Mendo Getaway

Back from a painfully brief 3-night Mendo getaway... didn't plan on any serious picture taking during such a short visit, but I managed to snap a few pics of things that caught my eye on Main Street the day I was leaving. How could I not, faced with the riot of floral color and sense of fun that is Mendocino in springtime. Most of the time, though, I just went with the flow, which this time happened to revolve around shopping, dining, and relaxing. Not that I'm complaining.

Mendocino was experiencing a rare heat wave during our stay. I think it was pushing 90, which for non-air-conditioned businesses, is rough. I joked to our waiter at dinner that, "We're not used to this heat because we're from Sacramento." He paused for a second and said, "That's funny." Actually, we're not used to this kind of heat, this early in the season. We need time to acclimate.

When we left Sacramento on Tuesday, temps were mild. They have been all spring. Upon our return, we suffered through several post 100 degree August-like days. When the heat spell broke, we couldn't really enjoy the milder temps because they were accompanied by a maddening wind that sucked the moisture and good humor out of everything and everyone. Then, finally... clouds and a night of gentle rain. What a refreshing relief. Today, it's cloudy and a cool 63 degrees. My bike ride is postponed until tomorrow, but that's OK. Very bizarre, this thing called weather.


Nice landscaping outside a local Mendo shop.


The flowers, totems, gargoyles and other decorations in this local garden make it very popular with tourists.






A sun with antlers? Sure, why not.


Hey, you can never have too many gargoyles, right?




Envy. Yep, that's what this garden inspires.


Down another little alcove, I spotted this display of driftwood garden art. It must be fairly new because I've never noticed it before. Fun stuff!


That's 707-937-3869.

More late April blooms...

Ah, Spring...






New to the garden... 'Summertime Blueberry' Osteospermum, next to Babiana stricta.


Calandrinia grandiflora... just now starting to bloom. Great plant-- pretty, drought-tolerant, easy to propagate (just pluck a sprig and stick in a pot).


Chinese ground orchids (Bletilla striata)

Bearded Iris

Weeder, the bearded iris you gave me is blooming. Any idea which cultivar it is? Do you remember where you got it? Any bearded iris aficionados recognize this beauty?

'Sunny Sheila' Osteospermum companions

Cloverann got me thinking about plant combos for Osteospermum 'Sunny Sheila'. Whattya think?

Top row: Royal Purple smoke tree (Cotinus coggygria 'Royal Purple')

Bottom row (left to right):

• Mexican lobelia (Lobelia laxiflora)
• Siberian Wallflower 'Apricot Delight' (Erysimum x marshallii)
• Osteospermum 'Sunny Sheila'
• Byzantine glad (Gladiolus byzantinus)
• Baboon flower (Babiana stricta)

Good news for nurseries?

Will more people-- of all ages, not just Gen X/Yers nursery consultants are urging nursery owners to woo-- start growing their own food? Gardening? Yup.

How I learned to stop worrying and love the recession
The market's in a slump and America's heyday is long gone. But I've found comfort in being a coupon clipper.
By Heather Havrilesky, Salon.com

Store-bought vs. homemade
Sometimes convenience makes sense -- and can even save cents
By Gwen Schoen - gschoen@sacbee.com, SacBee.com

Bring back the WWII-era victory garden
Philip S. Wenz
Saturday, April 12, 2008, SFGate.com

Saved

Thought I'd pass this along...

You are receiving this because you signed the online petition at
savethecowpalace.com...



Dear Friend of the Cow Palace,

Great news!

The Senate Agricultural Committee today (4/15/08) voted to "approve" SB 1527
with amendments that protect the Cow Palace and most of it's parking lots,
and allow the potential sale of ONLY the 13 acres that the Cow Palace Board
has been working to lease to Daly City from the beginning!

In other words, the Cow Palace is saved and the Senate will continue to work
on lease or sale of 13 acres of the Cow Palace parking lot for a retail
center.

You, along with thousands of others, made your voice heard.
You helped save the Cow Palace!  All 5 Senators were delivered a BOUND copy
of all 2,800 signatures (and your comments!) received by
savethecowpalace.com

Thank you for signing the petition and for everything you did to help!


So, we can breathe a sigh of relief and perhaps write letters of thanks to
the 5 Agriculture committee members, but this is not the end of the issue
forever.

