Megan and Matti

Far Out Flora Succulents, Bromeliads, and Unusual Plants

2010-02-19T17:28:00.000-08:00

Far Out Flora Succulents, Bromeliads, and Unusual Plants: We (Matti and Megan) live in San Francisco next to Ocean Beach and Golden Gate Park, a half block from the N-Judah turnaround. We’re plant nerds, but not “experts” by any means. Succulents, bromeliads, carnivores and other weirdo plants are our faves. Both of us graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with art degrees. Originally from the great state of Wisconsin, we lived in Madison off of Willy Street for many years before moving to San Francisco about four years ago. Our favorite gardening quote by J.C. Raulston: “If you are not killing plants, you are not really stretching yourself as a gardener.”

Where on Facebook too.

We have moved.

2010-02-03T13:11:00.001-08:00

We have moved, http://faroutflora.wordpress.com

Succulent Lawn Experiment

2009-11-06T22:59:00.001-08:00

I'm not sure when Matti started his succulent lawn experiment, but it's turned out very cool. I'm thinking he planted it in May/June. We always have mass quantities of certain types of succulents. Dogs played and pooped on it, and it's held up. He's starting another one under the picnic table. Getting these pictures in order is way more difficult than it should be.

Crazy Double Camera Fun

2009-06-10T17:17:00.001-07:00

I've been home all day from work with a cold. While lying in bed looking at stuff on etsy.com I learned about shooting a digital picture through another camera lense. I tried it with my Holga and got some cool shots. Click on the pictures to see close ups.

Spinning the salad

2009-06-01T18:30:00.000-07:00

We took the salad spinner for a test drive and it rocks. I'm not sure I'd even want one of those fancy $25.00 spinners. The lettuce continues to grow like crazy. I think we can grow it all year round, since it likes cold weather.

Pocket Gopher Capture!

2009-05-27T20:57:00.000-07:00

Tonight while watering my new baby plants I noticed some fresh gopher holes in the lawn. About three months ago a "pocket gopher" started ripping up our lawn with a little help from Max freaking out on the holes. Luckily he didn't hit any of my precious plants, but he's really been pissing me off. I decided to hit the fresh holes with the hose (pretty aggressively I admit) and he popped out!!!!! I grabbed a basket, threw it over him and started screaming for Matti. We were able to get him in our glass head and relocate him way the heck up past 30th ave. in the park. According to Wikipedia pocket gophers are solitary vermin, so hopefully we are gopher free. I'm still pretty darn amazed I was able to catch him.

More Plants

2009-05-26T22:35:00.001-07:00

We hit up the Half Moon Bay Nursery on Monday and bought a bunch of cool new, and many very cheap plants. I tested out my fancy new sprinkler I bought at Target for $7.99 tonight, and it worked well. We'll take more backyard pictures in the sun soon. Click on the image for a super close up view.

Bromeliad Beautifulness

2009-05-17T08:06:00.001-07:00

A big red stalk shot out of my funky striped bromeliad I bought for only $5.00.

Postcrossing Fun

2009-05-12T18:55:00.000-07:00

This guy took 20 days to arrive from Malaysia

19 days to get here from China

Only seven days to get here from Italy (my favorite)!

Twenty eight days to get here from Japan

So far I've received nine cards through Postcrossing and sent out 15. My nine cards have traveled almost 56,000 miles to get to San Francisco! I started sending cards March 23rd, so I think I have some decent results. I'm starting to get crabby with my card in transit to Malaysia that's been traveling for 37 days so far.

All kinds of stuff

2009-05-11T18:29:00.000-07:00

Mixed greens from the garden with dill. Fresh salad is yummy, and we have to eat it almost every day. My lettuce is freaking out.

We went to Big Sur for the first weekend in May. Our favorite Fernwood hooked us up with a cheap tent cabin with good river access for Max to play in.

I'm painting our dining room chairs.

Way back in April we saw John Prine at the Warfield. We were really close, and he was really good.

Ocean Beach Fun

2009-04-20T21:00:00.001-07:00

Freaky super hot weather made Ocean Beach super sweet today. It's nice to have the ocean across the street on really nice days.

Plants on the way

2009-04-14T22:22:00.000-07:00

I went a little crazy and bought more plants. Springhill Nursery gave me a code for 50% off their entire website and I ordered everything pictured above. Matti just needs to finish destroying the vine from hell with his with new hedgeclipper thingy to make room for everything.

My other orchids are freaking out

2009-04-10T19:26:00.000-07:00

My Phal Taisuco Okaystripe orchid (pink one) has three stems of flowers! I didn't water my yellow orchid for at least a month, thought it was dead and it had a stem. I picked up the two little guys at the garden show for $5.00 a piece. Going late on the last day is good for deals.

Our backyard of beautifulness

2009-04-05T20:38:00.000-07:00

Matti has been battling the giant vine of craziness attacking one side of our fence/yard, and I think we're winning. We've reclaimed a ton of space in our patio area. I've made a little video of our backyard. It might cause motion discomfort, I panned a little too fast.

