Weirdest thing this morning--water fell out of the sky. Lots of it. Had to think about the name for it. Ah, yes. Rain.
Good: torrents of it:
Bad: only for ten minutes. The sun is already out. A check of the fancy weather station reported we got an astounding (no, not being sarcastic) 0.22"/5.6 mm of rain--some fell overnight as well.
Good: Aloe rubroviolacea, rubro-ing up for autumn and pushing out a candelabra of flower buds:
Good: late summer heat defying performances of Salvias, Catharanthus, and Pentas.
Great: 'Mystic Spires Blue' Salvia looks fabulous with mauve Catharanthus:
Blooming again now that its cooled off--the survivors are, anyway:
Good: Rita.
Terrible: losing her.
Lovely Rita Koi was feeling off last week. Improved on Thursday and Friday. In severe distress Saturday morning. We anesthetized her and then euthanized her. She was...15 or 16 years old. She came in overnight via US mail (!) in a little box. She was 4" long. She was 32" long at her passing. Saturday was bad.
New plants yesterday--a friend needed to "just go somewhere"--maybe I did, too. We took a trek to Plant Depot. She got another Maireana sedifolia, a pink Pentas 'Nova', and a Leucadendron 'Blush'.
I got a Zephyranthes flavissima,
Ceanothus already planted and rabbit protected...
PD also had healthy fresh Banksia prionotes for sale. Mine just died, but I held off buying another. Why did the first one die? Digging it up, I was shocked by the state of the root system:
Digging up the dead Meyer--the roots looked--okay. It had some. It's not quite dead. I re-planted it in flat ground near the thriving 'Cara Cara' orange. Maybe it can come back. It will be far easier to help it try now that it is easily accessible.
Even with a gray wall in the distance to the east and vague allusions to the possibility of a "weak" weather system that might bring some rain but probably just to the mountain areas, I was shocked by a downpour in the late afternoon yesterday. Despite a faint rumble of thunder, I embarked on my usual neighborhood walk only to get soaked to the skin 10 minutes later. We got 0.11/inch in that brief cloudburst, then another 0.07/inch this morning. It was worth getting soaked!
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry about Rita. At least you were able to evaluate her distress and respond to it. Your Aloe rubroviolacea is a beautiful thing and kudos to you for maintaining your focus during your plant shopping expedition.
I hustled indoors as soon as the thunder started to boom. Then when it started to rain stood under cover on the patio and watched the water pour down. It was indescribably beautiful.
DeleteVery happy you got some too!!!
Thanks--if they are suffering we must relieve their pain. It's only right. She'd had a very good life up until then. She had a very gentle, calm personality and I will miss that beautiful serenity of her glide though the water.
The Where-Am-I-Going-To-Plant-That thing has become so very unpleasant, it's becoming easier and easier to avoid impulse buys.
Oh, sorry about Rita. We lost one this past spring after about that amount of years. The other three are fine. They all survived many winters in a slightly heated outdoor, above-ground pond in S. Wisconsin. Fascinating creatures. I also share your frustration with rabbits--my biggest garden challenge here (beyond the frozen winter). Glad you got some rain--hope you'll get more.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Beth. Koi keeping in a true-winter climate is more challenging than it is here, so you and your wet-pets have done well! Above ground ponds do keep the raccoons from wading into the water and having a fish dinner. Mine is half below and half above. It has worked pretty well.
DeleteOne of my fall projects is adding screen to all the gates so the rabbits can't get though. There will be other critters to deal with, but the rabbits will only have the area outside the walls. The 'Rozanne's I hope will be safe!
Rain! There was a drizzle or two out here, too. Growing up, the fastest way to make me pout was to tell me rain was in the forecast. Not so much anymore. A rainy day makes me deleriously happy now. I'm sorry to hear about Rita. From 4" to 32" and over 15 years. That's quite a long time. I imagine it will take a while to stop looking for her in the pond and, even when you do, things just won't feel the same. Do I remember correctly that you're trying an avocado again? Reed? How is that coming along? Any progress on the pond/fountain area? Keep us posted, yes? Elizabeth
ReplyDeleteI've always loved rain. I got teased a lot as a kid by my family for wanting to be outside every time it rained. Darn it, I still love rain!!!
DeleteRita had a very serene personality and you could relax just watching her glide around. I will miss that. The koi all have their own personalities, believe it or not.
We have a Fuerte, a Reed, and the new one is a Don Gillogly. The Fuerte has been a reliable producer for years, though it tends to bear heavily in alternating years. The Reed has fabulous fruit but is in a location where rodents can get a lot of the fruit. We have managed to get some fruits before the rodents got them all--and the Reed is REALLY tasty. The Gillogly I'll probably put in the veggie/cutting garden and will keep it small. It's maybe 2' tall.
Pond/fountain area--still thinking. It would be a big project. Still thinking it over. We want to do some electrical upgrades first, in line with the recent federal bill passed that will provide rebates for various energy efficiencies, like heat pump, and the like.
A two foot avocado tree! Who knew? A friend of mine has a very old Reed, and she shares. Best avocados I have ever eaten! My line of thought is either a Reed or a loquat in one corner of my very small garden (just enough space to have a nice garden, but not so much that I spend my life tending it). But I think slowly and take a long time to make decisions, so the cogitation continues. On the other hand, the decision has been made with regard to solar. All I have to do is assure myself that I've chosen the right company. So looking forward to it. Happy Autumn!
