Sprucing up the Flower Beds

Deb and I have been worrying about the flower beds under the Redwood tree for a while now. The Redwood produces a mat of very fine roots that spread out to the end of the tree canopy - in this case, probably something like a 20 foot diameter circle. In addition to the mat of roots, the tree takes up most of the moisture both from rain and from the wet air, so the plants underneath don't get much natural moisture. Since the soil here in Alameda is mostly sand, it compacts to a hard crust and virtually all the water runs off and none of it soaks in.

A while ago we changed over to a soaker hose arrangement for watering around the base of the tree, and that has improved things. The azaleas were not getting enough water, so they bloomed poorly, but this year they are getting ready to put on a show! Water at the roots makes a difference.

We've gone through a couple of iterations for the flower bed in front of the tree. Last year we rescued a fuschia and dropped in two new hydrangeas. In order to make a place for them, we added pre-formed concrete wall blocks, but the slope from the base of the tree to the edge of the deck was still so great that most of the water ran off the hill and under the deck.

Today we had the bright idea of building a brick wall at the edge of the deck that would be high enough to level out the soil, forming a relatively flat planting area! We dug out the old concrete blocks, cleaned out the trench that the blocks were set in, added a 4 x 4 piece of wood coming just to the level of the bottom of the deck boards, added two courses of clay used brick and voila! a wall to hold back the dirt!

I suppose we might have come up with the idea for the brick wall from watching Marishka and John replace their driveway next door, but we changed it up a bit. Our wall is glued together using "liquid nails" instead of being cemented together. We'll see how long that glue lasts in the rain and the UV light.

Dark Star Wild Lilac - Day 1

I'm starting into a new hobby - bonsai. At this point, I don't even know if bonsai is a noun, verb, adverb, etc. but I intend to find out. The first thing learned is that it's pretty unlikely that bonsaiing (is that a word??) is going to be pretty unsatisfying with only one plant. Every year or so, usually in the spring time, the plant is brought in and trimmed. Once in a while you "wire" the plant to get the growth going in the direction you want. Every so often you repot the plant to ensure it's getting the right nutrients. So, maybe you work on it for a month out of a year. The rest of the time, it's a very serene hobby, like watching grass grow!

Since I might want my hobby to be a little more active than that, I went to Home Depot and chose a couple of shrubs for my first adventure into bonsaiing. It's a Dark Star Wild Lilac, Ceanothus Dark Star by it's botanical name, characterized by being a California native species, both a "honey" and a "butterfly" plant with dense, small leaved, purple buds and blue flowers. It prefers full sun, lean soil and little or no water. It's deer and drought resistant. Sounds like a pretty hardy plant, and that may be just what I need for my first foray into bonsaiing.

So first step plans for the Dark Star are to repot it to get most of the trunk above the soil and get the main roots exposed. After that I may ask Deb's help in thinking through the aesthetics of the tree and begin the trimming process.

Stay tuned!!

Bonsai - Revisiting

A few years ago, Kirsten gifted me a beautiful Juniper Bonsai. Despite what others might think, this is a genuine Bonsai. The definition of "bonsai" includes ....... 

"A bonsai is created beginning with a specimen of source material. This may be a cutting, seedling, or small tree of a species suitable for bonsai development. Bonsai can be created from nearly any perennial woody-stemmed tree or shrub species that produces true branches and can be cultivated to remain small through pot confinement with crown and root pruning. Some species are popular as bonsai material because they have characteristics, such as small leaves or needles, that make them appropriate for the compact visual scope of bonsai."

The Juniper that Kirsten gave me fits the definition. I have to admit that when I got the Juniper, I didn't know what to do with it. Deb was adamant - it had to stay outdoors! I might not have agreed with that then, but I do now. Reading about the Juniper bonsai, I find that the tree needs the seasons, and especially important is the colder weather that allows the Juniper to "rest" and go dormant. 

It's been outside for close to two years now, and it survived the construction that created our upstairs suite. Since the completion of construction it's rested comfortably at the base of the water feature we have in the backyard. Each day it gets morning sun, a little water, shade for the mid-day and full sun in the afternoon. It's healthy and growing and nearing the time when it needs to be pruned!

