The Mystery of the Baby Clary Sage

A Seedling Can Sometimes Fool You

That's why I was I was caught off guard today when I found this new garden surprise. It's a mystery to me how this baby clary sage plant I found in bloom today got where it is. I will try to solve it here.

Surprise Clary Sage, © B. Radisavljevic

Why This Baby Clary Sage Plant Surprised Me

In August, 2013, about a foot from where this small clary sage is blooming today, this borage plant was blooming. Borage reseeds easily. 

Borage in Bloom and Companions,  © B. Radisavljevic

If the clary sage and borage are not next to each other and neither is blooming, they can be easily confused. This is especially true if there were no known clary sage plants in an area where you knew you had had borage.  When I saw these seedlings in January, I just assumed they were borage and that they weren't yet mature enough to bloom.

Borage  or Clary Sage Seedlings beside Calendula Flower  © B. Radisavljevic

The photo above shows you what I saw in that area in February 2015. What I believed to be the borage seedlings are to the right of the orange calendula flower. The eggshells are for snail control. The small plant closest to the flower, with the touch of blue, might actually be borage. It's hard to tell.

Seedlings Easily Confused with Borage

All of the plants pictured above have leaves of similar shape. They all grow as rosettes,  with leaves coming from the center. Clary sage and mullein are so similar in looks that the person who sold me my first mullein had it labeled a clary sage, and later discovered her mistake. After the plant bloomed, it didn't look anything like a clary sage, so I went back to her and she was relieved to know who had gotten the mullein. She then gave me the genuine clary sage you see above.

Meanwhile, I had enjoyed the mullein so much I bought another when Fat Cat Farm was going out of business. That's the mullein you see above. The borage on the left is growing near some catmint (extreme left). There's no doubt about what it is since it's in full bloom now. In fact, in this heat it's beginning to fade and reseed. The photo below was taken during the first week of April.

Borage in Bloom near Calendula, Catmint, and Hyssop  © B. Radisavljevic

Above, the borage is in the middle with light blue flowers. The yellow calendula is nearest the lawn. In between is a pot of catmint that has escaped into the flower bed. It has the very faint blue flowers you see. The purple flowers at the back are hyssop just beginning to bloom. I love its deep color. It's in full bloom today and I'll be sharing that photo in a future post.

So How Did a Clary Sage Plant Emerge Where it Did?

I suppose seeds could have drifted over from the main flower bed. In that case, this could be  the mother plant, about five yards from the baby clary sage.

Clary Sage in Bloom beside Tricolor Sage and Oregano  © B. Radisavljevic

The clary sage is the only blooming plant in the photo above. Its leaves are curling during the hot part of the day. I'm sure this is the mother of my baby sages. Even if the seeds were not carried to the new location from here, they may have been planted in 2013. I just remembered that when I was transferring the clary sage to a pot, I had the pot very close to where those new plants are.

Young Potted Clary Sage in February  © B. Radisavljevic

At the time I wasn't sure where I would put the potted clary sage. The pot is sitting only five feet from where my new baby plants are. By the time I moved the pot to its current location in the middle of June, it was in full bloom. It's quite possible some seeds were ready to fall and dropped as I was moving the plant. It is also possible that the seeds lay dormant until we got enough rain to germinate them. This would seem to fit the time frame for the plants being in bloom now.

To me it's a bit of a miracle that these should germinate and bloom. According to the Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs, sage seeds store poorly, yet these just dropped into the ground and stayed until conditions were right for germination. Once they germinate, it takes them two years to actually mature enough to bloom. If they germinated in the rains of 2014, they are right on schedule. I believe the mystery of the baby clary sage has been solved.

What do you think? If you enjoyed solving this mystery with me, please share it with your friends. You will find sharing buttons just below, above the comment box where you can tell me what you think. How do you think the the baby clary sage plants got here?

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Zinfandel Photos in Templeton

I live in Highway 46 West Wine Country in the Heart of the Templeton Gap. It seems conditions here are perfect for growing Zinfandel grapes. That's why so many wineries in this area make outstanding  Zinfandel wines. Many of them are my neighbors. One of those neighbors is Castoro Cellars. Below are some of their Zinfandel grapes awaiting harvest.

Photo of  Zinfandel Grapes in Vineyard at Castoro Cellars, © B. Radisavljevic

Another neighbor, Peachy Canyon Winery, is also known for its Zinfandel wines. It had at once time a small demonstration vineyard across from the tasting room that grew some Zinfandel grapes. See it below.

