Poor bug, all wrapped up in silk, cocooned tightly, neurotoxin paralysis setting in... waiting for the bringer of his death - a garden spider. I was looking all around the edges of the web for the weaver, but I found nothing. I'd always thought spiders were single-minded - once the web of destruction was woven, the spider would keep watch with the solemn attention of a guard at Buckingham Palace, the ones everyone tries to make laugh. But it seems as if the arachnid who created this masterpiece went out for a Mojito or something.

As I was contemplating what kind of insect was wrapped up in the silken shroud of doom, a question popped into my head ... why doesn't a spider get stuck to the web, just like every other thing?

Well, after consulting the OTHER web, I now know that spiders have the ability to spin both sticky and non-sticky threads, and they lay the non sticky ones down next to the ones meant to trap the prey. What workmanship!

As I was looking around for my answer, I stumbled upon an ambitious project by artist Nina Katchadourian called Uninvited Collaborations With Nature : The Spiderweb Series. While living in the woods, the artist would find spiderwebs in various states of disrepair, and mend them with brightly colored thread. Well, it turns out the spiders didn't want any half-assed art lady fixing up their masterpieces - she began finding the patches taken apart or removed in their entirety, the rejected pieces scattered below the web, and the web repaired the way only a spider can.

Spiders fascinate me. As long as they aren't biting me. Or cocooning me. Or criticizing my work!

There was a tiny break in the rain a minute ago, so I ran out to capture a patch of blue sky... and a little bird flew by - oh my!
(Sorry about that.)
It landed in the branches of the toyon in my backyard, and seemed to wait for me to take its picture before flying off to enjoy the sunny afternoon.
Where do birds go when it rains?
I Googled that question, and found a novel by someone named Jamie Paul Wesseler, as well as a terse Wiki-answer : "the trees"
Duh. Of course they'd go to the trees! I didn't imagine they were waiting out the rain at the corner bar, drinking Maker's Mark!
Obviously, birds can't fly when it rains - wet feathers are not very aerodynamic. In that event, wouldn't we be seeing birds perched everywhere during a storm - under archways and awnings, carports, porches - anywhere they could escape getting drenched and catch a little shut-eye? But no - the birdies are all tucked away somewhere nobody can see them.
The trees.
Leafy ones - there they can hide and rest their weary wings, waiting for a break in the rain so they can go get some of the best eats to be had by a bird - earthworms!
See, earthworms can't breathe in waterlogged soil, so they crawl to the surface and wriggle to the driest spots they can find, which is where the bird buffet begins.
I imagine the bird in the picture wasn't posing for me as much as counting the redworm convention in my vegetable beds...
I am such a sucker!

Is this Southern California?
Surely NOT!
We are so WET here these days, it feels like Portland, Oregon came to dinner and never left. How do you people from rainy places do it?
I hate rain gear, so I run around squealing and getting wetter than I would if I just took it all in stride. And what is there to do when it's raining, and raining, and raining? I am usually in my garden every day, doing this or that. Or planning to do this or that. Business - wise, rain means nothing is happening in the field, no hardscape is being built, no irrigation being installed, no plants being planted.
Who thought up this rain stuff anyway!!!

Actually, this is the normal weather pattern for SoCal - we have a rainy season, usually January - March. But it has been so long since we've had normal weather that I don't know how to behave. As much as I love the rain, having it linger is unsettling. Especially now that I've planned for future droughts and planted real live water-hating cactus in my garden!

I remember when I was loving the plink-plunk of the rain on my roof, enjoying the coziness of it all ... now I'm scared my speciman plants are rotting! It is so difficult to navigate climate change, isn't it?

I adore the ivy that clings to the front of my house. I planted it when we first moved in, on an impulse, and as it grew and climbed my heart would nearly burst with pride; I felt it was my loving thoughts and good intentions that was making the ivy cover the dingy white stucco that we couldn't afford to paint.

But now, years later, we can no longer ignore our icky stucco and cracking wood trim. I can't bear to think that people drive by my home and think that Jan and I chose that awful blue trim color. It's time to paint - and that means it's time to take down the ivy. Sigh!

The only thing that is making it okay is that I'm excited about choosing the colors ... but I'm stumped at the same time! Jan and I have been tossing different ideas back and forth for EVER, and nothing has stuck. We have a Terracotta colored standing seam metal roof, so whatever we choose has to integrate with that. I really don't want more white. I think I'd like something dark and moody...

I think I want to use the Pantone paints because they have every color under the sun, and the colors are so rich and true. I was playing around with their color selector and I'm drawn to the deep colors with foody names - Black Coffee (19-111), Bitter Chocolate (19-1317), and Raisin (19-1606). But then again, I haven't had lunch and I'm STARVING...

What do you think of a house painted a dark color? Is it chic and stylish, or goth and off-putting?
I think the new blue garden will look awesome set off my a deep, dark, chocolate house!

My front yard garden has arrived at a crisis point. It looks 'flabby'.

