Black Mission Fig

On Earth Day we attended a educational event at the Alexandria Zoo  and among the plants we got there were a black mission fig and two longleaf fir trees. 
I have wished I would have written down what she said about our tree but I believe she said ours was
developed into bush type instead of a tree which would be nice as these trees can grow from 10ft to 30ft.  Coming from Asia originally these trees have made it to several European countries and Spain before coming through the missionaries to California.  The black fig is extremely popular for it sweetest and fairly easy to grow fruit. 

Here is a photo of the fig we got on Earth Day.  It is starting to send two shoots up from the roots along the base of the plant which reinforces my belief that she told me it was a bush type fig.  ❤

http://www.gardenguides.com gives some good information on planting and growing bush or tree figs as the growing is the same just the size of plant is different. 

This should be what our little bush fig should look like and I am excited as you can see it is a compact heavily leaved and very pretty. 

Here is some food value facts about figs:

These come from http://www.nutrition-and-you.com check this link out to get the rest of the article.

New Seedling Trees

Some photo's my and Maegan's new seedling trees.  The cherry on the top is older being planted in the bed up front and the lemon and tangerine seedlings are the newest just being started last month.

We got the longleaf fir trees and the last photo a fig tree from Earth Day at the zoo.  They are all growing well but slowly as I guess one should expect.  I am keeping them outside in a tent type storage shed to get the light they need and fresh air. 

How Well Does My Garden Grow?

When I bought my Mobile home a couple of years ago I decided to put a small garden for tomatoes and hopefully other vegetables in the front year.  In the meantime I decided to plant some other plants too and get some shade in the front of the home.  We get so hot in the summer and fall and the front of the house is very hot.

So I began planting.  The other day I took a look at my front garden and realized how full it was.  Every thing has grown so much this year that I saw that I was going to have to move my vegetable plants to somewhere else before I plant next,

Mystery Tree

I have some young trees that we got last year from the Arbor Society.  We were using them as a research project to see how they grew.  We had red buds, crepe myrtles, and dogwood but one of the trees was not a red bud and we do not know what it is if anyone can help answer the mystery we would welcome it.  The tree grows very fast and is now about five feet high. 

The branches that hold the leaves are red while young and tough it grows straight and very strong the trunk starts out as green seeming to be softer then it is to look at.

If you know send me an email at suekaren4@gmail.com . 

Flies? Are You Serious!

I wrote a few days ago about pollinating beetles and I mention that flies can and are also important to pollination.  I had never heard of this and well hate seeing flies even outside, but just in the short web search I have done I have found lots of important information  to prove that they are important to crops.  I copied a little expert from The Diptera Site:
Larger flies such as carrion and dung flies visit and pollinate pawpaw (Asimina triloba). Many Rosaceous flowers in the northern hemisphere are visited and at least partly pollinated by flower flies (Syrphidae): Apple (Malus domestica) and Pear (Pyrus communis) trees, strawberries (Fragaria vesca, F. x ananassa), Prunus species (cherries, plums, apricot and peach), Sorbus species (e.g. Rowanberry) and most of the Rubus-species (Raspberry, Blackberry, Cloudberry etc.) as well as the wild rose Rosa canina.
I found this interesting as well who would think and apple tree would be pollinated by a fly?   The main focus on pollinating is put onto bees which I would think would be logical because they provide another form of food production in the way of honey but to fully understand the nature of pollination I would think it would be important to consider a whole eco system of pollinators.
Anyway, some of the flies look a little like bees so that as they do their work they are less likely to be bothered by predators.  One example of this is the Hover Fly.
So now besides the beetles I have to learn to see the flies in the garden under a new light and hold back on the fly swatter. http://diptera.myspecies.info/diptera/content/flies-%E2%80%93pollinators-two-wings  Check out this site for more information or use the search term pollinating flies.

Earth Day at The Zoo

Headed to the Alexandria Zoo today for an Earth Day celebration.   Not sure of what will be going on but look forward to it.  Will bring back a full report with photo's later today.  I am sure there will be lots to do and learn as our zoo seems to go all out in every event they have and to be honest I have never had anything but a good time at this zoo.
It is beautifully planted and loaded with healthy curious animals.  There are many walking trails and a playground for children to take a break and play.  Our favorite event is the water play day in June.
Check out Alexandria Zoo and come to Alexandria to visit us and our zoo sometime.  The more the merrier.

As promised here are some photo's from the zoo.  We were early for the Earth Day event so toured the whole zoo taking photo's.