So...friends in Brussels told us that every two years a large festival takes place at the Grand-Place where an oversized interpretation of a classic carpet design is recreated using nothing but simple begonias.   http://www.flowercarpet.be/site/main.php?lg=en Well you certainly wouldn't want to walk on it and the flower girl's role would have to be upgraded...so we'll leave this one as simply intriguing...for now ;-)

Au commencement, il y avait la capitale... et ses "pim-pom", ses "pardon monsieur", "oups", ses "c'est un scandale, j'attends depuis plus d'une heure", ses "tut tut", sa poussière sur les murs, sur les arbres, jusque dans les narines quand je me mouche... Au commencement, je bondissais de mon lit au RER, du RER à ma tour, de ma tour à la cantine, de la cantine à ma tour, de ma tour au RER, du RER à mon lit. Je pâlissais à petit feu, en manque d'air frais, de hors-piste, de scabieuses et de crozets.

Le temps filait, je me perdais. Et puis, un jour où j'avais troqué le plat du jour de la cantine du bureau contre un dwich rillettes, je suis passée devant la boutique d'un fleuriste, et je me suis acheté un pot de bégonias. Oh, rien de bien dingue, juste un modeste pot comme vous pouvez le voir.

Tout l'après-midi, je l'ai regardé avec amour. J'avais hâte de reprendre le RER pour lui donner un peu d'eau, et lui chercher une bonne place au soleil, dans la cuisine. Et puis des hortensias ont suivi le bégonia, un jasmin a fait son apparition dans la foulée, et j'ai commencé à voir plus grand : quatre ficus ont envahi mon appartement.

A présent, je jardine. Oh, en amateure, bien sûr. Mais je jardine. Et je lance ce blog pour partager mes découvertes et mes questions, parler des fleurs et des saisons et rencontrer d’autres mordu(e)s de jardinage, comme moi.

Tistou

Black fang.

There is something weird going on with this blog. Various honoured guests are finding themselves unable to leave comments here. I have no idea why this should be but please do not take it personally. I have great hopes that all will be sorted by an update released today but if it keeps happening and you are itching to leave a comment then please feel free to email me.

Tatton yesterday - without the comfort of a reconciliatory bacon roll with Emma T. I stayed in a pretty ghastly hotel in Altrincham and dined there with a bevvy of other RHS Judges. Disappointingly, they were remarkably well behaved - I had heard stories of raucous behaviour and bread rolls flyin..

 Tuesday morning (fortified by a very nasty breakfast - hence my need for the Townshend butty) we started judging Show Gardens: the chaps in natty Panamas are Nigel Colborn and Andrew Wilson. You will notice that everybody is wearing high-visibility vests. I have a real problem with these, not just because they are completely hideous and do no favours to one’s tailoring or complexion, but because I resent being nannied. It is really irritating and I feel that it is the duty of all right thinking folk to subvert this rule as often as possible. We may get reversed over by a speeding forklift but at least we would die with our principles intact.

Sadly most of the gardens were a bit rubbish. Mr Beardshaw’s was the best although his turf felt as if one was walking on a mattress full of neatly tessellated  dead rabbits. There were some good bits in a few of the others, one of them was truly awful and very narrowly avoided getting no award at all. I think there were some much better things in the Back-to-Back gardens and the bedding displays were, as always a triumph of effervescently glorious vulgarity. There were Begonia combinations so bright as to flash-fry the retina. 

I gave a long and rather surreal interview to Radio Tatton - a station purely for people attending the show - which involved Alex Baulkwill (from the RHS) and I pretending to be random visitors called Caroline and Dennis (attending the show with their charming children Bruno and Saskia). We walked through the floral marquee, lounged on a show garden and discussed the important things like the location of the nearest lavatories (immediately on the left as you enter the showground).

I returned home and went to see Mama Mia!. So camp, so ridiculous, so cheesy, so kitsch and so, so unutterably fabulous that you must all go and see it: if only to realise how very badly Pierce Brosnan sings.

I am listening to No Different Now by Dawn Kinnaird. The picture is of an extraordinary flower arrangement at Tatton inspired by one of those balls made of rubber bands.

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Celosia and white gomphrena flowers at the edge of the curved border

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Every spring and summer I have added a few perennials to these beds, and they have gotten thicker and thicker. I liked the look of these flowers and shrubs against the fence, but after adding more here and there at different times over the past 5 years, it had gotten a little disconnected, and looked like what it was: odd-shaped beds of different widths spaced out against the fence line, with grass between them. I decided to connect all those little squares and the long narrow border, and make them all into one long, curved bed against the fence. I laid out a garden hose in a sweeping curve along the line of the fence and made the edge, and then dug out the grass, turned the soil a little, and used large rocks from the woods to make the outer border around the entire bed.

