this precious heirloom with him more than 42 years ago, assuring Goose Creek's place in his family's garden for generations to come. Jimmy's son Logan didn't like tomatoes until he tasted Goose Creek; now he loves tomatoes and will one day give Goose Creek seeds to his own children.
Among its extraordinary qualities: A very high fruit yield, and remarkable cold-tolerance along the cooler coastal areas where the fruits continue to set and ripen through November and December. And, Goose Creek has two distinctly different and superb flavors during two phases of its growth: when partially ripe and still showing some light green at the shoulders it has a citrusy fruity-sweet taste, and again at full rich-red ripeness when it develops an intensely rich, extremely sweet flavor and luxurious texture.
Very prolific, this exquisite variety was featured recently in Fine Cooking Magazine, The Los Angeles Times Magazine and Visiting with Huell Howser on PBS station KCET."
I love Jimmy's plants. And he's a really swell guy too.
Rains make calla lilies go crazy. They're growing like weeds. But pretty weeds.
Look! Some self reflection. It says I'm shallow.
Not so sucessful with these. They're growing very slowly. Pooh! Not enough light I guess. I may chop down the grapefruit tree that shades this area. Nothing but bitter grapefruits from this tree. It must have been unlucky in love to be this bitter. Maybe after it's gone, I won't be so bitter about love too.
The giant orange tree is about to bloom. You'd be able to smell this tree even blocks away. It was so fragrant that last year, I had headaches indoors even with the windows closed. Too much of a good thing. It IS possible to OD on the scent of orange blossooms.
Strange flower stalk. I have no idea what this is. It's the first I've seen a flower stalk. I guess that means I'm doing something right. Might be some sort of bromeliad. If it's pretty, I will pot it up in a container. Otherwise, it will be mulched.
What you see when you walk through the front door. It's supposed to be designed to elicit a "HOLY SHIT! THIS IS UNEXPECTEDLY COOL!" reaction. Right now, it more "HOLY SHIT IT'S NOT DONE THERE'S SO MUCH CRAP AND DUST EVERYWHERE HOW DO YOU LIVE HERE."
Aloes blooming. Hummingbirds love these flowers. These kinds of hummers in my driveway are the nice blue state kind. GM Hummers in the driveway are the red state kind.
Blood orange blossoms finally appear today. I'm protecting these. Didn't get many fruits this year, and so delicious. I will baby these to get a larger crop next year.
Japanese auralia. Parrots love to eat the little black fruits. There is a human auralia theif in the neighborhood. I can tell because he uses hedge clippers to cut off the berries. Squirrels don't know how to use hedge clippers. Damn thiefs.
Garden variety weeds. I've been lazy in this part of the yard.
Bird of paradise. I will draw scary eyeballs with a sharpie pen on the flower to scare off the thieves. Damn theifs. I brought a giant one into the office for Henie last week. Some creepy guy tried to pick me up in the elevator.
Henie made me one of her signature flower arrangements from her kalanchoe succulent plants. They're great because the leaves look like worms floating in the water.
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