Mosaic Project #2 - Lizard

It began with the mosaic bird house and continued into yard art. Making mosaics is relaxing, creative and fun. I especially like taking a hammer to break-up the tile!

I wanted to do a lizard on a rock, but didn't want to spend the day breaking tile into tiny bits, so I roughed out the largest part of the body. Using an exterior adhesive, I arranged the tiles and tumbled stones on the rock.



Then I applied gout around them. 

After a few days of drying, I painted in the detail of the lizard with acrylic paints and sealed it all. 

Now our western fence lizards have their own art to sit on. And even during the winter, I know there will be one lizard visible in the garden.

Mosaic Bird House

Birds live and nest in my yard. Cavity nesting species can have a difficult time finding natural cavities in an increasingly human altered landscape. Dead trees are quickly removed for fire prevention or because people don't like dead plants. Unfortunately most people don't realize the diversity of life that can continue to live in a dead tree.

I've been putting up birdhouses around my yard for several years. The Bewick's wrens have taken advantage of these dwellings on several occasions. The oak titmouse pair inspects the real estate, but have yet to move in. There is the wine cork house, the lariat house, the wooden nestbox and the chicken pot, which wasn't supposed to be a bird house but the wrens thought otherwise.

The inspiration from my recent visit to a local Garden Show, spurred me to finish this mosaic birdhouse. The structure is a wooden birdhouse purchased from a local craft store. I made a point of looking for a shape and entry size that were attractive to my wrens. 

Bits of leftover tile, glass beads and polished stones were glued onto the structure with a tile adhesive. I topped it with a glass bird that had broken off of a swizzle stick provided by my friend Kim. Grout filed the spaces between the tiles and then the whole thing was sprayed with a sealer.

The intent was decoration, but the Bewick's wren pair are inspecting it already. They've just fledged their second clutch of kids this year. Maybe their third will grow-up in the mosaic house.

Propagating Epiphyllums

The flower diversity at the Southern California Spring Garden Show prompted Douglas Welch of A Gardener's Notebook and I to talk about plant propagation.

I've successfully grown two variety of epiphyllum for years. The Sunset Western Garden Book gives the common name of "orchid cactus" for epiphyllum. Epiphyllums are a type of cactus with long flat stems that are scalloped along the edges and give the appearance of leaves. The few spines are at the base of these scallops. 

These plants naturally come from the forests of Central and South America where rain is frequent. It is odd to think of forest cactus, but that is what these plants are. They have small shallow roots and typically settle into the nooks and crannies in trees and between rocks. Here in pockets of leaf litter, they thrive on rain water and nutrients washing off the surrounding plants.

The wild plants have large, mostly white-or-cream-colored flowers that bloom at night with a heavy scent. They are pollinated by bats and they produce a fruit that is also eaten by mammals, who then disperse the seeds. Hybridized plants come in a broad spectrum of colors (ESA display at Garden Show) and they tend to flower during the day.

I'm going to share my plants with Douglas. Following the advice of the Epiphyllum Society of America, I cut off a blade and let it heal in a dark dry place for up to 10 days. One of the sections I selected already had a root forming when I cut it.

Douglas can now plant these in a loose soil of bark, sand and potting mix. Let it sit without water for 2 weeks then gradually begin to water occasionally. Once rooted they should be kept moist but not wet. I've found clay pots hold moisture during our hot summer without keeping the plants too wet.  It takes about 2 years for a cutting to bloom.

just about to bloom

To get the right amount of air flow, my pots are up on the edge of a wall in partial shade. The second perk to this location is that the sprinklers just lightly reach them.

While epiphyllums are not native to Southern California, the large valley carpenter bee will visit the blooms. Western fence lizards appreciate the elevated location and linger in the pots. And when the blooms open I am reminded how their shape is perfect for hugging a nectar eating bat. 

