Thursday night is bug night 🪳🪲🪰🐞🦟🐜🐝🦋
scorpionfly
Author: Hashi
grapes
I don’t think I’m over-watering the grapes. If anything, I’m under-watering. Why are some splitting?
arthritic carrots
Our carrots are growing all twisted like arthritic fingers. I assume it’s because I planted them from nursery seedlings rather than direct from seed, and they didn’t get a chance to put down a long straight tap root until it was too late. Back to seed next year!
had an ace(r) day
Maples are scarce in the Santa Monica Mountains. They need cool, damp, protected shelter, which is in pretty short supply. But we do have two Acer species nearby (one native, one introduced), and today I visited both of them. Gotta love a tree with hairy balls, right?
ammannia coccinea
Don’t overlook the teensy ones!
Guided by some online resources, I went looking for this flower by the pond at Rocky Oaks. I was expecting a plant between ankle and knee high (my wildflower book says it’s up to 16″/40cm tall). I scanned about but couldn’t see any likely candidates. Then I had the urge to just sit awhile right there on the bank.
You guessed it! I soon realized I was surrounded by the plant I’d come seeking — tiny (1.25″ high) scarlet toothcup plants with miniscule magenta flowers. Such a delight!
salvia apiana
White sage has been widely poached from the Santa Monica Mountains (and elsewhere) to sell as ‘smudge sticks’ to folks with no cultural connection to the spiritual practice of smudging … yet another case of capitalism leading to species depletion.
After hearing me mourn the situation, Annette gave me this (nursery-raised) plant yesterday. I will try to keep it alive by practicing benign neglect — it wants no food and little water. First step will be getting it out of the rich potting mix and into the sandy, nutrient-poor native soil. Wish me luck with its nurture!
papilio zelicaon
Hiking in Santa Ynez Canyon yesterday, Annette spotted this Anise Swallowtail caterpillar munching on wild fennel, their preferred food source.
not so peppy boys
I spent waaaaayyy too many hours in the waiting area at Pep Boys yesterday, where the decor was spartan and there was not much to sketch except a photograph of the founders.
All I can say is that yesterday’s boys weren’t very peppy. They were very understaffed, with an excruciatingly slow and unreliable computer system. Lucky I brought an interesting book with me.
palette
I’ve done all of Liz Steel’s Sketching Now courses, some of them multiple times. But I get the most out of them when I do the group run-throughs. Liz is so generous with her time, and provides new content, examples, and reviews with each weekly Livestream. Her latest Watercolour group run-through started yesterday, and in its honour I assembled a new, reduced palette for working on the exercises.
epipactis gigantea
This species of orchid is native to western North America from western Canada to central Mexico. It lives on the banks of streams, rivers, and springs but prefers wetland regions like marshes. Today was the first time I’d seen one! I went looking specifically, and was delighted to succeed in my mission.
hashiworks 