Ming Toy Now

The first lily, Ming Toy opened this morning. Last year was the beginning of my obsession with lilies. When they bulldozed the frontage of a residential housing development in order to put in a 12 foot wide drainage channel, I noticed that the entire landscape was in peril, there were hawthorns, rosemarys, and lots of lilies. By the time I returned, it had been cleared by a bulldozer. I identified the green leaves of about 9 lilies and dug them out of the dirt. This is the kind of landscaping I enjoy. I like the thrill of the save, the fact that they were free, and the intrique of not knowing what color they will be.

So here is my surprise daylily, and my first bud. In a couple of days we'll be able to identify this lily by name.

Here is my latest foraging project. This is a start of a cactus that fell off from it's parent plant, and thankfully the landscaping crew doesn't wear gloves so that people like me can add to their cactus gardens. Looks rough, but you can see what one week in the dirt and some water will do.

The front lobe shows sign of it's past, but the other two are plumping up nicely. This is a Prickly Pear cactus and has yellow flowers.

As I am adding cedar mulch to the sunning bed, I look over and notice Symba who must have fallen asleep during a sustained yoga pose.

I need about 4 more bags of mulch for the beds so I'll pick them up next week. It's nice to look out and see something other than highly alkaline dirt.