Garden Views

He has a green thumb!

2008-07-10T14:16:00.003-07:00

My son has succeeded in growing basil and thyme in his apt in Baku in Azerbaijan. I mailed the seeds around March 15, and they took 4-5 weeks to reach him. I started some basil seeds myself soon after I mailed the seeds to him, but mine are nowhere near as big. He said that his just took off.

You have to give him credit for coming up with containers, however I will have to mention the apparent lack of drainage, at least in the upside down ones.

It also looks like he is growing these indoors, rather than on his balcony. I have so many questions to ask him....

More Colour from the Majorelle Gardens

2008-07-06T09:05:00.008-07:00

I believe that the first three pics below are of windows on the building that houses the Museum of Islamic Art. We didn't go in, as it was almost closing time.

my daughter

Majorelle Gardens, Marrakech, Morocco

2008-06-06T07:56:00.009-07:00

Having heard that Yves Saint-Laurent passed away recently, I was reminded that I had not yet post pictures of his Majorelle Gardens in Marrakech.

The gardens were originally built in 1924 by artist and serious plant collector Jacques Majorelle. In 1980 Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Bergé bought it.

The first view is of these colourful pots, amongst a grove of giant bamboo:

The cobalt blue colour was used often in the gardens, and is named Majorelle bleu, after the artist and designer of the gardens.

More pics soon.

Seedling Care - Instructions to My Son in Azerbaijan

2008-06-01T10:51:00.002-07:00

Its too bad it took 5 weeks for those seeds to get to you, but I am happy to hear that you are proceeding. I expect that now your seeds have sprouted and you are ready for instructions on the next step.

Seedling Care

The seedlings need lots of light, and they need warmth to grow quickly. If put outside they may dry out too quickly and since night temps are lower outside that indoors, it is a good idea to keep them inside, as they will grow faster.

So if you have a sunny windowsill, put them on. This is when things get messy. Soil and water comes out of the containers when watering. Put on top of plastic to protect countertops, windowsills or whatever.

The care you give your seedlings in the weeks following germination is critical. Keep moist, but not dripping, as excess wetness will encourage a fungus called damping off*, which kill seedlings. Small pots and flats dry out quickly, so check it often. How can you tell if the soil is dry? The soil shrinks from the edges of the container. The container is light. Or the worst indicator is that the plants are wilting. This is very bad. You want to avoid this!

If your seedlings are growing in a windowsill, turn often to encourage straight stems. Also, gently brush the palm of your hand against the tops of the seedlings to encourage strong stem growth. (I have never tried this. I only read it for the first time today).

The first two leaves you will see on the plant are not true leaves but food storage cells called cotyledons. Once the first true leaves have developed, it's time to start fertilizing. Choose a good liquid organic fertilizer (10-10-10 or 20-20-20) and use a half-strength solution once a week.

About a week after germination, you need to thin your seedlings. You probably have noticed that you have waaaaayyyy more plants than you can use. Start by snipping off at ground level (not pulling out) the weaker and slower seedlings. Send me a pick and I will give you further instructions. Crowding will decrease air circulation, which encourages damping off, so thin them!

Yellow and Red

2008-05-14T10:59:00.005-07:00

Its been a good morning for colour. He flew across in front of the window and sat in the tree.

A male Western Tanager
Then came two females. He moved closer to them, watching them like teenages boys watch the girls. Then came 2 more males. No scrapping, but this guy came dangerously close to our cat. Luckily she is 14 yr and her hunting days are probably over.

Another Tanager
Do you suppose they may like our yard because they fit right in, colour-wise?

Beauty of Appledoorn tulips

Seed Starting #1 - To My Son in Azerbaijan

2008-04-24T13:56:00.009-07:00

Use Small Containers First

Start your seeds in small containers, such as yogurt, cottage cheese containers, or a milk carton, laid on its side (about 5cm deep), with the opposite side cut off (staple closed the end that was opened). Some people use egg cartons (expect to transplant quite quickly from such a small container). Make sure you put one or more holes, about half a centimeter in diameter, in the bottom of all these containers. If the holes are too big soil will fall out.

