Turns out Peabody, mother to Sweetpea, is called a peahen, not a peacock. In my defense, Wikipedia states that “In common English usage, however, “peacock” is used to mean any peafowl.”
Doesn’t this beg the question, why the rather masculine-sounding “Peabody”? Why not “Penelope”, “Petunia” or “Prudence”?
My friend Cheryl’s peacock (let me make it clear that she did not go out and buy a peacock… it just appeared in her yard one day because things like this happen in Carmichael) is raising one of her almost-breakfast eggs from one of her chickens! It’s so cute to watch the little “furry golf ball”, as Cheryl put it, running behind it’s “mama”.
I tried to catch this adorable family on video, but who knew poultry (are peacocks poultry?) could run so fast? Bad videography aside, it’s still pretty cute.
Click the photo or this link to watch video.
If I seem a little behind in weekly updates to SacramentoGardening.com, it’s because I’m in the process of switching computers and moving my new computer from “Command Central”, a location sandwiched between my kitchen and family room, to a corner of an upstairs guest room. Hey, it ain’t much, but it’ll afford me the quiet and privacy (and ability to focus) I’ve been so desperately craving.
On the garden front… I’m looking forward to putting in some fall color. I still get really excited when I see pansies showing up in nurseries after a long, hot summer. Along with pansies, I’m eagerly anticipating nursery displays of Japanese anemones, mums, pumpkins and more!
In a garden bed that will one day be home to closely-planted fruit shrubs, I planted pumpkins and lemon cucumbers. The pumpkin is ‘Big Max’, a typically 18-inch pumpkin, but with my minimal care the largest pumpkin is only about 14 inches in diameter. Still, it’s a really cool pumpkin which is already developing a nice orange tint! Here, let me show you.
I never did find the driftwood thingy I was looking for, but did manage to go to North Star Nursery (across from the Mendo. Bot. Gardens in Fort Bragg) and pick up some fun plants. I let intuition be my guide and came home with a bit o’ this and a bit o’ that.
Some of the new plants ended up in my cobalt pot from Berkeley Hort.
Plants include: Gaillardia ‘Fanfare’, Mimulus Calypso Mix, Nemesia ‘Sunsation Peach’, and ‘Raspberry Ruffles’ coleus.
Reclining in this rental house’s Barcalounger with a laptop warming my legs, I need only lift my eyes from the screen to get a panoramic view of the Pacific Ocean and rugged bluffs. It was sunny this morning, but the fog’s rolling in early. That’s ok by me because I know it’ll be around 102 in Sacramento today.
Want to know what’s blooming in Mendocino? Passion vine, nasturtium, sweet peas, penstemon, lupine, naked ladies, poppies, alstroemeria and more… Because of the fog, the quality of light here is incredible and flower colors don’t fade. A photographer’s dream.
I hope to hit a nursery and driftwood store today.
I’ll be back in Pyrethrumtown tomorrow night. Until then…
