When we first saw our property and took the first photos there was somewhat of a circle drive that became our house pad. There was a slope of about 15 degrees, so to make the “pad” level, they bulldozer guy did what is called ‘cut and fill’. The hill was cut into to, and that…
Pretty Face, Triteleia ixioides Sunny starry yellow, Pretty Face is sometimes called Golden brodiaea or Golden Stars, and is native to California, appearing only slightly beyond the borders, according to CalFlora. This variety, found on our place and all through the Oakhurst Yosemite area, may be Triteleia ixioides ssp. scabra or Foothill Pretty Face. This pretty bulb first shows up…
As you come down the long driveway and round the corner to park, the lavender field is on the right on the bank above the house. This was an old gravel driveway which we changed to widen the curve. Some plants have drip…you can see the hose. Deer do not like lavender, it likes growing…
The difference between trash and junk I posted a picture of my terribly messy potting bench area on my FB page, Flea Market Gardening, and asked for help with what I should do with it. They posted tons of ideas and I’ve been working on it for the last couple weeks. Here is the “before”: Why…
Recently identified, four CA natives on the property are ‘new to me.’ If you read this blog very much, you know that I’ve been compiling a sort of natural history of the California natives on the place. After ten years here and five years since the house was built, I have thought I knew all the…
Why do they do it? Not for fortune or fame–few outside native plant circles know who they are. People like Lester Rowntree, a plant explorer extraordinaire, who traveled the length and breadth of California to find and record the locations and characteristics of California native plants simply lived for this ‘doing.’ When’s the last time you thought…
Oh, Joy!
Dill is a versatile herb, one that I really use in cooking. First planted in 2005, I’ve never had to buy another plant. I love volunteers, but this is different! This monster dill has found a place it loves.
The Dill, looking somewhat Dr Suess-y
This dill seeded itself next to the potted mother plant, stashed there during Fall patio cleanup. When Tractor Man isn’t tractoring, he looks out this west-facing window and the wispy feathery leaves have been growing up this early Spring to peek in at him. They don’t call it weed for nothing.…
OK, there are conflicting accounts, but seeing as it is my blog, I will say that the Tractor Man got too close to my container plant.
Tractor hits old bucket
Tractor Man came in after the accident full of advice for me, primarily to keep my garden further away from his driveway. No defense is needed for my part, so I will decline to show the ‘before’ photos of the driveway and how close it is to the front garden.
Deciding to divide and set some of these babies free!
Since sempervivum divides easily and this old bucket container was very crowded before, the best solution was to deconstruct the relatively squashed ‘hens and chicks’ and spread them around throughout the garden. I didn’t count how many pieces there were, but it was a lot.…
It’s California Native Plant Week and I’m profiling a different California native each day that is on my particular wish list. If you live in an area considered Mediterranean, you’ll be able to grow these, too. Today’s plant is Foothill Penstemon.
Foothill penstemon, Penstemon laetus
Maybe because blue is a favorite color, maybe because I had not grown penstemon much in the past and maybe because it is a penstemon first seen and purchased at a favorite nursery, I fell hard for Foothill penstemon, Penstemon laetus, also called Mountain blue penstemon or Gay Penstemon.
The genus, Penstemon, or Beard-tongue, is a common garden perennial, offered in so many colors and cultivars, but in California the native penstemons are nearly as varied. Penstemons normally have one large, sterile, furry stamen that pokes out to attract pollinators to the other four smaller fertile stamens (the name Penstemon means “Five Stamens”). “Laetus” means “bright” or “vivid”. …
California Native Plant Week It’s California Native Plant Week and I’m profiling a different California native each day that is on my particular wish list. If you live in an area considered Mediterranean, you’ll be able to grow these, too. Today, Wednesday, is for the ‘Shasta’ Sulfur Flower. In Hardy Californians: a woman’s life with…
Caring for native trees in the garden …and a list of what to plant When faced with a new, mountain or rural garden, you need to make peace with your oaks and pines. These beautiful trees can be unkempt, stickery and surrounded by brush and poison oak at the start. I wondered what could be…
peacock
The Shinzen Friendship Garden’s Spring Blossom Festival and Bonsai Show originally scheduled for this Saturday and Sunday, March 26-27 has been cancelled due to weather. What better way to make up for this watery fact than to provide a little color from photos I took at last years’ event. There is a slideshow of all the photos at the end.
koi pond view
In the beginning, the idea was proposed to create a Japanese garden complete with stone lanterns and a teahouse to be dedicated to Fresno’s Sister City Kochi, Japan, as a symbol of friendship and international brotherhood.…
I have been surprised and delighted with how far-reaching my contacts have been as I have begun creating this blog. Thanks to Blotanical, my blog has been exposed to new friends from South Africa to New Zealand to the northernmost island of Scotland, the home of both my husband’s and my ancestors, to the warmth of…
This snowy, drippy day…what else to do but check on past projects. Getting rid of Mexican Primrose 10-15-2010 Invasive plants and impatience in the garden March Update: There are a few sprouts coming up of the Mexican primrose which confirms that it’s the right decision not to have replanted the plants I removed from the front…
I first noticed the beneficial qualities of rotting logs when I gardened in the suburbs. The tree trimmers left stacks of logs next to the street trees and I promptly snagged as many as I could for flower beds edgings. As they broke down over the years, I could see that they were home to…
This is National Wildlife Week and for that, I have chosen some favorite California native plants to show, as well as show one of the areas of my garden, with a mixture of CA natives and Mediterranean plants, that is starting to show some progress. The setting The land here is sloped generally 15 degrees and the…
What a man needs in gardening is a cast-iron back, with a hinge in it. ~Charles Dudley Warner
Since our backs don’t have hinges, we need to take a few precautions, before getting into the strenuous jobs in the garden. Whether it’s simply wearing gloves and protective eyewear or strengthening and stretching muscles, a few tips will hopefully help you protect yourself from garden gremlins.
Keeping fit and warming up
Yoga is a great way of exercising and strengthening your muscles and preventing injury when gardening. “Just a few simple poses, says Carolyn Masuda, a yoga teacher in Fullerton, CA, “will tone the legs, stomach, back, the whole body.”
She stoops to conquer
Cheryl, of Oakhurst is sadder but wiser, after a month-long bout with back strain and is determined not to let it happen again. She believes it was from digging, a common cause of injury in the garden, and now calls her new rose area the ‘Garden of Pain’!
She now stoops using her legs instead of her back when digging and also makes a conscious effect to dig with her right foot instead of the left, she says, which helps her back. To lift rocks, like many of us do here in the foothills, she uses a dolly, and then rolls it to where she needs the rocks to go.
*See this entertaining, and informative video, courtesy of The Horse Tail Trails Team, for ways to dig without hurting your back!…
Becoming stewards of our forest For some of us, here in the California foothills, especially those who live near the national forest, nature provides the perfect landscaping. Using the existing trees and native plants can help your garden design blend smoothly into the surrounding landscape. Caring for a large forest property has its challenges and rewards.…
