Back from Mendo...

Happiness is... being at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Garden when the Dahlia Garden is in full bloom. Had a great trip (though not without drama) and gorgeous, sunny, mild weather. I'd love to spend a whole summer in Mendo sometime. Note to self: Win lottery.

I'll try to post some pics soon.

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GardenWeb site down?

Is it just me, or has the GardenWeb site been down for over a week? I can get to the main page, but none of the forums. I e-mailed them (haven't heard back), and was curious if anyone else has been able to get on lately.

Got great stuff at P.O.W.

The trip to P.O.W. was... HOT!!! I mean that in the so-hot-I-may-pass-out-at-any-moment sense and in the Paris Hilton ooh-this-is-so-fun-and-what-a-bargain sense. Not that Paris cares about bargains.

For the problem area behind my pool, I ended up choosing some really nice 1-gallons of Miscanthus sinensis 'Morning Light'. I placed them, but haven't planted them yet, and they look great. Amazing how a few plants can really transform a space. I don't look forward to dividing them someday, but boy they're pretty.

Got a bunch of other things too. I'll try to post pics soon.

I need a P.O.W. fix

I need a nursery fix. My garden beds have some nagging gaps and one whole section of the yard (behind the pool) is just... yuck. I plan to hit P.O.W. this week, then other (pricier) nurseries. P.O.W has some really fun stuff and great bargains. All the plants I bought there last summer/fall (lavender, daylilies, penstemon, 'Moonbeam' coreopsis, a really pretty pink sedum, etc.) are looking great and blooming very nicely. Ok, so the lavender was mislabled and isn't compact, but I like it nonetheless. As long as it's English and relatively dark blue/purple, I'm happy. Nothing against the Spanish and French and their squatty little lavenders... kidding! And I'm 3/4 Irish, so it's not a solidarity thing. I just prefer lavandula of the English heritage. Can't we still all be brothers?

Yes, it's hot and I really shouldn't be planting in hot weather, but I just gots to fill in those gaps. Knowmsayin? In the yuck area behind the pool, I plan to add a mass of grasses... something arching and fountain-like and classy (like me). I'm thinking miscanthus or calamagrostis. Or if I see something fabulous at a nursery-- it doesn't have to be a grass-- I'll go for that. I don't like to plan ahead too much because I relish the thrill of finding something new and wonderful and unexpected when I'm out nursery hopping. Blueprints schmooprints, I say.

In a week, I'm escaping to beautiful Mendocino for a few days to celebrate the big 4-0. I won't be going alone. Two of my dearest friends who are "crossing over" at about the same time are coming with me... to Mendo and into old age. We'll kick back, enjoy the coastal views, wander the botanical gardens, check e-mail at the local internet cafe, eat decadent dinners, relax in the hot tub, toast to a few lovely local vintages... and complain to anyone who'll listen about our bursitis. Then we'll tell 'em again about it. Slowly. Isn't that what you're supposed to when you're our age? ;-)

Back from La La Land

Had a great time. Snapped a few pics on the drive (yes, the car was moving, and no, I was not driving), from the 17th floor of the Doubletree Hotel on Wilshire, and at the Hotel Bel Air for my cousin's graduation dinner and reception. That place is, well, wow.

Jacaranda trees were in bloom but it wasn't in the cards for me to snap a pic. Everything was moving too fast, literally and figuratively.


I plan to!



Haystacks are so cool!



I'd forgotten how bare these hills were. They're still interesting in their own way.



On a Starbucks pit stop, I spotted this dinosaur sculpture. There is a bird's nest in its mouth!



Good advice in general.



A view from the 17th floor of the Doubletree in Westwood.



Another view of a building across the street.



A view of the neighborhood abutting the hotels and apartments on Wilshire Blvd.



The Hotel Bel Air. Oh. My. God.



Care for a swim?



Would you care to sit down?



Contemporary sculpture fountains like this one are scattered around the hotel grounds. They provide an interesting contrast to the older, Mediterranean-style hotel and lush landscaping.



A pretty place to sit and chat.



Lush... lush... lush.



Expansive lawn out front. There was a wedding nearby.



The bougainvillea grows waaaaay up into the trees. Very pretty.



The walk to a guest entrance. You don't want to know how much a room costs.
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Off to La La Land...

... for my cousin's graduation. Won't have time to check out any major public gardens (dang!), but will bring my digi cam to check out the overall green scene in L.A.