Egg and milk cartons, almost ready for seeds
Prepare the Containers for Sowing

Put newspapers or plastic on your table. Makes clean up much easier.
Fill pots or flats to the top with your potting mixture and firm the soil and level the surface (a flat-bottomed cup or glass work well for this). Water the soil and allow it to drain thoroughly before sowing the seeds. I like to let it sit in a larger container that has water in it, so that the water soaks up from the bottom. That way you are sure to have the entire soil mass wet. This is important, as the soil can be difficult to get wet. You want there to be about .5cm of space above the soil.

Label your containers. If they becomes mixed up you can send me pics later and I can ID them.

Sowing Seeds

Sprinkle the seeds on the surface of the damp soil and cover with a very thin layer of soil. In a egg carton compartment put 2-3 seeds. In a milk carton, put a group of 2 or 3 every couple of inches. Firm the soil. It is important the the seeds have good contact with the soil. The top layer of soil should absorb moisture from the layer below. If possible, continue to water from the bottom. If you must water from a container, use one with a spout or use a thin-lipped glass…something you can control the flow out of. If the water comes out too fast, it will send all the seeds to a corner.

Slip into a plastic bag so you won’t have to water. Leave it open. If you have a heater place your containers near it so they will germinate faster, but be careful, because they will also dry out faster. The top of the fridge is also a warm spot. Some types of seeds will germinate in approximately one week, though some will be faster and others slower. Once germination occurs remove the bag and move them to a sunny spot indoors.

To My Son in Azerbaijan - How to Start Seeds

2008-04-24T13:48:00.002-07:00

I have a son living and working in Baku in Azerbaijan. Where is that you ask? On the west side of the Caspian Sea, between Russia and Iran. Baku is on approximately the same latitude as Northern California, Istanbul and Naples.

Central Asia, with Azerbaijan in orange, to the left of centerMap is from the U of Texas website
He wants to grow herbs on his south-facing balcony, so I have sent him packages of basil, thyme, rosemary, Greek oregano (this is the white-flowered one and is so much better than the purple-flowered plant), along with some marigold seeds. He is ready with some containers and potting soil that he has been able to find in Baku.

He is 24 yr and has never grown anything before so I figure he needs lots of help. So I have prepared detailed instructions for him. I would love to hear from those of you who might have tips to add to my posts.

He has a blog that he has had for a few years, from when he was in India, Cairo and now Baku. There is lots of wonderful reading there! I hope he will show pics of his plants as they progress.

!!!! Arctic Air !!!!

2008-04-21T08:38:00.004-07:00

We have been breaking records all over British Columbia for the past few days. The previous weekend we had the first nice weather, and now we are back to winter. Vancouver and Victoria woke up to snow on Saturday. Actually, in our little town of Grand Forks, we got off pretty easy. To the west of us, in the Okanagan Valley, it was much colder and they had lots of snow on Saturday. The snowfall this morning was our only accumulation of the weekend.

Some Plants That Survive the Dry of Morocco

2008-04-19T13:17:00.006-07:00

All the pics below were taken in the area of Tafraoute, which is a few hundred kilometers south of Marrakech.

Above was the first of these plants that I saw that had flowers. The rest of them didn't even have any greenery. They were just a bundle of crocked stems with thorns.

I was hiking up a small mountain and encountered many clumps of both of these plants. From a distance the mountain looked devoid of vegetation, but there was actually quite a bit once one was up close.

A foundation planting. It is about 30" tall.

Cacti are particularly good as garbage catchers, something which is needed in Morocco.

Fragile Ecosystem and Desertification

2008-04-16T08:53:00.004-07:00

Wikipedia: "Desertification is the degradation of land in arid, semi arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting primarily from human activities and influenced by climatic variations. Current desertification is taking place much faster worldwide than historically and usually arises from the demands of increased populations that settle on the land in order to grow crops and graze animals."

What we saw in Morocco is that the western edge of the Sahara is moving westwards, swallowing up surrounding land by depositing sand. As gardeners know, it is very difficult to grow things in sand. A reduction in productive arable land means people and animals may go hungry. Since 93% of Morocco is arid, the government is working on stopping the encroachment, but 55,000 acres of arable land is disappearing per year. Can mere humans possibly stop it, not only in Morocco, but in many other countries?