Front Yard Garden: "Are you calling me FAT?"
Germinatrix: "No, dear garden, I am not calling you fat, I'm just saying you've gone a little ... soft around the edges..."
FYG: "I can't believe you! Do you know how hard I try for you? Do you know how much water I had this week? One minute. That's all."
Germi: "Garden, it rained for three days straight over the weekend -"
FYG: "That's not my fault! I didn't make it rain!"
Germi: "All I'm saying is we need to work on you a little, you know, a little editing, a little-
FYG: "YOU HATE ME!"
Germi: "You're being silly..."
FYG: "Do you know how many cars still slow down to look at me? The other day a woman came by and took a cutting! Lots of people would LOVE me to be their garden!"
Germi: "Okay, I can't be around you when you're like this. I'll see you later."
FYG: "Don't walk away from me! You were weeding! You can't leave me like this!"

That garden of mine - sometimes she's quite a pain. Hyersensitive. The reality is that this planting is eight years old and in dire need of renovation. I've been putting it off, but I can't anymore. So I've been trying to formulate a new plan.
The thing I love about this garden is the blue story that has emerged. A decade ago, it was designed with a strict palette of bright greens, chartreuse, deep reds and purples. Now it's humming the blues, if not quite singing 'em. I'd like to pump up the volume and bring in bronzes and orangey reds to sharpen the blue tones, and silvery sages to blend and balance. I've also decided to bring in lots of verticals - I have so many stars and rosettes because of my Agave/Aloe fixation that the garden is looking a little ... bubble-ish, if you know what I mean.

I haven't decided what kind of vertical elements I'll bring in just yet - I'll happily take suggestions from gardeners and non-gardeners alike!

(photo by MZ)
On January 6, Elizabeth from GardenRant posted a really interesting topic that I want to address - our right to fire!

The issue is firepits. With outdoor firplaces and firepits becoming all the rage, there is an increase in air pollution due to the particulate matter released when wood is burned. Now, I am against air pollution! Let that be known! But, when I read the number of comments that condemned firepits and outdoor fireplaces with the kind of zeal usually reserved for those who smoke cigarettes around babies, I just HAD to get involved in the fray.

I live in a famously polluted city - car exhaust mixed with industrial smoke gets trapped in the Los Angeles basin when the summer inversion layers come a-callin'. I am also terribly asthmatic (which I control via accupunture - I'm doing really well, not to worry!). To top it all off, we have yearly wildfires which not only burn trees and brush, but often homes ... and that smoke IS incredibly toxic.

One of my greatest pleasures, however, is lighting our firepit when we have a gathering of friends. Unlike our clients (we install gas firepits when we use them in an Elysian Landscape designed garden), I chose to burn wood in my pit - I wanted the authenticity. I love the crackling logs and the glowing embers, and, yes - the smell; the smoke. I don't use it every day, at most, a fire is lit in the pit once or twice every couple of weeks. I have neighbors that grill food everyday - they use lighter fluid and quick light charcoal and all manner of chemicals to get their food charred to carcinogenic levels. Yet of the two, my firepit, in which I only burn natural, untreated wood, is the one more likely to be regulated.

Too much regulation just takes the joy out of life. Although I am asthmatic, I am not going to demand that my neighbor stop his grilling - I'm just going to give him a chiminey-type firestarter and see if he'll ween himself off of the lighter fluid he uses by the gallons. We all share air in this world - and we have a right to clean air, but there have to be limits to how far we'll go to ensure the purity of our surroundings.

Fire is primal. It shouldn't be regulated out of our lives - there are smart ways to use outdoor firepits. Here are a few tips:

No bonfires! Keep it small - you don't need to set the world on fire to have a cozy time with your pals. Add more wood as needed, and your small fire will be warming and mesmerizing.

Use dry wood! Using wood that is holding moisture insures that you are going to have a smokefest, and NOBODY likes that. Store your wood in a dry place, off the ground, with some air circulating around it.

NEVER USE LUMBER!!! I can't believe how many people actually burn lumber. This is a no-brainer! Lumber is treated with formaldehyde and all sorts of chemicals ... nothing charming about THAT smoke.

Have water at the ready! My firepit is close to a hosebib, and it is always 'on standby' when a fire is burning. And, of course, no fires during red flag days - these are the days when low humidity, soaring temps, and tinderbox dry hillsides make wildfires an almost sure thing.

Try alternatives to wood! If you LOVE fire and want to use a firepit or outdoor fireplace regularly, think about natural gas or propane. These burn clean, and contrary to myth, they do burn hot. It costs more to install these, but if you are a fire lover, it's worth it. Or, you can experiment with faux wood products like Javalog or Goodwood.

I am not advocating a selfish, 'To hell with those fire-haters!' attitude ... the issues they bring up are very important ones; but I can't see any good in banning the occasional, sensible use of fire. Can you imagine camping without gathering around a fire? How sad!

