Erysimum franciscanum var. crassifolium

Butterfly in the Sky

April 8, 2012 by Megan | 4 Comments

Pipevine Swallowtail babies

Three years ago I tracked down an Aristolochia californica from Bay Natives at the SF Garden Show. I had dreams of Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillars chomping on it, but so far they haven’t found it. I’ve heard it can take years… unless you get an awesome flickr message offering up babies in exchange for some food cuttings. On Friday we became proud parents of a hungry little group of caterpillars thanks to butterfly guru Timtastic (the link will take you to his sweet pics on flickr).

Anise swallowtail

Since we won’t be able to see our babies turn in to butterflies, Tim brought over a pair of Anise swallowtails to release out back. I got to hold them while they warmed up and took flight.

Anise swallowtail & Erysimum franciscanum var. crassifolium

For the rest of the day they hung out on our ginormous (we’re talking nearly five feet wide) San Francisco Wallflower, (Erysimum franciscanum var. crassifolium). As we rip apart the garden it’s a sunny site in the middle of the yard, that I know isn’t going anywhere. We’re leaving all the California natives except for the Dudleyas and Lewisias.

Collecting Aristolochia californica

Our Aristolochia californica is huge and happy! This is one of my favorite plants we have, so being able to raise caterpillars that will use it is like a dream come true. That’s why I planted it. By the time we move, they’ll be big enough to release on the vine.

Caterpillar hotel

This is where the babies are living right now. They eat together in a big mass. So far they’ve gone through almost two leaves. I look at them at least once every three hours. They’re a great distraction to the stresses of packing and getting ready to move cross country in three weeks. I even made a butterfly garden pinterest board for Wisconsin. I admit it, I’m a pinterest addict. Where else would a find a recipe to make very realistic jello worms, or collect all my raised bed planter ideas in a pretty fashion? I’m starting all kinds of lists for plants I want to grow when we’re back in WI, too.

One last pretty pic

The Anise swallowtail hung out of the Phylica pubescens for a little bit. Thanks again to Tim for hooking us up! We’ll be posting lots of pics of all the plants and stuff we’ll have for the big plant sale soon.

Good-bye California, Hello Wisconsin!

March 31, 2012 by Megan | 45 Comments

Good-bye garden! (click for bigger pic)

No, this is not an early April Fools joke. We’re moving back to Madison, Wisconsin at the end of April. After nearly five exciting years of living in San Francisco we’re heading home to have a baby at the end of August (we find out if it’s a boy or girl next Friday). We’re still going to blog and we’re still going to garden, it will just be sconnie style (more beer, cheese and warm weather flowers and veggies). We’re confident there will be plenty of far out plants to grow in the midwest and you can count on us to find every succulent that can survive in zone 5. We’ve been researching it for a couple months now and the selection is surprisingly large. All of our sempervivums and cold hardy sedums are coming with, along with the others that can deal with freezing temps. Expect to see lots of alpine plants and Matti’s dream moss garden can finally become a reality! To keep ourselves sane in the winter, we’ll be starting lots of plants inside.

Lewisia cotyledon ‘Sunset Strain’ (cold hardy and coming with)

You’re probably wondering what we’re going to do with our current garden. We always knew it would come to an end at some point, which is one of the reasons we started a blog about it. Well, we’re going to sell it off in little pieces, along with containers and other gardeny things we won’t need, to raise funds for the move back and baby stuff. That’s right, on Saturday, April 14th you can come buy a little piece of Far Out Flora. There will be more info and pics coming soon. Another way to help us raise funds is to buy an ad on our blog. Click here for more info, they’re cheap. Feel free to just throw giant wads of cash at us, we wouldn’t turn away an all expense paid trip to Santa Barbara to visit Lotusland on our way back to Wisconsin, too. Okay, that’s getting greedy, but honestly living in SF (really the entire Bay Area) is crazy talk expensive. We’ve made it work, but it hasn’t been easy. Why do you think we spend so much time in the garden and outside looking at plants? It’s free!

Aloe polyphylla as a houseplant?

People of Madison keep an eye out for a 2-3 bedroom, border collie friendly house, within walking/biking distance to Olbrich Gardens and Lake Monona for $1000 or less. It’s possible, isn’t it? A fenced in backyard for Max, dishwasher and basement are all high on the list of wants, too. So that’s our dream place. In reality we’ll take space over location. We’ll be living with friends when we get back, turning their ginormous (we’re talking football field sized) backyard in to a garden paradise this summer and over the years. Right now we’re dreaming about making trellis forts with cool climbing plants for the kids (maybe even grown ups) to play in and growing happy tomatoes along with other warm weather loving veggies we’ve had to forgo living on the chilly coast. Maybe a small sunflower field and cutting garden… the possibilities are endless. Expect way more cool summery DIY projects and perhaps a spin-off kids gardening blog down the road. We’ve been missing the rock star thrift stores and garage sales in Madison. Thanks so much to everyone for all comments and follows along the way!

Matti, Megan & Max

Where it all started

Here are some more pics of the garden we took yesterday. We’re going to start ripping it out today. It will be well documented and sad, but we’re going to have tons of fun gardening in Wisconsin.

Graptoveria 'Crested Form' going to get chopped up

Erysimum franciscanum var. crassifolium isn't going anywhere

Primula auricula 'Angelo Hayes'

Aeonium town

Kalanchoe prolifera has all kinds of babies

Gardeny awesomeness

Adios Agave americana!

November 18, 2011 by Megan | 14 Comments

Agave americana before

Last year we ripped out this middle section which was full of loser succulents we didn’t know what to do with to plant a bunch of California natives (one of the best gardening moves we’ve ever made). Way back when we first moved to San Francisco we picked up this Agave americana baby (we still have big momma) for free on Craigslist. The owner’s baby was starting to walk and she was worried the kid might fall and get stabbed.

Going for the kill

We only use the highest tech protective gear when gardening, like this stinky old sweatshirt. I’m pretty sure Matti has a few permanent scars from ripping out and moving these spiky plants over the past few years. Here’s a post we did about pulling out its little brother back in May and another post from last October, when Matti ripped out a bunch of babies and moved this guy to the middle.

Agave americana rip out, success!

This was back in early October. I have to point out the massive clump of Erysimum franciscanum var. crassifolium on the left. Have you ever seen a happier San Francisco Wallflower? It might just be one of my favorite plants. Can’t wait for it to be covered in yummy scented yellow blooms this spring.

Here it is frolicking last May with one of my favorite CA natives Gilia tricolor.

View from above

Here’s the view from the dining room window last weekend sans the Agave. It’s kind of ridiculous how many plants we’ve crammed in back there, considering this is only half the yard.

More Erysimum franciscanum var. crassifolium love

If you live next to the beach in sandy land definitely give Erysimum franciscanum var. crassifolium a shot. We barely ever water it and even without flowers it’s a handsome fellow year round. Annie’s has a bunch of them right now.

P.S. We’d love it if you would vote for our terrarium entries at Potted (probably not the wisest move to enter the same week)

April 15, 2011
by Megan
15 Comments

April Bloominess

Hurray for Garden Bloggers’ April Bloom Day! We finally have a bunch of new stuff in flowery action! May’s going to be even crazier in the new bloom department. We have a mystery iris about ready to bust, and a … Continue reading →