Hardy Hibiscus

Hardy Hibiscus

Hibiscus moscheutos ‘Turn of the Century’

(hi-BIS-kus) (mos-KEW-tos)

Synonyms: Swamp Mallow, Rose Mallow

The hardy Hibiscus seems to be having a good season and are always a welcome sight this time of year. This one has a little extra coloring in the flowers and has been a stalwart in the garden for several years. I recommend these plants for gardeners that want a little tropical flair in their gardens. It almost always elicits a “what the heck is that?” type of statement from people.

As most readers here know I am a guitar player and the other day I decided to break out and restring two guitars that hadn’t seen the light of day for a couple of years. I bought them as a super package deal I the early 90’s from a dealer here in town that was going out of business. They were super cheap and have proved to be good instruments. Without getting too technical they have a different pickup type then the guitars I usually play (humbuckers vs. single coils). They are fun to play and are a knock off version of the venerable Gibson Les Paul model. As a matter of fact they were produced in the same factory in Korea as the lower priced Epiphone (owned by Gibson) Les Paul models. The orange one did see a lot of gigging time when I was playing with Johnny’s Last Chance and stood up to professional use. Both of these guitars have had the electronics upgraded. The sunburst one has a nice flame maple top and the finish seems to glow nicely under the right type of stage lighting. 

Purple Paraguay Nightshade

Royal Robe Paraguay Nightshade

Solanum rantonnetii 'Royal Robe'

(so-LAY-num) (ran-ton-NET-tee)

Synonym: Lycianthes rantonnetii 'Royal Robe'

Purple flower lovers will go crazy over this shrub. It has some of the richest purple coloring I have seen. It’s funny because I always thought this plant was classified as a vine but it is considered a tropical shrub. We have grown the white flowered version of this and while it looked a little ummmm unkempt during the season and grew like wildfire it was nice to have. There is also a variegated version with white flowers.

Tomorrow is the gig and I am a little on edge about it. Everything will be fine but that doesn’t stop my worrying about it. I am bringing three guitars including this one. “Gomez” is a personal favorite and a heck of a guitar. 

For Christmas 2001 Karen kept asking me what I wanted for Christmas. I was in a good place and didn’t really want anything but she kept asking. Finally I barked, kind of kidding, “ I want a Fender Telecaster, a sunburst one (my favorite finish)” and forgot about it. Well she went down and saw my friend at the local Sam Ash (huge music store) and had him pick this one out for me. There it was under the tree on Christmas morning and I didn’t have a clue. Ever since then we havng been having a love affair. All of the electronics have been upgraded to high output so it really screams now. It also plays nicely on softer stuff. A classic in the making.

2001 Fender American Standard Telecaster

Sunburst finish

Seymour Duncan Pickups

Hot rails mini humbucker in the neck position and Quarter Pounder single coil in the bridge slot

Upgraded wiring, jack and control plate

More info on the Telecaster(truly a design for the ages!)

Mellow Yellow Spirea

 

Mellow Yellow Spirea

Spiraea thunbergii 'Ogon'

(spy-REE-ah) (thun-BERG-ee-eye)

This shrub is forming a nice patch after being transplanted around the yard several times. Every move has set it back a little bit but I think it has finally found it’s home and is happy. The white flowers are set off nicely against the bright golden foliage this time of year. Later the foliage color fades a little but still provides a great gold accent in the border.

Well I am all set for my gig on Saturday thanks to Chris at Hot Rod 6 Strings. He has been working on my guitars for years and I have always wanted to buy one of his custom guitars since such care and love goes into their creation. Maybe some day but for now he is providing expert help on the modification and set up of my dusty old guitars. He is the first person to take the neck off my 1957 Fender and found it dated 5-57 (all old Fenders are dated on the neck and electronics). He set up the whammy bar, which is more technically known as a tremolo arm. It's a fun part of an electric guitar that is a metal lever attached to the bridge of an electric guitar, used to vary the pitch of a played note. He also redid the electronics on my new guitar adding a tone control and toggle switch for selecting the pickups. Everything was done great at a fair price and in my quick time frame.

Miniature Rose

Miniature Rose

Rosa

Unfortunately I don’t know what variety of miniature rose this is but it has been a real trooper in the garden. Growing mini roses is easy and if you can keep the animals away from them they flower nicely through the season. Sometimes the deer seem to miss them and suddenly there will be a nice spray of little flowers and buds. They work great as a cut flower and are often fragrant. Miniature roses are true roses that are thought to have been discovered in Switzerland in 1919. They perform great in containers but I have not had much luck with indoor cultivation.

Since it is Sunday here is a bonus shot of a Pink Dogwood. This is from a full sized tree and it has some of the darkest flower color I have seen. Dogwood season is always special and they are amongst my favorite flowering trees.

Pink Dogwood

Cornus florida var. rubra

(KOR-nus) (FLOR-ih-duh)

Yesterday was an interesting day. I have been looking for a tube guitar amp for several months and I finally located one in my price range on Craiglist. Normally I don’t like to have anything to do with CL but the amps in the stores were just too much, up to about $2000 over my budget. The amp was in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn and I packed up a guitar and the dogs and we headed down there. As a funny side note our Border Collie loves NYC. She was so happy to stick her head out the window as we cut across Manhattan and through the throngs of overly happy early St. Patrick’s Day revelers.

The amp was a Fender Twin Reverb (my ultimate choice), which is has a great characteristic rock sound. Not only was it a “Twin” but the model known as the “Evil Twin”. The design is based on probably one the most famous of all rock and roll amplifiers the 1965 model. Needless to say I quickly snagged it up and feel all set for a while in that department. I love vintage stuff and this amp fits nicely into my family of Fenders.

 

Top Left: “Black Bear” 1957 Fender Stratocaster

Top Right: “DJ” 1959 Fender Jazzmaster

Center: “Gomez” 2001 Fender Telecaster (main guitar right now)

Bottom: “Junior” 2011 Fender ’51 Pawn Shop Special

I have nicknames for all my guitars now.

Ruby Red Cymbidium Orchid

Asian Corsage Orchid

Cymbidium ‘Via El Diablo 'Ruby Red'

(sim-BID-ee-um)

These photos are from the lost rolls of Orchid pictures I recently found on my hard drive. It is generally not like me to take pictures and then not even look at them since this blog needs a constant stream of new flowers. Cymbidium Orchids have appeared on this site many times and seem to be a good looking photogenic group. There are 52 species mostly native to subtropical Asia. They are popular as houseplants and cut flowers. I like how the light shines through on the second shot making the flowers almost translucent. That totally changes the color, which seemed to have a bit of variation among the spikes even without the back lighting.

Anybody else glad it is Friday? We are going to try and see the Rockefeller Christmas Tree this weekend. I am going to be putting my Christmas list together also. I really want a new/used guitar but don’t think Santa can be that generous this year. Since when did a new Fender Stratocaster become so expensive? The problem is as I have become a better player over the years the demands that I make on my instruments seem greater. The vintage 1960’s reissue would be great but the Pawn Shop line of guitars is probably more attainable.

Built as a dream guitar hybrid of several different models the 1951 ‘Nocaster’ in a blonde finish would be ideal. Time to hit craigslist for a used one maybe.

I am going to email Santa with a link right now!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday
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