Photo of  Zinfandel Grapes in Small Vineyard at Peachy Canyon Winery, © B. Radisavljevic

The last photos I will feature of Zinfandel grapes are from another close neighbor, Rotta Winery. I can climb their hill and look down and see my house. Unlike the other vines I showed you from Castoro and Peachy Canyon, the Rotta vines are head-trained. They can look a bit wild when they are at their leafiest, but I like them. Here is a vine I photographed as grapes were fairly ripe.

Photo of Head-Trained Zinfandel Grapes from Rotta Vineyard, © B. Radisavljevic

Below is a close-up of the leaves and fruit.

Photos of Almost Ripe Zinfandel Grapes from Rotta Vineyard, © B. Radisavljevic

If you found this post interesting, please share it. The sharing buttons are just above the comment box at the end of the post. The photo below is especially designed for pinning. All photos in the collage were taken at Peachy Canyon Winery.

This is my last post for the 2016 AtoZchallenge, a Blogging Challenge for the month of April, 2016. My theme is plants, since this is a gardening blog. Here are links to the other posts if you missed them.

A is for Apple Blossoms
B is for Bottlebrush
C is for Carnations
D is for Daisy
E is for Elderberry
F is for Flowers
G is for Gazania
Hollyhocks are Edible
Irises Are Garden Survivors
Jupiter's Beard: A Mystery Finally Solved
Kale for Lunch
Lion's Tail - A Perennial Summer Burst of Orange
Miner's Lettuce is Tasty and Free"Naked Ladies" Bloom in August
Oleander through the Year
Plant Pests and their Predators: Aphids and Ladybugs
Quince Fruit from Blossom to Table
Roses Are Not Just Red
Sages Add Color and Attract Beneficial Insects to Your Garden
Tansy and Fruity Teucrium Can be Garden Friends
Urushiol Will Make You Itch
Vetch Runs Wild
Weeds I Love to Hate
Xeriscaping is Essential in Dry Areas

Yarrow is Ideal for Xeriscaping

***

Related articles

• Quiet Places Near Paso Robles
• The Giant Chair at Peachy Canyon Winery has Been Moved
• Spring Has Sprung in Wine Country
• Colorful Flowers Brighten Castoro Cellars in Autumn
• Two Unique Tasting Room Sights at Peachy Canyon

Weeds I Love to Hate

I have written several posts about weeds I appreciate. I was going to sum them up here, but there were just too many of them and time is short tonight. Instead I will show you the weeds I love to hate. Two of them are beautiful in their season but too poisonous for me to want close to the house or in the garden and orchard areas.  The third is not poisonous -- but ugly and hard to pull. These are the weeds I love to hate. We'll start with poison oak, pictured below.

I have written extensively about poison oak and how to identify it and deal with it, so I won't repeat that here. Some of those articles are in the related links below.

It's hard to get rid of poison oak once it has made its home on your property. We have too much to get it all out, so we tolerate what grows far from the house in places humans rarely go. We do have a couple of plants that like to come back every year and live under this pyracantha shrub, right near the trunk. We had gotten rid of them when this picture was taken, but they have come back again this year and will have to be sprayed. Poison oak  is the one plant I will spray if it's growing where people are likely to be.

Pyracantha Shrub Poison Oak Likes to Grow Under, © B. Radisavljevic

The second plant I would like to get off my property is poison hemlock, another plant I've written a lot about in other places. (See Poison Hemlock: Lovely and Lethal.) It is lovely, but it is also very deadly if ingested. It's what killed Socrates.

The individual plants aren't too hard to pull, but one should wear gloves. The problem is that the plants don't come alone. They come in multiples and make a forest if they grow up. They resemble some vegetables and herbs, so one has to be careful. Poison hemlock has a sickening smell, unlike wild carrots or parsley, which it resembles.  It is pictured here intermingling with the weed I hate the most -- a grassy weed.

Poison Hemlock Growing with Grassy Weeds, © B. Radisavljevic

 Why do I hate the grassy weeds? Unlike poison hemlock, which has a long tap root like a carrot, the grasses have a root system that doesn't want to budge. Once they get a few inches tall they are a real pain.

When I started to redo my front yard in Paso Robles, these grassy weeds had made a home there and intermingled with the roots of the juniper bush and calendula. You can see it in the photo below.

