Under the Solano Sun

In March 2022 we were able to visit relatives in Tampa Bay, Florida. One day we visited a lovely open-air marketplace in nearby St. Petersburg. Walking back to the car, we passed a lovely, massive tree with sturdy branches that came off the main trunk close to the ground.

Mangave are a fairly recent phenomenon. An exciting hybridization of Agave and the former genus Manfreda. (Manfreda is now considered part of Agave) In 2005, Tony Avent and Carl Schoenfeld coined the term x Mangave to describe two plants growing at Yucca Do Nursery in Texas.

Every year I like growing a variety of a vegetable I have never grown in the past. It gives me the opportunity to grow and taste something new. This year I decided to grow Japanese cucumbers (Cucumis sativus).

In May 2019 I had just finished up my last round of chemotherapy for aggressive breast cancer, I was facing radiation and many more surgeries....you could say I was a feeling bit down.

I had an unsightly place in my backyard where the four fences came together. At one time, I had wooden planter boxes growing herbs and flowers. But over the years the planter boxes finally gave away, and I forgot about that corner.