Use rainwater harvesting and infiltration techniques to catch the rain in your garden.
backyard design
Garden Tour Coming Up
This Saturday and Sunday is the Theodore Payne Native Plant Garden Tour and my house, Garden 11, is open on Saturday.Thought I’d upload a few pictures to entice you to come. Althoughsome of the monkeyflowers and gilias are past prime, the garden is almost at peak. Chinese fringe (non-native) and flannel bush compete for showiest. […]
Busy Garden
I am so excited about what is going on in my garden. Up until this very moment most of the work done in the garden has been done by me – with help from my husband. And it has been both painfully slow and slowly painful. As I approach the ripe age of 60 (got […]
How to know what you got
It is 1999. I have lived in southern California for three years, but in my current home for only one. My first gardening project is to replace the weedy grass in the parkway on the east side of the house with a low-water use, native plant garden. The strip is 182 feet long and six […]
Shedding Light on the Gold
Last weekend was the Theodore Payne Foundation Garden Tour. It was wonderful showing off my garden and speaking with like-minded nature lovers. And the volunteer docents provided by Theodore Payne Foundation were excellent – knowledgeable, fun, and helpful. Thanks to Jennifer and Anita! Anyway, during the day I was asked which native plant in my […]
Overcast and Cool: So Cal Gardening Weather
Temperatures in the 60s, completely overcast, and a forecast of rain. A storm is approaching and will be here this evening or tomorrow bringing high winds and rain. I love southern California winters! This kind of weather just makes me want to play in the dirt. I have to face it, I am not a […]
Getting Started – Part 3 of 3
So let’s review. There are many ways to convert a traditional lawn-dominated landscape into a sustainable, lively habitat garden. At one extreme there is the clean slate method where everything is removed and one starts out with a clean slate. Advantages are, that if done well, you can have a beautiful, coherent landscape in a […]
Update
Just haven’t had the time to update this blog but will get a new post up after tomorrow night’s talk for the San Gabriel Mountains Chapter of the California Native Plant Society (CNPS). I will be speaking mostly about the plants that will be available at the CNPS-SGMts plant sale on November 13, 2010, 9 […]
Garden chores
I have been holding back on you. The last time I posted something about what I am doing in the garden was a while ago. On July 22nd I ruminated on whether my garden is actually “low maintenance.” To be able to answer with an honest and emphatic “yes it is,” I have done nearly […]
Getting Started – Part 2 of 3
Slow, gradual approach Not all of us are bold and brash (Getting Started – Part 1 of 3). Some are more cautious. In fact some are very, very cautious. And what does thing mean for a garden? Can you ever get where you want to go replacing single plants here and there with more desirable […]