Aeonium Mint 03/15/25Aeonium Mint Decapitated 04/12/25
Decapitated Life cycle interrupted Obstructing the path
I shouldn’t be surprised. After all, it was just a matter of time that a neighbor would complain to Management about a plant obstructing our sidewalk. It’s not the first time. On separate occasions, I’ve had two neighbors complain about a rosebush and potted palm getting in their way. Since then, I’m usually diligent in trimming excessive growth. This time, I couldn’t bring myself to cut back the glorious bloom of the Aeonium Mint invading our space.
With motherhood comes great responsibility to raise a child in the world without guarantees for their safety and growth
Decapitated for being different for obstructing the path of others by the bullies, the haters, the abductors the destroyers of lives In a natural world abounding with diversity
Rosaliene’s Garden: Bee visiting flowers of Aeonium Mint 04/27/25
The children of humankind nurse at the breasts of Mother Earth She gives freely to all for we are all worthy of her grace Such is the miracle of being
Rosaliene’s Succulent Garden – Summer 2024 – Los Angeles – Southern California
This summer, June through August 2024, the average temperature for the contiguous American states was 73.8° F (23.2°C) – 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit above average – ranking as our nation’s fourth-hottest summer on record. So says NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information. California – together with Arizona, Florida, Maine, and New Hampshire – “sizzled through their warmest summer on record.” Heatwaves are growing more frequent, more extreme, and longer lasting in the U.S. West and across the world as the climate crisis drives increasingly severe and dangerous weather conditions.
To end this summer with a bang, an excessive heatwave arrived on Thursday, September 5th, bringing a record-breaking temperature of 112°F (44.4°C) in downtown Los Angeles on Friday, September 6th, says the National Weather Service. With temperatures in the nineties in our neighborhood in West Los Angeles for five days straight, I was forced to stay indoors – no weekend gardening – until relief came on Tuesday, September 10th.
Rosaliene’s Succulent Garden – Los Angeles – Southern California – December 8, 2022
In August, I shared my challenge of “Creating a drought-resistant garden in The City of Angels.” By October, I completed the painful task of uprooting the plants struggling to adapt to our extreme heat and drought. I’m happy to report that most of the plants have adjusted well to once-a-week watering, a fifty percent reduction.
Not surprisingly, the Aeonium Mint succulent plants suffered the most. I uprooted three plants in areas where they faced over four hours of intense afternoon sunlight. What a difference from their cousin, shown on the right, that receives only a few hours of direct sun in the morning!
Aeonium Mint – Afternoon Sun – September 28Aeonium Mint – Morning Sun – September 28
The expansive, five-foot-tall Pencil or Firestick plants have all partially collapsed. After cutting off the collapsed branches and trimming the fleshy stems, I fortified the remaining branches with wooden sticks, as shown in the photo below. The Firestick is my favorite succulent plant for adding height and color—red, orange, yellow, and green—to a succulent garden with few seasonal flowering plants.
Pencil or Firestick Succulent Plant – December 8
The ten-year-old, three-foot-tall jade plant, rooted in the ground, is also not happy with water rationing. On Thanksgiving Day, another branch collapsed. I sliced off the branch and did a general pruning to reduce the weight on the remaining branches. To prevent another collapse, I secured all the branches together with green ribbon, as pictured below. I’m considering the painful choice of cutting down the plant; I will wait and see if it recovers with less evaporation over the winter months.
The potted jade is doing very well. I marvel at the way plants adapt to the confining space. As shown in the photo to the right, the leaves with orange edges are much smaller than its all-green, earth-rooted relative.
Jade Plant – December 8Potted Jade Plant – December 8
I reserve the gray water I save after domestic use for my son’s three potted fruit trees—guava, lime, and orange—as well as my vegetable plants. The infrequent visits of Mother Nature’s pollinators have been the greatest constraint for our dwarfed fruit trees. After several years of watching their blossoms fall from the stems, I was surprised this year to see the appearance of two oranges, five guavas, and several limes. The lime tree has shed most of its leaves following the drop in temperatures.
Potted Guava Tree – December 8Potted Lime Tree – December 8Potted Orange Tree – December 8
The Christmas Cactus is now in full bloom, adding color to my garden plot. But it’s the Camellia trees—now laden with buds and early flowers of pink, red and white—and an Indian Hawthorn shrub that steal the show at this time of the year. (All photos were taken on December 8.)
Christmas CactusIndian Hawthorn ShrubCamellia Tree
NOTE: The captioned photo is a section of our largest garden plot, located across from my apartment.
Three Worlds One Vision 