Back in a flash.

Plain Ol' Petunias

Yep, they're just plain ol' petunias but I love 'em.
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Salpiglossis 'Royale Mix'

This pic shows three different colors of salpiglossis, which I have growing in a pot. It's another one of my favorites. Germination rate in the greenhouse wasn't great, but I'm happy with even just these few plants. It definitely seems to do better in a nice, fluffy potting mix than in the ground in clayey soil. This one gets bright filtered light most of the day.
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Cerinthe major purpurescens

Cerinthe major purpurescens is blooming right now in the garden. I really love this plant. First spied and bought it in a 4" pot at Annie's Annuals, but now grow it from seed. Seems to tolerate full sun to dappled shade.
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First Test Video!

Ok, here goes! This is just a little practice clip I grabbed off the camera where I'm telling my puppies (Oh, and did I mention I'm prone to high-pitched baby talk when I talk to my dogs?) how cute they are... over... and over... and over again... sheesh! But, hey, it's a step toward future educational or at least informational gardening-related videos!

Click image below to start the video.
PLAYS BEST WITH A FAST INTERNET CONNECTION.

Fairy wand (Dierama pulcherrimum)

Fairy Wand
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Salpiglossis 'Royale Mix'

Started these from seed.
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Orchid cactus (Epiphyllum)

Grown from a cutting.
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Quick Gardenish Note

Happy June.

Been busy lately with family stuff... my little baby cousin is graduating from UCLA in a few weeks and we're making a family video before we all converge on the Hotel Bel Air like the Beverly Hillbillies we are. I volunteered to do the video editing for this little project because I wanted to give myself a crash course... but... turns out the slick new Sony DVD Handycam my aunt, the graduate's mother, bought isn't compatible with the video editing program I bought, Adobe Premiere Elements. What on earth does this have to do with gardening, you say? Nothing, except one of the reasons I'm forcing all this new information into my brain is so I'll be able to post gardening-related videos on the Garden Blog and SacGardening.com.

No videos yet, but let me just switch gears and say how pleased I am that my tomatoes are finally growing, well, except for one. My 'Celebrity' is still only 3 inches tall while all the rest are growing in leaps and bounds. I have no idea why. Ancient Indian burial ground?

I'm also soooooo excited because the Fairy Wand (Dierama) I brought back from the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens nursery is blooming!!! On top of that, an orchid cactus cutting a friend gave bloomed for the first time today. Specfriggintacular. As if that's not enough, my sapliglossis 'Royale Mix' (grown from seed thank you very much) bloomed for the first time today.

I'll post pics... someday soon, videos!!! Call your ISP now and order a faster internet connection so you'll be ready for video. C'mon, you know you wanna...

Brown Rot hits my cherries

This is how they look now... pretty much ruined by brown rot. My 'Stella' has always put out great cherries without fungicides, but this extra rain we got well into spring did in this year's crop. C'est la vie! Here's another great info. page from UC IPM called How to Manage Pests: Cherry.


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Cherries ripening nicely... so it seems

This is how my cherries looked a few days ago...
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Ads, Vlogs and Such

You may have noticed the sudden appearance of ads on the bulletin board. I had hoped to get the archived messages switched over to my new web host, but the conversion program for switching to a new format without losing old messages doesn't work with new versions of EZBoard. Those sneaky devils.

What prompted my desire to swith board hosts was the knowledge that some people didn't find EZBoard so EZ to use. Add to that the fact that my new web host offers a "free" phpBB, um, bb. Not wanting to lose the archived messages on the old board, I'm going to stick with EZBoard until I can find a good way to convert to the new board. What I am firm on, though, is not wanting to continue paying for ad removal on EZBoard, considering how reluctant people are to post. Lots of people read the board, but few brave souls post. I never wanted the board to be my personal soapbox. I wanted it to be a lively forum for avid local gardeners, including me. So your punishment for not posting is ads. Har har. But, seriously... While the local bb contemplates life, check out GardenWeb's California forum and the Dave's Garden California forum. The folks on Dave's Garden are a lively bunch. GardenWeb has some great threads as well... there's just more weeding and waiting before getting to the good stuff.

