I know that there are houses broken into quite regularly in the Fairfield/Suisun City area, but a theft from the garden? That's exactly what happened at my house 2 weeks ago – a theft! Now I realize that the missing object is not worth a lot nor the normal sort of “prize” to take. The word “thefted” (a term we use at home to describe such things, as in “I got thefted”) item was planted in a 6-inch pot on the patio and had a 4-inch tap root emerging. The item was a seed of a Araucaria bidwillii or Bunya-Bunya tree from Mare Island's park.
I had gone there to identify an elderly, half-dead looking shrub for a man who stopped by the Vallejo Farmers' Market booth. While at the office of the Museum where the requested plant name was freely gotten, the docent have me some HUGE seeds from the tree in the park across the street. At first, I was reluctant to take them – but they were FREE – and gave some to colleagues and took two home. Not sure how to plant them, I decided to lay 1 on top of the soil in a pot to let the wind, etc, break down the tough-looking covering down. The other seed, I placed in another pot just under the soil; by planting them this way, I figured I was hedging my bets on at least 1 sprouting.
Well, within a month, the seed on atop the soil had sprouted with that long taproot which was growing UP into the air. A little starching in the soil and that seed was placed into ¼ inch of soil and the root downward. At the same time, I had a handful of grapefruit seeds that I soaked overnight to “plump” the up and then planted my “grapefruit grove in a large pot. To my horror, when I came outside 2 days later, something (a varmint!) had nosed up most of the grapefruit pips and my Bunya-Bunya seed was gone – missing – thefted! Doing a little computer investigating, I've concluded that a skunk helped himself/herself to the pips and probably the Bunya-Bunya as well. Any animal smaller would have had a wrenched neck with that 1 seed as it was 3 inches long by 1 ½ inches wide by 1 inch thick. It's no wonder that the entire cone of this tree weighs well over 25 pounds!
The early daffodils are now spent with the midseason varieties are blooming full bore; the late daffs are slowly coming up to continue the blooming season. I have to take a picture of my dusty miller in the front yard as it has grown over the daffodils that I planted 2 years ago and now I have a dusty miller with huge bright yellow trumpeted flowers rather than a pale yellow little blah ones. It's really an odd looking bush. The star magnolia got enough cold to bloom nicely, although it isn't as completely covered in “stars” as last year. I hope to find a place in the front yard for my baby star magnolia which will have pink (!) blooms when it's old enough.
Now for an ad for the UCCE Master Gardener-Garden Tour which will be April 29 from 10-4 pm. The tickets are $30 each before the 29th, and $35 on the day of the tour. To buy tickets, come to the Master Gardener office at 501 Texas Street, Fairfield on Mondays from 10-12 and 130-4 OR they can be purchased on-line: solanomg.ucanr.edu! Any questions, email us at mgsolano@ucdavis.edu ! See you there!!