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Deflowering the Beast

Sometimes mans dominion over nature sounds absolutely terrifying and short-sighted to me. The great hubris that has caused so much destruction is not a sentiment I often tout. This is until we begin discussing the deadly Sago Palm (or cycad, more accurately). Then my inner lumberjack kicks in and I sharpen machetes and gas up chainsaws.

You may recall last year when I posted about the serious level of pruning I do to my beautiful, yet deadly, Sago. If you don’t, take a gander at this surgical operation…

The Sago Palm: Ancient, Beautiful and Actively Trying to Kill Your Family.

Well, it’s beginning to be that time once again. As you can see in the featured image above (from this morning), she is pushing out another giant flower which will be jam packed with massive seeds. They look so much like the king palm nuts that my dog loves to chew on that I am forced to dispatch with these seeds as soon as this flower opens up.

But, at least I’m not alone in this forced dominion, the Chicago Botanic Garden has recently had to force a pollination on their Titan Arum, or corpse flower. You know, that massive flower that smells like a stinking rotten corpse mixed with old baby diapers? Yeah, that one.

All of the botany folks on the Interwebs and countless visitors of the garden have been waiting with anticipation for this flower to open up. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be as the titan has refused to open and the botanists had to step in and help it along with a surgical procedure so that they could self-pollinate. Check out the process!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcIwyXvjIPs&w=560&h=315]

This has helped to bolster my resolve to once again don my hazmat suit and katana in preparation for the painful deflowering of the beast. Wish me luck!

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How to Propagate a Coastal Coral Tree (Erythrina Caffra)

I’ve been noticing over the last year that Mind Your Dirt receives a great many inquiries about the Coastal Coral tree. Two of my articles on the species gets read daily, and often several times per day. This article covers the species as a whole, and this article discusses when and how to prune erythrina caffra.

I’ve often wondered what it is about erythrina caffra that causes so many people to make their way to my humble doorstep in search of answers. The species itself is indeed a beautiful specimen tree with an amazing sweeping short and stout umbrella like canopy, both alien and breathtaking bright red flowers and powerful and very organic flowing trunk and branches. Just see for yourself, I went out hunting for photogenic specimens just for you. You’re welcome.

Coastal Coral Propagation 04_Coastal Coral Balboa Park
A beautiful smaller specimen flanking the Cabrillo bridge in Balboa Park, San Diego, CA.
Coastal Coral Propagation 05_Coastal Coral Balboa Park_Trunk Detail
On the opposite side of the Cabrillo bridge in Balboa Park sits another specimen. Here is a detail of the trunk.
Coastal Coral Propagation 03_Coastal Coral Balboa Park_Branching Detail
Off of Park Blvd. alongside Balboa Park. This coastal coral is a detail of the feature image above. A lovely example of that broad, sweeping (yet stout) trunk and branching.

So I can see the interest, but why is so much Interwebish (I know, relax) traffic drawn to this subject? Mind your Dirt offers a plethora of stories of equally amazing species all over it’s back pages. What drives this keen interest to the coastal coral tree?

Then it struck me. Several years ago when I was researching ways to propagate the species online, I had a hell of a time finding solid propagation information. A bit here, a smattering over there; but nothing solid and concise. To quote my past self…

“I scoured The Interwebs for hours looking for cutting propagation techniques. To no avail. Then I stumbled upon a PDF put together by some remote horticultural school in some small farm community somewhere in nowhere USA. The farmers were using coastal coral trees as natural fences and had a technique to quickly propagate large six foot branches! It was absolutely perfect and if I could find it again I’d link it here to give these saviors proper credit.”

Only in this day and age would one consider “scouring for hours” to be any form of extensive research, but if you know how to search effectively it shouldn’t take this long to find info on a relatively well known species. So that’s what I’m here to do; share that seemingly lost information so that it can have a new forever-home on The Interwebs and all you amazing people can begin to grow and love this amazing tree as well! How nice of me huh?

I have tried many different methods for propagation of this species (to grow as bonsai stock). Seeds are perfect, but they take a wee bit longer to achieve a beautiful and stately tree in the yard. I tried taking smaller six inch segments of the new green growth thinking that they would root successfully. I believe I tried about twenty or so of those. All of them rotted into nothingness in short order.

The key is to take larger woody branch sections and allow them to dry out before potting them. Without further adieu, here is how to grow a coastal coral tree…

Continue reading “How to Propagate a Coastal Coral Tree (Erythrina Caffra)”

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The Grapes of Wrath…and Cool Shade.

The bounty is upon me gentle reader. I am bursting at the seams with seemingly boundless grapes. I am like a lazy Roman in a toga lounging poolside as hand maidens feed me grape after grape. Except I have no more hand maidens. Stupid unions.

This visual has given me a flashback to a portrait I took in college. About a million years ago. To be more specific, this one.

Chris as Nero
My oldest and bestest friend, Chris. Who will of course forgive me for shamelessly posting this old photo on Mind Your Dirt. I hope.

Apologies Chris for posting this. Although, I have always mentioned to my models that at the end of the day, the photographer retains portfolio and display rights. So…

Just as an odd segue, if you’d like to see a completely outdated website with some photos and published illustrations by me, here is the link. Just be forewarned, there is some subject matter that may not be suitable for children. It’s “art” people so there’s some creative leeway. Also, the political cartoons were paid commissions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the author. Although many do. Only the ones that don’t make you angry. You have been warned! Also, the reason I stopped working on this Wix site was the general shabbiness of its smartphone app, so use your desktop to see all the drawing etc. Sorry.

Okay, back to the grapes. As I always seem to do, I apologize for the digressions.

Continue reading “The Grapes of Wrath…and Cool Shade.”