Matti wants a Gunnera and a Hardy Blue Palm:

San Francisco Garden Show

2009-03-24T18:27:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday afternoon Matti and I checked out the San Francisco Garden Show for free! While walking to the entrance a man approached us, and told us that the show had just been bought by the company he works for. In exchange for free tickets he asked that we email him our thoughts about bringing in more young people like ourselves (sweet). Here's some cool stuff we saw:

Bonsai #5 Fuchia Glazioviana

2009-03-15T18:21:00.000-07:00

I bought this plant in Feb 09, and planted in pot on Mar 15, 2009. Fuchia Glazioviana, common name, Fuchsia.

Staghorn Fern Fun

2009-03-15T15:42:00.001-07:00

Matti's three staghorn ferns are doing really well. I think the one closest to the window is happiest.

Feeding the Venus Flytrap

2009-03-15T14:50:00.000-07:00

A couple days ago I picked up six small crickets at Petco when I was buying poop bags. I read that it's best to knock the bugs out in the freezer for a couple minutes to make feeding a little easier. Two minutes seemed to work for mine. I fed our Venus Flytrap three crickets. They should open back up in about a week, and there will be little exoskeletons left over. This is a great link for FAQ about traps: http://www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq2000.html

How Moss Works - Matti's thoughts

2009-03-12T13:09:00.001-07:00

I am not a scientist here, but essentially, moss spreads via spores. If the spores are present and the conditions are right, moss grows. Moss needs water, sun (though like shade more because of more moisture in shade), and a little nutrients does not hurt, but it generally comes from it surrounding. basically you can add nutrients to an area you want moss such as beer, or yogurt, or buttermilk. I like buttermilk. if spores in area, it should grow. you can take moss, and blend it with an ingredient mentioned above and paint it / spray it (depends on your mixture) where you want moss, it should grow. reason it may not...not enough moisture. basically just play with those scenarios. it does not rain in San Francisco for about 6 months, the moss dries up. as soon as the moisture is back, the moss thrives again. or you can just spray it with water to help it.

Near Death Experience & Babies

2009-02-26T18:22:00.000-08:00

I thought I had killed my dill by not watering it, but Matti saved it by soaking it in a dish of water.

Two months ago I started some cacti and succulent seeds. Some of them have started to grow.

2nd Metal Detector Find

2009-02-21T10:09:00.000-08:00

Classification: bottle caps, nails, wire, & lid

Found: Ocean Beach. bottle caps by fire pits, nails closer to the high tide line.

Conditions: clear. rained most of the week previous.

Date: 02/07/09 - 8AM It was a Saturday morning and a nice fire night Friday night on Ocean Beach.

Nightlife at the Academy of Sciences

2009-02-19T22:43:00.000-08:00

NightLife @ the California Academy of Sciences

The entire museum is open Thursdays 6-10PM. Tickets are $10.00. You can drink beer and learn in a child free environment. I don't think we'll ever go during the day.

Terrarium Moss Fun

2009-02-19T19:03:00.000-08:00

Moss is super cool!

The first step is locating some moss in a safe and legal location. Matti likes to bring a tool to scrape the moss off easily.

The next step is to collect the other stuff you want to put in your terrarium like:
-sand
-store bought ground cover (I'm not confident the sedum is going to make it)
-pitcher plants that replicated (super cool)
-distilled/rain water (especially for the carnivore terrarium)
-sphagnum moss
-some regular dirt
-twigs, lychen and eucalyptus seeds

*Layer the sand, moss and dirt and then jam the other stuff in. Spray a bunch of water in (especially for the carnivores). Please note our two new terrariums have only been living for a couple days, so this may not work. Our first one seems to be doing okay.

Super Terrarium Fun Time!

One more Staghorn Fern made tonight.

2009-02-16T22:08:00.001-08:00

Here is the 2nd Staghorn Fern that we did tonight.

How to Mount a Staghorn Fern

2009-02-16T20:58:00.000-08:00

Megan and I picked up two Staghorn ferns from the Half Moon Bay Nursery. I found some wood that drifted up to the beach. Tonight, we now have to Staghorn Ferns that hang on the wall.

Couple steps how to do it. 1) Get wood and Staghorn fern. 2) staple some mesh to the board. 3) stuff pre-soaked sphagnum moss between board and mesh.

4) rinse as much dirt of the fern, prune roots as necessary.

5) cut hole in mesh where the fern will go. 6) insert into hole and stitch up. 7) you are done.

My plants are getting older

2009-02-15T23:59:00.000-08:00

I like to take pictures of my plants to see how much they've grown.

One of the plants in a picture above went to plant heaven

A couple of these guys were set free in the backyard

First Find with my metal detector

2009-02-15T10:56:00.000-08:00

Classification: Wire
Found: Back yard
Conditions: clear, general nice day.
Date: 02/07/09 - afternoon

Bingo!

2009-02-14T22:18:00.001-08:00

Saturday night bingo at the Riptide is good, especially when cousin Drew is visiting. We checked out Vanida Thai Kitchen for dinner, and it was yummy.

Pineapple

2009-02-13T22:14:00.000-08:00

My pineapple's life cycle in no particular order. I learned how to grow a pineapple we bought at the store from You Grow Girl It was pretty easy, now I'm waiting for it to flower and start a baby pineapple of its own.

My Orchid is freaking out

2009-02-13T21:08:00.000-08:00

I kind of thought this plant was ready to die, and then four stems of flowers shot out of it.