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…
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…
Beautiful Beard Tongue As I stroll through the garden, my attention is drawn to how well adapted Beard Tongue or Penstemons are for the Sierra Foothills! Whether, cultivated hybrids or CA Natives, they are perfectly easy to grow and the bloom is spectacular in your garden. Scroll through the ones I have in my garden and see…
Objective: Fall planting Ca Natives,…and to have fun! Each October, on my birthday weekend, a favorite nursery plans it’s annual celebration and harvest festival. I’m so flattered! But really, since Fall is the best time to plant here in the foothills, I go to this event for fun and also with an objective. The objective…
“What’s blooming Wednesday” In the Sierra foothills, after the blues, of Lupine, Vetch and Blue dicks, the early Spring wildflowers: The blues, come the yellows and whites of April. Have you seen these? All over the roadsides now you’ll see blooming Elderberry bushes, with lemony white umbrel (Umbrella) shaped flowers. have you wondered about them?…
Driving the foothills: Stopping and turning around…. We had to stop and turn around to photograph this field of Lupine, Vetch and Blue dicks under the oaks growing thickly in a patch. Iridescent blues just glowed here in a flowery show right next to the roadside not far from our home near Oakhurst. To encourage…
Celebrating a fine nursery… Have you been here? I hope so! We are very fortunate to have a nursery nearby that purchases and grows plants that are perfect for our foothill gardens. Besides having a wide variety of California native and drought tolerant Mediterranean plants, Bonnie Bladen, her husband Ray Laclergue and their staff are…
Myths and facts about the Sierra Foothills Bull pine From the time we moved into the mountains, I heard from neighbors and local friends about the Bull pines. Bull pines, Pinus sabiniana, are seemingly hated, seen as ugly, messy trees and reputed to somehow(?) suck water from people’s wells and aquifers. You must cut down the…
Taking advantage our our beautiful ‘natives’ Adding drought tolerant Mediterranean plants to our existing California natives is a winning strategy or a deer resistant garden. This planting area is a mix of CA natives and North American natives and Mediterranean plants suited to wild conditions. All are tough, hardy and blooming plants. We used to…
My idea of gardening is to discover something wild in my wood and weed around it with the utmost care until it has a chance to grow and spread. – Margaret Bourke-White Covered with the greenest and freshest grass, the open woodland is where the earliest wildflowers of Spring spread their wealth of ephemeral loveliness.…
