What I’m REALLY doing in the garden…last day of June I just came in from an hour out in the garden! Yep, from 6:30am to now, I puttered in the garden doing what I call ‘watering as needed.’ Lamb’s ears are a good ‘indicator plant’ for watering and when this VERY hardy plant droops, you…
Here in the Sierra foothills of California, sometimes the Autumn season brings a feeling of melancholy to gardeners, faced with drooping faded flowers, drizzly rains and overcast skies. Larry Rettig, a member of Dave’s Garden website, pondered this feeling one day while out walking and a poem just came to him that expressed all the…
“The more people know about bats the more they’ll care about them.” Sitting out tonight, while watering, I noticed a few mosquitoes and moths flying about in the half light. I hadn’t realized so much that bats could see the same insects as I, yet, here they were, swooping and darting around the big sky…
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…
Yosemite Nature Notes is a video series produced by Steven M. Bumgardner, an employee of Sequoia National Park. I’ve blogged about the first 14 videos in the series before. Here are the next two, Moonbows and Sky Islands. Yosemite Nature Notes – Episode 16 – Sky Islands Throughout the Sierra Nevada, high flat plateaus are…
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…
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…
Oh! Do not attack me with your watch. A watch is always too fast or too slow. I cannot be dictated to by a watch.
Jane Austen
Sometimes it can be so enjoyable to have unlimited time to wander and putter and work on projects in the garden, but if I’m short of time, I set a timer.
Losing track of time with Maggie
…
How to dry your tomato harvest to enjoy gourmet dried tomatoes all winter long
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.…
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…
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 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.…
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…
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…
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…
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
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
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
The Cleveland sage looks great next to the Black-eyed Susans, I think, and both bloom at the same time in June.…
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
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. …
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…
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…
