Tentacles

{Spotted on Folsom Street in Bernal Heights}

At first glance, and if you make your eyes go a bit fuzzy, doesn't this aloe plant resemble an octopus' swirling arms? 

Shadows & Sun

I love shadows, I love sun, I love succulents.  On a recent afternoon these three loves came together on the front steps of my building.

These are my neighbors' plants; aren't they beautiful?  Between our place and theirs, I'd wager that our building holds at least a hundred plants of different varieties.  I recently started some dahlia bulbs on my side of the steps...crossing my fingers that they push up as promised by the flower woman at the farmers market.

Let's Hang*

Alas, even with our larger apartment, I'm running out of surface space for plants.  So not long ago we picked up this glass terrarium from Flora Grubb (my home away from home) that hangs from the ceiling.

Planting and arranging the succulents was challenging, but I eventually got them in there.  They're doing really well and only require a few sprays of water every couple of weeks.

*Not just the title of this post, but also the name of a line of impossibly cute key chains from kidrobot on Haight Street.

Our Little Cordyline

We have a tree well outside our building.  When we first moved in, there was a sizable stump in it.  One day, our downstairs neighbors removed that stump.  Ever since then, the tree well has been filled with a variety of weeds and grasses, along with some potatoes that our other downstairs neighbor planted there.  [I would never, ever eat anything that grew in a tree well on a city sidewalk.  I don't really care to have my fruit and veggies nourished with cat and dog urine, you know?]

[The offending tree well.  I told you it was unattractive.]

Anyway, on Sunday we finally made good on our plan to revamp that tree well.  We went to my favorite garden center in the entire world, Flora Grubb, and found a nice looking cordyline (in the sale section, no less!).  We chose this plant because it actually grows quite large and doesn't require much water.  Also, it meshes with the Spanish look of our building.  It would have been cool to get a full-size tree, but we were operating under the constraints of what the Volvo could hold.

Before we got started, we had lunch on our front steps in the sun.  We mused that yard work is much more tolerable when it's not 100+ degrees outside.

After assembling our tools, we got to work clearing out the weeds and grass.  Along the way we found several shards of glass, some coins, different sized potatoes that our neighbor didn't dig up, some trash, and lots of worms and bugs.

We added quite a bit of nice, healthy soil, plopped the cordyline in the hole, and covered the whole area with shredded redwood bark.  

We plan to put in something around the edge to finish it off.  Also, once the cordyline gets larger, it'd be cool to start a succulent garden around the base.

From Seed

As much as I love plants, I haven't dabbled much in growing them from seeds.  But a few months ago we were at a neighborhood fair and a kindergarten class was selling seedlings to raise money...so I got a few.  Two marigolds and one zinnia.  The zinnia still hasn't popped, but the marigolds are going crazy.  I hope I can coax that zinnia out soon...maybe the sunny, warm days that we've been promised in September & October will do the trick.

Flora Grubb Gardens

Last Saturday morning, we went to the most awesome garden center ever--Flora Grubb Gardens in the Bayview neighborhood.  This place is AMAZING.  Not only is it one of the most beautiful places I've ever been, it's filled with extremely cool stuff and the most diverse selection of plants, pots, and garden accessories.  It was one of the first garden centers to build hanging walls of plants, like the one on the right above.  Outside, they  have a huge frame on the wall filled with tiny succulents of all types.

Towards the back, there's an old car that has been completely overtaken by succulents and other plants. 

There's also a Ritual Coffee stand in the building, and a wonderful patio outside, so after I'd found some plants and pots to buy, we sat outside and had some coffee and savory scones.  I was really digging the shadows that the patio furniture was making on the ground.

I think I'd like to go to this place weekly, just to get coffee and hang out among the plants.

Micro Planting

Yesterday afternoon I was doing some potting and had a few extra cuttings left over, so I grabbed this tiny pot that my mom made in one of her ceramics classes.  I've always loved it and I think it looks perfect cradling a couple of tiny succulents!

Succulent Love.

I MUST have a succulent wall like this at some point in my life.

And a raised bed planter like this...

So I can nurture awesome succulents like this...

And this.

Into the light

So when we moved into our radically-smaller apartment in SF, I stowed most of my craft stuff either under our bed in various boxes or in my closet. Once in awhile, when I had a good chunk of time, I'd set up my craft table, haul out all of my supplies, and get to work. Because the table was awkwardly placed in the middle of our (not very large) bedroom, I always felt like I needed to finish my projects the same day I started them and then tidy everything up and put it away.

It really cramped by style. And didn't make me want to create anything.

But a couple of weeks ago I rearranged one side of the room to make a permanent home for my craft table. It has made me so happy.

Now I don't have to wait for a Saturday to start a project. On a work night, even after the gym, I can sit down for 5 or 10 minutes and work on something and not worry about finishing it at the same time. Now my big papercutter has a home, nestled right up against my baby succulents (stolen from a neighbor's yard in Tempe and delivered to me in SF by Vic). It sits right in front of our big, currently rain-splattered window, allowing me to monitor the street scene (and there is one, trust me).

Side note: Please don't ever call me a SCRAPBOOKER. I don't scrapbook. Well, I guess I technically may have back in '97 after my Germany trip, but that was before scrapbooking became the gigantic industry it is now. I mainly used stationery, markers, and photos. Now, scrapbooking as a hobby seems to be about seeing how much scrapbooking junk you can buy at the closest big box craft retailer. And then throwing it all into a scrapbook you bought at that same big box craft retailer. It just doesn't seem very creative to me.

I do like to make things with SCRAPS of paper, but I try not to buy a lot of premade stuff. I prefer to reuse old cards, magazine covers, photos, and (best of all) vintage advertising. Lucky for me, every time she cleans out a room in her house, Pat gives me a stack of vintage stuff she has unearthed. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with that signed etching of Lyndon B. Johnson and the string-tied pile of 1950s get well cards.