After a full day of touring the Analamazaotra and Mitsinjo Reserves the day prior, and a good night’s rest at the Vakona Forest Lodge, I was ready to visit the much larger Mantadia National Park. Mantadia National Park and the Analamazaotra Reserve were once one large entity many years ago. Sadly, private logging and slash-and-burn agriculture have since divided the two….
It only took one day in the capital of Madagascar, Antananarivo, before I was antsy and wanting to get away from the traffic and crowds. I was ready to start my month-long adventure of living off the beaten track. My first stop of the ten key areas of Madagascar I planned to visit was to Andasibe and its surrounding…
When there is little information available on a plant, especially relating to cultivation in your area, the only way to learn more about it is to simply plant it. This was just the case with my Strophanthus boivinii. As anyone who regularly reads my blog knows, I am a big fan of Malagasy plants. When looking over the…
My wife wanted to do something different from our yearly routine this 4th of July weekend. I told her that if she wanted to plan something, I would temporarily relinquish my role as the Family Event Coordinator. So what does she plan for her first family trip with the new title? Palm Desert. In the middle of July! Not sure…
A few weeks ago I wrote a blog post showing off a bunch of my larger aloes that were in bloom. I mostly included the stem-forming varieties along with a few larger, non-stem-forming types. This week I will show some of my small aloes that were in flower around the same time. When growing dwarf or…
While aloes have been planted in Mediterranean climate gardens for centuries now, they have started to explode in both abundance and variety thanks in part to homeowners’ desire to plant more water-wise plants in their gardens. Here in Southern California we have seen water shortages lead to large water rate increases. With the current drought showing…
Over the long holiday weekend my wife and I decided to take our kids, dogs and bikes down to Campland on the Bay near Sea World to enjoy the warm weather and get more use out of our trailer. While down there, my lovely wife granted me a free day as long as I took my son with me….
Back in April I posted about the transplanting of a Jubaea chilensis from my good friend’s garden to my own yard. During that transplant I also moved two Dypsis leptocheilos at the same time but did not post anything about it. Due to all the other blog material that has been loaded since, I really haven’t had time to document…