What it felt like in the sun yesterday afternoon:
It was 91F (32 C) here yesterday, so I stayed indoors most of the day. I did manage to finish the painting in this room:
Ta Dah!
A good thing it was blazing hot, or else I would not have stayed inside to paint. I still have a lot to get done in the garden. As we get closer to summer, I spend more and more time in the shade. 91 F is fine in say, April, but for blazing heat, March is entirely inappropriate. I ventured out into the heat briefly because a very kind gardening buddy offered me some succulent cuttings. I was mystified and intrigued by this one...
...which I thought at first might be an out-of-the-ordinary Echeveria, though I decided after more inspection looked like a Crassula 'Campfire' grown dry in heavy shade. Or...is it? I was hoping Echeveria bella, which indeed has pink flowering stems, as the cutting does:
So, maybe it's something interesting and something I don't already have. I'll get it rooted and see what it does. Succulents are like that--they can look very different depending on how much water and sun they get or don't get, and they can also look quite different depending on elevation--an Andean Echeveria grown at its native altitude of 11,000 feet above sea level is smaller and more compact than one grown in my garden at 400 feet.
They like to fool us--we grow more, thinking we have something new and different. Perhaps it is an evolutionary adaptation enabling them to expand their range by duping innocent gardeners into growing more and more of them.
Everyone likes to fool a gardener. "Hardy to Zone 5!" "Blooms constantly!" "Impervious to Black Spot!" Uhh huh. I expect that from people who sell plants--but do the plants have to try to fool me, too? And I let them fool me, the plant vendors, and the plants, too. Gardeners are always hopeful. We grow delirious and giddy at this springtime of year--we are April Fools indeed--but when it comes to a new, intriguing plant, we are fools year-round.
It was 91F (32 C) here yesterday, so I stayed indoors most of the day. I did manage to finish the painting in this room:
Ta Dah!
A good thing it was blazing hot, or else I would not have stayed inside to paint. I still have a lot to get done in the garden. As we get closer to summer, I spend more and more time in the shade. 91 F is fine in say, April, but for blazing heat, March is entirely inappropriate. I ventured out into the heat briefly because a very kind gardening buddy offered me some succulent cuttings. I was mystified and intrigued by this one...
...which I thought at first might be an out-of-the-ordinary Echeveria, though I decided after more inspection looked like a Crassula 'Campfire' grown dry in heavy shade. Or...is it? I was hoping Echeveria bella, which indeed has pink flowering stems, as the cutting does:
So, maybe it's something interesting and something I don't already have. I'll get it rooted and see what it does. Succulents are like that--they can look very different depending on how much water and sun they get or don't get, and they can also look quite different depending on elevation--an Andean Echeveria grown at its native altitude of 11,000 feet above sea level is smaller and more compact than one grown in my garden at 400 feet.
They like to fool us--we grow more, thinking we have something new and different. Perhaps it is an evolutionary adaptation enabling them to expand their range by duping innocent gardeners into growing more and more of them.
Everyone likes to fool a gardener. "Hardy to Zone 5!" "Blooms constantly!" "Impervious to Black Spot!" Uhh huh. I expect that from people who sell plants--but do the plants have to try to fool me, too? And I let them fool me, the plant vendors, and the plants, too. Gardeners are always hopeful. We grow delirious and giddy at this springtime of year--we are April Fools indeed--but when it comes to a new, intriguing plant, we are fools year-round.
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