More . . . More . . .

I have come to terms with the future. From this day onward I will walk easy on the earth. Plant trees. Kill no living things. Live in harmony with all creatures. I will restore the earth where I am. Use no more of its resources than I need. And listen, listen to what it is telling me.

                                                                                      M.J.Hooey

With adjusting to a new iMac my focus has not been on writing a blog post. And yesterday when I completed this post with the same title, it "disappeared" . . . eek! So another attempt at "More . . . More . . ."

Last season, as the Santa Rosa plum tree would have set fruit, there was a late, very hard frost. This season however an abundance of fruit appeared.

Since the birds peck on the fruit, the fruit sort of rots. Thus picking the "More . . . More . .." plums then laying them out on a counter to fully ripen. Once the plums reach their maximum tastiness, they were canned in quart jars for consumption during the winter months.

Some of the fruit as an alternate choice was into jam. This jam I find delish with almond butter to make a sandwich. Anyone care to join me?

Now changing focuses . . . to creatures who visit PageRefuge.

Blue wildrye grass (Elymus glaucous)

Not long ago I was outside in the front watering plants. While do so I looked about and noticed this green insect in one of the large grass. if my recollection serves me there was an identical insect crawling up the side of our Santa Fe house. This is the first one I have seen here in Cotati. Perhaps it is a type of "bush cricket" (katydid)?

Since all of the irrigation from the entire property has been removed, I now hand water with a hose and controllable nozzle. While doing so I have notice this butterfly in the above picture. Using Common Butterflies of California by Bob Stewart to identify this butterfly: Anise swallowtail. The book also lists "Host Plants" so I purchased 4 Yampah (Perideridia Kellogg) from California Flora Nursery. During the payment process I was cautioned that this plant goes dormant. Soon after they were planted in the ground I noticed this to be true. In this area there is also an abundance of Fennel growing wild which is also a host plant.

Nectaring on an Echinacea purpurea 
(Purple coneflower)

Epiphyte (Orchid cactus) flower
Rather late but certainly fabulous to see!

In Seattle Steven and Leigh
Don't they look happy?

Since this is the third or so version of the blog post, I surely hope that I am able to post it! As it is "Published" I will keep my fingers crossed and

Home

Recently the hedge in the back that screens my house from the apartment dwellers was pruned. Once the crew cleaned all the cuttings up and deposited them in their trailer to be mulched at Grab n Grow then left, I was checking the hedge. Below is what I found. Home for some well taken care of baby birds. I had noticed a very young warber in the tray with sunflower seeds and cracked corn. S/he seems surprised to find itself there as though to say "how did I get here?" Perhaps s/he came from this nest?

The nest was comprised of some dried herb, pieces of long grass and wood bark and seemed to be lined with some of Shasta's fur as well as my long hair. What a labor of love the parents took to provide such a safe place for their young.

Once I had retrieved the nest, I thought "oh no, I should have left it for perhaps another clutch of babies birds to be raised." However, I did not think like that when my curiosity drove me to take the nest out of the hedge. Now what? It is way too an awesome home to just throw it away. So I have it sitting on a small table where I can see when I perform my morning qi gong.

Before when the sunflowers 

were just beginning

to grow after all the "extra" plants

were removed.

The grass is Muhlenbergia rigens (Deergrass).

I plant quite a few seeds in each planting area. Then once all the seeds have sprouted and are growing, I cull all but the healthiest plant in each planting area. This practice seems to then produce the most spectacular 

Helianthus annuus macrocarpus (Hopi Black Dye Sunflower Hopi name: Tceqa' Qu' Si) flowers. As I have probably shared on an earlier post while in Santa Fe, New Mexico, I learned of these sunflowers.

This morning my project was to fetch arbor mulch from Grab n Grow. Without a pickup just my Prius I filled a large plastic barrel I took with me + white plastic bags provided. Luckily the bags I can return . . . YEAH . . . rather than deposit into my recycle bin from Sonoma Marin Recology.

So as is my practice I laid down saved cardboard boxes, cutting them carefully to leave adequate space around each plant. This area use to be my compost pile which attracted rats . . . eek! so I removed the rats food. 6 Ricegrass plants, purchased from Native Foods Nursery, and 3 Grindelia hirsutata (Hairy gumplant) recently shipped from Annie's Annuals were planted. Each were planted on designated leaf and flower planting days respectively. I find planting in this manner gives all plants I bring to PageRefuge their best chance to thrive.

Holodiscus discolor (Cream bush)

Heteromeles arbutifolia (California toyon)

This year is unlike no other

that I remember for this

particular Epiphyte.

The blossoms have been bigger

with the plant is producing 

more flowers than I can ever recall.

The neighbors to the West of me are so impressed. They have visited, taken pictures and requested some cuttings. Of course, I provided "a cutting" from each of the three Epiphytes I have hanging in the maple tree.

As I enjoy all the wonderfully amazing flowers in my garden I