Revisiting the Marin Headlands // Battery Townsley // Hill 88

Nothing stays the same, but that's precisely why I love my surroundings. Some could call me a creature of habit, because I often visit the same spots I've frequented in the past. It's true, I have favorite spots, but I always experience something new. With new perspectives and interests, I find myself exploring different aspects of a place I thought I was familiar with. An example of this is Battery Townsley & Hill 88 in the Marin Headlands, where the first time I visited Hill 88 all of the buildings got a fresh new coat of paint. Last Sunday I went back to Hill 88 to find new art all over the walls.

Old bunkers on the way to Hill 88 

As we made our way towards Hill 88, I found myself getting really excited, wondering what I would see this time...

One year later since my first visit, and the walls were bare with a coat of paint.

Overcast days are good days to hike, although it was VERY humid. As the seasons change, new plants, mosses, and colors make appearances along the rocky cliff side. I'm especially tickled by these pink succulents growing along the rocks:

 These little succulents remind me of rosettes

Lime green lichen

We made our way back to the Back to the Gun-pit-turned-Newt-Pool, and departed from there. I plan on returning in the Wintertime, I'm eager to see the different plants, critters, and rock formations that may appear. 

~Toodles

Succulent Saturday's Gardening Project

Happy Succulent Saturday~

Once in a while I'm asked to help out with a succulent project, and this 2-week project was definitely a fun one! Some folks asked me to pretty up their front driveway, so I got another chance to get creative! Take a look at this beautiful bounty:

I got most of these succulents from Home Depot and Sloat Gardens. I should note that this is the first time I got more than one succulent from Home Depot. I haven't had much luck with large Gardening Centers like Lowes and Home Depot, in fact, prior to this project I actively avoided Home Depot's Gardening Center because I only seemed to find sickly, wilted, gummy, or leggy succulents. This time, maybe out of sheer luck or they found a better way to take care of their plants, I lucked out. These babies actually look very healthy and plump:

As a general rule of thumb, I examine each plant to make sure there is no browning/molding, leggy stems, and gummy leaves. I'm sort of surprised that I found some nice succulents, I'll be sure to provide updates on how they look in a couple of weeks after being potted. 

So here are the finished pots, keep in mind that it isn't going to look 100% quite yet. There is a lot of room between plants, so in a couple of months I hope to see these pots overflowing with succulents!

Life Lately: Succulent Babies, Coastal Life, and Mossy Mount Davidson

Brief update on my succulent babies: lots of propagation! The rains have actually jump-started their growth and I'm so excited to make more itty bitty terrariums for my friends!

I've been walking along Ocean Beach and I love when the beach is empty and the skies are overcast. Gloomy weather is the perfect time to walk along the beach and listen to music. I haven't had as many opportunities to go to the beach ever since I started my new job, but every time I do go I leave feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. I know I say this all the time, but I'm such a water/earth baby--I find peace of mind when I'm surrounded by the ocean, trees, mountains--you name it. It's a place of refuge for me. 

Weekends seem to be the only times I am free to explore, so on Sunday my friends and I hiked to Mount Davidson, where the fog and mist makes its home within the trees...

I spent some time scanning the floors and rocks and spotted a ton of different mosses and lichens...

Even more exciting, I spotted lots of gorgeous fungi coming out after the rains!

Lots of strap coral fungi on some fallen trees...

Spotting tiny little mushrooms always make my day, I still got the eye for spotting the tiniest little mushrooms! 

This was my favorite find of the day--some jelly fungi that reminded me of yellow skittles or jelly beans.

Spotting all the fungi made me especially happy and excited, because I haven't spotted any cool mushrooms lately. If you're into mushroom hunting, Mount Davidson has the perfect micro-climate for them--it's usually really wet and misty, and if you venture off the trails *just a little bit* you might be surprised at what you find!

As I mentioned in my previous post, most of my photos are on instagram (@terrariumtherapy), but keep checking back here--I have pictures from Portland, OR coming soon :)

An update on my life...

I'm still here. This past month I've been job hunting, trying to finish the last of my thesis, and hike/forage for just about anything.

Good news: I am now employed! I found a wonderful nonprofit organization in the Bay Area, and I feel like it is such a great fit. I'm slowly adjusting to a full-time schedule, which is unlike the past couple of years as a student with a fairly flexible schedule.

