Photos I Grew Myself

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Friday, September 22, 2006

Rebel Cyclamen

A few months ago we put some new plants in near our front door. Among them were a few white Cyclamen and one purple one. The Purple one was right next to this white plant but it did not seem to do so well. There is not much left of it above ground But it has managed to make it's presence known. (they are tubers, so hopefully it is still down there)

These plants are interesting and beautiful anyway. The flower is actually pointing down and the petals turn around and point up. (called "reflexed petals") But this little addition has made this one of the more interesting plants in the front yard at the moment!

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Backyard Rose Bud

Well most of our tomatoes have faded in the hot weather. But the roses are still happy! This one is just about to burst.

I really enjoy close up photography. The green covering of the bud is made of modified leaves called bracts. But I never really appreciated the tiny little leaves sticking out from the edges of the bracts before. There is a lot of beauty out there!

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Glowing Mandevilla

The light was particularly nice in the backyard so I had to take a break from my computer and wander around with my camera.

Saturday, July 29, 2006

Mandevilla Buds

We've been setting up new misters in the yard for the plants and that made for some excellent photo opportunities.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Tomatoes from the Garden

These are some beautiful little tomatoes from our garden. My wife has an incredible green thumb. Our biggest plant is about seven feet tall! So this is the first of many tomato dishes.

These are Pink Grape Tomatoes. They are translucent, beautiful, and delicious. The basil is from the garden too. Now we just need our own buffalo for the Mozzarella. :-D

Monday, June 19, 2006

Misty Mandevilla

It was hot here today. REALLY HOT! Fortunately we got this little mister thing from the hardware store. We hooked it up to our hose and made our little back yard a little cooler. After it was on for a while I noticed a nice effect on some of the plants near it.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Blooming Passon

Having more fun in the back yard. This is a great vine, it has come back from the brink with a vengeance. We should have lots of butterfly habitat this fall. :-D

Tuesday, June 6, 2006

Orchid Cactus in the Fern

This plant is getting huge! I love it! It sits high on a stack of clay pots and wooden planters in the corner of our yard. This is one of its "exploration" runners that it has sent off in search of rich soil or water (or in lieu of that possibly small farm animals).

Monday, May 29, 2006

Night Blooming Epiphyllum

Another one of our Orchid Cacti started it's show this evening. From what I read this is more what they are like in the wild. This beautiful blossom opened up as the sun was going down. The flower has a great fragrance and it is about twice the size of the flowers on our big day-blooming Epiphyllum. It is at least 6" from tip to tip of the outside petals, with the cup of petals in the middle being over 4".

Most of the wild Epiphyllum blossoms last only one night and fade by morning so I wanted to get a shot of this right away. This is the first time this guy is blooming since we got him, so I don't know exactly what to expect. But, If I can get him in full sunlight I will try to get a nice shot with some reference to the size.

So, blooms at night, Has a blossom the size of a salad plate that is white and fragrant that you could see even if you were flying around half blind. Can you tell what they are trying to attract?

Friday, May 19, 2006

Epiphyllum Blossom

This is one of our blooming Orchid Cacti that I mentioned the other day.

If you have one and want to know what makes them happy, we have one in full sunlight and several in the shade. (this guy is actually hanging from our patio umbrella) The full sun one is HUGE, the others are still happy. One was inside for a while. It is much happier outside, although it grew very long thin pads looking for food while it was inside. Now that it is outside it is popping out all kinds of thick little pads along the lengths of the woody thin pads. Makes for a very interesting plant. One thing they all have in common is they love water. You may think since they are cacti, they like to be dry, but they are definitely jungle plants. More about their history, and one of the reasons I love them so much see this photo of the day.

Tuesday, May 9, 2006

Bougainvillea Sunlight

This is a nice Bougainvillea that was growing on the outside of our fence. We have been coaxing it up into an archway over our gate. It is starting to bloom like crazy and it is quite a site especially in the evenings when the light shines through it.

Monday, March 20, 2006

Mallow Drops

Last year after a nice trip to Monterey I posted a beautiful photo of a Sea Tree Mallow. I loved it so much that we went out and found a tree at Home Depot. This is a blossom on that tree during a recent rainstorm.

Saturday, March 18, 2006

Passion Vine

Another view on my Passion Flower vine from a few days ago.

We did not get any more rain as promised. So no more rain photos yet, perhaps later this week! I'm sure the Basset will sniff out some beautiful subjects for me this weekend anyway.

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Variegated Mandevilla

There's more rainy weather comin'! I like the rain. :-D

This was taken last week during a rainstorm. This is another vine we got to attract butterflies along with our Passion Flower. Incidentally, the tendrils in that passion flower photo are actually wrapped around this Mandevilla plant. My botanist (my lovely wife) tells me that some plants bloom like crazy when they feel threatened. Makes sense, the kids can carry on the species. And that explains all the beautiful blossoms on this plant!