At the end of the 19th Century Morocco had over 15 million date palms. Now there are only 4.5 million. This reduction means a huge drop in income for a large part of the local population.

According to Wikipedia: "It has been determined that the primary reasons for desertification are overgrazing, over cultivation, incorrect irigation methods, deforestation, overdrafting of groundwater, increased soil salinity, and global climate change."

I must admit that when our guide told us about the problem of the expanding desert and showed us sandy areas far from major sand dunes of the Sahara, I was puzzled. It was like there was a sand magnet under the ground.

While I have not found an explanation for pockets of sand (I suppose the wind is the main culprit), it seems that (Wiki) "Desertification does not occur in linear, easily mappable patterns. Deserts advance erratically, forming patches on their borders. Areas far from natural deserts can degrade quickly to barren soil, rock, or sand through poor land management. The presence of a nearby desert has no direct relationship to desertification. Unfortunately, an area undergoing desertification is brought to public attention only after the process is well under way. Often little data are available to indicate the previous state of the ecosystem or the rate of degradation."

You frequently hear the phrase fragile ecosystem. After reading the info on Wikipedia and having seen the edge of the desert in Morocco, I understand it much better. There is nothing like nature's classroom and travelling to broaden our understanding of everything and everyone else.

The Sahara Desert

2008-03-26T19:05:00.011-07:00

Aboard a camel, we approach the dunes of Erg Chebbi
The land around these huge sand dunes is flat as a pancake and bone dry. The palm trees appear to be engulfed by sand dunes. Likely the desert has encroached on them. This process is called desertification, a subject I plan to deal with in the next post.

Is this dragonfly alive or dead?
We were awakened (if we actually managed to sleep) to observe the sunrise over the Sahara. We got out of our warm bedding and climbed the dunes surrounding our camp. It is not warm in the desert at night. The dragonfly was likely just responding to the lower air temperature and would come to life once the sun rose, and warmed it up.

There is vegetation in the Sahara
If you, like me, assumed that the Sahara was only sand, it would come as a surprise to you to see that there are many clumps of grass to be seen.

Animal tracks
While waiting for the sun to rise I noted some tracks, but could not even imagine what animal might make them.

Shadows at sunrise
We were infatuated with the shadows and the lower the sun was, the longer the legs of our camels were! But it was difficult to take pics as camels do not give a smooth ride!

My daughter, and behind her, Lisa
This pic shows some of the vegetation on the dunes.

It was about 2 months ago that I was there. Sigh....it was such a great trip. I absolutely love reviewing my photos.

To the East of the High Atlas Mountains

2008-03-19T12:16:00.007-07:00

Well done Jackie! Yes, the Sahara Desert in on the lee side of the Atlas Mountains of Morocco.

So we were on our way to our camel trekking excursion when our guide stopped to point out this plant to us. It is an amazing plant as it was by far the largest plant around and the only broad leafed plant I had seen for hours.

Our guide told us it was called Calotropis procera. Today I did some research on it.

my daughter checking out Calotropis procera
Common names include Apple Of Sodom, Rubberbush, and Giant Milkweed. It is a member of the Asclepias family, and is related to the lovely orange flowered drought tolerant garden plant commonly known as Butterfly Weed. It is one of the few plants that neither goats nor camels will eat.

the flower buds
It seems it is being considered for cancer treatment. From the SciELO website:

"Calotropis procera, a wild growing plant is well known for its medicinal uses in traditional system of medicine for the treatment of variety of disease conditions that include leprosy, ulcers, tumors and piles... The milky white latex obtained from the plant exhibits potent anti-inflammatory activity in various animal models that is comparable to standard anti-inflammatory drugs... It has been well established through various experimental and clinical studies that drugs possessing anti-inflammatory activity also exhibit anti-cancer properties."

