We are making big changes to our yard. As you may remember from earlier posts, I was not happy with the burned out lawn in the front yard. Years of drought left much of the lawn brown. With city water restrictions, I watered for the large deodar cedar – deeply and infrequently – allowing the
Lawn-less Sustainable Garden (continued)
Lawn-less sustainable garden
I got rid of the last bit of lawn in Wild Suburbia. We are lawn-less, lawn-free, turf-be-gone, but definitely not grassless! Deergrass, California fescue, melic grass, purple needlegrass, and even the non-grasses, blue-eyed grass (in the Lily Family), and rush (sometimes called rush-grass, in the Rush Family) have a place in my garden and in
Pruning (continued)
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
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
Native Plant Garden Tour
Everyone is talking about this year’s heavy rains, and the promise they bring of spectacular wildflower displays throughout the state. I will be taking some wildflower trips – hopefully starting this weekend – and will post about these as time allows. Our native plant gardens have also responded to the life-sustaining and cleansing rains. There is no better way to experience wonderful
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