Tumblr Salad and Some New Writing

Looks like it’s been a couple of weeks since my last Tumblr Salad gallery of shots from the boZannical Tumblr, and much has happened since then! Many of my photos this time are from a bit farther afield than usual. My work (Flora Grubb Gardens) sent me to Southern California a couple of weeks ago on a reconnaissance and sourcing expedition, so I spent a lot of time looking at new plant materials. Our little trio went on a fabulous hike on the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Preserve while there, encountering tarantulas in the wild and some gorgeous Engelmann oaks. What a trip! I also did some gardening down the peninsula from here in Woodside, so I have some new plants in my repertoire.

The other exciting development is that I’m filling out the paperwork to be a freelance contract writer for Sunset Magazine. Woot! My garden writing experience is expanding. Naturally, I’ll be sharing the deets as they develop! So far, just filling out the paperwork and discussing topics for my first couple of articles.

Oh, yeah. President Bill Clinton dropped by our store yesterday. Yeah, no big deal. Happens every day. 🙂 Who am I kidding!?!?! It ROCKED MY WORLD! It was frickin’ awesome to meet him and shake his hand.

President Bill Clinton tolerating my elbow squeeze in a group shot at work yesterday.

Oh, and whilst I’m at it, here’s one final plug for tomorrow’s Noe Valley Garden Tour! We’ve been diligently cleaning up our garden for weeks now, and today I’ll be hangin’ me some Woolly Pockets in our bromeliad/orchid alley. Very exciting stuff. 🙂

On with some gallery action…

Flowers in the carnivorous bog sink at Flora Grubb Gardens.

Not plant related, exactly, but this is Chammy (Chamaedorea suffreitzii), the nursery kitty at Flora Grubb Gardens.

A beautiful wind-up to flowering. This agave at CCSF is sending up its last hurrah.

Irises at CCSF that fade into the foggy sky.

My last Ikebana arrangement was a color study: Color of the Container. It’s Physocarpus ‘Summer Wine’ and Phormium ‘Guardsman’.

On Hartford St is this enormous banana inflorescence! From top to bottom, it’s about six feet. About two feet in diameter.

Flowers on a neighbor’s New Zealand flax.

Oh, Walgreen’s, how you mock gardeners with your plastic plant coffins.

Cineraria playing peek-a-boo through a Pittosporum undulatum.

Two varieties of seasonal grass. 🙂

Sweet little leaves of an unusual and deciduous Tropaeolum species (nasturtium) in a client’s garden.

Clematis happily flowering in Cole Valley.

The sweetest, most delicious fuchsia fruit I’ve ever tasted. Fuchsia denticulata on Belgrave.

Plant nerd selfie, with a queen palm.

Queen palm fruit at Flora Grubb Gardens’ growing grounds in Rainbow Valley.

Seedling king palms in a barrel, lookin’ all lawn-like.

Engelmann oaks on the Santa Rosa Plateau.

Tall octopus agave (Agave vilmoriniana) blooms in SoCal.

A sea of Agave quadricolor on the expedition.

Dracaena draco fruit in SoCal.

Tarantula! Santa Rosa Plateau…

Dudleya pulverulenta in habitat in Riverside County.

Beautiful pale irises in Woodside.

Pink dogwood in Woodside.

Indian Paintbrush in Woodside.