We went to the Home and Garden Show in Menlo Park today, and I got the chance to talk with a Bonsai pro who has more than one Juniper on display at the Show. It sounds like leaving the tree alone and leaving it outside for a couple of years was exactly the right thing to do (thanks Deb!!). The gentleman said to keep it watered, keep it in the sun, and groom it the way it tells you to groom it! We need to listen to the Juniper. Hmmmmm .... I wonder how I listen to the Juniper. 

More later. Deb and I are going to look at the tree, listen to what it's saying, trim a little here and a little there, stand back, relax, watch and trim a little more until the tree says "This is a perfect treecut for me! Leave me alone for a while," 

Quarters On End

I was born in a small logging community called Granite Falls. Dad was a logger, and having a difficult time making ends meet, so you know we didn't have a lot of money as a family, especially for the non-essentials of life.

I wanted some money to spend - you know, for the finer things in life - so I decided to sell Christmas cards. In the day one could buy a comic book and look at the last couple of pages to find "business opportunities." The ad I had my eye on was one where all I had to do was sell a box of 24 Christmas cards, get payment from my clients, send in the order form, receive and distribute the boxes of cards, and collect my share of the money. The whole enterprise worked very well: I sold enough boxes to fund my dream - a 22 caliber rifle!

It took quite a while to amass the fortune I needed for the rifle, so I had a lot of money laying around the house. I had other odd jobs like picking and selling quarts and gallons of blackberries, helping with the haying at Oscar Sandman's place, and fighting with Rick Ross across the street. Pretty soon I had lots and lots of coins collected in a cardboard cigar box hidden under my bed.

I loved the coins. I converted all of the pennies, nickels and dimes to quarters and I stacked them up, polished them with the stub eraser from the end of a pencil, stood them on end like dominoes and knocked them down only to start all over again.

Dad happened to walk into my bedroom one day as I was standing quarters on their edges. If you haven't tried doing that, you'll find it's not easy to do, it takes a lot of time, and you have to have a steady hand to do it. Try it for yourself!

Dad asked how many of the quarters I could stand on edge, and I replied I thought I might be able to stand near 200 of them on edge. Dad said "I've never seen anyone stand that many quarters on edge before. I tell you what I'll do. I'll give you a dime for every quarter you can stand on edge."

Eager to add 200 dimes to my stash of coins, I started furiously standing quarters on edge. I managed nearly 200 when I had to quit. Some quarters are so warn that they just won't be stood up.

I called Dad in to collect my dimes. He asked for a count, and I gave him one. He congratulated me on doing something he'd never seen done before, counted out the right number of dimes, handed them to me ......... and swept all of the quarters and put them in his pocket.

I was dumbfounded! I spluttered ..... "Those are MY quarters! What are YOU doing?"

He laughed that laugh he does when he's truly amused, and said " If you remember, I said 'I'll give you a quarter for each dime you can stand on edge.' If I'm right, that's exactly what I've done." Turning, he took a smile that might have been a smirk with him as he walked from the room.

I was still frustrated beyond words; it took many years for me to really appreciate the lesson I'd been taught!

Carquinez Strait Recreational Area

Deb and I decided to hike in an area of the East Bay that we hadn't visited before - the southern shore of the Sacramento River near the town of Crockett. We parked at the trailhead at the end of the regional shoreline road and started up the Franklin Ridge Trail, a 3.8 mile loop. Because of a few steep parts, I'd rate this trail as moderate.

At the top of the main fire road, at about the 1.5 mile point, the trail T's with a trail to the right leading to the west and the park boundary. From the high spot in that trail, the view upriver is beautiful, with a full view of the Carquinez Strait, and the Benicia-Martinez bridge.

Back where the trail T's, taking the left fork leads back to the original fire road via a loop that overlooks the river.

Along the trail we were fortunate enough to see spring wildflowers, cows, turkeys, and birds of all sorts along with enjoying a beautiful spring day with temperatures in the 70s!