Fremont's Camas and other sights

This morning when I found Fremont's Camas (Zigadenus fremontii) blooming in my garden, it reminded me that I haven't yet found the low-growing, endemic form on Bernal Hill. I've been looking for it for years without success.



So I decided to run up the hill and see if my luck has changed. It's always fun to come up here.



The trails cut across some very steep gradients.



Wouldn't want to slip.



So once I got up there, I went right to Fremont's Camas like I've always known where to find it. Ten acres, and it's the first thing I see today.



Then I found a little patch of three of them holding their own against the weeds and grasses. I wonder if these specimens are genetically dwarfed, or just small because of the rocky substrate they grow on. It would be fun to collect a little seed and find out.



"Find the low-growing Bernal-endemic Fremont's Camas." Okay, cross that one off the list.

Elsewhere some other things to see...lots of Sanicula arctopoides.



This guy seems to to desire the most undesirable sites.



I don't know what this little orange aster is but it looks like Calendula to me.



And there's a lot of it.



Lots of plantago too.



Lots of it everywhere I guess.



And I always like to check in on this patch of Hummingbird Sage (Salvia spathacea) on Bernal Hill's eastern-most outcrop. Doing well!

Mid-week garden

It's been forever since I blogged about, you know, my garden. I've been taking pictures for a few days and I finally have enough to make a post.

Why not start with Penny. We haven't seen her in awhile either. Her she is getting some sun. She gets very excited when the hummingbirds visit those flowers for the bit of nectar under the stamens.



Cup and Saucer vine (Cobaea scandens) flowers are popping out all over the place. The young anthers are caked with yellow pollen.



The purple is nicest when the color has just ripened.



You may recall the corolla is a celadon-type color when it first emerges from the calyx.



Yesterday:



Today:



Today is hazy and it's supposed to rain tomorrow and Friday.



The drought situation is desperate this year, and these rains won't be nearly enough for any of us. North of here, Bolinas is staring down the barrel of a gun. The dry rain barrel of a gun. Their water is almost gone.

Senecio cristobalensis must find a way to utilize that dew, otherwise why collect it.



I just decided that I'm going to try Ellis Hollow-scanning some of these Hardenbergia flowers.



Under the stairs some of the cyclamen bulbs are blooming. The eye catches little glimpses like this.



I bought a couple of these Fuchsia thymifolia as bonsai starters. Rooted cuttings for $1.99 was all they were, but they grow very quickly in the ground. This one's at the sub-shrub stage right now, but I expect it will keep growing.



I guess F. thymifolia is resistant to fuchsia mite, or it wouldn't have made it this far. San Francisco is infested with Fuchsia mite, which is why we must grow the mite-resistant bolivianas. Aside from fuchsia mite, San Francisco has perfect growing conditions for fuchsia, city-wide. They thrive on neglect.

Yesterday I was thinking about building a bamboo tee-pee for the Cornelian rose, but I put this cheap topiary-thing I found on the sidewalk here instead, and I think it's perfect.



I lifted a trailing rose stem and wrapped it around the post and the stem clung to it like it was always supposed to be there. Problem solved. Eventually the rose will trail off the topiary and mingle with the other plants. The wild, overgrown look is very desirable I think.



I've been snipping off wintry old foliage where it still clings to dormant stems because I'm sick of looking at it. This pile of newly-shorn sticks is deciduous Philadelphus lewisii, and the stem of green leaves catching the light is evergreen Philadelphus mexicanus growing nearby.



I'm sort of imagining how the yellow mock-orange flower stamens will pop hanging out next to the ever-blooming orangey abutilon.



Designing for flower color...such a bad idea.

So in the seedling department, I have some foliage. I'm excited about bronze fennel.



And this is Echium pininana--Christopher, this is the plant you were expecting last year when you were surprised by the Echium wildpretii.



I have about five seeds germinated. I will be happy to keep three of them, as tall, strong vertical focal points, but where they will go I have no idea.

And see this? Dahlia and nasturtium in the same pot! Makes me crazy when I do things like that. How did that even happen. Argh!!!



I collected just a few purple fall aster seeds from my honeymoon in Big Sur last year. Just a few. Won't hurt anybody.



Layia platyglossa, Tidy Tips. Slugs love this wildflower, so I started it late.



Tomatoes!



Those will get planted out mid-March either before or after I go to Hawaii, depending on the weather, and/or my mood. At that time, I will still be harvesting snap peas.