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Connected flower bed border

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I left the timber edging around the patch of bishop's weed inside the bed to keep it from spreading, and then planted a few annuals throughout and filled it all with pine bark mulch. Since I just planted most of these bedding annuals to try and fill in the bare spaces and connect the sections to make it look more like one large bed now, they are very small and don't look like much yet, the entire border is a little sparse. It will hopefully look better later on this summer as these plants grow thicker. Next year, I'll plant annuals much earlier and the bed will fill out by summer. I'm already looking forward to planning and planting this large bed next spring. :)

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The highlight of my day was driving by and doing a u-turn after realizing that we had just passed the new Anthropologie venture that I had read about called Terrain. I am so glad we stopped.  All I can say is WOW! So hip and throughly unbelievable.  Please snoop around their website so I don't have to go on and on about the cool, bright, huge resin planters and the linen napkins and aprons and of course all the galvanized utilitarian accessories.

After years of reading Martha Stewart's articles on heirloom Begonias and never being able to find them I was thrilled to find them at Terrain and bring one home.  I am now regretting not bringing more home. 

 
If they are not locally available, you can also get from online home gardening supply store.

Some of the hot sellers this spring were heirloom tomatoes, bronze leaf rose begonias, mixed vinca in packs but not #4's and calilbrachoa baskets.

Some not so hot items were impatiens, petunias, gazanias, white and purple double impatiens, accent plants, and larger pots that are ready now are not selling yet.

What sold well for you? I would love to get some feedback on what's working and what's flopping. Better communication between us and our customers can make sure that we all have a great spring in '09!

Also here is an updated availability with updated numbers on vinca and begonias.

availabilitymay28

Originally it was supposed to be a four day weekend for me. Friday was my 9/80 day off but it got moved due to coverage issues at work. No big deal, I really didn't need 4 days off and I can take the extra day off while my parents are in town!

One of Griffin's friends from Colorado, Keegan, was in town for the weekend and stayed with us. Normally I hear Keegan all the time talking over Ventrilo (voice system over the internet) with Griffin when they play World of Warcraft (WoW) so at first it was really strange to have him here in person. I'm so used to just hearing him though the computer speakers almost every day. Keegan had never been to San Francisco before so we tried to give him a good tour with as many different types of food possible. I think we did a good job, over the course of the two days he was with us we ate:

• Indian
• French (crepes)
• Chinese (dim sum)
• Japanese (sushi)
• Mediterranean
• Italian (kinda, Griffin made a frittata for breakfast one morning)

Friday evening we went out for Indian food (see above link) and then drove through part of the city. I'd never been though Russian Hill before but it is beautiful, lots of huge, old, well cared for houses. We ended up in the Presidio driving past Chrissy Field and stopped at Torpedo Wharf. Previously I have only viewed the Golden Gate from Fort Point, which is closer to the base of the bridge than Torpedo Wharf. Since it was late the Fort and the road leading to it were closed so we stopped further away at the wharf. People were fishing and crabbing off the wharf. The view was great and the sun was setting so there was beautiful lighting. Unfortunately I didn't have the camera with me so you'll have to use your imagination until we go back.

Following our stop at the bridge we cruised through a few more neighborhoods and ended up in the Castro where we stopped for dessert at Squat and Gobble, a popular chain of crepe places in the city. I had a strawberry Nutella crepe that was absolutely delicious. By the end of the meal I believe Keegan and Griffin were the only two individuals in the restaurant that did not like men (Castro is the gay district of San Francisco).

On Saturday we headed to Chinatown via Muni (bus system) and enjoyed a lunch of Dim Sum and strolling the streets. I'd never been before (or at least that I can remember, apparently I went as a young child). Walking by some of the strange products outside of shops I really wished that I could read Chinese as most things were entirely unrecognizable. Of the things I could decipher: deer tail ( at $100+/lb), deer antlers, and chicken feet.

("Seadog Pills")

(Mannequin in the window of a acupuncturist office that was discretely dressed.)

On Saturday evening we drove to San Mateo's (city just south of San Francisco) downtown for sushi as several restaurants had been recommended to us there. The place we went, Joy Sushi, had the biggest sushi rolls I have ever seen (or had for that matter). They were very good but so large that it was almost impossible to get them in your month in one piece (and trying to bite a roll in half to eat in two bites can only lead to disaster).

