Hey, Sacramento Veggie Gardeners

To those of you who were missing my SacramentoGardening.com veggie page while I was switching to the new design, I just got it back up. I renamed the page Edible Gardening, so note the new link.

http://sacramentogardening.com/edible_gardening.html

Daylilies at dusk

The California fires are leading to some pretty colorful sunsets. At dusk yesterday, my backyard was bathed in an eerie orange glow. Even my orange daylilies were extra orange.






How could I switch to summer color when these pansies are still going so strong?!


My verbena would be looking a little more lush if I could just remember to hook... up... drip at the front of that bed.


The other day, I cut back my tree dahlias. They've grown taller each year and since I really don't need them to reach 20+ feet, I thought I'd try this. They were already a bit frighteningly tall, and it's only June. Now they're a little over 6 feet, and beginning to bush out.

Interesting water-saving article in Chronicle

UC Davis offers water-saving wisdom
San Francisco Chronicle
Ron Sullivan,Joe Eaton
Wednesday, June 11, 2008

If we want to save the bees...

... maybe we all need to plant more lavender. I'm seeing lots of bees around my lavender plants this year and remember noticing their lavender preference last year too. Wonder what lavender honey tastes like!



Here's one of this morning's visitors to my garden.

Calandrinia-- my ticket to freedom

1. I took cuttings from this in-ground plant (1-gallon impulse purchase from Emigh Hardware):



2. I immediately stuck them in a couple plantless pots, and not long after am enjoying this:





I've decided to keep stuffing Calandrinia cuttings in pots and window boxes so I can go on summer getaways without worrying so much about what's croaking while I'm away. Plus, there's something so appealing about a plant with tough-as-a-camel grayish green foliage and incredibly delicate, poppy-like hot pink flowers. Tough, yet girly... like me. ;-)