Updates

‘Kaleidoscope’- (new photos)

Cape HoneySuckle II - (Update)

Italian Stone Pine - (photos)

Getting Dried-Out

 Up until yesterday, I had not watered anybody since Dec. 23, last year. The record-setting rain that we got over the Xmas/New Year's holiday was almost 70-some percent of the annual average for so. California. And even though I had moved most of the plants "under-story", everything and everybody was soaked by the time it finally stopped, last week.

I did some watering yesterday & this morning, watered & fed every individual in the collection. Actually, I'm a little surprised that all of the trees, cuttings included, came through the storms OK.

These cuttings(photo) were taken last fall, rooted & potted in 3" plastic pots. One is a Lemon tree, the other a Dwarf Orange, but I've lost track of which is which; as they get older, it should be easier to tell one from the other.

Golden Euonymus (Goldie)

Apr. 2024

April 2024 and my plant odyssey began on the kitchen counter, with a box of peat pots, some plates & scavenged cuttings..cuttings from trees & bushes in the immediate area. 

That included the hedge in front of the apartment building..

These 2 survived, rooted & grew leaves; next step was to pot them, as pictured..

As the larger of the two grew, I decided to try to & mimic a "lollipop" shape to his canopy, a long stem/trunk & rounded shape on top, the shape he retains today

Sept. 2024

After a few more months, I potted the smaller of the two as a "faux-bonsai" & started potting cuttings from other plants. Some lived, some died, but all taught me the basic principles of horticulture & my first experience with miniatures.

The larger of the two was potted in a tray (4"X 6") & allowed to grow-on. This plant will be the focus of the Photo/History, going forward. I called him "Goldie".

Goldie remained in his tray for about 6 months. In December ('24) I potted him in what has become his permanent home.

Dec 2024

After almost a year, the potting medium had compacted & it was time for a re-pot, so in Dec. '25, I repotted "Goldie". 

Some minor root pruning & back in the same pot, with fresh potting soil & top dressing; no foliage pruning, as he has juvenile foliage that is due to open any day now, that will complete the "beach-ball" shape we're trying to develop.

Dec. 2025

(click here to access the ongoing Photo/History page for this plant or use the menu on the RH side of every page)

Update: Japanese Maple (Acer Palmatum)

Dec. 13, 2025 

JM is "back-budding"..growing new foliage to replace damaged leaves & growing new foliage on areas of the tree that were formerly bare of shoots or leaves (such as the lower trunk). I've begun "helping" the process along by pruning dead &/or dying leaves & will continue to do so. 

Dec 31, 2025

Removed the last leaf remaining on this tree, this morning; and hopefully, the last of the diseased foliage. New buds are popping up on both trunks & remaining lower branches, back-budding is well underway & a good sign that this tree is on the road to recovery, again.

If he survives, it will do much to change my mind about how delicate and temperamental the Acer's can be. I've been told that growing them in our hot, dry climate is problematic & I've had the experience of losing my first specimen to heat-stroke, so when this tree almost succumbed to a fungal infection, I really did not expect it to survive, but here he is, beat-up, naked, chopped & all, putting out new foliage..well, this is why we do this..the pure wonder of the will to live.

(complete history of this plant at https://www.jerryspatio.com/p/photoshistory-japanese-maple-acer.html )