On Sunday we ventured to the Mission to take in Carneval, a yearly festival of Latin American culture.

(Little kid with one of the dance troupes.)

(Little dog with a lady in the crowd.)

(Group from a local high school - kids were playing steel drums, very impressive.)

(BART car, don't ask me why it was in the parade, I have no idea.)

(Dude dressed up as a flower, I think he was in the wrong parade...)

(Mission Dolores, not on the parade route but we passed by and I snapped a picture.)

The parade was pretty cool and I wish we could have stayed longer but we needed to get Keegan to the airport. Before we left we got a small bite to eat at Truly Mediterranean. It's one of the top rated Mediterranean restaurants in the country and has won lots of awards. The whole shop is about 10 feet wide and only contains the kitchen and about 5 bar stools. We sat outside to enjoy our shawerma and hummus and watch the wide diversity that is the Mission pass by. It's places like this that make me not want to leave the Bay Area. Eventually we took Keegan to the airport but stopped off at In and Out on the way since Keegan wanted some of this California delicacy.

After dropping Keegan off, Griffin and I ran some errands then washed and WAXED both of our cars. I know Dad will be so proud, I took this picture just for him.

Monday has been rather uneventful, going to the grocery store-s (Trader Joes, Safeway, and Whole Foods), doing laundry, and cleaning up the apartment. I'm also trying to find plants that we can grow in a pot outside our back door. The bonsai tree Griffin had been nursing has died and so it's time to replace it. However, the area outside the door is very shady (hence the bonsai's death). Mom has suggested the following would do well in full shade:

• Ferns



• Begonias



• Fuschias (I'm not a huge fan now that I see the picture and remember what these are.)



• Impatients



• Coleus

We'll see what Griffin and I can find on our next outing to a gardening store...

On a side note: congratulations to Little Sister who is now a gainfully employed at Walmart in the metropolis of Lamar, Colorado.

yep, Bear bought me a garden. first he told me i could plant stuff in the big cement planter, so i bought a couple plants. then he got home form work and said let's go get more plants and stuff! YAY!
so we got pots and plants and dirt and we planted a little garden together! :)

Here's the planter with a trailing/viney Sprengeri to hang over the side, a Plantain Lily "Crowned Imperial" on the left, and a Double Impatiens Fiesta - Ole` Purple Stripe

plus you can't see them yet but we planted cilantro seeds in all the pots around the other plants - cilantro is very hardy and durable i hear

here's another flower pot with a Sprengeri, and two Tuberous Begonias
this might be my favorite one right now

and then we have the salsa pots!

i call them the salsa pots because we have: Jalapenos on the right, 3 assorted hot peppers in the middle, and tomatoes on the left - all with cilantro seeds around the periphery!
Get it?! tomatoes, peppers and cilantro = salsa!
I'm going to attempt to get an avocado tree going as well - then we can have guacamole too!

We also planted a few mixed lettuce seeds in there just to see what happens!

I have to say I'm in love!
When i got out of bed this morning and saw my plants basking in the sun on the porch - oh! my heart jumped it was so pretty!

If we didn't use that porch for parties and entertaining so much i'd be tempted to cover the whole porch with plants!

the next step is to cannibalize my mom's extra planters and stuff from the garage!

this is SO much better than sitting in an office all day!

(16:56:02) pilar: mas a tv cabo cancelou as transmisões da LLF alegando (burros!) falta de audiência....
(16:57:36) pilar: ...é certo que os combates podem demorar muito tempo e parecer, talvez, um pouco parados...pode levar anos a uma begónia desferir um golpe contra um lirio..mas a guerra psicológica, o simples olhar, a tensão....! essa é indesmentível!"

"Gregorio, ¿qué te voy a contar a vos que estuviste allí aquella noche?"

El tren se sacude sobre las nalgas moradas de la mujer de canela. Porque aquello doliente de su cara y de su boca, aquel perfume a clavo de olor… Las medias con puntos corridos de lástima. Los zapatos blanco y negro, deformados por el uso –esa coquetería imposible de siempre- mientras se recogía el mechón de pelos resbalado desde la frente y pegado en la mejilla con la transpiración o tal vez las lágrimas. El rojo carmesí de aquellos labios. Las manchas de la piel, machucados pétalos de rosa. Los inocentes claveles bordadas en su blusa de gasa…

Fue persistente el amargor de aquella noche, hasta más tarde, cuando todos en la casilla de Octavio siguieron con el vino y las barajas, y hasta ahora. Aunque se vea ahora proyectado sobre las rosadas carnes de esa rubia que repinta el esmalte de sus uñas y de tanto en tanto mira distraída por la ventanilla hacia fuera.

