The last two posts – Garden Gloves, and Pruning Gooseberries – segue into today’s piece perfectly. Since we returned from the Pacific Northwest I have been cutting back the humongous sunflowers in the front yard. I don’t usually pull them out; rather, I cut the branches and smaller stems until there is only a main
Pruning (continued)
Pruning Gooseberries
The following is a video of me pruning a fuchsia-flowering gooseberry (Ribes speciosum). I certainly hope it is helpful because it is definitely embarrassing! It is my hope that with time I will get better at this video thing, but for the time being, please bear with my amateur attempts. If you must laugh, please
Garden Gloves
Not only do I love gardening, I love garden tools and accessories. Nonetheless, for quite a while I have been using inexpensive latex-coated polyester gloves that I buy at Costco for about $1.25 per pair (packet of 8, I think). I buy these because I always provide gloves for nature park volunteers who don’t bring
Drip irrigation for backyard trees
I left you at the end of my last blog post with a cliff hanger. I showed a picture of four Rain Bird valves with combination DIG filter/pressure regulators and hoses hanging off the bottom. Bet you were sitting on the edge of your chairs – lounge chairs in the garden with mojitos in hand, I hope – waiting
Irrigation overload
I am sorry if this is TMI but there are some pretty cool things happening in Wild Suburbia with regard to irrigation. As always, I am making these changes to keep native and nonnative plants (especially trees) healthy, while using water efficiently. And I want to do this when we are home and away. We
Irrigation Basics – Controllers
June is irrigation month at Wild Suburbia. Here in Southern California, cool, wet weather is ending and it is likely we will not have any measurable rain for the next six months. This is the time of year that I check the tubes and emitters of the drip systems for leaks. I set off each station of
Oaks grow fast – pretty fast, that is
I am sitting at my desk working on a presentation for a class called “What Should I Plant?” to be given on October 16th at the Theodore Payne Foundation. It is an introductory class that will hopefully inspire rather than overwhelm people who are new to native plants. Checking over my slides of natives from
Wild Suburbia – native plant gardening
After many years, lots of writing and rewriting, and tons of rejections, it is finally out! In August, Heyday Books released my book, Wild Suburbia – Learning to Garden with Native Plants. And now a new chapter begins – promotion. Not my favorite thing to do, although the first book talk and signing, held on
Native plants in summer
People new to native plants often express concern about the dreaded dormancy period they are reputed to exhibit in summer. Many tell me that they like native plants but want to have year around color. My reply, brown is a color, is usually not appreciated… But it is! Actually, a garden of carefully selected native
Starting a new garden
Starting a new garden is big. It fills me with enthusiasm, excitement, and joy. However, this act of optimism has another side. In a time when Facebook highlights only the positive moments and feelings of our lives, let’s be honest, the enthusiasm, excitement, and joy we post about is usually accompanied by nervousness, weariness, and