Category: Summer

What to plant under Native Oaks and Pines?

or …Why I remember a Sunset Magazine article from 1999. A few months before we bought our place here in the shadow of Peckinpah Mountain, I read an article called ‘What to plant under native oaks and pines?’  Do you still have the September 1999 issue of Sunset magazine?  No?  Well, if you live in…

A New Zealand inspired California rock garden

 In 2009, I visited my sister in New Zealand and on one weekend trip we drove down to the city of Dunedin on the South Island. There, before breakfast and while Karen’s hubby slept in, the two of us walked over to the Dunedin Botanical Garden nearby our hotel. The most impressive garden for me…

St Catherine's Church cemetery, little ovens

Hot as an oven, …a California ghost town

Field Trip: Hornitos On a recent photo trek through the area between the Sierra foothills and the Central Valley of California, the little tiny town of Hornitos was found, baking in the 105 degree heat. My brother Ken accompanied me. Quiet and deserted now, the one-street town once had 15,000 people living there, Mexicans who…

How to make your own delicious dried tomatoes

How to dry your tomato harvest to enjoy gourmet dried tomatoes all winter long

Like red gold

Like red gold

If you have a good crop of tomatoes in your garden, more than you can eat or give away, you can preserve them by drying them and enjoy delicious gourmet eating all winter long. Dried tomatoes are tasty additions to fresh pasta, sauces, sandwiches, salads, stir fry dishes and you can also enjoy them just the way they are, as a chewy tangy-sweet snack.…

Watering CA native plants in the Sierra foothills

Learning about watering for California natives …and some Mediterranean plants in a home garden in the Sierra Foothills.   I like to hand water. It’s relaxing, …cool on a hot day, I can watch over the newly-establishing plants and weed a bit in the wet, soft soil. I like a hose sprayer that doesn’t leak…

Hypertufa workshop…fun!

 Last month, my friend, Cheryl and I, committed to giving a workshop to the garden club on a subject we were trying for the first time, “How to make Hypertufa Troughs“. Risky? Foolhardy? Fun! We were interested and I must say, excited to see for ourselves how it would turn out.

One finished trough, the largest one we made with a corugated box mold

One finished trough, the largest one we made with a corrugated box mold

Why make hypertufa troughs? For cost of the materials, Portland cement, perlite and peat, for us $37, you can make any size and shape plant container you want for your plants. These can show off small plants that would otherwise get lost if planted in a garden bed.…

Double Wyethia flower

Wild Wyethias- sunflowers in the foothills

Oakhurst’s official flower? When I arrived here in the mountains of Central California, I slowly became familiar with some of the individual plants living here.  Right now the Mule’s ears are at their peak and here is a look at how they grow. Hall’s Mule Ears, Wyethia elata These are wonderful sunny flowers to encourage in…

Light reflected by elegant brodiaea

June’s Blue Haze, Brodiaea This is a picture story of Elegant or Harvest Brodiaea in the Sierra foothill garden.  This is its native area, just south of Yosemite National Park. This and Pretty Face are the two main wild flowers existing here on the land we settled ion near the Sierra National Forest. Until starting this…

How Sharley divides an African Violet

The popularity of African violets in the US began in the 1920s when the Armacost and Royston Nursery in Los Angeles began selling a number of easy to grow hybrids through the first retail store, Woolworth who began distributing the now famous violets nationwide. Their constant bloom and ability to thrive indoors continue their popularity…

What’s blooming in June

Here are the native and non-native flowers and plants that are blooming this month in my Sierra foothill garden.

Chocolate scented daisy, Berlandiera lyrata

Chocolate scented daisy, Berlandiera lyrata

The green seedpods of the Chocolate-scented daisy will dry in a layered pattern circling the center of the flower. None of the seeds I collected sprouted with the winter-sown method this year so further reading will have to be done to grow these from seed. They really do have a chocolate smell!

Clarkia amoena Farewell to spring

Clarkia amoena Farewell to spring

In the new meadow, the Clarkias are blooming, adding a carnival of color combining with the still blooming poppies and the powder blue Globe gilia.

Cleveland sage 'Aromas' and Rudbeckia hirta

Cleveland sage 'Aromas' and Rudbeckia hirta

The Cleveland sage looks great next to the Black-eyed Susans, I think, and both bloom at the same time in June.…

Celebrate the Summer solstice

Welcome Summer!

On the summer solstice which is today, the Northern Hemisphere receives more sunlight than on any other day of the year, but that doesn’t mean the first day of summer is also the hottest day of summer,…except here where I live.

Rudbeckia, Black-Eyed Susan, a California native

Rudbeckia, Black-Eyed Susan, a California native

Garden first, breakfast second

Going out to the garden first thing with a cup of coffee and some clippers can be a good way to start the day during our summer heat spells in the Sierra Foothills. I try to take advantage of the long days by getting out in the garden before I eat breakfast! Watering pots and clipping the spent blooms in the garden are much more pleasant then and it’s amazing how much you can do in half an hour or so. With no chores in mind, you can putter and groom, pinching a flower here and there before you begin your day. …

NZ Week- The Plants of New Zealand

Sunday- Rarangi Beach Monday-Blenheim Wineries and Gardens Tuesday-Totaranui and Abel Tasman Nat’l Park Wednesday-Birds of Abel Tasman Thursday- Nelson, New Zealand Friday- Picton and the Marlborough Sounds Saturday-Native Plants of New Zealand The wild and wonderful plants of New Zealand So many plants, exotic and commonplace, native to NZ and native to California! First of…

NZ Week- Picton and the Marlborough Sounds

Picton, the gem of the Marlborough Sounds Sunday- Rarangi Beach Monday-Blenheim Wineries and Gardens Tuesday-Totaranui and Abel Tasman Nat’l Park Wednesday-Birds of Abel Tasman Thursday- Nelson, New Zealand Friday- Picton and the Marlborough Sounds Saturday-The Plants of New Zealand Picton is where you land, if traveling by car or campervan from the North Island, which we…