DeleteThe Gillogly is a baby tree, so it will get bigger. Avocados can be kept quite small and still produce a lot of fruit, though.
DeleteCongrats on the solar system! We have had ours since 2006 and it paid for itself pretty quickly. No problems with it, though we had to get a new inverter last year. They last about 15 years. Nowadays each panel often has its own inverter, but back then the standard was having all panels feed into one dedicated inverter. I hope you will be happy with your system.
Interesting - we have just the one inverter for both banks of panels.
DeleteIt's "string inverter" technology vs. "microinverter" technology. there are advantages and disadvantages to each. "microinverter"s have dropped in price so much (as have all the pieces of solar systems) they've become more common. Microinverters have the advantage when some panels are shaded and some are not throughout the day, for example if you have some panels facing east and some facing west, or a tree shades part of the panels during the day.
DeleteSo sorry about Rita. I have a friend who works for the USPS, she tells stories of many animals being shipped. It must be so strange for them.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Loree. She was the only one who came US Mail. The others we either bought locally or they came FedEx. Can't imagine what other animals come in the mail!!
DeleteMy condolences on the loss of your lovely Rita. Those are just the most awful of days. What beautiful souls our non human family members are, never forgotten.
ReplyDeleteYour rainfall was a very good amount, that’s great. Had a double rainbow here a week ago today, followed by light rain, still a nice surprise. Hoping for a wet Winter. At least it’s overcast, so that helps out.
Thank you Brenda, very kind of you. I've cherished all my pets and remember them all.
DeleteDouble rainbow! That must have been a lovely thing to see. Happy you got some rain, too
Overcast does help a lot. Best gardening weather!
So glad you got some rain! Condolences on losing lovely Rita. You would laugh to learn that we have become regular pet sitters of our neighbors' koi -- at least twice a month! They love to camp so we feed the fish. Amazing that koi can endure such temperature extremes. Nights are already in the 40s, and it will of course get much colder, occasionally down to freezing. Neighbor says they pretty much go dormant in winter here, so no more pellet food, and the fish stay at the bottom of the pond and eat algae...
ReplyDeleteNot laugh, it's cool to have Koi keeping neighbors! Koi are "four season" fish. It gets cold in Japan, too. Even here they tend to hang at the bottom of the pond in Dec/Jan, eating nothing, perhaps a nibble of algae on a warmer day.
DeleteTough to lose fish that you've had a long time. We never had Koi because of the need to winter house them and they drew raccoons to the pond. And now the pond is gone. My last plant order arrived yesterday and now I've got all the bulbs that need to go in the ground as well. But the big job remaining is making cages for the newly planted shrubs. Rabbits have not been bothering them yet. But they will once winter comes. Rabbits are the bane of my garden these days. The changes in the weather make gardening so much more confusing. Did I kill it or was it climate changes?
ReplyDeleteRabbits--I know what you mean. One of my to-do's is adding screen to the gates so the rabbits can't get into the areas inside the walls. Here they prefer tender perennials and the neighbor's lawns, which all grow year-round. Shrubs trying to get established with both rabbits and winter to deal with is hard. Very cold winters are an issue--for both koi keeping and gardening!
DeleteWe have raccoons around, too--our pond is raised without a wade-into "beach" so they have not been a problem. A neighbor with a non-raised pond just down the road lost all her koi several times and then gave up.
I'm glad it rained. I wish it had rained longer for you. We need several good rain events spaced a week apart to rehydrate the soil.
ReplyDeleteWe're getting more now--it's been drizzling all night. Up to .31". Every bit helps.
DeleteCongratulations on your rain!
ReplyDeleteI've looked at your photos of Banksia prionotes several times in disbelief - how on earth did it get that tall on such a (lack of) root system? A puzzle indeed.
I'm sorry about your Rita. I totally get that fish can have personalities - hers sounded like a good one. RIP lovely Rita.
Exactly--how did it get over 6' tall with no roots!!!!??? It sort of looked like it had been started in a very small pot, the roots started circling around in the small pot and it never went beyond that. It had no competition in its location in the ground.
DeleteThanks--Rita was a sweetie!
Strange to think it rain in Souther California while Seattle still so dry... it suppose to finally rain on Friday. Can't wait.
ReplyDeleteSo sad about Lovely Rita. I don't even know how you can tell she was "in severe distress", but after 15 years I suppose you get to know your pet, fins and all.
I hope the Lemon tree is happy in it's new location. Here is to future lemon butter cookies and lemon preserves.
chavli
And Ina Garten's lemon cake. Yummmmmmmmm!
DeleteBest wishes for a good rain. We ended up with a dazzling 0.76"--riches! Of course the heat came back--95F is the forecast for today. Perhaps why we cherish every drop of rain we are lucky enough to get.
HB .. I am so sorry about your losing beautiful Rita Koi .. getting her as a wee one and seeing her progress to such a gorgeous garden friend .. it is sad, I can't help but ask "will you get another one?"
ReplyDeleteI'm also sorry that rain has become such a wonderous thing .. I don't ever want to take ours for granted when I read about your circumstances. I wish for you to have much more (not in torrents though ? LOL)
What is with the no roots thing ? how could it stand up so well ? haha
I had to dig out an original Goats Beard a few days ago .. original as in about 17 years .. and boy that sucker did NOT want to leave the garden !
More rain days ahead and happier plants to you !
This post was a treat to read the back and forth of how you were "reading" your world at the moment.