Another sunny, warm day to start the month of December. The coldest part of the year can come right before Christmas, but I’d rather think about how nice it was today.
A warm breeze was blowing this morning; the dog insisted on getting up at twenty to six for breakfast. He had to wait two hours before going on his walk because I didn’t want to step in coyote poop; the breeze was warm on the canal road, but freezing cold along the creek, where it comes straight down from the foothills five miles away and 2300 feet higher.
I took some pictures (obvious by scrolling down) of nothing in particular for no reason at all, except that the plants were there. I was appalled at the slovenly maintenance sometimes in evidence, especially where watering was concerned. Losses in the troughs this year were excessively high. I need to figure out a way to make it rain when I need it to.
The fact that I don’t know half the names of the plants isn’t such a good sign, either. In my defense, most of these plants simply appeared here, and grew.
this is a self-sown seedling; from the wavy leaf margins I’m guessing Cyclamen cilicium.
a mystery daphne, also a self-sown seedling. daphnes can be slightly weedy here….
Draba bryoides, I believe, falling out of the trough. I wonder where it thinks it’s going.
this is either Sempervivum arachnoideum var. bryoides or a self-sown hybrid.
Androsace carnea x pyrenaica. It’s either one of the named hybrids or a self-sown seedling; this trough has had a succession of these hybrids in it, so anything is possible.
Draba acaulis, also self-sown, also trying to climb out of its trough.
a seedling silver saxifrage.
another silver saxifrage, a fairly green one, Saxifraga x zimmeteri, I guess.
a group of porophyllum saxifrages whose labels are buried deep in the gritty soil of the trough. lots of drought damage visible on the right.
the wooly ajuga. I thought this was Ajuga chamaepitys subsp. glareosa, but now I wonder if it’s not A. bombycina. They look quite similar. Spent flowers, but there are some open ones out of the picture.
Phlox canescens, or whatever they call it now, in its winter dormant apparel. About 80 percent of the plant was eaten just a few days ago.
Onosma caerulescens. one of the few onosmas pleasant to touch.
Quercus undulata, maybe, grown from acorns collected by Allan Taylor. For some reason I have a hard time getting this in focus. Maybe I need an oak lens.
an extra-blue juniper from Jerry Morris, a three-way cross he found in Montana.
another oak from Allan. Purple foliage in autumn is nice; sets off the smooth brome invading the back garden.
the miserable gardener 
Let us know if you find an oak lens!
I don’t know what it is with me and this oak. Maybe my hands tremble with excitement when I see it, or, more likely, I don’t know what I’m doing with the camera.
Bob
Love the color of those blurry oak leaves. — By the way, do you know if saxifrages in general are eaten by elk and deer (as well as rabbits)?
Everything is eaten by rabbits. If it grows, they’ll at least gnaw on it a bit.
Deer and elk I don’t know. Didn’t see the herd of elk here this year, and they’re not allowed in the rock gardens anyway.
Bob