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Browse Tag: Euphorbia cereiformis

Euphorbia cereiformis

  • By BrianT
  • on Feb 19, 2015
  • in Drought tolerant
Euphorbia cereiformis
Euphorbia cereiformis

I picked up a new cactus to add to the collection. This is like a zipper cactus but a lot more spikier.

neverenoughdirt

Plants are the nexus between nature, people, culture, & history. San Gabriel Valley / California.
Polymath. #authoritative. Earth System Science.

2025 Citrus Grafting Report. Weather: Unexpected 2025 Citrus Grafting Report.

Weather: Unexpected cooler temperatures and overcast followed by heatwave. Cooler temperatures may have stalled/interrupted healing.

Observed: budwood with greater girth had better results in terms of success rate and connectivity (leaf growth in layman's term.)

This was observed with the 'Santa Teresa' lemon and Fremont mandarin.

Image 1: 'Santa Teresa' lemon on Genoa. The budwood matched the graft wood almost exactly. As a result more cambium contact was made and enabled the greatest amount of connectivity.
Image 2 & 3: In contrast, most graft contacts were 50% at best. This results in a longer healing time and the buds remaining dormant (no leaf growth.)
Image 4: 'Variegated Cara Cara' budwood is very thin. Complete failure on 'Cam Sanh' on 'Pink Lemonade.' Still hopeful on 'Pink Lemonade.'
Image 5: 'Sudaci' mandarin is a novelty tree for me. It is being asked to be a pragmatic tree. 
Image 6: One of many successful Fremont. This one is on the 'Sudaci.' Note the budwood girth.
Image 7: The last hopeful 'Gold Nugget' mandarin graft. Graft location is important but sometimes there isn't a better branch to work. The other graft on this 'Sudachi' and the only one on the 'Shasta Gold' were placed on a branch located next to a path; and they got bumped into by me or my kids.
Image 8: 'Parent Washington Navel' budwood were thin. Many were provided and many where grafted onto various trees. We are down to this hopeful graft on 'Robertson' navel.
Image 9: Another successful 'Fremont;' on 'Owari Satsuma.'
Image 10: 'Ellendale' tangor budwood was thin but we have a successful push from 'Algerian' clementine. 

Final note: 'Murcott' mandarin growing on the slope is looking to be 2 for 2 with 'Fremont' and fail on 'Ellendale.'
Memorial Day 2025 #nedfirsts 'Dondo Blue' ageratu Memorial Day 2025

#nedfirsts 'Dondo Blue' ageratum, @pinetree_garden_seeds 
'Mahohany Splendor' hibiscus
Yarrow
'Blue Bedder' clary sage
Carnation/dianthus
Sweet Pea
#nedfirsts 'Frosted Salmon' Asiatic poppy. #nedfirsts 'Frosted Salmon' Asiatic poppy.
#nedfirsts 'Viola Francese' An artichoke type soft #nedfirsts 'Viola Francese'
An artichoke type softneck garlic. Very photogenic with a purple weathered look (on the first layer of the bulb.) Like most artichoke types, Viola Francese will store well because of the many layers of tight wrapping; keeps the moisture in.

A. Like many garlic growers in California, our garlic was ready for harvest much earlier this year due to a warmer and sunnier winter. These came out in April.

B. I botched our garlic growing this time around and lost our tried and true crop of 'Chesnok Red,' 'Thai Fire,' soft and hardneck garlic from the market.
In my warm Southern California climate, I found that chilling the seed garlic ahead of planting gave the best results. This year I tried to leave them in the fridge longer than a week and up to a month. 

The usual mini fridge in the garage probably ran a tad too cold and likely ruined our curated seed garlic. (This year I will be using the fridge in the house and dialing back the time.)

Luckily a series of things happened. I had ordered a couple of varieties to expand with. Fall planting products are usually shipped based on cold climate planting schedules; which is just in time or a bit late for warm climate growers. The box was too big for the mini fridge so they went into the house fridge for about a couple of weeks before it was time to plant them.
'Marathon' broccoli #nedfirsts 'Marathon' broccoli 
#nedfirsts
Simplicity is the product of complexity. Embracing Simplicity is the product of complexity. Embracing complexity is the embodiment of autonomy. 

Here's an illustration of the seed saving side of potato succession planting. This started a few years ago. With each harvest, a few potatoes are set aside to sprout and plant. Rinse and repeat (literally.) Eventually the cycles will get closer and closer; yielding more successive harvests.

