All the Way to Heaven

I'm trying to decide where I want to plant the Alluaudia Procera that I recently bought at Home Depot of all places. In their natural habitat in Southern Madagscar they grow over 20ft tall...All the way to heaven. These might only reach 8ft here. I've seen this plant in other gardens and I'm excited I found one of my own.

The Godz of Thailand

I went to Thailand and Vietnam this April. I knew that sansevieria [the most common is mother in law tongues] are popular in Thailand, but I didn't know what other types of succulents people were into there. A neighbor of mine who is a succulent enthusiast/ hoarder got special permits to buy plants on his vacation to Thailand. Here is a link to the type he bought.

People have lots of potted plants outside their homes and businesses and many of them include different types of sansevieria. Below are some pictures of other succulents and plants I saw at a little market near a river in Bangkok. A lot of people go to this market to eat catfish and take boats to other floating markets. Here's a tune by The Godz, a late 60s New York based garage band, to accompany.

Lots of catfish!

Feeding catfish.

Papaya salad boat. That was good.

Serene

Grass

I am not a fan of lawns but I am a fan of grasses. I have a couple different drought tolerant grasses planted in my front yard. Lawns are OK if you live in a place where there in no drought and plenty of humidity so it needs little water. If you live in Southern California you should RIP OUT YOUR LAWN. Plant drought tolerant plants, succulents and cacti or fruits and veggies.

Befittingly to accompany the pictures of the latest blooms in my backyard, which are definitely some pretty things is one of my favorite songs: Grass by The Pretty Things. [It turned out to be the most played songs on my iTunes.] The Pretty Things are an English rock band from London who formed in the early 60s who are pushed in a psychedelic category.

I can't remember the name of the succulent, which might be in the kalanchoe family,that produces the beautiful orchid like blooms planted in between all the aeoniums. If you ever come across them at a nursery buy one. They are super rewarding because they have lots of blooms for a couple months. They are ideal if you plant them in their own large bed because they grow super fast and they are kind of fragile. When moved just a little bit the branches fall right off so they need to be in a place that is away from pets and children. My two dogs have been the source of a lot of rearranging in the garden.

Out of all the blooms in the backyard, nothing beats the glorious red flowers of this aloe bloom. These are very special too because I had to move this plant after the dogs knocked it over and it was displaced from it's taproot.

The Caesalpinia gilliesii or Desert Bird of Paradise has a gorgeous bloom on it too. I bought this at at nursery near Joshua Tree. Always look for a local nursery when you're going on a short trip for plants that can grow in a climate that is similar to the one you live in. Plants that are more exotic to us and/or more expensive may be common place at other nurseries. I always find great plants in Ojai and Yucca Valley. I think it is always fun to look at different plants even if you're not buying.

And here is one more Pretty Things song that is off one of their more popular albums called S.F. Sorrow..." Work on the album concluded in September 1968 with the recording of what would be its closing track, "Loneliest Person." "Private Sorrow" and "Balloon Burning" were extracted for an October 1968 single, and the album was released the following month, in the same week as The Beatles' "White Album", The Rolling Stones' Beggars Banquet and The Kinks' The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society. EMI did little to promote the album." That is a lot to go up against,but S.F. Sorrow is one my favorite of the lot.

She Ain't No Bonnie... She Ain't No Daisy

Two things I didn't know this fall: Lithops bloom this time of year and a white woman named Ruth Copeland, who I found about through my friend Stone, was involved with work on the Parliament-Funkadelic's debut album, Osmium.

Lithops are often known as pebble plants or living stones.Lithops generally do not like too much water especially when they go dormant in the summer. This one I had in a pot on the porch and it got a lot of water in the recent rain. I removed what looked like old, rotted leaves and moved the pot to a dry area. The plant must have been happy because it produced a beautiful daisy like bloom.

Here are some helpful tips from the San Gabriel Valley Cactus & Succulent Society for caring for Lithops.

Back to the music...Ruth Copeland co-produced the Osmium record with Clinton and wrote two of the album's tracks: 'Little Old Country Boy' and 'The Silent Boatman'. These tracks are unusual in Parliament-Funkadelic's catalogue, and show the influence of Copeland's interest in country and British folk music. Copeland is definitely has an amazing voice and is talented writer, but I think this collaboration came about because first, she is gorgeous, and second, they were on the same label. I use to be a big fan of Parliament-Funkadelic when I was younger but I never explored the history of the band. I've never heard their "folk" side. I think if Ruth was Bonnie of Bonnie and Delaney she probably would have worked with Parliament much longer... Now that woman has soul!

