Cover Your Plants!

With a forecast of hard freeze temps in the next few days my plant-packed porch now looks like purple ghosts! I pushed everything up against my stucco wall, ran a string of Christmas lights through them and covered it all up with sheets. I think it should be enough to keep them from freezing. Also, the plants are well watered which helps keep the heat in the soil.

Good luck everyone, hope everything survives the freeze!

Fall: Hate it & Love it

It's been weirdly warm in Northern California lately so even though it is almost Thanksgiving, it feels like fall has just started. I enter fall with my usual mixed feelings.

I Hate Fall
The damn time change has stolen my evening walks and motivation. I can't sit on my porch and enjoy the last little bit of warm sun and my plants with a glass of wine. And it seems like the scale bugs get friskier and harder to keep under control.

My indoor plants are getting listless with less sun coming in the windows which means I need to actually fertilize something. I know I need to prepare my plants for winter and spring but like I said...my motivation has left with the sun.

I Love Fall
The cooler weather means that my porch plants aren't frying in the hot afternoon sun. I don't have to carry two buckets of water to the porch every morning and some of my plants start to thrive again. I have a second crop of jalapenos and my Meyer lemon tree is covered in fruit just in time for Christmas lemon drop cocktails.

It's also time to put all my orchids outside for the chilly nights in hopes of more blooms in the spring. And you get to see stunning trees like this one I walked by in Land Park.

All in all, I can't fight the seasons changing so I might as well focus on the gorgeous colors and get my ass off the couch and start taking care of the plants I have. Come next spring, we can judge how well I did.

HAPPY FALL!