Harvest Time

Buster the tortoise, goes cuckoo for two things: hibiscus blooms and the blossoms that a plant called the snail vine produces (no doubt because the little purple flowers have something of a resemblance to snail shells… personally I don’t see it).

When my mom lived in Sherman Oaks she had a snail vine plant growing all over the north fence of the backyard so whenever I was over there I’d always be sure to load up on the morsels to bring him for Buster to enjoy — and boy did she. But ever since my mom sold that house a couple years ago, the supply of snail vine blossoms tanked. So much so that last year Susan and I got a snail vine plant and tried to get it to grow in the north yard but it hasn’t been doing very well, producing only the occasional bloom. We planted a hibicus as well that’s put out some flowers, but they’re all over the neighborhood so supply isn’t at all an issue with them.

Leave it to my mom to find nearby a snail vine source while she was minding our animals during our vacation last month. No, not just a source. A mother lode that’s readily accessible from the sidewalk on Hyperion north of Sunset. I made a trip over there last weekend and plucked 50 blooms off in a matter of minutes and there were thousands left:

snailvine.jpg

Taking the long way home I ended up stopped on Rowena and relieving the hibiscus plants lining the south sidewalk of some of their bounty as well:

hibiscus.jpg

The result is Buster has been in food heaven all week.

Published by

Will

Will Campbell arrived in town via the maternity ward at Good Sam Hospital way back in OneNineSixFour and has never stopped calling Los Angeles home. Presently he lives in Silver Lake with his wife Susan, their cat Rocky, dogs Terra and Hazel, and a red-eared slider turtle named Mater. Blogging since 2001, Will's web endeavors extend back to 1995 with laonstage.com, a comprehensive theater site that was well received but ever-short on capital (or a business model). The pinnacle of his online success (which speaks volumes) arrived in 1997, when much to his surprise, a hobby site he'd built called VisuaL.A. was named "best website" in Los Angeles magazine's annual "Best of L.A." issue. He enjoys experiencing (and writing about) pretty much anything creative, explorational and/or adventurous, loves his ebike, is a better tennis player than he is horr golfer, and a lover of all creatures great and small -- emphasis on "all."