Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Monday is Martin Luther King Day in the U.S., and we're having our local celebration tomorrow afternoon at 1 pm at Woodlawn United Methodist Church, 1425 NE Dekum St. We'll be packaging food for those less fortunate and then celebrating through word and song. As in past years, I'll be bringing my guitar to lead the group in the concluding song, "We Shall Overcome!" If you're in the area, please drop by.

Echeveria elegans and Echeveria elegans crest

One of the classic echeverias is Echeveria elegans, easy to grow and still always impressive and striking. Sometimes called the "Mexican Snowball" or the "Mexican Gem", the top picture shows the normal plant and the bottom picture shows a crest, in this case over 20 cm. across.

The plants are native to the Chihuahuan-Tehuacan desert area of Northern Mexico.

Enjoy your plants.

Haworthia emelyae var. comptoniana

As we look forward to our expected first snow flurry of the year, my attention goes back inside the greenhouse. Actually, I wish I could have been out in the greenhouses with the plants, but had to spend my time packing plants for shipments to California, Florida and here in Portland. So Lynn-Marie did all the photography, catching these beauties. Wonderful plants with lovely markings.

Of course we still take time most days to have a short break in the afternoon for an Irish coffee or a latte. Yesterday it was lattes made on our little home "espresso" machine. I like to make them with the coffee and milk separated and a little whipped cream along with the foam...plus some dark chocolate shavings and a little cinnamon. Mmmmm.

Enjoy your plants

...and your latte, or...

Agave montana 'Baccarat'

Finally, I'm back, computer problems behind me.  Tonight the featured photo is of Agave montana 'Baccarat', with its distinctive leaf imprints and showy spines.

We have always been drawn to agaves (not too close!) and even though we don't have enough room, our collection keeps growing. About half of them are on our unheated enclosed porch because there's no room in the greenhouses. It hasn't gotten extremely cold yet this winter, but we've had several hard freezes, and they're all doing fine.

Enjoy your plants!

Update

There's a reason I haven't posted anything lately. A few days ago my computer monitor went dead. I've managed to borrow one for the time being, so after I finish some computer updates I'll be back up with more pictures. Things are beginning to perk up a bit in the greenhouses so I should be able to get some good photos.

Tylecodon buchholzianus

This is one plant I can't get enough of: Tylecodon buchholzianus. This isn't a pretty plant by any stretch of the imagination. Don't expect any fancy, frilly leaves anytime soon. In fact, it's a down right weird plant. I don't know what that says about me, but I don't really care. I am who I am and I like what I like.

So, as always, enjoy your plants...even the weird ones!

Dioscorea elephantipes

We don't have a lot of flowers right now. (Actually we have one rose bud which has been trying to open for the last month or so and hasn't been hit by the couple of hard frosts we've had so far.) But even when we don't have flowers, we have the plants themselves. Our eyes are especially drawn to the pachyform plants such as this Dioscorea elephantipes.
This is the famous "Elephant's Foot" from southwestern South Africa. Not a difficult plant to grow if you remember to hold back on the water when the plant is dormant and the vine dies back during the heat of summer. Also, patience is a virtue as the plant isn't especially fast growing. But they'll live for up to 70 years in cultivation.

Happy New Year!

Best wishes for a blessed and prosperous New Year for all who read this.
This is a January 1 photo of our house - eight years ago. There's no snow this year; and besides, it's still dark outside. It's 1:10 am and when you turn 72, you just can't stay up to those wee hours of the morning as easily.
And so I send my greetings from this old, gray-haired (what few hairs are left) man and from his still young and beautiful wife of 40 some years: Happy New Year!

And...enjoy your plants!