In  photo #1, top left, you see the grass coming from under the juniper bush.

In photo #2, top right, you see the grass close up, stubbornly staying put while I'm trying to pull it. I actually broke my weeding tool trying to get it out.

In photo #3, bottom left, after I finally dug it out, you  can see the root system. Each root clings to its own bit of ground and resists any effort to remove it.

In photo #4, bottom right, is a grassy weed I almost had cleaned out, but it is intertwined with the roots of my calendula and I could not pull the weed without pulling the flower out.

I should also mention that I tried to pull the weeds without gardening gloves that would protect my arms above the wrists. Juniper bushes are sharper than I had realized. I have since gotten better gloves for when I need to work around the juniper and the roses.  I also purchased and now use a garden kneeler so I can be more comfortable weeding on my knees. I have arthritis, and this helps. Here's my review of the garden kneeler I use. 

Pulling a Grassy Weed, © B. Radisavljevic

This is why I hate the grassy weeds the most. I usually have several species of them competing for space. I try to put them when they are small, but while I had restricted activities after all my surgeries the past two years, the weeds got a head start. The gardener here at least trims the tops of those that grow apart from the plants I want. I believe I will smother them with black  plastic next autumn, or even before that. I've pretty much given up gardening in Templeton.

Which weeds do you most love to hate? 

If you found this post useful, please share it. The sharing buttons are just above the comment box at the end of the post. The photo below is especially designed for pinning. You see the poison hemlock and grassy weeds growing together in our orchard in Templeton. 

This is my twenty-third post for the 2016 AtoZchallenge, a Blogging Challenge for the month of April, 2016. My theme is plants, since this is a gardening blog. Here are links to the other posts if you missed them.

A is for Apple Blossoms
B is for Bottlebrush
C is for Carnations
D is for Daisy
E is for Elderberry
F is for Flowers
G is for Gazania
Hollyhocks are Edible
Irises Are Garden Survivors
Jupiter's Beard: A Mystery Finally Solved
Kale for Lunch
Lion's Tail - A Perennial Summer Burst of Orange
Miner's Lettuce is Tasty and Free"Naked Ladies" Bloom in August
Oleander through the Year
Plant Pests and their Predators: Aphids and Ladybugs
Quince Fruit from Blossom to Table
Roses Are Not Just Red
Sages Add Color and Attract Beneficial Insects to Your Garden
Tansy and Fruity Teucrium Can be Garden Friends
Urushiol Will Make You Itch

Vetch Runs Wild

Related articles

• Be Very Careful When You See This
• Urushiol Will Make You Itch
• The Poison Hemlock at Larry Moore Park Grew Right through This Bench
• Weeds, Outdoor Living, and You
• Poison in the Park
• The California Weeds You Need to Pull Now!

Vetch Runs Wild

Vetch is considered a weed by most, or a wild flower. There are several varieties. I believe what grows here is common vetch, as opposed to hairy vetch, although as I look at more of my photos I think we have both. Some farmers cultivate vetch as a cover crop because it adds nitrogen to the soil. Most of what we see in vacant places has escaped this cultivation, and this vetch runs wild wherever conditions are right for its growth. It blooms in spring.

Vetch Along Trail in Paso Robles, © B. Radisavljevic

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The many vetches are all in the pea family and their flowers look like tiny sweet peas. They mix well with their  relatives, clover and lupine and other wildflowers in the spring for an attractive display. If I find them intruding on my garden, I usually let them live, since beneficial insects love them. Below you see vetch playing with its clover cousin.

Vetch with Clover, © B. Radisavljevic

In the next  photo, vetch, clover, and lupine mingle. As you can see, lupine tends to steal the show when it appears. The wild grasses try to diminish them all by hiding them.

Vetch with Clover and Lupine, © B. Radisavljevic

I think vetch looks best when accompanied by other members of its family. Alone, it is undisciplined and just runs wild, as you see below.

Vetch Running Wild and Free, © B. Radisavljevic

If you found this post useful, please share it. The sharing buttons are just above the comment box at the end of the post. The photo below is especially designed for pinning.

Do you have vetch on your property? Is it welcome? Or do you consider it an intruder? Do you enjoy seeing it mixed with wildflowers in open spaces?

This is my twenty-second post for the 2016 AtoZchallenge, a Blogging Challenge for the month of April, 2016. My theme is plants, since this is a gardening blog. Here are links to the other posts if you missed them.