Finding Inspiration at the Southern California Spring Garden Show

Display by Don Davidson and Fiesta Parade Floats

Last weekend I dashed off to the Southern California Spring Garden Show at the South Coast Plaza with friends. There is something inspiring about the colors and shapes of plants and flowers even when they are showcased indoors.

The colors and textures were dazzling.

notice how the blocks of color are a blend of flowers

The Epiphyllum Society of America illustrated how variation in one plant can make for splendor.

The display gardens were filled with wondrous ideas. "Paint by the Numbers" presented by Living Landscapes (www.LivingLandscapes.us) demonstrated the power of color. (Even though I was looking for some native plants that would also provide habitat.)

"The Art of Exterior" presented by The Garden Gallery highlighted the art of humans and nature. (www.theggallery.com)

While the display garden by the Orange Coast College Horticultural Club & Architecture Technology (www.occhorticultureclub.wordpress.com) integrated natural forms with a complex structure that complimented the organic elements and created airy height.

I've never seen so many different kinds and colors of orchids anywhere in one location. Everywhere you looked there were inspirational shapes, colors, textures, combinations and the simple reminder that nature is rejuvenating.

Visit a local garden show, go for a walk in a local park or nature center. Take in the tonic of spring.

For more inspiration visit my friend Douglas Welch's blog A Gardner's Notebook for video and photos of the Southern California Spring Garden Show. Toward the end of the video, I promise there is a purple orchid like nothing you have ever seen.

Worm? Lizard or Snake?

How many times have you found a dried-up worm on the sidewalk? That was my first guess when I saw this desiccated, long-bodied shape on the steps in the backyard. But the body seemed too thick for the worms we typically find in our ground.

My heart sunk. Had someone stepped on one of our slender salamanders? But there were no little legs. Slender salamanders have tiny, but always visible legs.

When I picked it up I knew I was definitely looking at not a worm and not a salamander. This is a reptile. Now the question was lizard or snake?

This is a reptile because small scales are visually apparent. Worms and amphibians are creatures with soft permeable skin, no scales.

The specimen is not a full body. There is no head and no real torso. Some natural predator ate the front portion of this reptile. There are no legs, but I didn’t have much of the body and some lizards are legless. Turning it over instantly told me this was the back section of a snake, specifically a ringneck snake.

 How did I know that? If you look at the belly or dorsal side you can see elongated scales that go across the width of the belly. These are the scute scales that enable the snake to make its way across the ground without having legs. The scute scales end at the cloaca, the opening that serves both reproductive and elimination systems. So we are looking at the last 4-5 inches of a small snake.

The clue that this is a ringneck snake is the vivid orange color on the belly with numerous black spots or flecks. The ringneck snake is the only local California species with this coloration and this is most likely a San Bernardino ringneck snake (Diadophis punctatus modestus) the subspecies typical to our area.

I saw a live adult ringneck snake in the yard almost exactly a year ago. They never get too large, just 10-30 inches. The individual snake I saw was larger than this. Perhaps they are breeding in our oasis of native habitat. There are plenty of salamanders or western fence lizards and their eggs for these small snakes to eat.

I’m sad to see this beneficial and non-threatening snake dead. I’m not sure who ate it. Possibly either the raccoon, skunk or opossum that circle through our yard on a regular basis. I’m hoping that there are more of them hiding in the undergrowth–a healthy habitat needs small predators like snakes. 

"The Next Big Thing"

I was tagged! 

My friend and poetry teacher Julie Williams tagged me to participate in "The Next Big Thing" or Blog-o-sphere Project. "It is a fun way for writers all over the world to connect and share information about their current writing project or upcoming book."

Julie is a published poet and the author of a young adult novel-in-poems called ESCAPING TORNADO SEASON (HarperCollins). Her new YA novel, ALL THE WORLD'S A JUMBLE will be out next year (Roaring Brook Press, Macmillan). You can read more about her projects and see her multi-media art at http://juliewilliamsimagesandwords.blogspot.com/

Read Julie's "Next Big Thing" interview at Diane Kendig's blog. 
 
