In another garden...

Back in the day, 10 or 11 years ago?-- before I had a yard of my own to work in, my mother & stepfather were kind enough to let me experiment on theirs.

I was working very much with trial & error, (no previous experience), and the sideyard where I was working was a hard clay patch of tough weeds. Not to mention, I lived more than an hour away, and they were only at the house part-time.
I think its indicative of the strength of my gardening urges, the way I'd spend my free time shopping for materials to haul up there...

Anyways, its evolved over time, and in recent years my mother (Hi Jan!) has had more time to make additions & improvements. Some plants failed long ago, and some they probably still curse me for. But here's a couple of shots taken on Easter Day. (should have taken more, of the other views; maybe later)

I painted the mural on the side of the neighbor's (previously yellow) garage; and the Cecile Brunner Rose I planted is either holding up or tearing down their fence, yet beautifully! in this season... The tree is a Chinese Wingnut, casting valuable far-reaching shades, but dropping hard pinballs of seeds far & wide as well.

What's this...?

To my California eyes, this looks delicate & exotic... yet its growing in profusion in my sister's Calistoga garden, in a shady spot.

Is this a Jack-in the-pulpit? In any case, they're going to let me transplant some... : )

poppy at Pinnacles

Recently, we were at Pinnacles (National Monument), one of our favorite places, especially when the early spring flowers bloom. While photographing these California poppies in the gravelly wash of the dry creekbed, I made an observation about understanding why poppies like to reseed themselves in our gravel paths so much, and Tony said, "It reminds them of home."

And here's a little tidbit I just learned from the Pinnacles website:
Pinnacles National Monument has the greatest number of bee species per unit area of any place ever studied. The roughly 400 bee species are mostly solitary; they don't live in hives.

More photos from another year's visit here.

as irises open

Each year, it's interesting to watch how the irises seem to open in the same sequence (and because I've had this blog over five years now, I have a record of that!)

Here are the first three.

Lone Pine Gardens

If you're a fan of succulents-- (or plants for bonsai) and you're relatively near Sonoma County, you just might enjoy a visit to Lone Pine Gardens.
(I know I did... So much eye candy...)

They're located 3 miles south of Sebastopol, just off 116, but note that they're only open Thursday through Saturday --you might want to check & call first if you're traveling a distance...

Bloom Day: April

Has it really been a month? Here it is, (Garden Blogger's) Bloom Day again. Here's a taste of what's putting on a show:





spanish lavendar. All going strong.

The first iris, a dwarf variety.

'Snow in Summer', still April, but we'll take it.

Bleeding heart (of some kind)

Geum;

Lady Banks (rose)

Wisteria

--I want to call this a heather (over 'Hens & Chicks' echeveria)

and so much more.


Got some serious yard work done today. More on that soon.

A Walk in Spring

It was a lovely day, and a lovely evenings walk here in the neighborhood...
It's the week when many of the trees will make their magical transition from bare to fully leafed, passing briefly through the soft, limey greens of spring. And it's the time of year when I find myself thinking:
re-leaf / relief -- is the similarity in these words purely accidental?

oh, and some baby oak leaves are RED, and the Gravensteins are blooming!