…and still have a pretty garden With a busy household and jobs, we are sometimes just too busy to get into the garden. If you acquire a second career in retirement or set out for traveling adventure. You still miss your garden and want to enjoy it when you can. Here are some tips!…
Take a day trip to Whiskey Falls… Come visit Whiskey Falls and the surrounding high country area in the Sierra National Forest. You can experience some cooler weather and more wildflowers than you can count! Reach it from Bass Lake area or from North Fork,….the Sierra Vista Scenic Loop is where you head up from…
Why do oaks drop more acorns some years and not others? If you have live or walk amongst an oak woodland you know what I’m talking about. Oak trees are the foundation of the landscape here in the foothills, providing food and shelter for squirrels, scrub jays, and acorn woodpeckers that store acorns for food.…
Roadside treasures worth stopping for In the first week of July in the Sierra foothills of California, you believe that Spring is long gone, and yet, the season hasn’t said its final farewell. Our beloved wildflowers called ‘Farewell to Spring are blooming this year at the same time as the sunny wild sunflowers, Hall’s Mule’s…
Wow! Butterflies love these plants! Grow any of these for instant results and each is matched with the perfect plant combinations for color and growing conditions. Many are easy to grow from seed! Butterfly Bush, Buddleia Butterfly bush is a full sized bush, 8-10′ tall, that’s covered in butterflies all summer long. An easy-care shrub,…
Your water-wise veggie garden Does everyone in our Mountain Community grow at least one tomato? I think so! For me, sun-ripe, sliced tomato sandwiches, with slivers of cheddar, a little lettuce, salt and mayo is the goal. Planning now Now, in spring, is the time to plan and build that deer fence or raised bed…
Planting Cleveland sage on the meadow edges On this fine May day, I plant two California natives in my dry sloping meadow to add perennial color. See how I did this and a short video ‘how-to’ from Tree of Life Nursery. It began with a bit of weeding. You know how it goes….one thing leads…
Iris time! Iris are a Sierra foothill gardener’s best friend in Spring because of the easy care and reliable beauty. Because they occasionally have to be divided, they are a common ‘pass along’ plant. Here’s a few favorites, your advice and how to divide irises. ‘Iris,’ was the goddess of the rainbow, the messenger of…
Foothill area history, discovered… The question was, ‘Does anyone know anything about this map?’ Found at a thrift shop or on eBay, I can’t remember, I put this map in a frame in 2005, and loved how it provided a context to the setting of our new home in the foothills. The map clearly shows Bass…
Winter chores and pleasures! It’s sunny and 70º as I write this and it’s a reminder that our winter weather can be rainy, snowy or sunny with brilliant blue skies! It also means that we can still get out into the garden; we just need to don our flannel shirts and jackets in the early…
First exercise,…then relax……completing a ‘relaxing’ project! Friends, I’ve been stretching, doing knee bends and weight-lifting! At the gym? No,…my latest big garden project! Not too big a deal but I’ve been meaning to spiff up my sad, little sitting area under the big oak and started this week, by finding new chair cushions.. Serene and…
Happy discovery! On Crane Valley Rd (221), just north of Manzanita Lake Rd,(222) going toward Bass Lake, I discovered something quite wonderful! Two full grown California Bush Anemones! That may not sound exciting, but in my own garden I had just discovered that my own California Bush Anemone, Carpenteria californica, finally, finally, had pushed up a…
The stately sycamore With slanted and twisted trunks and mottled bark, the California Sycamore is a majestic curiosity. For me, this stately native marks nature’s cycle with beauty and grace and also reminds me of my childhood. Sycamore! I love this tree and grew up with one next to our lawn in suburbia. I used to volunteer to rake…
How to grow a Salad! Thinking about ‘Cut and Come Again’ salad gardens…you may have already started lettuce or mesclun seeds or found some healthy starts to plant. For Cut and Come again, you snip off the leaves about an inch and a half from the soil, make your salad, then two weeks later you…
Learning to grow from seed It’s Spring! My friend, Marie, inspires me so much with her courtyard garden fitted with raised garden beds she and her husband built. Each year she plants a garden and this one is all from seed. Here she shares a few easy secrets. Also, which flower seeds transplant best, building a…
Winter and early spring blooming plants Brighten these grey, rainy days in the foothills with cool-season bloomers in containers and areas close to your home where they can easily be seen. Annuals can provide quick color and perennials and shrubs will reward you year after year with reliable and surprising blooms, should you forget they…
Propagating plants in a Sierra foothill garden Propagating plants is making new plants from existing ones in your garden. Anyone can be a plant propagator with these easy, traditional and low-tech techniques that are perfect for our California foothills. It’s fun and economical, and you’ll be surprised to see how easy it is with these plants…
Call of the Wild! Attention, Four Wheel drivers… The view from the top of Bald Mountain, looking down on Shaver Lake is astonishing and awe-inspiring. The summit where the fire lookout stands is one of the highest places you can drive in the Sierra National Forest! Check out our four wheeling day up on Bald Mountain and the directions…