Gregorio era el único que pudiera explicar aquello. Él la conocía desde los tiempos de Godoy, cuando andaban siempre juntos. Porque a Godoy mismo…no se le podría preguntar. –Bigotes diagonales a caballo sobre una boca agreste.

Colgaron los tacos y se fueron a conversar a la mesa. Yo estaba mirando desde un rincón con ganas de acercarme, pero…la actitud de los cuerpos me dijeron que el tema era sólo entre ellos.

A la noche la luna blanquea una casa, un patio y un aljibe.
Las begonias hacen sombra.
Hay pisadas de trapo por los lados.
Una sombra blanca hace señales que ya nadie entiende.
Se derrama canela y clavo de olor sobre los naranjos del fondo.
Dentro del aljibe hay ondas circulares en el agua, como si la luz de la luna rozara la superficie.
Lo negro de la noche se ha hecho con pétalos de rosas negras.
Lo blanco con jazmines carnosos.
Sobre las losas del patio cae coco rayado.

Para ser sincero, Gregorio, mastico aun aquella carne amarga. Esas flores bordadas en la blusa, dibujos primorosos de niños en sus cuadernos…y de pronto, lo amoratado de aquellas piernas gordas desparramadas abruptamente sobre la colcha sucia. Los pezones inmensos y aquella inconsciencia en los ojos y la boca, deformados por tanto vino o aflojados por la tristeza. Porque uno a uno, casi con desesperación, nos habíamos saciado de su carne, como caranchos hambrientos, mientras los otros seguían tras el tabique con las canciones y la guitarra.

Otra vez los vidrios del vagón son golpeados por la fuerza de la lluvia. El agua corre por ellos borrando toda referencia de lugares, volviendo al viaje mismo una especie de ocurrencia. Acaso una hipótesis probable. Acaso una mentira.

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Begonias!

I can't claim credit for this one;  thank you to my cousin Diane.  It's a kaleidoscope effect on a photo of a berry bush of some sort. 

Happy Weekend Everyone - I won't be posting for awhile... I'm off on another fun adventure.   Til next week then! 

Curious "C"                              

Begonia 'Fairy'

Begonia 'Jabberwocky'

Begonia 'Tiger Kitten'

The rhizomatous types are popular all across the country. Some types of rhizomatous have intricate patterns on their leaves in almost any earth tone color, some are hairy leaved, some are round and shiny, and some are star shaped.

Begonia carolineifolia

Begonia hydrocotylifolia

Begonia ricinifolia

Begonia 'Bethlehem Star'

Begonia 'Bunchii'

Begonia 'Bushmaster'

Begonia 'China Doll'

Begonia 'Hyroglyphics'

Begonia 'Leprechaun'

Begonia 'Red Freddie'

Cane begonias are most popular in the southern states where they are grown outdoors in frost free areas but they can also be grown well indoors or in a greenhouse. Many hybrid cane begonias have silver spotted/splashed leaves and some have different serrated edges.

Cane begonias present in the greenhouse:

Begonia 'Crackling Rose'

Begonia 'Flamingo'

Begonia 'Hot Tamale'

With more than 1500 species, Begonia is one of the ten largest angiosperm genera. The species are terrestrial, sometimes epiphytic, herbs or undershrubs and occur in subtropical and tropical moist climates, in South and Central America, Africa and southern Asia.

Terrestrial species in the wild are commonly upright-stemmed, rhizomatous, or tuberous. In most species the fruit is a winged capsule containing numerous minute seeds. The leaves are often large and variously marked or variegated; they are also asymmetrical. Because of their sometimes showy flowers of white, pink, scarlet or yellow color and often attractively marked leaves, many species and innumerable hybrids and cultivars are cultivated.

Begonias have relatively the same care information: water it once a week; give it bright indirect light; make sure the water is porous; do not allow the plant to sit in standing water.
We have a large number of begonias in the greenhouse, donated from American Begonia Society (ABS), that are not for sale because they're still too young/small to start propagating.

