'Tis the season of pineapple sage blossoms and hummingbirds

All summer long the pineapple sage (Salvia elegans) grows without blooming. As a perennial in our climate, summer is its time to finish growing back from the annual "haircut" it gets in January or February when I cut it back almost all the way down to the ground. This bush has been in the ground for about 10 years and does better with the severe once-a-year prune as opposed to lighter more frequent pruning.

In autumn, when the rest of the flowers in the gardens have faded and fallen, the pineapple sage puts on its show. Dazzlingly bright scarlet trumpet flowers bloom and adorn the bushes from mid-October until often well into holiday season between American Thanksgiving and Christmas. In years past I've cut large sprigs off to decorate my Thanksgiving table.

This year, I tried growing pineapple sage in a pot on the deck outside my studio window, so I'd have hummingbirds there too like I used to before the deck was constructed a couple of years ago. The bush in the pot struggled throughout the summer but bounced back in September and is blooming nonetheless.

The pineapple sage comes by its name honestly. If you crush a leaf in your hand and hold it to your nose you can smell the tropical sweetness of pineapples.

The blooms must also be full of sweetness because the hummingbirds love them. Many a fight breaks out in the air over the pineapple sage as our Anna's hummingbirds refuse to share the bounty nicely.

This little gal didn't have to share this afternoon. Lucky her.

In only a couple of hours the mystery has been solved!

I just LOVE technology! In a matter of hours, one comment from one person solved a mystery that's been bugging me for years (see the post below or click here to read it).

Thanks to Elaine I now know that this photo is of the Bernheimer Oriental Gardens in Pacific Palisades, California.

Once Elaine gave me a name, I was able to do a quick Google search and I found the following photograph at CardCow.com

Those elephants are definitely the same statuary in the photograph taken by my grandmother (below).

From www.image-archeology.com:

Bernheimer Residence and Oriental Japanese Gardens Pacific Palisades & Hollywood, California

16980 Sunset Blvd, Pacific Palisades, California Bernheimer Residence and Gardens In 1924 Adolph Bernheimer leased the Pacific Palisades location, which was being used as a mule camp in the construction of highways. Adolph supervised every detail of building the complex of oriental structures as his personal residence. It housed his ancient oriental collection. It also was a horticultural showplace. The Bernheimer Gardens flourished as a tourist attraction until 1941, averaging 5,000 visitors a week. World War II was a factor in its fall from grace -- because it was oriental and because Adolph Bernheimer was of German origin. This triggered contempt and led to vandalism. Adolph's passing in 1944, financial difficulties and land erosion, caused the Oriental Gardens to slip into a state of disrepair. The property was vacated in the late 1940s and the treasures were sold at auction in 1951. All of the structures were demolished in the early 1950s. An apartment complex was built at the West End of the property and the rest of the property is still vacant land. The above map is from a Bernheimer Oriental Gardens brochure (see full brochure below). Thanks to Mary Louise for providing this history; various sources used.

It looks like Hubby and I won't be taking any road trips to see this beautiful landmark. We're both sad that it no longer exists.

Want to help solve a mystery? Identify the California landmark in these photos from the 1930s

My Grammy was quite the shutterbug. And, for the most part, she was really good about organizing her photos chronologically in nice neat photo albums (you know the kind with the thick construction paper pages and photo squares to secure the corners of the photos). In the late 1930s, as a single woman in her 20's she did a few road trips that she documented photographically and then put into a small album that surfaced a few years ago.

Here's where the mystery comes in...

She failed to label one section of photographs in the little album and I have no idea where they were taken.

Here's what I do know:

• The photos are definitely from one particular road trip.
• Based on proximity to other labeled photos and the ages of the people in the photos the trip happened around 1937-1939.
• She took the trip with her widowed father and kid brother. The destination appears to have been Sequoia National Forest based on the photo below (the sign says, "Boundary Sequoia National Forest").

• The road trip started in Oakland, California. I know from the photo above that they definitely visited the Sequoia National Forest in central California (see the map below) while on the road trip.

