MY GARDEN NEMESIS IS GOOD AND DEAD

Since we moved in two years ago, I've been at constant battle with a tall, cantankerous old tree on the other side of the fence that overshadowed half of my garden with its huge, dense branches. It especially enjoyed dumping leaves, fluffy spores, berries and twigs into my garden. As a result, I've had to constantly sweep up the mess and pull baby tree seedlings out of the soil. And on one occasion a large branch crashed into the yard, destroying several of my potted plants. Luckily my little guy Vincent wasn't playing in the garden at the time. On top of all of this, the heavy tree branches were resting on power lines directly over our yard. I finally had had enough and after about a month and a half of pestering, persuaded the pre-school behind us (the tree's on their side) to trim the branches back to the edge of their yard. I don't know if the fact that Vincent goes to school there influenced their decision to agree to this but I'm sure it didn't hurt. Well, I got more than I bargained for - they cut down the entire tree. On a foggy morning last week, a guy with a chainsaw cut the tree down one huge branch at a time. I ran out in the garden last Sunday at 8am just in time to pull the potted plants out of the way as the branches came crashing into the yard and I had a few close calls with a few of the branches  landing just a few inches away from me and the plants. Anyway, it was a huge mess and I ended up spending a good part of the day cleaning up, but I couldn't be happier now that it's gone.

 

 Here's the tree massacre post-apocalypse view. The downed branches were 

stacked nearly to the top of the fence. A huge mess.

Although I was able to save most of my plants since they were in pots, my treasured 

fern tree was in the ground and I didn't have time to even tie it's fronds back so it 

took a real beating. Note the ironic "welcome" sign.

 

Almost back to normal. Here's the view after I completed most of the cleanup 

and returned the plants back to their original locations.

 

As you can see here, at least part of the fern tree survived the carnage. A few new 

fronds are already coming up so it should be right as rain within a few months.

I'm also planning on growing bamboo against this wall to block the view of 

the preschool playground equipment.

 

A STEAMY JUNGLE AT THE LOS ANGELES FAIR

I haven't been to the LA Fair in probably 20-odd years and my only real recollection of it was lots of food vendors, crazy rides and a Village People concert. But this year, on a whim, I decided to go there with my wife and kid, prompted by a Groupon deal too good to pass up. And I am so glad I did. There are some fantastic exhibits, including the life-sized animatronic dinosaur-filled Jurassic Planet Bio-Research Facility, the Wilderness Ridge outdoor mountain wilderness area and  a neon light exhibit inside the Millard Sheets Center For The Arts and several other interesting sights. But what really grabbed me was the abundance of tropical bliss. There is the Flower & Garden Pavilion complete with a plant-filled rainforest and next to that is Mojo's Jungle, a large outdoor tropical paradise, complete with some very nice tiki landscaping. You can see from the photos I took that this ain't just your typical fair. The LA Fair runs until October 2nd so check it out if you have a chance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TIGRINA RETURNS FROM THE DEAD

For my very first blog entry in March 2010, I wrote about a treasured Alocasia Tigrina plant that I had just purchased online. This gorgeous tropical plant is prehistoric in nature, with giant, reptilian-like leaves and tiger stripped stalks (petioles). I ordered a juvenile plant, around two feet tall but they are rumored to grow over six feet tall with leaves over two feet long. When I first learned about this plant I was immediately in love and when it arrived I was ecstatic. Within a matter of months it had nearly doubled in size but then, unexpectedly, it died back to a tiny stump. I, apparently, had broken two Alocasia Tigrina cardinal rules: 1) give minimal water, and 2) keep it potbound (prefers undersized pot). I was devastated, and since this plant is difficult to find, I wondered if I'd ever have the opportunity to grow another one. But just in case it hadn't died completely, I dug up the tuber, transplanted it into a smaller pot, and waited patiently, hoping for a second act. Sadly, nearly a year went by and still no growth. So this past spring, I once again dug up the tuber and discovered that it had pretty much completely rotted away. But just as I was about to throw it out, I noticed a very small potato ear-like appendage on the side of the rotten tuber. On a whim, I carefully cut the 'ear' thingy off and transplanted it back into a pot of fresh porous soil and waited... and waited. And finally, around mid-summer 2011, a new small plant poked through the earth and now, a few months later, it is around six inches tall and has its first leaf. Check out the photos of it's early stages of growth, the last photo being from just yesterday.

Here's a photo of my original plant soon after I received it
in March 2010. I was giddy as a schoolgirl.

I found this photo on the Internet showing the stunning
appearance of a mature Alocasia Tigrina.

Here are three photos of my newly reborn Alocasia Tigrina,

over the past few month period.

My Alocasia Tigrina story has a curiously odd twist. A few months ago, I noticed what appeared to be a small tropical plant growing in an isolated area of my garden where I only grow berries. I wasn't sure what it was but was curious enough to transplant it into a pot and place it on my kitchen windowsill, which has become an impromptu nursery. Very recently, as the plant grew a bit bigger and a few leaves appeared, I realized that it is actually another Alocasia Tigrina plant! My only possible theory is that when I transplanted the seemingly-dead tuber of the original plant, I must have re-used the dirt from the pot and there was a mini-me version of the tuber in the soil that got distributed to the isolated section of my garden. So I went from no Alocasia Tigrinas to two - I couldn't be happier!

MAN-MADE TROPICAL PARADISE IN SIN CITY

I just got back from a much needed vacation escape in Las Vegas. I was hoping to make it to one of the only, if not the only, tiki bars there, Frankie's Tiki Room, but going to Las Vegas with a two-year old forces some limitations so, alas, Frankie's will have to wait for a future visit. But I did get a chance to enjoy some fantastic indoor tiki jungle landscapes at Shark Reef in Mandalay Bay. Yeah, Las Vegas might be 110% artificial, but the plants in this diminutive sea life aquarium are very real and the decor is equally exquisitive, making me wish I could hire the designers for my own pad!