A is for Apple Blossoms
B is for Bottlebrush
C is for Carnations
D is for Daisy
E is for Elderberry
F is for Flowers
G is for Gazania
Hollyhocks are Edible
Irises Are Garden Survivors
Jupiter's Beard: A Mystery Finally Solved
Kale for Lunch
Lion's Tail - A Perennial Summer Burst of Orange
Miner's Lettuce is Tasty and Free"Naked Ladies" Bloom in August
Oleander through the Year
Plant Pests and their Predators: Aphids and Ladybugs
Quince Fruit from Blossom to Table
Roses Are Not Just Red
Sages Add Color and Attract Beneficial Insects to Your Garden
Tansy and Fruity Teucrium Can be Garden Friends

Urushiol Will Make You Itch

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• Insects Love Spring Wildflowers
• Cover Crops Are Making a Comeback
• Insects in My Neighborhood in April
• Plant Cover Crops to Help Improve Soil Health
• The Birds, the Bees, and the Flowers on the Snead/Rambouillet Trail
• May 24 2015 My Garden Journal-Where It All Began
• Photo Essay: Green, Green, Green

Urushiol Will Make You Itch

What is Urushiol?

Urushiol is the oil found in poison oak, poison ivy, and poison sumac that gives you an itchy rash when you touch it or anything it has touched. Where I live on the West Coast, we are more likely to come in contact with it from poison oak, the plant most common here that is coated with it. If you touch poison oak, the urushiol will make you itch. To avoid touching it, you'd better know how to identify poison oak. 

Poison Oak Photos

I have written an article all about identifying poison oak in every stage of its life here: Oak and Poison Oak in Photos: Can You Tell the Difference?  Poison oak is actually a beautiful plant - just not one to touch.  I'm going to share some of my favorite photos of it in this post. I have plenty of opportunities to photograph it, since it grows on my property and in many of the oak forests that grow near me. It's easiest to spot in autumn when the leaves turn red, as above and below. 

Poison oak loves to climb trees. 

And live under trees.

Wherever poison oak lives and hides, no matter how beautiful those red leaves, don't touch it or take it home to use in an autumn centerpiece. Remember, it's urushiol will make you itch. 

What to do if You Do Touch It

If you should forget or somehow come in contact with the urushiol oil, wash your hands or any affected body parts as quickly as possible with warm soapy water. Don't bring contaminated clothes or shoes in the house if you can help it. Don't throw them anywhere but in the washing machine. 

Here are some other facts you should be aware of.  The most important one is that urushiol remains able to give you a rash for up to five years on a surface. That surface could be your clothes, the side of your car, or whatever else the oil touches.

Immediately wash contaminated objects, including clothes, with soap or detergent. You can wash the clothes in the washing machine, but wear gloves to do it, and then wash them. Clean the oil off your shoes, too, and don't forget the soles. Keep one of these products on hand if you have poison oak on your property, work on trails, frequent the woods, or hike a lot. If you apply these products immediately after or even before contact, you may be able to prevent the rash or lessen its effect on you. Here are three of the most highly  reviewed. 

 Tecnu Extreme Poison Ivy & Oak Scrub—Removes Toxin from Skin that Causes Poison Ivy and Poison Oak Rash, 4-ounce Tube All Terrain Natural Poison Ivy Oak/Bar 4oz, Helps Dry Rashes & Reduce Itching & Irritation from Poison Ivy, Poison Sumac, Poison Oak Dr. West's Poison Ivy Wash, 4oz spray bottle

If you found this post useful, please share it. The sharing buttons are just above the comment box at the end of the post. The photo below is especially designed for pinning.

This is my twenty-first post for the 2016 AtoZchallenge, a Blogging Challenge for the month of April, 2016. My theme is plants, since this is a gardening blog. Here are links to the other posts so  far if you missed them.

A is for Apple Blossoms
B is for Bottlebrush
C is for Carnations
D is for Daisy
E is for Elderberry
F is for Flowers
G is for Gazania
Hollyhocks are Edible
Irises Are Garden Survivors
Jupiter's Beard: A Mystery Finally Solved
Kale for Lunch
Lion's Tail - A Perennial Summer Burst of Orange
Miner's Lettuce is Tasty and Free"Naked Ladies" Bloom in August
Oleander through the Year
Plant Pests and their Predators: Aphids and Ladybugs
Quince Fruit from Blossom to Table
Roses Are Not Just Red
Sages Add Color and Attract Beneficial Insects to Your Garden

Tansy and Fruity Teucrium Can be Garden Friends***

Tansy and Fruity Teucrium Can be Garden Friends

Are Tansy and Fruity Teucrium Compatible Garden Friends?

