Renaming the name

 "The disadvantages involved in pulling lots of black sticky slime from out of the ground where it had been safely hidden out of harm’s way, turning it into tar to cover the land with, smoke to fill the air with and pouring the rest into the sea, all seemed to outweigh the advantages of being able to get more quickly from one place to another."

Douglas Adams-The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

I could have chosen a lot of different quotes since I was in the mood for some Douglas Adams, and he has written so many brilliant things. Of course that quote was written in 1979, and here we are 39 years later and one of the dirtiest, foulest, ethic's lacking Attorney's one could imagine sits at the head of the EPA, the same agency he sued 14 times to ease regulations on pollution. He is straight up funded by the oil conglomerate, and responsible for selling out our clean water and our land. When you can't drink the water and you can't swim in the lake, and your lungs choke from the poison gasses in the air. When the cancer is everywhere because the plastic oozes from every landfill, and the sun can't penetrate the smog and the grass no longer grows green anywhere, is it then that you will realize that money is nothing without a life to spend it?

Just a thought, if work to you is just a paycheck, go do something else. Leave the seat in an environmental stewardship role to the ones who have a passion for it. Otherwise, you are just another Scott Pruitt, setting us all back decades and sucking the life from the planet.

Fritillaria biflora 'Grayana', or is it  now Fritillaria biflora var. ineziana? They seem to be always renaming the name.

This Beauty is a rare one, impacted no doubt by the march of man on his quest towards total domination of the earth, left with only a small fraction of habitat, it may not be long before it's gone from the wild. Sure does good in the garden though, one of the latest of the California Fritillaria's to bloom, this one sometime is still going as June comes rolling around.

The Rock Garden at Illahe Nursery and Gardens on a late spring evening.

Absolutely stellar weekend weather, it hit 80 degrees, but still cooling off wonderfully at night. Looks like a good weather week ahead.

Cheers, 

Mark

Summer must be coming?

Summer must be coming because the Gladiolus are starting to bloom!



Gladiolus tristis

The marsh Afrikaner

This is going to be a lame post, because I am super busy. If only it was as easy to clone myself as it is to clone plants! I would have four of me, one to tend the garden, one to fix the proverbially broken tractor, one to mow the lawn, and then I could just sit back and enjoy my daughters softball games!

Seriously stay tuned though, because I'm working on a riveting expose of the infamous Fritillaria biflora X purdyi complex that is not to be missed.

This weird bulbous geranium thing that ate the label also reminds me of summer. The pot is literally so crowded with bulbs I think it sucked the label down and devoured it.

The weather: It's been off and on, like a light switch. It's supposed to get down into the 30's for lows this week. But next week they are saying a high of 84! Try explaining that to the tomato seedlings.