Sort-of-OKAY-news: I have a feeling that the future blog posts here will be much shorter, of course there will be tons of photos from my trips, but much more abbreviated, I suppose. If you'd like a more current feed of my adventures, go to my instagram: @Terrariumtherapy

Anywho, here are some photos from my last trek to Glass Beach this year. Remember when I went last year? Well, last month I made it a point to return to Fort Bragg, and I spent HOURS beachcombing! It was wonderful, I tell ya! So many colors, so much history behind the broken glass and tableware that washes ashore...

SEA GLASS. SO MUCH SEA GLASS.

Post sorting...I love those blues and greens.

My favorites of the day: broken pottery, jadeite, milk glass, blue sea glass, and even an old apothecary bottle stopper!

In addition to beautiful sea glass, I also spotted some natural beauties on our way home...

Beautiful coastal succulents I found growing along a cliff...

And some interesting fungi...

More updates to come...I'm sort of backlogged right now, but I promise, this blog is not dead. 

It's December Already?

I spent the first day of December in my backyard planting and re-potting my plants. I initially woke up in a panic upon realizing it's already December, but I was determined to finish my project: Plant All of the Succulents. I started this planting project several months ago and now I have to re-pot some of my plants because they're getting too big! 

Here is a little re-cap of my day and some of the plantings I made...

Some succulents that got too big for their pots.

Sweet, sweet Poochie kept me company outside.

Cuttings and little babies

My bowl of succulent babies

Echeverias, Sedum and a Kalanchoe planting

A forest-like succulent arrangement

Today was so relaxing. What a nice end to my Thanksgiving break! In addition to planting, I also made some new terrarium necklaces! Check out my Etsy later this week, I'm listing new items!

[Blog Feature] Needles + Leaves || Guide to Propagating Succulents

(Photo: Needles  + Leaves)

 In the past couple of years I've tried propagating my own succulents but have often had partial success. I figured just plucking the babies from the 'mother' would be sufficient, only to find that they had no roots and often withered away before they rooted. I also had several succulents that lost their tight coils and got a little leggy, so they weren't looking too good in plantings.

While I tried to figure out the next step, I met fellow succulent-lover Tawni of Needles + Leaves who wrote a fabulous post on how to propagate succulents, which was perfect for my situation: some of my indoor succulents got 'leggy' due to lack of sunlight. Instead of ignoring them, I realized I could still propagate them and start fresh with a new outdoor batch of succulents.

(photo: Needles + Leaves)

 

 

Patience is a virtue: the stump started growing babies too! (photo: Needles + Leaves)

After reading through Tawni's guide, I realized I made some big mistakes in my last attempts: I threw out the stump when I could have saved it and produced more babies. It seems like a 'duh' moment now, but at the time I wasn't thinking and figured I had enough leaves to propagate. Tawni doesn't waste a single part of the plant. Lesson learned. 

So I followed Tawni's guide, and so far, so good. I have all of my little leaves laid out on some cactus soil and letting them callous over. As of now, I'm playing the waiting game. Some leaves have already sprouted roots, and I'm hoping to show my succulent's progress within the next few weeks. You can see the rest of Tawni's steps/results in her blog.

 
Be sure to check out Needles + Leaves, there are great posts on taking care of succulents, and even a tutorial for making your very own succulent crown!

Cheers to new friends and succulent lovers!

Cookies & Cacti

I am a sucker for sugar cookies--especially if I get to decorate them with oodles of sprinkles and frosting! Today's batch features succulents--ones that I wish I had in my own backyard. They're almost too pretty to eat them...

Update--July 13: I ate 'em. And they were delicious.

June's Succulent Planting Party (Continued)

So last week I started what I thought was going to be a one-day project...and it didn't happen that way. I decided to continue the planting this week, armed with shovels, pebbles, succulent dishes, and a bottle of champagne. Can I just say, that this week's planting activities were way more awesome than last week?!

Most of my succulents have outgrown their original pots so I'm planning to plant them all together in a larger dish. Some of my cuttings and plants are too small, so I'm going to plant them in cute little pots.

 I love the variety of colors succulents have--some are frosty blue with lavender tips while others have beautiful shades of reds and pinks. A lot of succulents actually turn pink in the sun (that is if they don't burn, so be careful!)

 I often don't know what to do with the extremely tiny cuttings, but this time I was prepared--I went out and bought these teeny tiny 2-inch pots and clustered the little cuttings all together:

Here are the two I did so far. Aren't they cute?! I have a couple more plantings to finish from yesterday, but today's rain sort of shooed me back inside, so I'm going to have to continue this later on in the week. More plantings are coming soon, I promise!