California Riviera Gardens

21 Friday Sep 2012

Posted by in California Riviera, cupckaes, fountains, garden, gardening, Laguna Beach, outdoor rooms, pumpkins

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A few weekends ago, I had the chance to get together with my high school friends for a great girls’ weekend and reunion in Laguna Beach, California.  One of my all time favorite garden stores is nearby—Rogers Gardens, and we had planned to end our trip with a visit to Rogers and a Sprinkles cupcake. What could be better!

Along the way, we discovered a second wonderful garden shop—a quirky place full of unexpected and wonderful gardening ideas. Laguna Nursery on Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) was not hard to miss with its red hearts and funky metal garden sculptures standing out as we drove by. A quick u-turn and we parked in the back and entered the garden shop that seemed right out of a fantasy novel.

In the front garden, a giant white glass orb floats on the water’s mirror surface and seemed to glow in the bright morning sunlight.

Fountains at every turn, some with smoke (or steam) coming out of them.

This downspout fountain really intrigued me. You could hang this in a tree and run a drip line up the tree and onto the top of the downspout, and then the water flows into a pool or basin below. I want to try this.

This garden room was a big hit. With soft, fresh pine needles on the floor, it smelled like a forest. The moose also gave a forest look to the place. That was eclectic!

Little finches in fancy cages:

This passion flower was something we all took pictures of:

Well, that was a fun tour—I bought some seeds too. I recommend stopping in and exploring.

Then we went by Corona Del Mar and drove through the beautiful neighborhoods. What is it with that place?  Every garden is perfect—no mildew on the roses, no wilt, not one piece of grass out of place. It’s all cubical boxwoods, iceberg roses and fox gloves. There are maybe four or five perfect blocks of gardens. Maybe they all get advice at Rogers Gardens up the hill! We stopped at the house where I first met my husband.  It was totally remodeled and almost unrecognizable. The night I met him, we walked through that neighborhood after dinner and he picked rose petals off the rose bushes lining the streets and “popped” them, which means you smack them in a certain way that they kind of pop like a balloon and fly apart.

That’s a funny memory of this neighborhood. I guess it was a perfect place to meet.

: – )

Anyway, we stopped in Rogers for a quick tour of the Halloween shop there, which is incredible and the home goods, not to mention the plants. I just look away. “Look away,” I tell myself. You can’t drive home with all these!

It’s really hard for me to create an order and cohesive look in my yard when I am attracted to so many different plants.  I’m like a crow that can’t resist shiny objects…. Maybe that’s why I can’t live in Corona Del Mar! My gardening style is not that organized.

We ended our garden touring at Sprinkles, a sweet ending to a fabulous weekend.

Here’s to the getaway gals—thanks for decades of friendship (did I just say decades?):

Sorry, Michelle, you’re in the photo above!

And here’s a little Flashback Heart Attack for you!

New Blog Look

14 Friday Sep 2012

Posted by in bohemian, butterfly garden, chickens, drought-tolerant, garden, gardening

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Hey! I have been wanting to re-style my blog for several reasons. My old blog has grass and I’m not about lawn-care! I wanted something with roses and the chickens, of course!  Fortunately, my daughter is a great artist and she made this drawing, which I love. Here is the whole drawing so you can see it all. I had to crop it to fit the banner.

I have lots of stories and photos to share, and it’s fall planting time (I already pulled a muscle in my back digging holes in the hill.) I am waiting for cool weather so I can really start working. I am grateful to my neighbor Gail who is letting me dig up grasses to plant on the ugly empty spots. As you know, I hate holes in my garden.

I have tons of seeds to plant, too. Just waiting for this heat wave to end!

Dark Morning

02 Sunday Sep 2012

Posted by in dog, moon, morning, ranch, summer, Uncategorized

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I wake up and I’m outside a lot earlier these days because of the puppy. While I wish I could sleep in, the morning sunrise and the stillness is something I love. I remember the mornings on the ranch when my mother would wake me in the dark, and my father would already be awake drinking his second cup of coffee and listening to the weather radio. The weather was what set his mood—rain was a happy morning and a brisk walk to the barn. When it was bad news, we’d drive the truck, late from listening more to make sure the radio hadn’t changed the forecast in those last few minutes.

The barn was dark and still with only one light on in the tack room, and in the dark corrals, the horses stamped and shuffled, waiting for us to saddle them.