The amended bill has now moved to the Government Organizational Committee.
If the language is not amended again to require a lease of the 13 acres
instead of an outright sale, the Cow Palace will not have enough money over
time to pay for needed upgrades to it's facility and operations.

We will keep you posted and let you know if there is anything else you can
do once we have seen the actual amendment language.

In the meanwhile, say "Yeeee-Haaaaa".

We will continue to communicate about ways to assure a bright future for OUR
Cow Palace.

Spread the word!  If your friends that you tell the good news have signed
the online petition too, they will automatically receive updates as a
"Friend of the Cow Palace".

If they have not signed the petition, please tell them to do so! It will
stay up for a while and will put them on the email list for the ongoing
"Friends of the Cow Palace"!

Thank you again for everything you did to help!

Sincerely,

Kevin

Kevin Patterson
Friends of the Cow Palace
(formerly the Coalition to Save the Cow Palace)
http://www.savethecowpalace.com/
Email: info@savethecowpalace.com
--

Osteospermum 'Nuanza Copper Purple'

During a much-needed plant-fondling trip to Berkeley Hort yesterday, I spied another gorgeous Osteospermum, 'Nuanza Copper Purple', in a planter. It's very reminiscent of 'Sunny Sheila' in its jewel-toned color blend and iridescence, but here purple dominates with just a hint of copper. Didn't take a pic, but here's a link to a pic. None in stock at B.H. that day, unfortunately, but I'll keep my eye out for it locally.

When Weeder and I left Sac, it was downright chilly; bizarrely, Berkeley was experiencing a scorcher! Note to Berkeley... we like you better when we need a sweater.

Fun site: http://www.capedaisy.com/

Osteospermum hybrid Sunny 'Sheila'

I'm still loving Osteospermum hybrid Sunny 'Sheila'. The colors are amazing... much more intense and coppery in person than in photos and the way light plays with the petals is really fun.

Incentive to hand wash the dishes

The secret to growing orchids? A sunny corner kitchen window. This magic orchid-growing window faces south and west. I water every few days with a quick squirt from the kitchen sprayer. For added humidity, the pots sit on pebble-filled drainage trays and I leave the accumulated water.

Every month or so, I rinse off my plants and give them a little liquid orchid food. I believe I've had the same container of orchid food my whole life. I should probably feed these guys more often, but likely won't. I would like to divide them soon; things are getting crowded, especially since I don't tie up my orchids like the pros do.

Hard to see, but on the lower right, my little Tillandsia plant is about to bloom! Other than these, I don't do houseplants.

Snippets of Spring

My first plum crop on my "Backyard Orchard Culture"... um... orchard. Tastings to follow, I hope. I planted three varieties 18 inches apart and each tree has lots of little plums. Fingers crossed!


Edible violas in my window box


Freesiaaaaaaaaaaah...


Nasturtiums abound...






'Rainbow' Swiss chard is being enjoyed stir-fried by me, and raw by my little friend.

When life gives you olives...

make olive oil!


http://oliveoil.ucdavis.edu/

UCD celebrates another year of turning olive mess into moneymaker
By Jim Downing - jdowning@sacbee.com
Last Updated 12:13 am PDT Thursday, March 20, 2008
Story appeared in Sacramento Bee BUSINESS section, Page D1

2008 SF Flower & Garden Show

Another great annual return to the San Francisco Flower & Garden Show! Came home with two new orchids... the very ones I wanted to buy last year but didn't! Ah, orchid closure. Well, almost. There was a peachy, pinky cousin of these two that I had to leave behind until next year.


Masdevallia (veitchiana 'Pacific Giant' x 'veitchiana 'Bolin')


Masdevallia (Pixie Lavender 'Fine' x FalconSunrise 'Scarlet')

Of the display gardens at this year's show, the Zen Spa Garden was the most impressive (to me). Not only was it a welcome drop of Zen in a sea of Cow Palace excitement, but unlike many show gardens, this is one you would actually install in a real backyard here on planet Earth. Derviss + Chavez did a fabulous job and it was really interesting watching the project's progress on Derviss' blog.

The crowds weren't tooooooooooo bad for a Friday, but I still made a mental note to save the display gardens for last next year. There's nothing more frustrating than visiting an an exhibit that can only be glimpsed through a wall of people. Yes, Monterey Bay Aquarium, I'm talking about you too. Oh, to be able to vaporize peop... um... nevermind.

