Spring

Okay, I obviously have not been posting anything about my garden since, (Let’s see, March?).   I can’t believe how long it’s been and it’s not due to not having anything to say, but sometimes…there is just nothing interesting going on.

Gardens or in my case “landscape”, are always changing with the seasons and due to little rainfall this past winter, spring was not putting on much of show in my garden.

Yes, the Douglas iris’, Penstemons, and of course the ubiqus California poppy bloomed and so did everything else.   But over all the amount of flowers were less than in previous years but still beautiful anyway.

Spring in the garden

I guess the most exciting thing was to find a dead rattlesnake a few months ago, right where I have two chairs under an umbrella.   Now I have no idea how it ended up there, but it was a little bit unnerving, needless to say.

It’s extremely hot this week and rattlesnakes will naturally be out and about but not in the middle of the day.   Typically, they will find a shady spot under a bush or rock and wait for things to cool down.

Caution prevails, here at my house.   I’m not about to be putting my hands or feet in the target zone for their fangs.

It’s the weather, music, my mood and the recent arrival of  Sunset Magazine that always puts makes me envious, wishing I had a “Sunset” lifestyle.

Sigh…it’s so beautiful today and although I have been working at my profession, I’m not in the mood to do it because the skies are blue, the breeze is gentle and the sun is soft.   I’d like to do nothing but spend my time in the garden, read the magazine and dream….

At this time  California poppies are beginning to bloom and their bright, brilliant color in the garden, are like sententials for spring.   And then there are the blue, dainty flowers floating upon long stems of Blue-Eyed Grass /Sisyrinchium bellum that make such an eye catching contrast against the poppies.

I have been listening to Hawaiian music on  the Mountain Apple Company’s “radio” for most of the morning and dreaming of a Hawaii and the peace and beauty of the islands & the time when I kayaked from the beach at Kailua over a coral reef to a small island.

Then there’s the Palapa….Sigh, I could be on a Mexican beach, staring out over the ocean, drowsy and dreamy.

But I’m here and not in Mexico or Hawaii but I do have my native garden that is a good substitute for a vacation, sans the palapa but at least I do have Sunset magazine.

As I open my front door each morning and take a peek outside to see how the day is looking, I wonderful fragrance of sage wafts around me.   The sages have just about finished blooming and in particular this year, they all grew to become quite large as they gorged upon  the rain that fell during our very wet winter.

They were absolutely spectacular with all the the branches covered in flowers that lasted for weeks.   The shades were from the deepest blue, to pale pink and of course white.   I would cut some branches and bring them inside to enjoy them while the bloom lasted.   What a display this year we have had  and now it’s ending as we move into another season.

Sigh…there is never a day that I regret having my garden and it’s the one place that I can retreat to when I need to simply ground myself and reconnect with nature, even if it is only in my front yard.

We have had only a few hot days so far, but typically in southern California the hottest months of the year are August and September and if we have the seasonal Santa Ana winds in the fall, the heat will continue.   And that used to be considered our brush fire season, but that now seems to include the entire year as the climate is changing.

My garden put on a spectacular show of flowers this past spring, especially the penstemons, Woolly Curls and of course the poppies.   But there were also are native Iris, Monkey Flowers and the ceanothus.   The garden was a wash in various shades of blue, with yellow and butter scotch shades emanating from the Monkey Flowers and the Channnel Island Poppy bush.

And that is only a very brief list of the entertainers.   There were many more particpants in the celebration of spring and I hope they won’t be offended if I leave them off the credits here on the blog.

Now the Fuchsias are just starting to bloom and along with their beautiful silvery foliage they will fill the eye with delight.  I particularly enjoy looking at them late in the day as the sun is setting because they  postively  shine in the receding light with their orangey-red glow.

As I open my door each morning, there is the fragrance of sage.   As I open my door each morning, there is a new beginning.   And as I open my door every morning, there is the delight and appreciation for my own life and that of nature.

What is out your door?

It’s been very busy for me the last few weeks and I’m trying to keep up with regular posts, but I’m finding it to be difficult, as I’m being pulled in a multitude of directions.

With the arrival of spring that was proceeded by copious amounts of rain during the winter, the garden has exploded in new growth, robust life & looks postively amazing!

Initially I thought I would mention what plants were beginning to bloom but now it’s past that phase and then I thought I would talk about some of the gardens I saw last weekend on the Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers & Native Plants…(what a mouthful)  garden tour.

Now I’m thinking that I probably should be sharing the fact that my OWN garden will be on tour this coming Sat. April 16th from 10 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon.

I am part of a native plant garden tour that is being co-chaired by the Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens and the California Native Plant Society (Channel Islands Chapter).   This event will cover Ventura and Santa Barbara counties and should be a wonderful event.

Between now and then, I will be labeling my plants, sprucing the garden up a bit and I will also have a selection of native plant books for people to peek at and other handouts.

And I will be  promoting my social networking site for people that love nature, native plants and anything associated with sustainability.    It’s free to join and I feel it  will  grow to be quite large over time as more people wish to share their thoughts, ideas and experiences in creating wildlife habitats or just enjoying nature.

http://bit.ly/hQt7xC

At some point in the near future, I will let you know what is blooming in the garden and also my experience with the Theo. Payne garden tour.   There’s just too much going on right now for me to share it all, but I promise, I will.

Go dig, go plant, go “native”!