Drift

Few people know that there's a real life Pippi Longstocking, but there is.  Her name is Celia Pedersen (a hardy Dane), and she lives in a magical cabin on a bluff by an enchanted cove in Dabob Bay. Celia was and is now again the head gardener at the recently restored Heronswood Garden. I met Celia 13 years ago when I came to visit Heronswood in hopes of being an intern. The following year I was accepted and my life was never the same.

It's not hard to pretend that we're in Sweden as we row the boat along this fiord-like inlet.  Whenever I come to visit Celia she has some crazy task/adventure/project waiting for me. This time it was to row out to find some choice driftwood pieces.  Of course with Celia they'd never be pieces that just one person can handle. Celia and I towed the pieces back to the cove.

I was relieved/surprised/delighted that the sound is warm enough to swim, and that it was even warmer than Laguna Beach where I swam the week before.  Fresh oysters will be on the menu tonight. Yum.

Flowers for Dan and Robert with love

After being together for 30 years Dan Hinkley and Robert Jones (of Heronswood fame) were finally able to marry this year. I feel very lucky to be invited to their 30/60 Party (Dan's 60th birthday and a celebration of their 30 years together),  a party for 180 people. So, when I was notified the night before that I would be doing the flower arrangements I happily accepted. I returned to the house at 7:30 the morning of the party,  Dan made me fried eggs, toast, and a great cup of coffee. By 8:00 I started making up the 19 arrangements. At first I thought I would just make two or three prototypes and then repeat. But as I started I got a big inspiration, why not do each arrangement as a little work of art, ikebana-inspired art. And mind you I had the all of Dan's Windcliff garden to raid.

Below are the arrangements I hope you enjoy.

Reuben's take

Reuben's blog post on the garden

The garden through the eyes of my friends

So nice to have people over.  And I love it when I get to see the garden through someone else's eyes. Thanks ladies!   :)

My good buddy Annette from the world famous Potted

Friend and garden blogger extraordinaire Denise

Beautiful light, beautiful weather

Even though we've had some unusual weather, I've more or less enjoyed it.  We had rain and humidity in the last few weeks, which is odd so So Cal. But many plants are enjoying the tropical vacation.  In particular the giant dutchman's pipe (Aristolochia gigantea) is reveling in heat AND humidity.  Usually if it gets hot and dry these comically large blooms get seared by the heat and often don't even open, burnt crisp by the sun.

The other night I took some photos in that fabulous sunset produced light.

Santa Cruz Island

Last weekend I was invited to join a group going camping on Santa Cruz Island.  The island in known as the Galapagos of N. America.  I was delighted to see many of the endemics as well as island variants of mainland species. Below are some of my favorites.  Some of the ones I didn't photo were mounding mazanitas, oaks, toyon, saltbush, and one of my all time favorites, Eriogonum grande.

If you can take the time go to the island. It's only an hour ferry from Ventura, and there are some great trails as well as incredible kayaking.  We did a 4 hour guided kayak tour of sea caves which turned me into a little kid. It was Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland plus the movie Goonies.  SO FUN!

Calochortus luteus, the closest thing to the look of tulip in Cal Natives

Dudleya nesiotica, I think one of the more horticulturally worthy Dudleyas I've seen

Mimulus flemingii,  lovely bright red flowers on diminutive plant

Erigeron glaucus, seaside daisy

Bloomeria crocea, I thought this was a Triteleia, what was I thinking!

Eriogonum arborescens

Hazardia dentosa, so silvery

Eriogonum arborescens

Is this what we've come to?

Home Depot's idea of colorful cactus

So,  I'm just going to boil this down and keep it simple.  If a gardener at home spray paints a plant it can either be fun or tacky or really fun because it's so tacky and wacky.  When nurseries spray paint plants it's just tacky and pathetic.

Monocultured

I admit that in my own garden it's very difficult not to plant a confetti of varieties.  Last fall I decided that is was time to calm things down a bit in the garden. So, I removed all of the green succulents in my "green succulents bed" and planted one of the objects of my many obsessions. I think it was about five years ago when I found that I could get the variegated form of St. Augustine grass (Stenotaphrum secundatum 'Variegatum'), which of course is a tropical lawn grass.  For years I grew it in a small pot, and loved it. Then when I had the new garden I put into my "lawn chair".  And that was great but not enough.  Back to the ex green succulent bed where I planted the equivalent of a couple flats of plants.   Of course planting a tropical grass in the Autumn is not the best thing to do.  The plants we in a state of suspended animation for about six months but now have begun to really take off. I hope to get this to spread the length of the whole bed even in some shady areas.  I'm addicted to the cream light that comes through this plant in the afternoons.

And,  see what Denise had to say about the plant here.

New monoculture bed.  Maybe it's a lawn, but I'll just call it a ground cover.

Variegated St. Augustine grass

Lawn chair





Lawn chair

Native job

Up to this point I haven't blogged much about my work, and I don't plan to make this about business,  but I thought these photos were so nice that I though I'd share.  This garden was planted in July of last year and it's a case of where the normal thoughts about natives were bucked.  By that I mean that not only did we plant in summer but we also planted in 90+ degree heat.  We lost only one plant and that was a Ribes 'Claremont'.  Losing natives in the landscape is considered common even when abiding the usual rules of planting in cool weather etc.  And this garden is in Pasadena so it saw a lot of near 100 degree heat last summer.  You can see the client wanted as much lawn as possible but I was able to talk her into nice swath of California natives. I was able to sell the concept on natives based on saving water as well as the enjoyment of wildlife. I think this exuberant flush of color is a nice benefit too. You can't see it from the photos but there's a nice little flagstone path that wanders through the gravel and wildflowers.

California natives, and annual wildflowers

Catalina ironwood Lyonothamnus, and California poppies

Penstemon 'Margarita BOP' , native, small, and blue!  Such a winner!

Bee box prep

Beekeeping is a lot of work, or at least it can be. If you're thrifty like me you'll probably buy your boxes in parts and assemble them yourself. This is fairly uncomplicated but time consuming. So, have I decided to expand to three hives and have assembled some boxes to accommodate.  Now I need to get them painted.  I got up early this morning and got everything prepared, so when I'm actually ready to paint and have the time all I have to do is get the boxes painted.