The sunrise would build behind the western hills and the sky would turn from dusky lavender to yellow then orange. The sun was seemed like it didn’t come up for hours (even though it was probably only one hour) as we rode out to find the cattle. When the sun did come, it was blinding and its rays seemed to ignite the sharp yucca leaves and grasses.

The sound of dark morning was always peaceful and silent even with birds chirping and the jingle of spurs, the slushing of horse legs and saddles. Maybe a whistle or low whisper of Spanish about the weather of the work to come.

Unfortunately I get about ten minutes of silence nowadays—from the time I sat down to write this until here on the page.

Now dogs are barking in my house. The senior grandma dog just woke up and she is wheezing and puffing. Chairs are rattling. The kids are humming and buzzing and building fairy houses and singing a song about the puppy to Ode to Joy (boy, that is a big theme in my house). The chickens are cackling to be let out of the pen. Feet are scuffling across our hardwood floors. And my husband is calling my name with a question mark at the end trying to find me to cook breakfast or bring him a dustpan.

Fortunately, I was already outside at 6:30 a.m. and caught this picture of silence (below). See the pretty morning moon. And here are some pictures (2nd and 3rd down) of the ranch so you can get an idea of what it was like. You can look at them and imagine the silence.

Pumpkin’s Progress

22 Wednesday Aug 2012

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Ok. Where did my post go?

I posted this picture of one of my seven pumpkins — they are actually growing. I am happy to say. I pollinated them (I guess correctly for once!) and went away for a week. When I came back, I actually had pumpkins that were growing large and fat! Here’s a picture.  Now I have to wait — the hardest part of growing vegetables!

 

 

Pumpkin — Glory Be, Help Me

09 Thursday Aug 2012

Posted by in bee, pumpkins, summer, vegetables

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Here lies my glorious pumpkin, taking up my whole herb garden. I celebrate its robustness–for the first time I actually planted and grew the plants on time and it is  a magnificent vine, full of giant leaves, yellow flowers and tiny fruit. See the picture below–it looks almost mysterious in the morning light, shrouded in mist, flowing down my hill and sending its twining feelers out across the rock steps and over to the apple tree. But if you scroll down to the bottom of the picture below, you will see things are not as they seem. This is not the vital fecund fruit bearing plant it appears to be! No, the baby pumpkins are shriveling!

Gasp! They turn brown and shrivel up and fall off. Not good. I have no words.

Why do I go through this every year? Why can’t I grow pumpkins? This morning after I took this picture, I decided to put on my bee hat and pollinate. I figured that out last year, but I thought that with this giant plant, I wouldn’t have to. But I did and there was one bee with me. Go little bee, do your stuff!

Wow! There’s a lot of pollen in there–some ants too. Well, all of you,  sprinkle that stuff around! Look at it!  I think that’s the male flower. In my rudimentary understanding of the nature of pollination, I put a Q-tip in there and took pollen and stuffed it in the female flower. The female flower, well, looks female and has a baby pumpkin at the end of it. I found lots of males and only three females at my pumpkin fraternity this morning. You get my drift! I have an overpopulation of males–every year, the same situation! Reminds me of my undergrad days, but I suppose that was to my advantage. (Anyway, I didn’t make pumpkins!)

(By the way, morning is good because the flowers are open).

Now what? Really, what I want to know is–what’s wrong? Last year I got one or two pumpkins (from three plants). The year before I got one Cinderella pumpkin. Last year I fertilized them. Last year I planted late and I surely did not have a plant like this. Oh yeah, I fertilized it with something called GROW BIG this morning after I did the pollinating. Geez. All this work for one pumpkin. Now I have to wait and see. It is very hot and humid now so maybe that will help, too.

Honestly, I think the coastal air does something to them. I figured out it’s nearly impossible to grow Echinacea and Black Eyed Susans. That one year I grew Black Eyed Susans was a miracle. This year I bought the seeds from Burpee, I planted them in the ground, I planted a second control group in peat pots–guess what? One flower. ONE flower from all that.

Hey, I also harvested this watermelon too early. Have you ever seen a kid who told her mom not to pick her watermelon look at you after you pick her watermelon when she told you it wasn’t ripe? You don’t want to see that face, belive me.

It didn’t taste that bad. (But it didn’t taste quite right either so no one else would eat it but me pretending that I had done the right thing.) There are three more left safely on the vine, waiting ripeness.

So, while my garden isn’t going exactly how I planned, I finished a draft of my 2nd novel this week. Yipee!