In each box we have potatoes in different stages of the seed saving process. On the left are recently harvested potatoes. Ideally we will save the 4-6 ounce potatoes as seed; and only a few. Remember, the key to succession planting is to yield what we can eat from short term storage.

The potatoes in the middle are older and closer to sprouting. The potatoes on the right have sprouted and are ready to be planted.

Varieties that we grow are: 'Burbank' russet, 'French' fingering, 'Magic Molly' fingerling, 'Austrian Cresent' fingerling, 'Huckleberry Gold,' 'Viking Purple,' and 'Yukon Gold.' With exception to russets, these varieties are able to tolerate our warm climate for year round production.
A breakfast fit for a mother! Fresh: -- 'Valenc A breakfast fit for a mother! 
Fresh: 
 -- 'Valencia' orange juice
 -- 'French' fingerling potatoes
 -- Backyard eggs
 -- 'Gaviota' & 'Albion' strawberries 
 -- 'Sunshine Blue' & 'Reveille' blueberries 

Note, our collection of blueberry varieties are selected based on succession bearing and taste. Varieties that have tannins are preferred over shear size. 'Revielle' is coming on just as 'Sunshine Blue' is finishing up. Maybe next year our 'Emerald Blue' will lead the harvest by putting out berries for us.
#nedfirsts Black hulless barley. Pictures captured #nedfirsts Black hulless barley. Pictures captured during the Golden Hour.

I enjoy pearled barley in soups. Pearled barley is created from polishing the grain. This polishing is not something that I can accomplish without the proper equipment. Hulless barley is a grain that can be consumed after it is threshed.  I am curious to know if hulless barley will have a similar enough texture as pearled barley. 

If it turns out not to be enjoyable, I will continue to grow it. It grows easily and I can use the grain as chicken and duck treats. The plant as cover crop and mulch subsequently.

#blackhullessbarley
#nedgrafting #nedcitrus #citrusclonalprotectionpro #nedgrafting #nedcitrus #citrusclonalprotectionprogram
Our 2025 Citrus Clonal Protection Program budwood selection:

1. navel, Washington, Riverside Parent 1873s (VI 1050)
2. navel, variegated, Cara Cara (VI 978)
3. mandarin, Gold Nugget (VI 422)
4. mandarin, Fremont (VI 247)
5. tangor, Ellendale (VI 464)
6. lemon, femminello, Santa Teresa (VI 929)

The Washington navel is not in our citrus collection because it is readily available at the market. Low on the list, I bumped it up because the budwood is fewer steps removed from one of the two original trees received by Riverside, California resident, Eliza Tibbets from the United States Department of Agriculture in 1873. The successful propagation of these trees created the first wealth generating industry in California. More on this if/when we harvest our first Washington navel. 

Cara Cara are tasty navels and there is a variegated version; sign me up! Note: variegated foliage contains less chlorophyll; which by logic means that the leaves produce less energy. This translates to lower production and not ideal for climates with less intense daylight.

Gold Nugget commands a higher market price. They are flavorful and sweet when they hit their marks. I recommend sampling/buying a few before commiting to an entire bag. This mandarin has 'Cam Sanh aka King Tangor' lineage. Gold Nugget made the cut for this round because of the feeling that my climate is warm enough to produce a consistently sweet crop along with the premium market price and 'Cam Sanh' lineage.

Fremont has been on my radar. It is a clementine and Ponkan mandarin cross suited for desert areas. According to the description, Ponkan is a popular variety in China, India, and Brazil. Its clementine makeup piqued my curiosity. 

Essentially synonymous, it is the geographic, historical, and cultural differences that differentiate clementine, tangor, and tangerines. Horticulturally, this group of citrus tends to be exceptionally juicy and more flavorful than mandarins. As such, I am always on the lookout for a good tangerine.
Ellendale is an Australian tangor and the description and color (in the photos) looked promising to me.

Continue in the comments...
#nedfirsts (reblooming) bearded iris, 'Bernice's L #nedfirsts (reblooming) bearded iris, 'Bernice's Legacy.'

