2010 February — Garden of Native Plants

by Lorraine on February 26, 2010

Okay, lets start with the good news in that the Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers & Native Plants will be having their annual Poppy Day Spring Festival & Plant sale.

It just seems like the other day that they had it but here we are again, another year has flown by (where do they go?) and this fun event is just around the corner and happening on March 27th. at the nursery in Sun Valley, CA You may call them for details at 818-768-1802 or go to their web site http://theodorepayne.org

Now the gopher issue. I put my native plants in about 2 and a half years ago and I have never had any problems with gophers until this year. In the last couple of months these buggers have turned up in the garden.

I’ve tried the cat piss clumps…didn’t work and then just prayed that they would go away. Yeah, don’t laugh but that’s what I did. The main attraction seems to be the CA Poppies which apparently are like candy to them.

It’s been very frustrating to see a Poppy look “poopy” only to discover that it no longer has a root. The good news is that the first gopher and the newest arrival are not damaging any other of my plants because the are established.

But I am concerned about the wildflower seedlings and my bulbs that are just sprouting. I will be really angry if they ruin them, especially since my garden is to be featured on two garden tours this Spring.

You would think that one of my four dopey cats would take them out but nooooo. They are not interested. However they do seem to like the lizards way too much which makes me annoyed and I have to pay attention to what they are up to on the few occasions that they are in the garden. Otherwise a lizard might get caught by one of the cats.

What to do?

Free social networking site for nature lovers: http://naturalgreenlandscaping.com

California Spring in a Native Plant Garden

by Lorraine on February 23, 2010

I don’t know where to start or what to say because my garden is roaring with life. Since we’ve had much more rain this winter than we’ve had in quite some time (which is very good), my plants have really developed and grown in the last few weeks and the garden is looking fantastic!

Over all, is the most beautiful variety of greens and grays, along with an inspiring mix of textures and smells. Many things have started to bloom plus native bulbs are sprouting and the entire garden is filled with life.

Every day I am seeing more birds actively enjoying the benefits that a native landscape offers to wildlife. They are seen in the bushes and pecking on the ground and collecting items to create their nests for the upcoming families.

I’ve been taking many photographs and only just today, managed to get some of them organized so that I would have a better idea of what types of pictures I have been shooting like crazy these last few weeks.

Woolly Blue Curls, Trichostema lanatum, are one of my favorite plants and from everything that I’ve heard about them, they are very difficult to grow in a garden.

Woolly Blue Curls & CA Sunflower

In this photo you can see how large this plant has become after I put it into my garden two and a half years ago. In addition to this one, there are eight others, all about the same size. In the background is a CA Sunflower , Encelia californica which can be seen all over our hills.

To the left side you can slightly see a Manzanita that has also started to bloom with dainty pinkish flowers that look like small bells. This particular one is called Howard McMinn and is considered to be relatively easy to maintain in a garden landscape.

Howard McMinn Manzanita

The garden looks so beautiful and its exciting everyday to see what has started to come out of winter hibernation, that I find it difficult to concentrate on my work, as I’d rather be outside, gazing at it, smelling the lovely fragrances and watching the wildlife indulge themselves in my corner of native habitat.

I will be updating with more pictures in the coming months as the garden barrels into spring. It going to be amazing!