The dried seed pod
And from the Herb Society of America website:

"..it is a magnificent shrub, reaching 10 feet tall, with large silver-green leaves, clusters of waxy purple-tipped flowers, and inflated pale green seed pods. The pods split open when ripe to release silk-tufted seed to the wind. The latex is poisonous, containing digitalis-like compounds that affect the heart, and is used to make arrow poison. Medicinally, the acrid sap latex is used to treat boils, infected wounds and other skin problems in people, and to treat parasitic skin infestations in animals. It also yields ash for making gunpowder, and extremely strong fiber."

the seeds
There are a number of interesting comments from people growing it in Florida on the Daves Garden website. It seems that the plant is a favourite of Monarch butterflies.

What an interesting plant!

Onion Storage and Storks in Morocco

2008-03-13T15:16:00.011-07:00

There are onions in there!
Our guide informed us that these structures are for onion storage. I use the word "structure" loosely as there are no walls. It seems the onions are carefully insulated (straw and dirt?) from the cold and wet so that they last through the winter and the season over which they are sold is therefore greatly extended. It was impressive to see the numerous neat rows with the yellow tarps.

Storks in Ifrane
Soon after the onion storage we started to see the storks on rooftops. I was totally smitten and took pics of every stork and nest that I saw! The storks are considered to be good luck so despite the mess that their nests bring, they seem to be happily tolerated, even in the upscale city of Ifrane, where everything is new. Kinda reminded me of Banff, in Alberta.

More storks in Ifrane
There is a ski hill near Ifrane, but on Feb 6 it was long closed. Spring has come much too early to Morocco this year.

Me on the left, our guide in the middle
and my daughter on the right
We really enjoyed our guide!

Morocco has the High Atlas, the Middle Atlas, the Anti Atlas and the Sahro mountain ranges. These pics were from the Middle Atlas, which usually receives plenty of snow, however not this year. After the mountain ranges a rain shadow effect kicks in in a big way. Anyone know what is to the east of these mountains?

Bahia Palace In Marrakech, Morocco

2008-03-09T10:27:00.013-07:00

Poinsettia
This tall poinsettia was growing in the garden of the Bahia Palace in Marrakech. It must have been 15' tall. A far cry from our little Christmas plants! As a grower of houseplants in a northern climate, I find it very amusing to travel to these plant's native lands and see the plant as it is meant to grow.

Banana Flower
A single large flower grows at the bottom of the string of fruit. I looked up banana flower on Google Images and it seems they are quite spectacular when open.

I am surprised that they point upwards rather than down. Moroccan bananas are smaller than what we get in North American grocery stores.

Interior of Bahia Palace
Every square inch of the walls were intensively decorated in this palace that is just over a hundred years old. The rooms vary in size according to the importance of each wife or concubine.

A fountain with floating rose petals
On our way to the palace we spied this fountain in the courtyard of a restaurant. The water was flowing and the sound was lovely. It was magical. Marrakech has thousands of roses planted in the parks of the city, particularly on the way to the airport.

Almond Trees Were in Bloom in Morocco

2008-03-04T09:00:00.009-08:00

almond blossoms
I had spied many small trees in bloom as I travelled inland from Tiznit to Tafraoute. Some had pink blossoms, others white. I had wondered if either of them were almond blossoms and it turned out that they both were.

almond tree near Tafraoute
Not all of the almond trees in Morocco were as healthy as this one. Unfortunately many were much shorter and scrawnier.

The Tafraoute area (south of Marrakech) has an almond blossom festival every year, around mid to late February. I was there in late January so I missed it.

between Agadir and Marrakech
Travelling by bus from Agadir to Marrakech I was in awe of the almonds in bloom in the valley below the road. Unfortunately it is a little difficult to take pics through a bus window, while it was barrelling along.

A few days later I hired a driver and asked him about whether or not almonds self-seed themselves, as I am used to seeing fruit trees planted in carefully laid out rows, while these almond trees were helter skelter. But I was told that almond seeds do not produce a tree that will produce good almonds and therefore all must be grafted and then planted. So I think that some of the trees that are growing in difficult places (see up the hillside in the background of this pic) must be self-seeded and those growing healthily, though not organized, are grafted plants.

a typical shop, this one selling dates (many different kinds),
raisins, dried apricots, almonds, and garlic
I also found it interesting to note that almonds in Morocco are not cheap. In the Tafraoute area they were $9/kilo and in Marrakech, for the tourists, they were $13/kilo ($6/lb). In a bulk store here we buy them for $10/kilo.