The rhizome was received last fall (2024.) Bearded iris usually takes at least a couple of years before they start blooming for me. Which is why I start them off on 1 gallon containers for safe keeping and identification (not losing track of what is what in the garden.) When they have matured is when I will plant them out in the garden. That this one is blooming now is a nice surprise.
#nedfirsts 'Gwen' avocado. My avocado growing jour #nedfirsts 'Gwen' avocado. My avocado growing journey began thirteen years ago in 2012. It took me far longer than expected to figure out how they like to be grown. Our first homegrown avocado was a 'Pinkerton' harvested last year (2024.) 

Our literal second homegrown avocado is this 'Gwen.' The tree that produced it was received August 2022. Last year it was mature enough to hang onto fruit but I thinned it down to one; so the tree can continue to focus more energy towards growing. 

This variety was patented in the 1980s by the University of California [patent expired, 02/17/2003.] With great commercial potential it was the crown jewel of avocados. However in the fields Gwen was found to be a diva. Additionally, unlike the Hass which turns black when ripe, Gwen remains mostly green. This lack of cuing the consumer along with its behavior in the field led Gwen to fall into oblivion.

For a long time, I sought a Gwen tree to plant. While continuing to keep my  eyes peeled, I attempted to grow a Gwen offspring, the 'Reed' avocado. Then in 2019 I found @fourwindsgrowers. A few trees later, success!

Picture 3: The University of California prominently researches citrus, avocado, and strawberry. Gwen is pictured with 'Cam Sanh / King Tangor.' In their respective class, each is responsible for offspring that are presently in demand like 'Gold Nugget' mandarin and 'GEM' avocado.

Picture 4: Girth of the trunk

Picture 5: Gwen tree. Also draped with plants like hairy vetch, volunteer Asiatic poppy, and filet bean; to diffuse our strong California sun.
#nedfirsts 'Marianne Charlton' hibiscus flower. I #nedfirsts 'Marianne Charlton' hibiscus flower. I enjoy collecting flowers that have colors that are either peachy, dark/black, or blue/gray. Since spring, this young cutting propagated plant has bloomed three times. Today, I was around to photograph it.
Our 5th grader's 3D animal cell project. The teach Our 5th grader's 3D animal cell project. The teacher encouraged models to be made without spending money. While there are more parts to an animal cell, these are the parts that they are studying. 

The cytoplasm is a foam sensory toy. The mitochondria are painted corks and detailed with a permanent marker. Superballs (toy bouncy balls) were used to represent vacuoles. The nucleus is a foam basketball. Our son cut a portion out with a saw and stuck in a plastic marble.

Lastly, the cell wall is half of a Corsican gourd that I harvested about a year ago. I'll take full credit for growing and cutting it in half. The rest of the work was Owen.

#animalcell
This is our @meyer_hatchery #MHRealCoops contest e This is our @meyer_hatchery #MHRealCoops contest entry. The story of our coop started in October 2018. Coming to the realization that we were outgrowing our 2 bed 1 bath home because the two kids were getting bigger, we decided that expanding our home was our best option. 

By May of the following year we got the green light to demo. Not wanting to conclude the patio's purpose, it was carefully dismantled with the help of my brother. Fast forward to 2021; when we decided that we would add chickens. 

Our coop is constructed from the 2x8, 4x4, and header beams that once worked in tandem to form our patio. From our home expansion we use remnant lath wire. I also made a couple of nest boxes with remnant eaves boards. The roosting bar is from one of our annual tree prunings.

All in all, the coop was built to be structural-- using redwood fence boards to create shear strength. With this confidence, we added a planter to the roof. More recently we pitched and made the roof more robust with rafters and blocking.

This coop is to secure our drake and 5 Meyer Hatchery fulfilled hens during night. Speaking of security, the coop was built with best practices in mind. There is a footprint of hardware cloth to minimize the risk of predators digging their way in. The coop has an inner zone secured by hardware cloth. 

We incorporated the use of lath wire due to our lower predator risk environment.
'Tetsukabuto' squash is a hybrid developed in Japa 'Tetsukabuto' squash is a hybrid developed in Japan in the 1960s. Its name is Japanese for "iron helmet." If you were to cut into and peel it, you would feel how the name came to be. The hardness of the peel does the job of keeping moisture in and bacteria out. This gives these kinds of squash a long storage life-- for eating in the winter months (hence the name winter squash in both English and the various Chinese languages.) Before refrigeration and technology enabling greater food security, squashes were part of the food security layer.

