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Minnesota Fall Visit
We came to Central Minnesota to visit my husband's family — and to enjoy some fall color.Our fall color in central California is mainly provided by the radiant yellow of the big leaf maples, which are...
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This is California — Fall is for Planting!
We live in California, a Mediterranean climate zone where the return of rains after a long dry summer means GROWTH and GREEN! and PLANTING!That's why all gardeners in California should seek out your...
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Pruning or Wildlife - a No Brainer!
I was doing a round of fall pruning, thinking about taking hedge clippers to my Salvia 'Winnifred Gilman,' when I heard some peeps and cheeps. I stood still.Bushtits! Some of my favorite little brown...
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Workshop: A Native Garden Tour - How Your Chapter Can Succeed
Readers, I'm sure you've enjoyed the reports about the Going Native Garden Tour in the Santa Clara Valley. So, I'm excited to tell you that you can attend a workshop about putting on a garden tour at...
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Now That's a Green Roof!
When I visited the California Academy of Sciences a few years ago, right after they opened, I was enchanted with their green roof, which was, at the time, very new. Last week, I went back and found...
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Planting and Weeding and Planting and Weeding
Yes, in hopes that rain cannot surely be far off - I've been trying to get everything I've propagated into the ground. Oxalis oregana, sedges, heuchera and grasses, grasses, grasses.And as I go I'm...
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The Gift that Keeps on Giving!
With help from the Santa Clara Valley Water District Landscape Rebate Program, my friend Lisa is converting her fairly large garden to natives. Of course I was very excited when I heard about it, and...
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Maybe natives ARE better after all
While I prefer to plant California natives in my garden, I do, at times, wonder whether I'm getting carried away. Take Asclepias, the butterfly weed that is a primary food source for the Monarch...
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Divide native iris, bring friends together
There is nothing better than a gardening project to bring friends together for a good time!A couple weeks ago, my dear co-blogger and her friend Lisa came up to help me rid my yard of Iris douglasiana...
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I'm Dreaming of a Wet Christmas
I'm dreaming of a wet ChristmasJust like the ones I used to know! Where the raindrops splatter, and everyone's gladder To hear blessed water coming down.I'm dreaming of a wet Christmas With every storm...
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Weeding sour grass, one thorough patch at a time.
Like many gardeners I have a persistent weed problem. Well several, but the one I'm battling at the moment is Oxalis pes-caprae, commonly known as sour grass or Bermuda buttercup (though the plant...
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Winter Interest
In a recent post, the venerable garden rant came out strongly against "winter interest". "My garden stops in winter, which is just fine with me. I’m pretty much ignoring whatever winter interest it may...
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Mulch ado about — weed-free ferny paths
After unpacking our new Ikea kitchen, we had a lot of cardboard left over. So I decided to sheet mulch the path along the contour of our north-facing valley slope. It's about 120 feet long! It was hard...
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How I water my garden in a California winter drought
Salvia'Bee's Bliss' never gets water. Planted at chaparral edge.I titled this post carefully - I'm not an expert. This is just what I do, and I'd love to hear from other native gardeners. How are you...
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California Native Garden Foundation and Live Oak School, Santa Cruz: Workdays...
Alrie Middlebrook is a force of nature. Her organizations, the California Native Garden Foundation (CNGF) and the Environmental Laboratory for Sustainability and Ecological Education (ELSEE), are...
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Sowing Native California Plant Seeds in Early Springtime
Eight native California plant species in one box!Spring comes to California sometime in the week following New Year it seems. By late February in my neck of the woods, spring is positively bouncing up...
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How I water my suburban garden in winter and spring
It's been another strange winter in California. Yes, we did get more rain - regrettably, it all arrived in two large storms, with months of no-rain-at-all in between.It's hard for us humans to cope...
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Going Wild In the CNPS Booth at the 2015 San Francisco Flower and Garden Show
Ellen Edelson (Yerba Buena chapter) and Town Mouse, in the CNPS booth at the San Francisco Flower and Garden ShowYesterday we mice did our annual stint in in the California Native Plant Society booth...
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The Garden Celebrates Spring
This rainy season has been good news / bad news all around. The good news is that we've had a lot more rain for the rainfall year because of two large storms in late fall. The bad news is that it...
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Annuals - The Gift that Keeps On Giving
Usually, I write about California native annuals and bulbs in October, as I look through seed supplier offerings and get ready for sowing and planting. This year - why not - let's have a look at the...
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