My new plan of attack will be to hit the vendors/seminars for a bit upon arrival, then have lunch, then hit the vendors/seminars some more, and finally... enjoy the gardens at a leisurely pace once the crowds begin to wane. Perhaps it'll be best to take a break for chocolate and coffee as well.

I always end up with sensory overload at the end of my Show visit, but it's a good kind of sensory overload... the kind that later inspires new touches in my own garden. And new orchids on my kitchen windowsill.

SLIDESHOW: Click slideshow below to launch.




VIDEO SLIDESHOW-- stills and a couple video clips to music (takes awhile to download)



Watch the video

Music: Demolition Man by The Police

It's hard to believe the Cow Palace might be torn down soon. For whatever it's worth, you can go to SaveTheCowPalace.com and sign the online petition. I did.

Vegetable-powered homes? Hmmm...

(photo from http://frontiers.ucdavis.edu)

UC Davis Frontiers: Energy from table scraps

Bigfoot... he not dead?!!!

I'm so excited that Graham Roumieu has a new bigfoot book coming out on April 29. If you haven't had the pleasure... be sure to start with some of his older titles.

Who knew?

(photo from cowpalace.com)

... back in the early eighties when I was blissfully screaming my head off to AC/DC and The Police at the Cow Palace, that I wouldn't return to that fine rock & roll and livestock venue until I was all grown up and attending the San Francisco Flower & Garden Show each year like a proper dork. I mean grownup.

This Friday. I'll bring my dorky camera too.

Looks like Spring

Isn't it nice when plants you like reseed or naturalize? Below are some flowers I'm enjoying that I planted a few years ago. And yes, I'm finally emerging from hibernation mode. It's totally mental because I live in northern California. All of a sudden, flowering quince, Japanese camellias, wild lupine, saucer magnolias and daffodils have exploded into color and that's just something you can't ignore.

I've even started torturing my teenage son on the drive to school by offering him twenty bucks to name neighborhood flowering trees, shrubs, annuals and perennials. One of these days, I'm going to have to pay up... because he's starting to remember the names.

On the pizza front, I'm making my first batch of homemade dough tonight using King Arthur's Sir Lancelot flour. Wish me luck. Or, rather, wish my son and his friends luck. They're my culinary guinea pigs.

LBAM spraying controversy heats up in Bay Area

Migden battles aerial moth spraying
Jane Kay, Chronicle Environment Writer
Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Succulent Superstars

VIDEO CLIP: Martha Stewart and actor Jeffery Tambor make terrariums using succulents from Annie's Annuals! Enjoy.

A little rant.

I usually try to stay focused on the positive aspects of gardening, but this morning I feel like a little rant on this blurb that showed up in my Home & Garden feed. The Bee is calling for 100-word reader submissions on the topic of nosy neighbors. As stated, all submissions become property of The Sacramento Bee.

I've been seeing a lot more of this lately; Newspapers and magazines which have slashed or outright decimated their gardening content to the point where you can barely line a birdcage with the stuff, are now asking us to write their articles for them... for no pay... and they get to keep all rights to our submissions.

I don't think so. We need to nip this nasty journalistic habit in the bud.

Call to Readers: Curious neighbors?

Got a nosy neighbor, a world-class buttinsky? Seen them peering through fence slats, focusing the binoculars, hiding behind the drapes? If so, we want to hear about your neighborhood busybody for an upcoming Home & Garden story. Are they good, bad or just annoying? Please e-mail your story of 100 words or less to scene@sacbee.com. All submissions become property of The Sacramento Bee.

Here's another...

A little help from readers, please

Do you take your love of gardening to work with you? Is your workspace overflowing with greenery? I'd love to know - and see - how you decorate your cubicle or desk with plants for a coming story. Send me an email telling me about the plants on your desk or in your cubicle. Send along a photo if you can. Send comments and pics to h&g@sacbee.com and put "cubicle plants" in the subject line.

I'm also interested in hearing from readers who grow houseplants that bloom, especially during winter. Tell me about your plants and send a pic to h&g@sacbee.com, and put "indoor plants" in the subject line.

Be sure to include your full name and the city and state where you live. And thanks for the help.

No, thank YOU! And can I make you a pot of coffee and bring you your slippers after I write that article for you?

Yep, I've seen 'em.

Warmer weather brings mosquitoes' buzz back
Drain standing water and wear repellent to fight the bite
By Hudson Sangree - hsangree@sacbee.com

Last Updated 6:07 am PST Monday, February 11, 2008
Story appeared in METRO section, Page B2