New native gardens are popping up

Published on January 17, 2017 by weedingwildsuburbia

During my walks around the city of South Pasadena, I frequently come across new low water-use, native plant landscapes that I have not seen before. Surprised, I ask myself, “When did this happen?” That is just what occurred a couple of weeks ago. Check out these wonderful before and after pictures that I was able to

Winter vegetable garden

Published on March 21, 2016 by weedingwildsuburbia

As a follow up to the post of 2/1/16, Front yard vegetable garden, check out the photos of my winter vegetable garden below (January through today, March 21). The lettuce has been delicious, I love having green onions that are not from Mexico, there are lots of herbs, the kale and Swiss chard are amazing,

Front yard vegetable garden

Published on February 1, 2016March 21, 2016 by weedingwildsuburbia

Our front yard makeover began on the night of November 30-December 1 of 2011. The avocado tree in the front yard was “deconstructed” by winds that roared through our area in the wee hours of the night (Cleaning up after the storm). Rather than giving up on this old avocado, we called in an arborist who removed broken limbs

Front yard makeover continued

Published on November 29, 2015March 21, 2016 by weedingwildsuburbia

It has been six weeks since the last post – shame on me! I really am trying to be better about this and do hope that I have not lost too many of you. After posting on October 18th I went into plant sale mode, preparing for the annual plant sale for the San Gabriel

Plans for edible garden with native plants in front yard.

Front yard plans

Published on October 18, 2015March 21, 2016 by weedingwildsuburbia

As you may remember, we had to remove a diseased, old avocado tree in our front yard last year (RIP Avocado). Since the avocado was removed we have had some pretty hot, dry and wet (summer rains!?) weather. Needless to say, the loss of the tree has had a big impact on the front yard.

Create your own garden paradise

Published on August 8, 2015 by weedingwildsuburbia

Walking on a quiet street in a Los Angeles suburb, my eighty-year-old father and I approached a lovely adobe home. As we walked along, I noticed that he was slowly shaking his head as he simply stated, “It’s not for me.” I was showing him a garden in my neighborhood that I was especially fond

Make every drop count

Published on May 11, 2015July 2, 2015 by weedingwildsuburbia

The big news continues to be the ongoing drought in California, which is interesting since we rarely get any rain from April through November. Once we got half way through January we started feeling uncomfortable and things did not improve in February and March. The snow pack is at about 1% of average for this

What’s happening in Wild Suburbia

Published on April 12, 2015April 14, 2015 by weedingwildsuburbia

Today I started a new way to report on what’s going on in Wild Suburbia. Up until now there was merely a list of gardening tasks that I wrote up way back in 2009 when I was preparing for my son’s backyard wedding. I am planning (and hoping) to upload a handful of garden pictures to

Drought and the garden

Published on April 12, 2015April 12, 2015 by weedingwildsuburbia

The news reports on California’s drought are dire. However, the drought did not happen overnight, we are now in our fourth year of drought. Nevertheless, for years my city, South Pasadena, like many others, did not take a proactive role on water conservation. The lushness of South Pasadena is apparent every time one crosses into the city. Designated

Neglect

Published on February 15, 2015March 27, 2015 by weedingwildsuburbia

The first method of lawn removal listed on the Lawn Removal Methods: Pros and Cons sheet is neglect. I have used this method more than any other in reducing the turf-covering in my yard. And yes it does work, but as noted in the con category, it takes time, requiring a good bit of patience.