"Tetsu squash is a cross between Cucurbita moschata (the species that includes butternut squashes and others) and Cucurbita maxima (the species that includes kabocha squashes and others)." Source: greatsquash.com

Ever so curious, I discovered this variety after reading about a farmer taking a risk on thousands of dollars of seed to plant this variety. He was betting on being able to capture the demand for this better tasting kabocha squash. (There was not a follow up to that story. If you see these at Whole Foods, maybe we can consider that successful bet??)

I cooked the squash two ways. When roasted it has a texture similar to a very good taro. In a braise the squash is less mealy. In either case, the squash was sweet. 

We had several more #nedfirsts this summer but I haven't documented them. 

#tetsukabuto
'Flame Star' cauliflower, ready a few weeks ago bu 'Flame Star' cauliflower, ready a few weeks ago but harvested on July 1st as a "sprouting cauliflower."

Full disclosure: 'Flame Star' might have been a better cauliflower than a sprouting one. I found the remaining curds to be grainy. I am not sure if this texture is the result of maturity or heat. I will assume it is the former until we grow and harvest another one as a summer cauliflower. At the same time, we will stick to recognized varieties when growing for sprouting cauliflower. Varieties like 'Fioretto' and another variety from seeds shared by a neighbor who is Toisan.
'Flame Star' cauliflower is a #nedfirsts (new to m 'Flame Star' cauliflower is a #nedfirsts (new to me.) We harvested a few since winter sowing. This is the biggest one yet. Colored cauliflower are fun to grow and cook with. At the market they command a little more in pricing. This is also true for the seeds.
#nedfirsts 'Bishop' cauliflower one of a few varie #nedfirsts 'Bishop' cauliflower one of a few varieties that we are growing this year. We have eaten a few of these. This year my focus is on seeing if cauliflower can be grown year-round; like broccoli.
April 23, 2024 #nedfirsts avocado after many trees April 23, 2024
#nedfirsts avocado after many trees and many years of trying. First, avocado trees have sensitive root systems. They are vulnerable to too much watering and drought. If I err on not over watering, I risk drying the roots out. That may have been one point of past failure.

Secondly, young trees are heavy feeders. They require a lot of nitrogen, especially when planted in clay soils. I didn't feed them enough.

Third, avocado trees are sensitive to neglect. I have bought trees from retailers that do not tend to the plants other than watering. While these trees look healthy, they were likely very starved by the time I got them home. When buying from these kinds of retailers, buy when the nursery delivers the trees. Otherwise, purchase from a nursery that tends to their trees 

Lastly, avocado trees take a long time to establish. A sapling can take between 3-5 years before it produces  abundance. 

While we have a few varieties of avocado trees growing (for succession harvests) this 'Pinkerton' #avocado is the first for us. It was initially selected as a crop for winter and spring eating.

Strategically, a 'Pinkerton' is a good stop-gap variety to plant (along with your preferred avocado variety.) A 5 gallon tree can begin to produce fruit right away. For us it held one avocado in its first year. As a stop-gap, it can work right away to produce avocados while your preferred variety establishes.

Why not just plant the #pinkertonavocado as the primary variety? It has been noted that this variety is not consistent with fruit quality (according to Greg Alder.) The shape can vary year to year; from pear shaped to goose necked. There can be blemishes with the flesh. He further notes that while 'Pinkerton' can be eaten in the winter, it is a better crop in late winter to early spring.

Following that note, I saved this avocado for a spring harvest. I wasn't ready to eat so I left it on the tree until it could not wait for me any longer (and released the fruit.)
March 15, 2024. #nedfirsts 'Shasta Gold' mandarin. March 15, 2024. #nedfirsts 'Shasta Gold' mandarin. With a side by side comparison with a 'Cam Sanh' mandarin. (I forgot to photo document the flesh.)

Most mandarins are cultivated into seedless mandarins commercially by screening out the pollinators during the blossom stage. #shastagoldmandarin is one of 3 truly seedless mandarins grown in California. They are also patented varieties of the @uofcalifornia.

#camsành aka King Tangor was originally acquired by the United States Department of Agriculture from South Vietnam in the late 1800 via Japan. Its traits are present in many modern day cultivars; including 'Shasta Gold.' The side by side photos, 'Shasta Gold' is on the left.

Between this being the first fruit set and last year's abnormal weather of successive months of cloudy cover, it is likely that the mild flavor and sweetness was not representative of its true potential. It has been planted in the earth and we're back to our regular schedule of sunny days. I'll be sure to update the results of the next harvest.

#nedcitrus
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