15. March 2017

First a confession. Wandering around the garden today, camera in hand, peering here and there to see what is in bloom, for the first time I was thrilled with the garden. Not with the idea, or with this or that plant or combination of plants, or even with a particular piece of it all, but with the garden itself. For the first time I can feel it as a whole, however tentatively. There is still chaos here and there; the hedging must be completed; big gaps and outright errors need to be remedied;...

06. March 2017

Today's vase was a treat to do, especially as it contains flowers I've not used before. My sister offered me some of her wonderful nasturtiums, and I used quite a few.

16. February 2017

I am experiencing some difficulty uploading lots of pictures right now - just in time for Bloom Day, unfortunately! So instead of a comprehensive view of what is blooming, here is a look at the most noticeable flowers, plus one or two deserving special mention. First are a couple of more or less everblooming plants - the ones that show up in almost every Bloom Day post. Above is Eremophila hygrophana; below is Russelia equisetiformis "Big Red".

24. January 2017

Cold, windy, wet weather was predicted for last night and today. Apart from a few showers, it has turned out quite mild; but the prediction had already encouraged me to cut one flower for today's vase. The enormous bud on the rose "Mister Lincoln" stood a good chance of being broken off or at least battered about if the winds blew in. So I cut it last night and slipped it into a vase this morning. The rose had a beautifully long stem, so I tried one of my taller vases. It was too wide for a...

10. January 2017

Chuparosa (Justicia californica) is one of the most casual plants in my garden, unsure whether it ought to stand up or sprawl over the ground, but on the whole much preferring the latter. So far it does not grow dense enough to keep weeds down either, only provides some shelter for them. For all that it is a special plant in its way, not least because it came through last summer utterly unfazed. Also, its blooms are among the favorites of our resident hummingbirds. I have plans for moving it as...

17. December 2016

Well, this post is two days late as the holidays have kept me busy, but it seemed a shame not to go ahead and post for December's Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. Not surprisingly, given the mild weather, there is plenty to choose from! Most of the bloom is from long-flowering plants enjoying the cool temperatures, not to mention a bit of much-appreciated moisture. (A little more would be even more appreciated!) I have put in only a few cool-season bedding annuals so far. The most noticeable are...

11. December 2016

I was inspired by Kris's recent post to take a closer look at autumn color in my garden. Not just any color, but the reds and yellows of leaves turning for the cold months. This is one area where warm winter gardens typically don't have much to show for themselves. Many of my plants are evergreen, some are summer deciduous, and some merely drop their leaves after an ignominious stage of ragged brown. But I thought it might be worthwhile to inventory what is actually going on. So I did, and it...

16. November 2016

It is the middle of the month now, the middle of November at that! Time for a look at what is blooming in the garden with Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens. This is a lush season here in the desert, as temperatures are quite comfortable. It might be even lusher if we could get some rain, but so far that hasn't happened. Perhaps a little later... Meantime, here is what the garden is doing. This month I divided the plants according to seasonality, only to find that...

08. November 2016

This week we are celebrating the third anniversary of the "In a Vase on Monday" theme with Cathy at Rambling in the Garden. For the occasion she set a theme of "three". I decided to combine three sets of three flowers, based on color and, more loosely, type. Earlier I had ambitions of creating three separate vases, but I decided that was a bit beyond my energy level as I'm still getting over the flu. So today's arrangement is a threefold celebration, but in one vase. First of all, there are the...

31. October 2016

This week's vase is made of some of the lighter components of the garden: plants that yield those wonderful airy flowers that often serve as filler and "back-of-the-border" types, along with various grass flowers.