• The Asian gardens in the photographs I've included in this post must have been located somewhere in central or southern-central California.
• The first photograph (above) looks like the gardens may have been along the coast of California.
• The sub-tropical plants in the photos of the Asian gardens indicate that the elevation isn't high enough for the climate to get a lot of winter frost and probably not any snow.

Can you help solve the mystery? Does anything in these photographs look familiar?

I would love to know if these gardens still exist, so Hubby and I could take our own road trip to visit them. The statuary in the photographs is amazing. I wonder if any of it still exists.

Look at the elephant statuary crossing the bridge (below)

Dahlia fireworks

To me, the dahlia petals look like they are exploding from the center of each flower.

How many licks does it take to get the center of... a dahlia???

These deep purple dahlias almost look good enough to eat... almost.

Meeting Mr. Gray Fox

Local to us is a wonderful facility that rescues and rehabilitates wildlife called the Lindsay Wildlife Museum. A little over a week ago, Hubby and I took the opportunity to visit and had the pleasure of meeting this handsome little guy, a gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus californicus).

This handsome fellow was found by humans in their barn when he was a young orphaned kit (or pup) and tried to raise him on their own. But the well-meaning humans found that raising a wild animal is something better left to professionals when the fox got sick after a few months. That's how the fox came to the Lindsay Wildlife Museum where he was rehabilitated. But because he had been orphaned so young he hadn't learned the ability to hunt in the wild from his parents, so he couldn't be released back into the wild. When injury or circumstances preclude the optimal release back into the wild that is the goal of most rehabilitated animals, Lindsay Wildlife Museum makes a permanent residence for the animal in their educational facility where the animal can become an ambassador for teaching people of all ages.

Mr. Gray Fox is one of the museum's most popular ambassador right now. He's only a couple of years old so he has a long career ahead of him (he'll most likely live to be 12-14 years old in captivity).

We sat and watched Mr. Gray Fox for about an hour as he excitedly anticipated feeding and "training" time (which we were also able to watch). We were fascinated by his beauty and memorized everything about him. It was the first time we had seen a gray fox, so Mr. Gray Fox was definitely doing his educational ambassador job with us.

A week after our educational visit, Hubby and I came home late in the evening from being out. We pulled into our driveway, and Hubby got out of the truck to retrieve our recycling, green waste and garbage cans from the curb. As he did so, he saw an animal that he mistook for a neighborhood cat at first. It crossed from our neighbor's yard across the street less than 10 yards from where Hubby stood. Because of our educational experience with Mr. Gray Fox at the Lindsay Wildlife Museum, Hubby realized that the animal wasn't a cat. It was a gray fox!

Hubby slowly walked to where the fox had headed into our next door neighbor's driveway and had disappeared from view behind our jasmine hedge. As Hubby rounded the corner of the hedge, the fox trotted back out toward him across our narrow country-lane-of-a-street, then zig-zagged back across to our side of the street again to our other next door neighbor's yard. All the while Hubby was standing in the middle of the fox's zig-zagging getting a perfect view of this incredible creature that humans rarely see the in wild because of their shy nocturnal habits.

When the sighting finally ended with the fox disappearing into the neighbor's yard, Hubby called out to me (I was still up by the house) in a loud whisper, "I just saw a gray fox!" He was so excited. And so was I when he recounted the sighting to me. I wish I hadn't missed it.

We are thrilled that after 11 years here at Rosehaven Cottage, we finally witnessed a gray fox living here. We hope it has frequented our own backyard wildlife habitat and not just our neighbors' yards. The gray fox is the only member of the canine family that climbs trees, and we have some of those for it to climb during the night-time hours when it hunts. Hopefully, it hunts in our garden and helps itself to some rodents. Our garden wildlife habitat is small by most standards but the "welcome mat" is always out.

A helpful tip from the Lindsay Wildlife Museum's "Living With Wildlife" information:

Prune trees and shrubs between October and December

In Northern California and other temperate areas of the United States, some birds and mammals begin nesting in January. The nesting season lasts into August. When you prune trees and shrubs during those months, check carefully for nests and be sure any babies are gone before you prune. The safest time to prune is between October and December.

Click here to learn more about how you can garden for wildlife

(Insider info: My garden and produce are healthier and happier

since I started gardening for wildlife)