creative jewish mom

Stunning Coral Vine With Tiny Pink Blooms In Harduf, Israel

This past summer we has the great pleasure of a three night stay on Kibbutz Harduf, (more about that soon) in the Southwestern corner of the Galil, and I saw a lovely vine with tiny flowers that I did not recognize. Fast forward, today I finally had to chance to do a bit of research to find out just what this charming plant is, and yes, it is called Coral Vine! It is not native to Israel, but rather Mexico, and it clearly loves the climate in Harduf.

Coral vines have beautiful heart shaped leaves and delicate flowers, and they are often used grown along a trellis, arbor or stone wall as their growth habit easily covers them with vines. And when in bloom they attract pollinators like hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees! It is a tropical plant, so don't know if I can give it a try, (we have winters that get down to freezing) but I just might have to if I find it at the nursery.

Before you fall in love with this plant, it is important to note that the vine spreads very easily by wind, water, and through dispersal of animal fecal matter. Coral vine patches are known to pop up far and wide, and their growth pattern can smother other plant species. This explains why they are considered in category 2 as an invasive exotic species by Florida's Pest Plant Council. So keep this in mind and lets learn more!

How to Plan a Large Vegetable Garden

Now that the shemittah year has passed, during which we did not work the land in Israel, we can start to think about vegetable gardens again! I don't have any land, but might be able to install some raised beds on a paved area, which could also work. I dream of having a cutting garden to fill vases with home grown flowers, though vegetables would be wonderful too! Setting up a vegetable garden can be very fulfilling, and the reward is enjoying the healthy food you grow yourself, and witnessing the miracle of it all! While you might not save money on food, you will certainly have fresher produce than if you were to purchase it in a store. And of course you can choose to go organic, and then you will quite likely save money. There are some important things to consider when setting up your vegetable garden, so keep on reading, and consider adding "gardener" to your growing list of talents!

Stunning Variegated Bougainvillea Bushes Grow In The Galil, Israel

Wow, when I saw this bougainvillea bush with variegated leaves during our recent stay on Kibbutz Harduf, I just could not believe my eyes. I thought I new just about everything about bougainvillea, but apparently not! It is widely available online, but I have not yet been able to find any info about it, and we are now heading out for more adventures! I can say that just as soon as the shemittah year is over (at rosh HaShana) and I can once again garden this is a plant on my list to purchase as it is truly stunning! The leaves remind me of my bower vine and the blooms are classic bougainvillea, just lovely! Keep on reading for some more photos!

White Daisies That Fill Containers Year After Year!

I'll admit, my poor container garden, while quite large, does get neglected now and again, and I have mostly filled pots with large plants that perform well with low effort on my part! The lemon tree that I've had for a good ten years at least, generally looks good, though it looks even better when the bottom of the pot is filled with something in bloom. Hello daisies, look at them now! (Well actually in November.) While I don't know the name of these particular daisies, they are small and grow in rounded clusters, and in our climate, despite some near freezing temperatures, they reseed and come back every year! It does take quite a few months to get this full look, but who can complain? So friends, next time you decide you need some flowers in your life, say to fill the bottom of a pot holding a tall tree of some kind, give daisies a try! If you go for daisies that stay relatively small like these, you can always up root them, and overwinter them indoors or in a green house. There were years when my pot was filled with pink daisies, that reseeded themselves, but somehow the white ones took over, and of course I can't complain as long as there are flowers!

Here in Israel, we are not planting as it is the shemittah year, the year in which we let the fields rest (and so too our gardens) but right after Rosh HaShana, I'll be running to the nursery! Mostly to replace a lemon verbena bush the husband drowned a few months ago, sadly, and one that I left out when it was way too cold for it......and such is life! Keep on reading for another photo of my daisies!

Hillsides Filled With Echium Pininana In Devil's Slide

As we were about to enter the Devil's Slide trail in Pacifica, CA, which I posted about here, I could not believe my eyes......... hillsides filled with tall cone like plants that truly looked like something only seen in Dr, Suess's imagination, not actually in real life! Wow, wow wow, it truly felt like I'd landed on another planet! Upon closer inspection, I did realize that this plant had quite a few similarities to my beloved Pride of Madeira which is also a coastal plant that does equally well in Northern Israel. Pride of Madeira is called Echium Candicans, namely in the Echium family, and when I got home and researched this plant, voila, Echium Pininana, so they are cousins. What can I say, hoping to capture this amazing plant dotting the hillsides in a painting or illustration and maybe I'll find some to enjoy in Israel sometime! Enjoy this little introduction to Echium Pininana!