The other interesting thing is this plant had solid pink flowers last year. I like the stripes!

Tuesday, March 7, 2006

Drops of Passion

Well yesterday was a really gray rainy day. It was starting to bug me. Then I took my camera into the back yard. Rain can be a wonderful thing for a photographer!

Recently, our Passion Flower vines made an incredible come back. We originally got them to attract butterflies and they were almost wiped out by their own success! The resulting caterpillars LOVED them.

This is an extreme close-up of one of the tendrils the vine sends out to climb things. It seems to have an amazing grip!

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Kalanchoe Close-Up

Another photo I grew myself.

These plants are extremely beautiful and easy to grow. When the apartment we used to live in trimmed all of the palm trees they displaced all of the ummm... "residents" that live in the dry fronds. For a while we had a bit of a rat problem (outside, thankfully.) The main casualty of this was one of my oldest Kalanchoes. In about a day it was chewed level with the ground. I assumed it was done for. But, a few months later, a small plant popped up in the pot of my large Ficus tree that had been under the Kalanchoe. Apparently a small chewed up piece of the plant feel into the Ficus' pot and took root!

Kalanchoe, members of the succulent family, are native to Madagascar but their name is derived from a Chinese word.

Monday, October 10, 2005

Lucifer Canna

My mom gave me this Canna many years ago and it is blooming again. It was never very happy in a pot until we got two very tall (2.5 feet) skinny (12") pots. It seems to love to put its roots down, way down.

It is called a Canna "Lily" but it is more closely related to Ginger and Banana plants.

Sunday, September 18, 2005

Feathery Tulip

I grew this from a bulb that I got while on vacation. It was late in the season and the bulbs were on "closeout sale" so we were not sure how they would do. As you can see we were pretty happy with the results.

flower ₃₁₅ | orange ₄₆ | Photos I Grew Myself ₄₇ | tulip ₂

Saturday, July 23, 2005

One from the Pepper Patch

This is one of my little pepper plants living in a hanging basket in my back yard. One of my favorite restaurants (Los Arroyos, on Figueroa in Santa Barbara) makes, among other things, some incredible salsas. One of which is made from Habaneros, one of the hottest peppers. After getting used to eating their blazing salsa I decided I loved the flavor of this little pepper as well as the kick it gives things. So I had to start a little pepper patch in my back yard. Trouble was, I did not want my muse to get into the plants on one of her evening perimeter checks of the back yard. So they are safely tucked away well out of her reach in a hanging basket.

Wednesday, June 8, 2005

Lily Bud

This is another one of my "grow your own photo" series. This was actually in my living room. I grew the lilies from bulbs I got while on vacation.

bud ₃₂ | flower ₃₁₅ | lily ₃₄ | Photos I Grew Myself ₄₇ | pink ₂₈

Wednesday, February 9, 2005

The Orchid Cactus

Another in the "Photos I Grew Myself" series!

This plant is the reason I moved out of my previous home. The vertical bars in the photo are part of the railing on the patio of our old apartment. At the time of this photo this cactus had over sixty blossoms, each about three inches in diameter. Only a small part of the plant is actually in the picture. Our neighbors complemented us all the time on our plants.

Why did I have to move? The management of the property thought that the plants were a little disorderly hanging through the bars like this. So they wanted us to trim this one in particular.

Now we live in a much nicer place where my plants have a lot more room, and I was able to get a Basset Hound!

I have always loved Cacti, and this has got to be one of my favorite types. I have several of them, but this one is by far the happiest. I got it as a small start at the Santa Barbara Farmers' Market.

This Cactus is known as The Orchid Cactus, but the similarities between this beauty and the tropical flowers go much deeper than just the impressive blossoms. These Cacti are indigenous to the jungles of South and Central America where they live in the tree tops. Just like most orchids, they depend upon their host plant for access to the jungle canopy so they can reach sunlight, but they are not parasites. Their nutrition comes from decaying vegetation and other things trapped in the pockets of the trees where they live. This type of plant is called an epiphyte, as opposed to a parasite which draws nutrition directly from it's host. Orchids and Bromeliads are the most recognizable members of this group, but it includes a vast array of plants from ferns to mosses, and lichens.

Update...

This plant is a "day bloomer" hybrid, whose blooms last for several days. Most naturally occurring Epiphyllum species bloom only in the evening creating enormous fragrant white blossoms that only last for one night. I guess you have to do this when your "bee" is as big as a bird, only comes out at night, and is as blind as... well... a bat. Which, incidentally, is exactly what pollinates these plants in the wild, along with the occasional large moth.

Ecology.org.
Information on may different types of Epiphyllum.
The San Diego Epiphyllum Society.
Care and feeding of a wonderful plant.

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Canna Close-up

One of my favorite subjects, flower closeups. This was actually the theme of my first show at the Santa Barbara Public Library in August '04

This one is a special favorite because the plant was a gift from my mom over six years ago, and it is still going strong.