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Plants, Ecosystems, Climate – Northern California

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Robert:
Hi Lois,

Right now I am very busy at our Placerville farm. In addition, I am busy writing an extensive article for one of the journals. Excellent progress is being made, but there is a need to stay focused. I wish to put forth my best effort on this writing project and have it done in a timely way. I will get back to you in a few days.

Monardella breweri ssp. lanceolata is in full bloom right now and is looking great. This season we are having mixed results with our Pluots and Plums. Our Satsuma plum is still young but we do have some fruit. It will take a few more years before our orchard is back in good condition again. I was difficult to see the orchard decline, but now that caregiving is over the orchard is coming back strong. More on this progress later.

Remember when Phillips Farms sold fruit at the Farmers’ Market? I know that they sold at the Davis Farmers’ Market as well as under the W-X Freeway in Sacramento on Sundays. We did the W-X for decades. I am way too old for this stuff now. Now I ONLY grow for the family.

Robert:
Hi Lois,

You can view the reply to your posting under the title “Robert’s and Jasmin’s Garden Paradise”. This is under the Blogs and Diaries subject heading, the second from the top.

Robert:


When I was out last week I came across a nice stand of Cardinal Monkeyflower, Erythranthe cardinalis, in full bloom. Over the years I have observed some variation in the number of open flowers each individual plant produces. The plants I encountered were about average for our region.



The flowers of Erythranthe cardinalis are an intense orange-red with a yellow throat.



The exciting find for the day was a very interesting stand of the annual species Diplacus viscidus.



The plants in this colony did not exactly match the type description for Diplacus viscidus. Nevertheless, the plants were extremely attractive!



Exploring the area further, I found these white flowering Diplacus. They best matched Diplacus viscidus but still did not match the type description. In addition, I am not aware of any documented white forms of Diplacus viscidus. Apparent hybrids between the pink and white forms were observed. A thorough search was made in the vicinity of these off-type plants. I never found any plants that completely matched the type description for Diplacus viscidus. It was very interesting that scattered plants of the white type were observed a considerable distance from the highest concentration of blooming plants.

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