Outdoor Rooms in Garden Haven

03 Friday Aug 2012

Posted by in garden, gardening, outdoor rooms, roses, Uncategorized, vegetables

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This is Julie, matching her pillows.

Our friends Julie and Brian have one of my favorite backyards. The space has a lower patio where they have dinner parties on a long Spanish table is surrounded by a retaining wall planted with lush roses, lavender, alyssum and sometimes tomatoes. The upper level has a sloping grass lawn–perfect for cartwheels, a fire pit area with chairs for lounging and borders of citrus and cannas. The upper level has another patio, a loggia type structure and the kids’ trampoline.  Julie decided to freshen up for summer and to redecorate her lounging area now that Brian put a tin roof on the arbors that make the outdoor room at the top of the hill. They had us over to see their hard work and have some snacks and of course, fabulous cocktails.

Here’s my Better Homes  & Gardens shot of the outdoor living room. I love the turquoise and orange. The curtains block the wind and sun (and I’ll tell you a secret–you can get them at Ikea. They are regular curtains. Pillows at Home Depot–if any are left!)

The patio fountain:

Here’s the jalapeno poppers they made from scratch with chiles from our friend Dulce’s garden:

Yum-yum. Get the recipe here: Sunset Magazine July 2012 edition.

Julie is a designer, and I think the colors in her new garden room are fabulous. Don’t you? Orange and blue, my favorites.  As we ate our jalapenos in her new room, seated on the newly rosewood oiled teak furniture, we planned the next few weeks of gardening. September is coming and that is a busy month in San Diego. I can’t wait for my family to be occupied with football on TV so I can go outside and garden–hee, hee. Really! Okay back to the yard– it looks amazing. Here are more pictures of all the outdoor “living room” type areas they have interspersed in their yard–maybe it will give you ideas next time you want to create a garden room!

For lounging time! (Not much of that when you are busy gardening!)

Beautiful retaining walls from salvaged concrete patio. I love the roses and lavender planted along it. Some years, they mix in tomatoes. Those chairs surround the firepit. I like that they have lots of thick gravel to outline the different areas.

Sorry, Brian! I don’t have your photo! You were too busy cooking!

Perfect July Day

28 Saturday Jul 2012

Posted by in roses, summer, tomatoes, Uncategorized, vegetables

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Today is a perfect July day. The sky is pure blue, the air is warm, but the breeze is cool. It’s a day to be thankful that I am in San Diego. There are flowers in my patio garden and vegetables in the back. The tomatoes are ripe and the watermelons are getting round and full. We have more green beans and squash than we can eat and my daughter figured out how to play Ode to Joy on the piano. What could be more perfect! Maybe getting outside to do some gardening or just read a book.

I took a walk around the garden and snapped some pictures:

Green beans on trellis

Three tomato plants growing together–Roma, cherry and a beefsteak.

Pumpkin vines growing over mint.

Watermelons-the vines are all over the place!

Summer bouquet picked from garden–yarrow, roses, sunflowers, feverfew, and verbena bonariensis, which is an incredible bloomer.

I don’t know what this blue flowering plant is, but I love it for a container garden. I bought it at Summer’s Past Farms. I need to go back there and buy some more (and figure out what it is). It looks like a mini vitex.

Dogs happy for the shade and cool grass.

Mary’s Garden

20 Friday Jul 2012

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We went to a BBQ last weekend at our friends Mary and Shawn’s house in Escondido. It was Mary’s birthday. Taking a break from her hostess duties, Mary gave me a tour of her vegetable garden. She had some really unique plants that I wanted to share:

ImageThis is called perilla and she thinks it’s related to mint. She said she uses it for sushi.

 

 

 

 

Image ImageHerbs growing in wine barrels–nice!

 

 

Spinach  (vine below) = red Malabar spinach – pretty plant but haven’t tried to eat yet. The spinach grows on a vine. That’s cool.

 

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Beans (below) = dragon’s tongue beans – lots of fun, turns yellow once cooked, mild taste

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My Cantaloupe Is Not Growing Cantaloupes–What is this thing?

13 Friday Jul 2012

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Mystery vegetable

I bought two plants at our school’s Farmer’s Market in May. They were marked “Cantaloupes.” They have been growing rapidly and have lots of green melon-like fruits–or at least, I thought they were melons, but now that they are growing bigger, I don’t know what they are. Any ideas?  Can I eat this or is it a gourd? I have a lot of them!