Six on Saturday – 23 Jan, 2021

This is my first time making one of these posts, so I hope I can live up to the ones I’ve read from others! They always seem so cozy and inspiring.

If you want to find out more about this style of post, check out where it all started.

---

Be sure to check out my latest guided meditation!

The Quiet of the High Desert – Mindful Foliage

---

1

Philo – Red Emerald getting a new leaf

This funky-looking worm coming out of a red pod is actually a new leaf unfurling! It’s been quite a while since the plant has put out a new leaf, probably because I haven’t been giving it enough light while indoors. I’m looking forward to seeing this leaf grow and green – and slowly encourage me to make a moss pole for this thing to hang onto.

A new leaf pulling away on a Philodendron Red Emerald

2

Philo – Burle Marx getting a new leaf

I’m not sure if this is the actual name for this plant, but I think it’s right. Whatever it’s called, it’s lovely and has also grown incredibly slowly over the winter. This is the first new leaf that’s appeared in a couple months… and it was sitting next to the Red Emerald, so it probably had the same low light issues.

A new leaf sprouting on a philodendron

3

Daffodils starting indoors

Last spring, I’d picked up a few ready-made daffodil planters full of blooms. After a month or so, all the blooms slowly faded. I let the dirt dry out afterward, setting the troughs of dirt in a bag and figuring they were dead. Many months later, I came across these bulbs while cleaning. They had sat in a plastic bag, in a semi-sunny corner, in the SoCal heat throughout the whole summer. Somehow, a few of the bulbs actually had small greenish-yellow tips growing out of them. Many bulbs had rotted, but more than a dozen were still good enough to re-plant. I was so excited that I planted them without doing much research on exactly when and how that would be best done… but these invulnerable bulbs seem to be getting going!

Some daffodil sprout pushing out of the dirt

---

Check out my new book, The Horse‘s Mouth! Available on kindle and in paperback.
It’s been a while since people have heard from a Genie…

---

4

Billy Buttons starting indoors

I tried growing Billy Buttons more than a year ago, and didn’t have much luck. I don’t recall any of the seeds really sprouting. So this year, I went ahead and dumped dozens of seeds into a few pots, seeing if I could get them to grow. This is about the right season… although I haven’t found much information on these plants being grown in the area, so I’m not completely sure. I have one batch of seeds starting indoors, and another batch getting going outside. Between these two spots, I’ve used up all the remaining seeds that I had left over from my last attempt. Crossing my fingers!

Billy Balls starting to sprout indoors

5

3 herb seed lots going in – cress, basil, lavender.

They’re supposed to be planted toward the end of winter, but winter is weird out here and we’ve been getting heat waves of 80 in between days of 50. I’m going to see how these go, and plant again later if they don’t succeed. Lavender is in the middle, cress to the left, and basil to the right. Cress is supposed to do better in a bit of shade, and having this planter as this angle lets the handrail on the balcony give shade for a fair portion of the day. When the lavender grows taller, it’ll in turn provide shade for the basil during the middle of the day. If I need more light, I can close the blinds (which are white on the backside) to bound light in from the other side. This is probably the most planning I’ve put into placing plants together – much more than my let’s see how much we can cram in here planter, off to the left of the frame.

A planter with 1/2″ rows ready for seeds

6

Smog on the water

Just so much smog. What happened to all the clean air that we couldn’t see (because it’s clear – get it?) during the lockdowns? I haven’t seen it this bad since before covid. It’s really highlighting the kind of air we were breathing for years before the lockdowns and shutdowns stopped a lot of the pollution production.

Smog over the city, as seen from a kayak

---

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you had a pleasant time checking out the plants. If you’re in the mood for more nature, please stay in touch!

Advertisement