Foxtail Agave Makes A Stunning Container Garden Addition

I just love Agave, and was so happy to see them in gardens and container gardens all over San Francisco, during our visit this past July. I'll admit I first became aware of them because they are used and grown in abundance in Australia, and I just so happen to follow the design/gardening scene on that huge continent via a very lovely site called the Design Files. Lest I digress, Australians love all things Californian, and now vice versa, the Agave has caught on in California, well northern at least, and it looks amazing! Lets take a closer look at this great looking plant, that by the way can also be grown in a huge clear glass vase, as Australians do! (This may not be long term though, so maybe don't try it on an expensive plant, but rather if  you have a bunch in the yard!

Gum Rock Rose, Cistus, The Flowering Shrub Of My Childhood!

On our recent trip to the San Francisco Bay Area I had a deja vu moment when I first spied this pink flower........it is THE most memorable flower from my childhood as we had some bushes lining the driveway and who can forget sticky leaves! I had truly forgotten about this tissue paper-like bloom, and I was so surprised when it just popped back into my consciousness! It really is quite remarkable, and unique, though like any drought tolerant blooming bush, likely used so much that folks might just tire of it? Really, a pink bloom like this? So maybe one bush will do, but do look into gum rock rose for your garden or even container garden! Okay, lets learn a bit more about this beauty, shall we?

Narrow-leaf Chalksticks, Senecio Vitalis Makes A Great Bedding Plant

We are now in the shemittah year in Israel, meaning we are letting the land rest, so no gardening, or at least no planting for me this year, but I can surely dream right? Plus, right now we are in the middle of Succot, when there is no crafting, so a great time to share some of my gardening discoveries from our trip to the USA this August, including this wonderful succulent, Senecio Vitalis!

This popular, ornamental spreading evergreen succulent plant hails from the Eastern Cape of South Africa and is a member of the Asteraceae family. Narrow-leaf chalksticks are both bedding plant and succulent, which is a great mix! I recently saw this large succulent bush, planted at the base of a japanese plu, and it was lovely indeed! It is deer-resistant and naturalizes easily in a wide variety of settings. It is a great choice for Mediterranean gardens, succulent gardens or rock gardens when paired with Kalanchoe, Agave or large Aloe. It does well as a bedding plant or border plant. It is an interesting choice in containers and even hanging baskets, but it does not do well when grown indoors as a house plant. Okay, lets learn a bit more about this interesting choice, (also referred to as Blue Chalk Fingers, Blue Chalk Stick, and Narrow-leaf Chalksticks), for your garden, shall we?

An Amazing Succulent: Rock Purslane

I love gardens and all things botanical and I am always on the lookout for interesting plants and great garden design, where ever our travels take us! The love for all things drought tolerant is particularly strong in California, by necessity, but also because so many of the drought tolerant species are just downright wonderful. I thought I was somewhat well versed regarding succulents, but apparently not, as an amazing succulent called Rock Purslane, somehow flew under my radar, has now come to my attention and wow, wow, wow! Look at those amazing vibrant pink flowers on tall stalks! I'm sold, of course we are now in the shemittah year here in Israel, meaning no new additions to my garden anytime soon, but I can dream! The really really amazing thing is that the leaves of the Rock Purslane look almost identical to the leaves of the Oribe Gorge succulent that is a part of my container garden, check it out here.

Hello Prague: Geraniums Add Whimsy To Historic Architecture

No matter where our travels take us, as a container gardening enthusiast I am always on the lookout for lovely window boxes and container gardens, commercial or not, and I often share these finding with you here. Our visit to Prague last October was no exception, and while the city does not seem to invest in numerous public installations of flowers on a large scale, there were sweet displays of colorful flowers, mostly in the form of window boxes, and overwhelmingly geraniums, here and there, prompting me to pull out my camera. So, as I continue sharing my photos from our trip a full year ago, lets pause for a moment and enjoy the charm that geraniums bring! I'll admit, once upon a time I looked down on geraniums as too commonplace, but now as an experienced container gardener I highly recommend them for their long blooming period, ease of propogation and variety of color and type. There are pillar geraniums which grow on tall stalks, and there are also trailing geraniums and then there are all the others that are neither trailing or upright, but something in between. If you have freezing winters in your neck of the world, cuttings from geraniums are taken before the first snowfall, and new plants are grown indoors or if you are lucky, in a greenhouse, until spring, when you can replant them outdoors. Okay, lets get inspired to include some geraniums in our lives, as who doesn't love non-stop blooms and bright flowers?