On other fronts, I've recently figured out how to post video blogs, a.k.a. "vlogs", to this blog thanks to an excellent online tutorial by some smart, young, urban whippersnappers. Gardening is a very visual pursuit so of course I want to move in this direction. I'm excited about having complete creative control (cue Dr. Evil laugh). Plus, I can keep it more real than, say, TV. For instance, I can do a rose pruning tutorial in my pajamas. Oh, you don't think I would? Try me. Or I can yammer on with friends while we undertake some new gardening craft project. If I hurt myself, I might even cuss and then bleep myself. Or I can leave it unbleeped and call it "Gardening Uncensored... Dirty Hands, Dirty Mouth." This is tooooooooooooo much fun.

And then there's the to-do list: mow lawn, catch up on weeding out front, pick up stray pots in the yard left over from recent planting extravaganzas, undo damage done by Dan and Annie (my rathuahuas), install dog door, finish hooking up drip irrigation, build fence to exclude Dan & Annie from the lawn and flowerbeds unless accompanied by a human... oh yeah, and keep my house sparkling clean inside while being the perfect gourmet chef/chauffeur/tutor/nurse/
maid/babysitter/companion/entertainer...in other words... mom.

Events Calender is baaaaack...

I ditched the at-first charming but eventually demonic calendar program I was using for listing garden events and have gone back to my simple page of event listings. I toyed with the idea of linking to the Bee's garden events calendar (as a time-saver for me), but:

a) The online Bee calendar doesn't show very far in advance.
b) It mimics the Saturday paper in the sense that it says an event is occurring "today." Well, what do you do when "today" becomes "tomorrow"? Too much risk of sending folks to an event on the wrong day.
c) It needs to be re-linked every week. Harumph.
d) There's so much going on that the Bee doesn't list!

Smith & Hawken "Outlet" in Berkeley

Having shopped there in the past, where good deals and a parking lot nursery made a visit worthwhile, a recent stop sooooooo disappointed. Gone are the parking lot plants, gone are the outlet prices. In fact, most of the "outlet" has been converted to an expensive showroom. The outlet portion has been reduced to little more than a few broken tables, banged up birdbaths and a sparse smattering of odd or broken glassware. Honestly, I felt like I was in a garden thrift store... and not a very good one at that. What a shame! This is just a heads up in case you were planning on making it a stop on your next East Bay gardening adventure. Skip it and hit the nurseries and gardens instead.

Interesting Nor. Cal.Nursery thread on GardenWeb

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums
/load/calif/msg0507441225196.html?15

In particular, this post since I've been East Baying it lately...

RE: and now, nurseries and gardens worth visiting in Northern Cal
Posted by: mich_in_zonal_denial (My Page) on Tue, May 3, 05 at 11:37

I predominately purchase my plants through wholesale nurseries but on frequent occasion I have to run into a retail nursery to pick up one of this or two of that.
I also work primarily in the Marin area so I have come to know all the various retail nurseries in this area and many in the East Bay and Sonoma counties.

For sheer horticultural variety and volume of their grounds , Magic Gardens and Berkeley Hort are my long term favorites.

The Dry Garden comes in second, only because he does not have the space that Magic or Berk Hort has ., but Richard ( Dry Garden ) does have a knack for ordering the rare horticultural gem that no one else has the talent or knowledge to pick plants off a wholesalers availability list.

Marin is somewhat barren when it comes to super great nurseries, We have Sloats , that depending on the individual management , it can be Ok to pretty good, but it is never great. And we have the new kid on the block, Armstrong, which is also just OK.

Sunnyside does a very good job , as does Bayside in Tiburon , but still the horticultural aptitude of the Marin buyers is just not here as it is in the East Bay.

I will mention Green Jeans, but only because they have the absolute worst customer service and piss poor attitude in all of the Western United States and their prices are stupidly high .

In Sonoma I think the crown jewel of beautifully styled nurseries is Cottage Garden Growers in Petaluma. They have a nice selection of plants that are extremely well groomed . They order in some unusual plants , but again, they don't have the horticultural prowess that the East Bay Nurseries do.

Emerissa is excellent for 4 inch size perennials. They reign supreme in that realm.

Western Hort (think he meant Western Hills, which is reportedly closing) is wonderful, but it is not a fully stocked nursery , but certainly you can find the rarest of the rare , but only in limited amounts and at certain times of year when they can order it in from the wholesalers or if they have propagated it themselves.

With gasoline being so expensive, I would economize and drive over to the East Bay and visit Berkeley Hort, The Dry Garden and Magic Gardens to get the biggest bang for my horticultural spending dollar.