The ABS classifies begonias into 8 groups: cane-like, shrub-like, tuberous, rhizomatous, semperflorens, rex, trailing-scandent, or thick-stemmed. (Click on the group links for more info. about the begonias in the greenhouse)

A list of all the identified rare begonias in greenhouse:

• Begonia carolineifolia
• Begonia fuchsioides
• Begonia hydrocotylifolia
• Begonia nelumbiifolia
• Begonia peltata
• Begonia rex 'Tiger Kitten'
• Begonia rex-cultorum 'Fairy'
  
• Begonia 'Bethlehem Star'
• Begonia 'Bunchii'
• Begonia 'Bushmaster'
• Begonia 'China Doll'
• Begonia 'Crackling Rose'
• Begonia 'Dovecot'
  
• Begonia 'Flamingo'
• Begonia 'Jabberwocky'
• Begonia 'Hot Tamale'
• Begonia 'Hyroglyphics'
• Begonia 'Leprechaun'
• Begonia 'Marmaduke'
• Begonia 'Red Fred'

My little white cat eats everything.  She eats plants.  All kinds of plants-real ones, silk ones, and even plastic ones.  So, consequently I do not have house plants.  I wish I could, but because of her, it is pointless to even try.

Since I do live in a mild climate, I grow many houseplants outside.  I'll put them on the porch or under a tree to give them enough light but not too much.  One of my favorite plants to grow in a container is Rex Begonia.  I have no problem growing them outside under a large magnolia tree, even though we have such hot summers.  These begonias like high humidity, so maybe that is why they do well for me.  I do protect them if a freeze is predicted but for the most part they are out in all types of weather, even the mid thirties.

They are just starting to send out new, vibrant leaves.  I find they do get sort of raggedy by the end of the winter. It is normal for them to go into a sort of semi-dormancy in the wintertime.   I plan on repotting them in the next week or two in a well drained potting mix, and then I'll give them a little fertilizer.

The first one I bought was Red Robin.  I put it in a shallow container with a red cyclamen and a small button fern.  I used this as a Valentine's Day decoration a few years back.  It really looked nice.  The picture below shows Red Robin just starting to put out new leaves.  The whole plant seems to glow when light hits the leaves.

After having success with this one, I soon was buying others.  I have tended to buy the celadon green ones that have purple in them.  They to just seem to glow in the sunlight.  This is one example, Corey Corwin, that is starting to show a new flush of growth.

I think this might be the year I attempt to propagate some of these beauties.  I have been reading up on how to do this. I found out that besides the leaf cutting method, that some people have been successful with rooting a leaf in water (similar to African violets) and them potting up the leaf when the roots are about two inches long and then enclosing the pot in a plastic bag.  Both methods require high humidity either by misting or covering with a plastic bag.

Once the weather warms up a bit more, these begonias will be again be showing a stunning display.

Living in the hot, humid South, it is sometimes difficult to grow begonias.  Forget the tuberous ones. Unfortunately, they survive only as indoor plants and even then have a short life.  With our high rains and hot, humid temperatures, even wax leaf begonias often succumb to fungus diseases, or as I call it, "the rot."

Three years ago, my mother gave me a hanging basket of variegated pink begonia for my birthday in March.  I have successfully overwintered it, and  it has survived our summers.  It even survived Hurricane Katrina & the lack of any care for about two weeks after.  I keep it hanging in a small tree on the north side of the house.  It receives about one hour of direct sun in late morning and filtered sun the rest of the day.  I have found that many plants that can take more sun in the North need to have a lot less down here.  I do fertilize about once a month starting in late March.  And, of course, I water it daily in the summer.  If temperatures get into the mid to high 90's, I usually water twice a day.  I am planning on trying to propagate some of the long stems that are hanging down.  I have read that to do this, there needs to be at least two leaf nodes below the soil.  If I am successful, I will start another basket.  So I am looking forward to another year with this plant. 

Last spring I planted three white wax leaf begonias in a container.  I placed these in the white garden that I started in memory of my father.  At first the begonias did not do well.  I think it was too chilly and damp, but they did survive.  Finally, they seemed to do better as the summer went on.  This fall they really put on a show.  They, too, have overwintered and will do better this spring.  At least I have my fingers crossed that they will. 

In the past when I have tried wax leaf begonias, they did not do well at all, and I became discouraged with this plant.  But, now, with the success I have had with these two, I think I may try to plant some in the garden this year.

I have had great success with Rex begonias and the angel wing ones, and when I have some pictures of those I will post them.

I honestly don’t know what to say about this album. The writing is top-notch, the musicianship is excellent, and the harmonies are fantastic... It’s simultaneously classic & fresh. I can find no fault here. I just love listening to it, which I guess is pretty high praise, huh?

Click Here to Listen to “Two Different Things” (you might have to get around your pop-up blocker to get it to work.)