So now that I’m tagged here’s my secret - I have a book waiting in the wings.

What is the working title of your book?

Animal Tales; How Animals Taught Me to Laugh

Where did the idea come from for the book?

When my extended family gets together there is a tendency to tell stories. Typically, these tales involve animals in some way and the storyteller isn’t really doing their job if the yarn doesn’t end with everyone teary-eyed from laughing. It struck me that these stories were too good to let them disappear in the verbal ether. I started to write them down.

What genre does your book fall under?

Family humor with a bit of non-fiction.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

I can see Steve Martin as my dentist uncle faced with the conundrum of disposing of a dead goat in the middle of the city and Jack Black as my dad bottle-feeding a baby rabbit and training it to sit on his shoulder like a parrot.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Growing up surrounded by animals can profoundly influence how you find humor in the unexpected.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I think I’m going to publish this as an e-book.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

It started out as a few short stories, but gradually over several years it became a collection of tales.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I think it is a cross between James Harriot’s “Dog Stories” and “Cat Stories” and James Thurber’s “My Life and Hard Times.”

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

My Uncle, who is a wonderful storyteller, and my parents who brought a menagerie of animals into our home and taught me that all of these creatures were part of our family.

What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?

Animals, animals, animals.







Stay tuned for the writers I'm tagging.

Pocket Gopher - Villain or Hero?

Ahh! They are back. A pocket gopher has tunneled its way to the lower area of my front yard and undermined one of my native Douglas iris. In the past this area has been beyond their reach, but not any more.
 
Of course, the destructive gopher hones in on what it prefers, my native plants. 

The Douglas iris in the upper left is the current gopher target.

Previous gophers have eaten the roots and rhizomes right off of my native iris in the backyard. I’ve put metal screen boxes underground around plants. I’ve planted narcissus bulbs as alleged gopher deterrents. I’ve even joined my dog in digging them out. I curse the gophers, but they do have a purpose.

Our southern-California soil has a lot of clay. 

The gopher is kicking hard-packed clay up from under the sidewalk

This element of our soil was vital to the adobe bricks that built our missions and the clay tiles of Malibu and Catalina Tile Companies. The industrious, and hungry, pocket gopher tunnels through the hard soil searching out the roots of plants. 

As it builds its underground highway it aerates the soil and mixes the sediments. It creates underground pathways for water to flow and roots to follow. The gopher’s earthen works even provide a protected highway for other animals such as worms, arthropods and especially amphibians.

The underground tunnels of pocket gophers enable salamanders and frogs to travel in a moisture controlled environment without the threat of dehydration. Remember in southern California we have six or more months without rainfall. Gopher tunnels enabled California slender salamanders to travel from my backyard down into the lower areas of the front yard.

Even sections of collapsed tunnel create homes for western fence lizards and alligator lizards.

If only the pocket gopher would eat plants I don’t want. Well, here’s the rub, it is. The root and bulb of this noxious oxalis (an African invasive) has been sheared off by the gnawing teeth of the pocket gopher.  

underside of oxalis with root sheared right off

Living underground, pocket gophers were one of the few animals that survived the volcanic eruption of Mt. Saint Helens. Tunneling activity brought nutrient rich soil up through the volcanic ash layer creating opportunity for plants to reestablish. Just as in my yard, amphibians traveled back into oases of habitat through the gopher tunnels. When large animals, like elk came into the blast area from its edges, their feet broke through the gopher tunnels mixing soil with elk droppings thereby adding seeds and nutrients to the soil.

At Mt. Saint Helens, the pocket gopher is a hero. It would be a hero in my yard if...and here is the big if... if there were a medium-sized predator to control their overpopulating and devouring my entire garden. The coyote, red-tailed hawk and great horned owl seem to be focusing their efforts else where. That leaves me the task of being the predator controlling the gopher population. If the native iris are to survive–out comes the gopher trap.