Tag: garden

Steatoda nobilis

Published on by HashiLeave a comment
Steatoda nobilis

Thursday is yard work day, when we fill two green bins with oak leaves and offcuts, chipping away at the accumulation that’s been filling the carport. As I shovelled the leaves into the bin, lots of fat false widow spiders crawled out of the mulch, including this seven-legged mama.

Steatoda nobilis is native to Madeira and the Canary Islands from where it is thought to have spread to Europe, and continued to spread to other parts of the world including the United States, Chile and Colombia. It is now regarded as one of the most invasive spider species globally. It is considered moderately medically significant, with most bites causing symptoms comparable to those of a bee or wasp sting.

Crassula ovata

Published on by HashiLeave a comment
Crassula ovata

Crassula ovata, commonly known as jade plant, lucky plant, money plant or money tree, is a succulent with small pink or white flowers, native to South Africa and Mozambique. It grows as an upright, rounded, thick-stemmed, strongly branched shrub and reaches a height of up to 2.5 metres (8.2 ft).

Here in Southern California, it propagates easily and grows happily with minimal water. Our neighbour has covered her steep downslope with jade by merely tossing cuttings down the hill. It produces small white or pink, star-like shaped flowers in winter, which we’re enjoying now.

Dr. Living Stone, I presume

Published on by HashiLeave a comment
livingrocks

Up till now I’ve not had much success in caring for Pleiospilos and Lithops—“living stones” from South Africa—and I’ve envied the ease with which my neighbour manages to grow them. She gave me these ones back in April, and so far things are looking good! New leaves are emerging!

Here’s what I did differently this time:

  • I repotted them into 12 cm deep pots with drainage holes
  • I used a ratio of 25% cactus mix to 75% pumice for the growing medium
  • I put them in full sun, watered them once or twice, then left them alone. They may have got a little splash when I watered adjacent plants, and through June Gloom they‘ve had damp air, but I did not actually water them for six months.

Ideally, these succulents should only get water during the growing season (now!) Fingers crossed I can keep them alive through winter. Maybe I’ll move them under shelter when the rain comes (though my neighbour doesn’t do this). Hmm …