Weirdest Parliament Song EVER... Folk/Funk You can totally hear her influence.

These are the Lithops that were shown at the San Gabriel Valley Cactus & Succulent Society 17th Winter Show & Sale. at the L.A. County Arboretum on November 6th. They had a lot of beautiful plants in the show. Beautiful Copiapoas and Mammillaria.

I love this cover by Ruth Copeland!

This Aint No Disco- Succulent Topiary

I love the California Cactus Center in Pasadena. It is overpriced, but they have so many amazing plants to look at and the staff is very knowledgeable. I think they are all members of the San Gabriel Cactus and Succulent Society [Hardcore Enthusiasts]. They have these topiaries around the center that may or may not be for sale but they're kind of cool. I felt inspired to make one. All they are are wire structures that are lined with chicken wire. For mine, I filled the structure with soil, added the plants, both rooted and non-rooted, and stuck moss in the exposed chicken wire.

My topiary looks a bit phallic. For the main structure I used a upside down tomato cage that I stuck the legs in to form the the top.

As usual a song always comes to mind when I'm looking at plants or for the most part doing anything. When I looked at the topiary the other day, it was Talking Heads " Life During Wartime," which is actually quite a political song on their Fear of Music album co-produced by Brian Eno. I thought I would talk about the evolution of Brian Eno from Roxy Music and beyond, but if you don't know of his magic look it up. It's a very important chunk of musical history from the early 70s to the birth of New Wave...

Here are some other succulent topiary ideas I came across:

http://cactuscreekdaily.com/love-it/succulent-cactus-wreaths-

http://community.adn.com/node/125533

and just to give you that fuzzy feeling... Give this one a listen for nostalgia's sake!

Good Old Opuntia

I have three different types of Opuntia [Prickly Pear] in my garden.

The Opuntia ficus-indica is the first cactus planted in the yard by my old room mate's mother who use to come and visit. She planted it to eat with eggs and in salsas. I have never picked and ate any of it myself because I didn't want to do all the cleaning. I think this video changed my mind.

They have beautiful yellow rose like blooms on them and grows very fast. I have to trim about 10 big paddles off of it a month. If you do not trim them they will grow very tall and wide. Prickly Pear were considered the most devastating "weed" imported into Australia. It had a horrible impact on life in rural eastern Australia during the early part of the 20th century. Special acts of Parliament were passed to enforce control measures in an attempt to halt its spread through Queensland and New South Wales.

The second "Opuntia" I got was the Opuntia basilaris, the Beavertail Cactus. I got this one from a cutting in Joshua Tree. It took two years for the cactus cutting to really root and it finally started growing more paddles last spring. I stayed in the Gram Parsons room at the Joshua Tree Inn when I got this cactus, so I'm picking Hickory Wind to accompany this post. The Byrds were pushed into a country direction when Gram Parsons briefly joined the band in 1968. Above is the "mama" in Joshua Tree [2008]. Below are the spring shoots and summer shoots [2010].

The third Opuntia I have is from El Paso, Texas. My boyfriend Lee brought back a heart shaped cutting for me from his Grandmother's yard when he went to visit during Thanksgiving of 2008. These plants are insanely resilient because I must of had that cutting in the paper bag he gave it to me in for a couple months. Then it was laying around the yard because I didn't know where to plant it. Some optunia grow very fast and get very large and I didn't know if this was the case with this kind. I decided to put it in a pot for the time being. Finally this spring it liked where it was and began rooting and growing.

Last Thanksgiving I went to Texas and got see the mama plant at "Babe's" house. No trip to Texas would be complete without Texas's own Roky Erickson.

Baby Sun Rose Lemonade

Aptenia cordifolia aka Baby Sun Rose or Ice Plant native to South Africa. I have a lot of love and pride for this plant. It took two years from a small cutting a friend gave me to grow into the vine that it is today. It is finally over the retaining wall and is doing exactly as I planned. One day I hope it covers the whole thing because it is beautiful over the wall. I'm not much of a fan of the plant used as ground covering or near other plants because if you don't keep an eye on this stuff it will take over everything it is near.

Unfortunately it is also the thrown for the "Lizard King." My dog Ozzy likes to chase lizards that hide in the plant. I always think of the Doors when he does that, but I'm not posting a Doors video. I'm not really into the Jim Morrison "persona." As dogs are dogs... Ozzy also pees under the plant on the retaining wall. So the Baby Sun Rose gets Baby Lemonade by Syd Barrett on his second album Barrett.