When I first planted tansy and fruity teucrium together in an oddly shaped corner of my flower bed nearest the street, I had four reasons for doing it.

Tansy and Teucrium First planted in 2013, © B. Radisavljevic

1. They would fit there.
2. They could live in poor soil and required little water
3. They would fill in the space as they grew. 
4. Their flower colors would be complementary to each other

I wanted to fill in that one small triangle tip. I also had heard that tansy was good for repelling ants, so I thought it might be helpful to have some on hand. (It turned out not to repel my ants.) The teucrium would bloom first with its light purple flowers. The tansy would make its big splash of bright yellow in summer and overshadow the teucrium. 

The plants were tiny, as you can see above, when I planted them in June, 2013. I knew tansy could be invasive, and since I was trying to fill space with something that would smother the weeds, I thought its tendency to take over would serve that purpose. I like to pick my weeds. My plan would have worked better had I realized when I planted that I should have planted these tiny herbs farther apart. 

By August 25, 2015, that triangular corner looked like this. The teucrium swallowed the tiny tansy at the very end, but it still peeks through when it finds a way. The tansy does spread, but it also dies back after it blooms in July leaving these empty spaces. That doesn't stop it from trying to invade the teucrium, though. 

Tansy and Teucrium by August, 2015, © B. Radisavljevic

Things to Know about Fruity Teucrium and Tansy

The fruity teucrium is also called fruity germander. It flowers bountifully in spring and fall, but not so much in summer while the tansy is in full bloom. It is dearly loved by bees and butterflies. After the flowers bloom, they turn brown, as you can see above. 

Tansy leaves also turn brown in the summer heat, so it's recommended that when that happens one should cut them them to the ground. According to an article I just read about tansy, if this is done early enough, new foliage may grow out and there may even be a new round of blooming. I'll try to remember that this year. For comparison, this is how my little triangle looked on July, 9, 2014.

Tansy in July, 2015, © B. Radisavljevic

Just so you can get a closer look at the fruity teucrium (or fruity germander), I will show you these photos taken in August, 2015. Here's the whole plant, or at least most of it. These two photos are also part of one of the related articles below. 

Teucrium by August, 2015, © B. Radisavljevic

Here is a closeup of the fruity teucrium flower. 

Close-up of Teucrium Flower, August, 2015, © B. Radisavljevic

I took the photo below today, April 23, 2016. The tansy is reemerging and invading the teucrium. In fall I will probably do some root divisions and move some of these plants to where nothing else but weeds and gazanias will grow. I may have made a mistake in believing tansy and teucrium can be garden friends, but I will leave that for you to decide.  

Tansy and Teucrium Together in April, 2016, © B. Radisavljevic

I share my garden experiments in case the information may help others know what to expect if they do what I have done. Like most home gardeners, I have both successes and failures. I hope something I share in these posts will help you.

Note; Please keep in mind that tansy can be toxic to pets and people. Use it with care.

If you this post useful, please share it. The sharing buttons are just above the comment box at the end of the post. The photo below is especially designed for pinning.

This is my twentieth post for the 2016 AtoZchallenge, a Blogging Challenge for the month of April, 2016. My theme is plants, since this is a gardening blog. Here are links to the other posts if you missed them.

A is for Apple Blossoms
B is for Bottlebrush
C is for Carnations
D is for Daisy
E is for Elderberry
F is for Flowers
G is for Gazania
Hollyhocks are Edible
Irises Are Garden Survivors
Jupiter's Beard: A Mystery Finally Solved
Kale for Lunch
Lion's Tail - A Perennial Summer Burst of Orange
Miner's Lettuce is Tasty and Free"Naked Ladies" Bloom in August
Oleander through the Year
Plant Pests and their Predators: Aphids and Ladybugs
Quince Fruit from Blossom to Table
Roses Are Not Just Red

Sages Add Color and Attract Beneficial Insects to Your Garden

*** 

Related articles

• My Experience with Teucrium Cossonii aka Fruity Germander
• My Experience Growing Tansy
• How My Garden Has Progressed in Two Years Since 2012