Tag: garden

Callistemon viminalis “MacArthur”

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We bought this Callistemon 10 years ago. It spent a few years in a pot before going in the ground, and now it’s well-established and close to its maximum size of 1.8m high x 1.5m wide. It feeds hooded orioles, house finches, lesser goldfinches, and maybe other birds too during the long flowering season, and brings us much pleasure.

I’m more of a purist about planting CA natives now, but I’m not sad about the select Australian trees and shrubs we’ve established here (no acacias or eucalypts, they are way too invasive).

Anthomyiidae

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After picking sixty (60!) snails off our little orange tree this morning, I noticed this handsome fly on one of the ravaged leaves. I am no entomologist, so the ID could be wrong. Looking at the distribution map in iNaturalist, Anthomyia species are far more common in the Southern Hemisphere than the northern, so possibly I’m way off. I was attracted to the strong dark dots on the wings; I suspect that are a key feature for identification.

early blight

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I was late planting tomatoes this year. There’s been a lot of rain, which I thought they’d appreciate, but they seem to be afflicted with some kind of fungus, most likely “early blight”. The remedy for all the fungal afflictions seems to be the same, a copper-based spray applied every 7 to 10 days. Continuing research over here …