10086 Sunset Boulevard

Last night I had a craving and went out to buy a Giant Bird of Paradise. Sometimes you just gotta have, what you just gotta have. Here he is, my Strelitzia Nicolai all tucked up in the ground and standing proudly at two feet tall. Give the picture a mouse click to see a bigger image. I’m a little concerned about planting a tropical plant at the onset of winter, but I’ll figure out how to keep him protected from the elements, before the real cold sets in. He’ll probably need a tent.

Sunday again and this morning it was time to pay special attention to the garden. The Charlie Brown Peach Tree produced some of the best peaches I have ever tasted. I’ll be taking special care of the tree so that we can enjoy it’s bounty again next year. So many peaches that the neighbors were able to enjoy some too.

I asked the former home owner about the tree. Her husband had been in the back yard eating a peach and he stuck the pit in the ground. That was about 30 years ago. The tree grew so tall that the peaches couldn’t be reached and over the years it was cut back and eventually the ivy just took over the yard and the peach tree.

I’ve been working on a rock garden out front and I’m excavating all kinds of treasures that were left here. Lots of seashells. The next time my nieces head to the coast, I’ll assign them a mission to return most of the seashells to where they came from, so they understand about putting shells back. If you want to see the size of the shell in the photo, just click on it to see the full picture.

I found some Belemnite fossils too, at least I think that’s what these are - anyone care to correct or confirm that for me? If they are, they are millions of years old and their inhabitants were most likely around at the same time dinosaurs roamed the planet. I’m hoping.

The Jack Rabbits are eating my beautiful deep purple flowers. They come across the street especially for that little delicacy of Verbena. Just the flowering part of the plant. I had envisioned a lovely carpet of purple in front of the house. In order to have that vision come true, I would need to shoo the rabbits away, but I enjoy watching Jack Rabbits eating purple flowers much more than I enjoy looking at the purple flowers.

My peach tree has quite the bounty of peaches this year. A tree that was slated for removal after having spent years under the Ivy that was so loved by the previous resident. My neighbor calls it my “Charlie Brown Peach Tree”. To me it’s just a miracle, that it went to such great lengths to let me know, that in spite of it’s appearance, it was still very much alive. If you want to see what the entire tree looks like, click on the picture of the peaches.

The grape vine always surprises me. The withered vine spends the winter playing dead. Come the spring it fills out with leaves, making a lovely green fence and this year the grapes are plentiful.

I enjoy watching the wildlife here. The Jack Rabbits, squirrels, doves, hummingbirds and even a fox or two. The quail go parading down the street with their tiny babies in tow. There are less of them now that the nearby crows have roosted. Everything eats the babies. It’s a miracle that quails survive at all.

Some Sunday mornings I hear the hissing sound of hot air and look up to see the brightly colored balloons taking sight-seers from the Napa Valley for a ride. I’m going to take that trip someday. Maybe soon.

Miracle Sunday. I have a nice slow start to the day and an extra cup of hazelnut coffee. Miracle Sunday, so dubbed because that’s day that all the plants get their dose of Miracle Grow.