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January in the Garden
Happy New Year! If we (and our soils!) can manage the extra water this month, our gardens will be happy. That’s just what our climate-adapted plants want. Although growth slows down in the cold soils of winter, some growth continues, often only underground. Our winter and early-spring blooming shrubs, bulbs and perennials love frosty […]
Read MoreDecember in the Garden
Oh dear! Apologies for the late posting this month! Hopefully you will read this and be able to check this list, “Yes, did that,” and “Yes, already done…” Happy Holidays to you all and thanks for reading! December is the coldest month of the year in our area, and the winter solstice occurs on […]
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November in the Garden
Autumn is in full gear this month. This is a great time to plant almost any tree, shrub, perennial, ground cover, wildflower seeds and the last of spring-flowering bulbs. While the days are shorter and storms may affect our ability to work outdoors (we can hope for many such interruptions!), it is generally more pleasant […]
Read MoreApril in the Garden
Sorry this is getting posted so late!! What happened? Perhaps it’s spring??? Hopefully you have done all of this and you just say “check,” “yep, did that,” and “already got it covered!” May tips will post in a couple of weeks. Peyton Spring in the garden! Expect flowers. And weeds. And baby birds. And aphids. […]
Read MoreMarch in the Garden
The month is half over already! It must be spring…busy days. You’ve probably already done about half of these garden chores! If so, you’re ahead of me. But I love being outside during these warm (not hot!!) days with cool mornings, green hills, wild flowers blooming and lots of wild activity. I don’t even mind […]
Read MoreSeptember in the Garden
Perhaps you have noticed the days are getting shorter? A sure sign that summer is winding down and fall is around the corner. I think of the garden year not from January-December, but from autumn to autumn, since so much of our garden creation and re-creation happens in the fall. The first half of September […]
Read MoreGardening in a Drought
While hand watering my container plants on Wednesday, the approved day to water in my district’s guidelines, I thought about comments people made to me last week. They were basically of two kinds: “We’re all going to have to move out of California.” “We can’t have gardens anymore. There is no water.” […]
Read MoreSummer is Here (no kidding)
I’m writing this from my outdoor office, surrounded by shrubs, trees, vines, perennials and one giant night-blooming cactus. It’s hard to be a gardener and not prefer the out of doors. But it’s hot. Barely summer and it’s already hot. And dry. Not brown in my courtyard, thank heavens! But brown on the hills surrounding […]
Read MoreSpring
“Just living is not enough,” said the butterfly. “One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.” Hans Christian Andersen This year, spring sprang into being in the Northern hemisphere at 2:37 a.m. PST March 20. Some plants in the garden decided it was spring in February, or even January. Some are just getting the […]
Read MoreMarch in the Garden
March was the first month of the year in the original Roman calendar. That feels right to me: March is a month of flowers and growth, the first full month in which almost everything in the garden is bursting with energy. Even the weather gets in on this act: March may be hot, cold, dry, […]
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Will summer ever end?
September is a hopeful month that begins to remind us that winter will be here again someday. It has become harder to predict what kind of September we will have. Historically, we should enjoy cooler temperatures both day and night, mostly due to the ever-shortening days. Planting:. We can finally begin to plant trees, perennials […]
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Spring is Here, whether we are noticing or not.
“In time of crisis people want to know that you care, more than they care what you know” Will Rogers How will we remember this spring of 2020? What we remember? How much we learned about coronavirus or how much we discovered we cared about things we took for granted? I’ve been reading lots of […]
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