Euphorbia Obesa 2

Euphorbia Obesa 2

Euphorbia Obesa 3

I was in heaven when I found this beautiful specimen plant at the last CSSSJ plant sale.  It’s common name is the baseball plant.  I think it looks more like a dead sea urchin.

Pretty much every other day I step into my roof top garden in this fabulous spring season, I find new growth, new blossoms, or buds popping up.  It’s so much fun to look forward to!  Today I was watering my plants as usual and monitoring the insects (good and bad) that visit my plants.  I found such a cool surprise!  I had gotten this cactus as a party favor in December (2.5 months ago) at the Cactus and Succulent Society of San Jose (CSSSJ) holiday party and now it is about to bloom!  I never liked cacti and this specimen is the only one I own.  I couldn’t help the smile on my face when I saw these itty bitty buds on top of such a forbidding looking plant naturally engineered to cause pain.  Now, we wait for the buds to bloom!

Echinofossulocactus Multicostatus

Echinofossulocactus Multicostatus Profile

I planned this wonderful trip with Henrik down in Monterey.  And my was it a fun filled activity packed weekend!  We  first met up with my friends Raul and Kelly on Friday night to have dinner at Passionfish which is a famous local seafood restaurant.  We had a fantastic time as I always do with Raul and Kelleeeh.  When the four of us get together, we make quite a ruckus where ever we go!  🙂  The next morning Henrik brewed us some fresh coffee and off we went, sans breakfast, down 1 South.  I was surprised how close our destination was to the Carmel Barnyard/Crossroads off 1.  Even though I have lived in Monterey during my high school years, I had never been to Point Lobos!  So we got in with no issue and were notified that our $9 admission would also get us in free to any of the other parks close by.  It was heavenly!  Point Lobos is sooo beautiful!  I took lots of photos as you can see!

I’m still learning about my native California plants.  I have signed up with http://www.CalFlora.org which has helped immensely in identifying plants.  Trouble is, being so inexperienced at this, and with the plants not all having bloomed, the pictures are a little more difficult to identify.  So any help would be extremely appreciated!

I’ll tell you though, I’m hooked on Dudleyas!  I found that patch of beach plants at the Del Monte Blvd Exit in Seaside was a really interesting community of Sea Thrifts (Armeria Maritima) and lots of Dudleya Cymosas.  I later figured out that I had also seen Dudleya Edulis, which I mistook for being related to the ice plants that have taken over as a non native.  I have also been able to identify Dudleya Farinosa that I found in Point Lobos.

I also enjoy Salvias.  There is a large variety of native salvias and I only own one.  Again, I found large bushes of salvias in Point Lobos, but because they haven’t bloomed yet, it was impossible for me to identify them.

It’s January in San Jose and the weather is just unbelievably nice.  Here are some of my beautiful flowers on the patio.

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1. Continue to spread awareness through California Native Garden Foundation as Board Member and Treasurer. (continuously drop it in my conversations when I meet new people)
2. Start composting.    (started as of Jan 1st)
3. Start growing vegetables on the roof.  More specifically tomatoes and cucumbers.
4. Expand my California native plant collection so as to attract “native” beneficial insects.  One specific flower I plan to have is the California Poppy.  (purchased the CA Poppy seeds on January 10th)
5. Fertilize my vanda orchid (weekly weakly).  I’ve been slacking off on this and haven’t been able to get my vanda to bloom since I purchased it in mid 2011.

*Updates in Green