Generally in Morocco the prices are not indicated. You must bargain. There is one price for the locals and another for the tourists. I have read that Germans, Americans and Japanese pay the highest prices!

What is unusual is that in Tafraoute and at the carts in the Jemma El Fna square in Marrakech, the prices of the dried fruit and nuts were clearly labelled.

What Are These Rock Piles About?

2008-02-29T09:36:00.001-08:00

Saw lots of these on the side of the road out in the countryside in Morocco. Would never have known what they were about if I hadn't hired a car and driver for a few days. He told us that the containers hold honey. The area appeared to be devoid of inhabitants so I said "You leave money and take the honey?" "No, someone will notice if you stop and they will come to you." No one came to me while taking pics, but I was only there a couple of minutes.

This container looks so battered and has no lid. I am guessing it was too cold for there to be any bees yet, or they would be in the containers cleaning out the honey!

A Fescue?

2008-02-27T10:30:00.007-08:00

Since I work for an ornamental grass nursery, I notice grasses on my travels. This grass was carpeting the hillsides at around 1600 mt (5000') in the Middle Atlas.

Festuca ?
It is likely a Festuca however it is not blue enough to be Festuca punctoria. Like F. punctoria its leaves are incredibly stiff and spikey. You would definitely not want to fall on this grass nor can I image any animals grazing on it.

My daughter's foot for a size reference
This area should have been covered in snow. Luckily for us it wasn't.

A photo I grabbed before getting back into
the car. I love Arabic script.

Palm Trees in Morocco

2008-02-21T14:21:00.008-08:00

Please indulge my fascination with palm trees. I am from a snowy climate and we just don't have them here.

Correct me if I am wrong but I believe these are dates hanging from this palm tree.

Date Palm
As we drove by many clumps of these I wondered if, since it looked like a palm, could it really be one? I was assured that it was. I should have put something beside it so it was obvious how short it is. I would say it is 12" in height.

Dwarf Palm
If one looked up and studied the palm trees, it was possible to note that they are not all the same. This one had very large drooping leaves.

Drooping palms
A typical scene of palms. I took the pic for the orange tree, cause I realized that I had not taken one yet.

Common palms
And for a little humour. We were on our way to the Marrakech airport when I spotted a few of these. I wish I knew why they felt a need to put really tall fake palms there.

Fake plam tree

Have Been in Morocco

2008-02-17T04:05:00.005-08:00

I just returned from 3 weeks in Morocco, where I took pics of as many plants as I could find to take pics of. However the variety of plant life is very different from in Costa Rica, where lush plant life is what the country is all about. Morocco receives very little precipitation, even on the coastal side of the Atlas Mts. (For those of you not sure of the country's locations, it is in the north-west of Africa, on the west side of the Sahara Desert). The native vegetation has a distinct "I have worked out ways to preserve moisture" look. This bougainvillea in Tarroudant, which is the only place I saw fields being irrigated with overhead sprinklers, obviously benefited from moisture and grew as tall as the lamp-post. The walls on either side are at least 8' tall.

Bougainvillea in Tarroudant, Morocco
Morocco appears to be in trouble this year, due to a combination of a lack of precipitation and such abnormally warm weather so early in the season. We (my daughter and I) were told that spring was about 6 - 8 wks ahead of schedule. In the area on the Algeria/Sahara side of the High Atlas Mts our driver/guide (who was very knowledgeable about the environment) pointed out 2 doves on the side of the road. He said that they should not be in the area so early. The warm weather had fooled them into thinking it was mid to late March. By being there so early there was not enough food for them yet so they were small. Since they themselves are a food source for locals, their small size affects the people of the area.

Much more about Morocco to come.

Worm Poop

2008-01-12T12:35:00.000-08:00

While at the website of Kiva.org (one of my favourite websites - about making small loans to entrepreneurs in other countries), I visited the website of one of their supporters called GOOD Magazine. How could one pass up the opportunity to see what a business with the name of GOOD is all about? As may be expected, this organization is about presenting subscribers and viewers to the website with info regarding good stuff that is happening in our world. One article that caught my eye was about a young man who makes and markets worm castings. A visit to his TerraCycle website shows that he buys used containers to market his Worm Poop. Very cool! However I must admit that I wish that most of our containers were not produced in the first place. At least with the way they are used at TerraCycle, they do not need to be reprocessed before they are used again.