Cacti are controversial. Most people would NEVER plant cactus. Cactus belong to hot dessert gardens covered with glittery white rocks and obsessive /compulsive plant collectors who sell tiny high-priced specimens at weekend flea markets. I have a garden that is primarily planted with succulents, but planting a cactus in it has always been a line I wouldn't think of crossing.

Until now.

Cacti have been looking really fresh to me lately - I've been putting more of the long, thin columnar types in the gardens I've been working on. I have two Cleistocactus strausii in pots in my back garden ... but I'm thinking about putting some in my front garden, for the whole world to see. Am I ready to go on record as a cactus lover? Hmmmmmm...

I do adore the cactus known as 'Old Man Cactus', Cephalocereus senilis. Just look how great they look all lined up in a row at the cactus nursery. Check out that white hair, flowing in the breeze. Now that's a foxy old man...

I'm so confused! To cactus or not to cactus...

Input, please!

Grasses look so beautiful right now.
This is the time of year I always cut back my perennial grasses. The one I always hesitate over is Stipa tennuissima, Mexican Feather Grass. It looks so great! All that blond wispiness blowing in the slightest breeze- tough but pretty, fresh, sexy ... it is the grass version of a surfer chick.

But cut it back I must! Because if I don't cut it to a 4 inch nub right now, by summer it will no longer be the cute blond surfer chick grass, it will be the old blond poser rastafarian hippie grass. Stipa has a tendancy to get big dreadlocks that suck the pretty right out of it. A dreadlocked stipa, much like the poser rasta hippie, has very little visual appeal in a garden.

Many gardeners fear the wanton seeding of the various stipas. Much like Euphorbia wulfenii, stipa will take over your garden if left to its own devices. Cutting the grass back as soon as the blond seeds begin to emerge (when the hair becomes frizzy) is one solution, but then the charm of the stipa is also gone. I value the fluffy cornsilk tufts - they are a wonderful foil for my smooth skinned succulents. My solution is good old fashioned weeding and editing - I only let a handful of the stipa babies grow up, and I mercilessly dig up any adult stipa when the urge strikes me.

Hey - nobody said gardeners had to be nice. Often we must be brutal. I may be a plant lover, but my love is a fearsome thing. Only the strong, well-placed, and best behaved survive!

My being a gardener makes it easy on the people in my life to give me gifts. Over the years, I've gotten earrings shaped like trowels, watercan salt and pepper shakers, countless hats with flowers all over the brims... and more. Well, it's the thought that counts, right?

This year, however, two great pals gave me the best garden gifts ever! Natalie is a super cool girl who disproves the theory that young people don't garden ... this twenty - something year old is a Plant Geek par exellance, and she is a budding Garden Designer... this girl will give me a run for my money! Natalie came to my Xmas party with a present that made me gush with thanks and delight - a Praying Mantis Egg Case, freshly found in her garden! This case will open sometime around February, and my garden will then be home to hundreds of very hungry little mantids ready to eat every nasty insect they see!

And then, my former Minion, MZ (but can a minion ever really be former? Once a minion, always a ...) gave me what is without a doubt the sleekest, sexiest, most beautiful bird feeder ever! And he made it with his clever hands - which makes it extra special!

The neighborhood birds are going to look so chic dining out in my garden!

I am so thankful to know such sweet people who care enough to give me things money can't buy...

And another thousand thanks to my readers- commentors and lurkers alike ... who give me the biggest gift - the honor of letting me be their Germinatrix!

J'adore!

(an orange epidendrum)
Hi there! Happy New Year! So sorry for the long time between posts, but the holidays can be so hard on a girl! Shopping here, knitting there, gathering for a big dose of good cheer somewhere else ... I didn't mean for the blogging to suffer.

(sweet black-eyed susans)
So here it is, the first day of 2008 - the middle of winter - and I have so many blooms in my garden! The hummingbirds are completely confused ... and pretty fat. Mother Nature has given us in Southern California a fantastic holiday season. We have actually had cool weather; I've been wearing sweaters every day - there have been a few rainy days (in fact, we are ahead of the curve in rainfall for the season!), and the nights are very very chilly ... but not freezing. We've been making fires in our fireplace and enjoying the firepit in the early evenings. It has been SO LONG since December felt even remotely like winter here. Last year I think we were opening Xmas presents on a 90 degree day!

(a darlling spring snowflake)
But at the same time that it's been bundle up weather, it hasn't been so cold that there aren't any flowers around. In fact, my garden is a veritable panoply of blossoms! My fence is quickly becoming festooned with bright orange Thunbergia alata, otherwise known as Black - Eyed Susan ... probably the most cheerful flower that isn't a daisy. I have little red roses popping up at the same time that Spring Snowflakes (Leucojum vernum) are starting to nod their little white heads, and Aloe spikes are springing up all over the garden. Why? Rain! Rain is magic...

(an awesome aloe spike)
Here's to a magical 2008. Garden-wise and otherwise...