Rain Washes LA

Mist to rain and back again from Tuesday through Wednesday in LA. Enough to release this rivulet running along the gutter of my mom's street.






In the yard this jade plant fat and wet and happy in the rain. From the University of Arkansas:

The jade plant [Crassula argentea] does flower in Southern California where it is sometimes used as a hedge, but seldom do blooms show themselves when grown as a houseplant. The blooms are white, star-shaped affairs which grow to a half inch across and are borne in dense clusters at the top of the plant.

Jade plants are desert plants and have evolved several strategies to tolerate extended droughts. Their very succulence is the main means of combating drought, but they also have other tricks up their sleeve. Jade plant -- and as later learned -- many other kinds of plants adapted to drought conditions have adapted a unique way of photosynthesis that helps conserve water. This is called CAM photosynthesis.

To find out what CAM stands for and how it works, click the University of Arkansas link.

And it's true, they do great in my mom's Southern California yard. You can see the flowers of this one in bud stage.


And this epidendrum was all bejeweled in raindrops. Another plant that thrives in my mom's Southern California coastal climate.


From John&Jacq's Garden in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia:

How enormous and diverse the genus Epidendrum L. is! It consists of about 1,100 species of orchids that are native to tropical and subtropical Americas and the Caribbean. Now though, it is widely distributed, naturalized and cultivated in many regions worldwide.

The more popular and captivating species are the commonly named Crucifix Orchids. They produce large clusters of attractive flowers, each flower displaying a significant three-lobed lip, adnate to the column and resembling a cross, hence the common name. The blooms are so varied, absolutely stunning and uniquely gorgeous in many colors and form!

Still with temps in the mid to high 60s (F or 18-20˚C) it felt plenty warm to me.