Checking the website further for locations near me where this product is sold, I see that it is in WalMart, Home Depot and Zellers. I must have seen this product before but I don't visit those stores very often (WalMart I refuse to visit) and since I don't buy fertilizer I guess I have missed it. Now I will watch for it.

The site also mentions Urban Street Golf. What a great solution to the havoc that golf courses are playing with our environment.

By the way, on the side of one of the pages of the GOOD website is an ad that asks people to vote for a Stick of Butter on Nov 7th. I am in Canada and have never heard about this. Can anyone fill me in?

I think I will have to blog about Kiva the next time.

Beauty in the Snow

2007-12-31T16:05:00.000-08:00

I think "Ringlet Grass" would be a good name for this grass
Trees bowing to me as I passed!

Dragon Fruit

2007-12-08T13:56:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I noticed this fruit the grocery store. Naturally, I had to give it a try. It is called Dragon fruit and a look at it on Wikipedia told me that it is actually an epiphytic vine-like cactus and is also called Pitaya and Strawberry pear, amongst others. The word epiphytic looked familiar and I realized that I did a post on Epiphytes quite sometime ago. Click on the link to learn more about them.

Pitaya is native to Central and South America, and its bloom is called Moonflower (it only blooms at night). There are two other types of Dragon fruit, one with a deep red interior and another that has yellow skin and a white interior.

To eat it one simply cuts a soft fruit in half and you can easily scoop out the flesh with a spoon. As for taste, it is actually quite dull. Similar to a kiwi fruit in that it has those crunchy seeds, but even less flavourful. However it is much larger than a kiwi.

Would I buy one again? No, not unless some kids were coming for dinner (I love exposing people, especially kids) to new things.

Welcoming Jack Frost

2007-12-04T18:35:00.000-08:00

Iris leaves
I think it lasted for about a week. We had some rain (a rare occurence) and then it froze and remained below freezing. I guess it was the humidity in the air that condensed on the plants (feel free to correct me if I am wrong) and haloed them all. They were all so pretty.

Alchemilla mollis leaves (Lady's Mantle)
My fingers got very cold taking the pics, but it was worth it to look at the garden in late November, finding yet more things that thrill me about it.

Random leaves
Honest, I didn't arrange them this way. They just happened to be lying there, exactly as you see them.

Captured a Few Watercolour Shots

2007-11-21T21:13:00.001-08:00

Had some fun with Photoshop Elements and the ice crystals that all the plants are loaded with.

Conspicuous Consumption

2007-05-19T10:13:00.000-07:00

While researching "environmental weddings" for a client who wants a website, I came upon this article in The Independent, a UK newspaper. It reveals how much carbon is released when vast amounts of money are spent on totally unnecessary luxuries:

"Liz Hurley's long-haul wedding has produced a carbon footprint so large that it would take the average British couple more than 10 years to contribute as much to heating up the planet as she and Arun Nayar have done in little over a week. It would take a typical Indian couple a massive 123 years."

I love it that the details of how much carbon was emitted by a celebrity's celebration is able to be calculated and revealed to us. This sort of thing will go a long way towards making people understand the role that they play in climate change:

"Best Foot Forward says the biggest polluter is the Learjet, which will emit more than 70,000kg on its 12,000-mile round-trip. Accommodation in India adds 18,605kg, and food and drink 18,000kg. Flying in flowers produces 28,250kg, and flying three chefs to India adds 2,377kg. Guests and staff travelling to Gloucestershire released 30,000kg. The bride's flight to Milan for a dress fitting added just 215kg."

I am baffled by how our media continually discusses industry along with carbon emissions. If we stop buying so much, in particular if we stop buying from "black list" industries, then they will have to change. If we stop reading magazines that showcase celebrities and their conspicuous consumption, then slowly but surely, the magazines and the celebrities, the advertisers and the industries will begin to get the hint. It all rests in OUR hands. It must become uncool to be a consumer.