Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Itchin' To Blog

It's coming fast and furious this week. Today is only Wednesday and the week already seems gone. Tomorrow night is band practice (check out the link on the sidebar to your right - it's my blistering rock band - King Bee) and we're playing at SOhO, our favorite Santa Barbara club Friday night. Six new tunes to roll out - Mirror in the Bathroom (English Beat), Let's Dance (Bowie), Da Do Do Do (Police), I Feel Good (James Brown), Middle of the Road (Pretenders) and You Really Got Me (Kinks).

Right after practice, we're off to the newly restored Granada Theater for a live performance of my favorite NPR game show - "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me." It's a hilarious hour of current event from the previous week and some brilliant comedians. We get Paula Poundstone as one of the trio of talents!

That alone would have me on cloud 8.5, but on Sunday my family and I leave for a week in Portland Oregon, and being a slug by nature, I'm relishing a bit more rain. Santa Barbara had a great early winter with well over our average, but March has been bone dry. Need my H2O fix now!

So before I sign off and miss my Green Thumb Sunday posting, I thought I'd upload these luscious shots I took on Easter Sunday at Alice Keck Park Memorial Garden (our jewel in the crown).

This tree is Tabebuia chrystotricha (Golden Trumpet) and I happened to catch it at peak bloom. It's pretty subtropical, only taking low temps of about 24 deg. F., but when it kicks in this time of year, it's unbeatable.



It's not fussy regarding soil, takes full sun and average water, and grows about 25' x 25'. If it'll grow for you, jump on it. It's briefly deciduous and has a great network of branches.
Enjoy

11 comments:

Aiyana said...

The flowers remind me of Palo Verde blooms. Same shape, color and texture.
Aiyana

Frances, said...

Your band sounds like it plays my kinda music, wish I could hear you. Is there a you tube video? Have fun in Oregon, take lots of photos for us to enjoy with you.
Frances at Faire Garden

Garden Wise Guy said...

Aiyana - Good observation about the Palo Verde similarity. The bonus is that these flowers are about 10 times larger, but more fleeting.

Frances - There's a link at the King Bee website (www.kingbeesb.com) that will take you to our YouTube video. It was pieced together from live performance, done by our female singer, Rachel. She's a multitalented lady, world traveler and writer, videographer and excellent travel blogger. You can find her links at King Bee's website.

Mr. McGregor's Daughter said...

Is your band named after the blues song? Sounds like a good set.

Garden Wise Guy said...

King Bee IS named for the tune, written by Muddy Waters. We do a version based on an early Rolling Stones recording from the mid-60s. Though these days we do less blues and more 70s and 80s rock.

Very astute!

WiseAcre said...

Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me is something I look forward to all week. Hope you have a good time. And on your trip too.

Meanwhile I'll sing the Blues until we both return home :) I'm off for a while myself.

Unknown said...

A lovely tree, and a fun post. You travel safely and enjoy your time away...and maybe while you're travelling the weather will improve here on my end of the continent.

Sue Swift said...

Hi Billy,
I'm getting lots of visitors from an article featuring you in the online version of the Wall Street Journal. But as you need to have subscribed to view it, I've no idea why. I'd love to know what you said (complimentary or otherwise!) to bring me so much traffic!

Anonymous said...

Great post. Am definitely a fan of your blog, keep up the good work.

Jim
http://www.newgrowthlandscapes.com/

growingagardenindavis said...

Billy...there is award for you over at growing A Garden In Davis...

Anonymous said...

Love SoHo and the music your band plays. Will have to check out more...too bad about not as much blues these days though.

I'm just discovering the gardening/blogging world.

You might like to see my pink tabebuia. It's in my flickr account and on my wordpress blog. (don't know how this thing or you like links.

Off to do more back reading.

malisa/mostlygardening