by Lorraine on February 23, 2009
This morning started out with overcast and cloudy skies, resulting in a little bit of rain. But later in the morning, the clouds disappeared, it warmed up a bit and turned into an exquisite day.
I had been so busy working, I hadn’t noticed the change until I went outside and discovered how perfectly beautiful it was. And it still is…..
Skies in the most lovely shade of blue, interspersed with white clouds and a delicately caressing breeze. I made myself a protein drink and Chico and I went out into the garden to enjoy the weather and see what was going on in it.
Bees are very bizzzzy with their work, flying all over the garden and they have lots of flowers to choose from for their honey making enterprise. Some of the sages are blooming, the Seaside Daisies are too and I noticed that one of the Monkey Flowers has put out a single bloom from a few days ago.
The California Poppies are right on the verge of exploding into color and I noticed that some of them have buds that are getting ready to bloom and be part of a huge show. The Poppies have been a bit of a pain, since they have spread into areas where I don’t want them and I’ve thinned them out whenever I felt they needed it.
It was necessary and will continue to be so, as I have to keep them under control. But it’s laughable to see that some are sprouting in the cracks in the sidewalk and I’m guessing that in the next year or two, some of my neighbors will have Poppies in their yards, too!
I’m beginning to seed a few tiny seedlings coming up from my previous efforts with spreading seeds and there are also a few Baby Blue Eyes blooming too. It’s about 70 degrees, warm sunshine and a feeling of peace.
by Lorraine on February 22, 2009
July 2008
I just received a copy of the Theodore Payne Foundation’s newsletter and devoured it. There is a list of up coming classes to take and articles on various topics concerning Native plants which is exciting stuff to me. But what I found to be quite helpful, was the garden guide and what plants may need some maintenance and attention in the middle of Summer
Obviously there are hints on watering, weeding and even planting some species such as riparian and desert plants without worrying too much about them. It seems a bit odd to be planting in the middle of Summer, since that’s not usually when it’s done but these plants are obviously an exception.
But what I’m paying attention to is the instructions about pruning and mulching. They say to deadhead sage flowers back by one-third, which surprised me a bit. It seems to me, that that’s too much to take off this time of the year.
I’m thinking about what Bart O’Brian had said about pruning them in the Winter and I’m a little concerned about removing the dead flowers at this time year. What if I trim them too much? And the directions, also say to remove any spent flower stalks from Penstemons ( Which I had been doing all along, anyway), so at least I wasn’t worried about that!
I don’t have too many sages (Salvia) that are large other than two Whirly Blues. One of them receives more sun light than the other one and it has almost completed blooming. It is now starting to drop some of its leaves as it is adjusting the the hotter days, which is completely normal. I trimmed off all or most of the stems that had dead flowers on it and left the other plant untouched, because it’s too soon to do any trimming on it as it isn’t ready.
All in all, I spent about three hours in the garden. And it was pure pleasure, especially inhaling the fragrance of Sage and spending time in the sun and just enjoying myself.
A Native plant garden is pure tonic for the soul. Peaceful, beautiful and inspiring.
