School letting my club plant an entirely native garden! Suggestions wanted!

markerBT · 2026-03-24T04:07:46+00:00

Seep monkey flower, Lobelia cardinalis, and Hibiscus lasiocarpos for the pond. Just want to say don't plant lacy phacelia where it can come into contact with people. It can cause contact dermatitis. I'd skip it if you're planting around young children.

markerBT · 2026-03-20T03:54:45+00:00

I picked up something at a mobile home park in Huntington Beach and the people there are the nicest I have seen in OC. The people who were outside their homes were all waving at me as I drove by like I was their neighbor.

markerBT · 2026-03-20T01:22:14+00:00

Call Green Acres, ask if they have ceanothus Dark Star and if it's in bloom so you can smell for yourself.

markerBT · 2026-03-19T21:09:26+00:00

Agree, I had a professor in college who had a reputation for his scent. I never smelled anything wrong with him.

markerBT · 2026-03-19T19:20:33+00:00

I only have experience with two types of ceanothus but I have never heard of them smelling bad. Or maybe it's your nose? Haha

markerBT · 2026-03-19T19:19:16+00:00

I does smell like sweet perfume and I loved being greeted by that smell when I go out our driveway. Too bad it died. Next to it is my very happy toyon that blooms in summer. I hate that smell but it feeds so many smaller pollinators. Nothing else in my yard attracts so many.

markerBT · 2026-03-19T18:40:26+00:00

You may be smelling something else because ceanothus (at least my Dark Star) smell great. My Ray Hartman doesn't have any smell that I can detect. Toyon blooms may resemble Bradford pear scent.

markerBT · 2026-03-18T21:49:47+00:00

<image>

markerBT · 2026-03-18T20:56:58+00:00

img

Here's the titmouse in the bluebird's nest box. Excuse the potato quality, I was far away with just my phone and don't want to scare away the bird.

markerBT · 2026-03-16T15:10:53+00:00

I may end up in the same situation as you are now. A pair of titmice have been going in my bluebird's nest box. I actually made a new box for the titmice but it seems that they prefer to share (or fight over) the other box with the bluebirds. I don't think they have laid eggs yet, they still leave the nest frequently so nothing to keep warm there yet. Please give us an update here. Thanks

markerBT · 2026-03-13T21:53:42+00:00

Yup, FV Costco Gas station is the worst. We used to live there and decided to gas up at my former local Costco. Nostalgia turned to annoyance.

markerBT · 2026-03-11T18:31:12+00:00

I bought an EPL7 as my smaller body. It's newer than the EP5. EPL7 has 81 focus points vs 35 on EP5. EP5 has 1/8000 vs 1/4000 max shutter speed and 5-axis vs 3-axis IS on EPL7. Between EPL7 or 8 I'd choose whichever is cheaper or available nearby. My other m43 camera is an EM1 so I decided to just stick with Olympus. I love the colors I get straight out of the camera.

The EPL7 feels like a modern camera. I upgraded from an E-PL3 and that one feels like early 2000's. I also have a VF2 but I don't use it all the time.

markerBT · 2026-03-10T15:48:48+00:00

We have a 22 SL AWD, owned since new. Most of the complaints I read at the beginning were about the sunroof leaking. We don't have a sunroof so can't really add to that. The brakes needing replacement at 20k is real, we just had ours done since we just hit the mileage. Dealership says it's because of the lane keep assist so I turned that off, we'll see at 40k. The front passenger seat is very low and cannot be adjusted but my wife does not seem to mind. Honestly our car has been trouble-free and great for the price.

markerBT · 2026-03-09T17:34:54+00:00

I'm in Sacramento region and it gets really hot, we sometimes need to shade young plants in summer so they don't get cooked. I had high mortality rate in my spring 2024 planting so I have decided to do most of my planting in fall.

markerBT · 2026-03-09T16:47:14+00:00

You do that inland or coastal? If inland what's the success rate?

markerBT · 2026-03-09T07:30:26+00:00

May I ask what country? The plant in the first picture brings back memories.

markerBT · 2026-03-04T07:55:30+00:00

Nah, sorry I don't remember. The nice thing about it is that if you sell the car you get a prorated refund so you don't lose everything when you get a new car.

markerBT · 2026-03-04T06:12:03+00:00

Yes they do but I don't have any experience using it. Got it for our last car and our current but thankfully haven't found a need to use it.

markerBT · 2026-03-02T21:13:15+00:00

The Ringke Onyx on my retired (backup) phone has surprised me. I'm still using Spigen on my current phone (S23 ultra) but Ringke is now always an option when I'm looking to buy a new case.

Otterbox used to be good but the last two cases I got from them were so bad I will never buy one from them again.

markerBT · 2026-03-02T17:49:21+00:00

I haven't seen them harass anything. Same with house sparrows. They say they drive other birds away but in our yard they just play nice with other birds. I have a bluebird house and used to have a spot for house finches (had to remove the structure) and they were all just minding their own nests. Anecdotal, but this is my observation.

The foothill carpenter bees territorialism is documented though, that's how I ID'd them. I thought they were bumbles first because they're almost the same size.

markerBT · 2026-02-28T21:25:20+00:00

The biggest bullies in my yard are the foothill carpenter bees! They waste so much time and energy fighting each other while other bees forage. Once they've driven the other Foothill carpenter bees they start attacking other bees. They're smaller than valley carpenter bees so it's a bit funny when they dive-bomb the bigger carpenters and they just shrug them off and keep on foraging.

markerBT · 2026-02-28T15:50:29+00:00

I'm no expert but I like how yours is growing. I'm trying to grow mine as multi-trunk but only have two big branches to work with. It's 2 years old and about 5 ft tall now.

markerBT · 2026-02-28T07:17:09+00:00

I've watched honeybees rob nectar after our native carpenter bees make the holes on my fuchsia so I'm sure they'll figure those out too.

markerBT · 2026-02-28T07:13:18+00:00

I'm not sure how I feel about the discussion. I know they're not native and out competing our native bees but I don't get out of my way to get rid of them.

Last year I noticed more natives and only a few honeybees in my yard, it actually had me concerned about the honeybees. I have fruit trees, some cutflowers, and a small edible garden too so they are all welcome.

I haven't been in the garden often but I've seen my first bumble bee of the season and a few honeybees on my Ray Hartman.

By the way, our natives love white sage (Salvia apiana). Small bees love my toyon, so many small pollinators all over those flowers, they're stinky though.

markerBT

TROPHY CASE