tz_garden

 As I mentioned, Saturday morning I was off to the UC Davis Arboretum for their plant sale.  Sophia was here to celebrate her sister's birthday so I was lucky to have her join me! They had fun live music. I lucked out and got the very last (there were only 4 available) Grevillea 'Ivanhoe'. This plant has done well in my back garden, and I was hoping to get one for a privacy screen by the front fence. Score.  The sale was well run, and packed with great priced cool plants.  The check-out area.  Then we were off to something even more fun, a visit to  Gerhard, succulentsandmoreblog !  I knew he had made some changes (and had new siding installed on his house).  He has a few posts on that process, but my favorite is  New planterscape . When you drive up to his house, you know immediately that a plants person lives there.  I couldn't get out of the car fast enough. Of course I failed to get a long shot of his border, I was too drawn to the a...

 After the last (hopefully!) triple digit day of 2025, our temps have dropped a bit.  Although we're still 90 today, with the cooler mornings and sunset happening earlier -it just doesn't feel as serious. My photos today will not be pretty ones.   I've been a bit undecided & stalled on my vision for the front garden renovation.  I would like some blooms, but I need beauty year-round.  It's just all too "dead & sleeping" in the winter.  That's stupid in this zone.  So, with that in mind I grabbed my root slayer and started removing things that fell into that category.  Bye canna.  That wasn't so scary, and kinda caught the bug at this point.  Bye floppy penstemon, salvia, woody lavender, underperforming Dahlias, Princess of Kent rose (doesn't do well here, it's just too hot).   The August/September sun has done it's damage, whatever -it looks worse in January. By the time I got to the sidewalk, both green bins were ...

 I'm back home after visiting with lifelong friends in Cave Creek, AZ for about a week. *We all met in high school in Portland- David Douglas HS, home of the Scots!  I'm looking forward to catching up on all your blog posts I missed out on.  I came home to the Aloe africana bloom getting taller, way over my head.   Close-up.  As you can see hoses strewn about, I left sprinklers on timers during the time away.  It was HOT.  I have gazillions of weeds to pull.   And little pots everywhere.  Aloes from  John Miller Institute for Aloe Studies . He sent an email out right before I left.  Aloe Time! 2025 Offering! I couldn't resist. Including Aloe namibensis & Aloe powysiorum he recommended (I'd not heard of either).  I was anxious to check on the garden.  During a quick walk around, was delighted to see Brunsvigia grandiflora had woken up!  Closer.  From Dec 3, 2024.  This is what it looks like for...

 After getting a couple bids on the fence, ahem -I decided to give a go at repairing it.  $7k isn't in the cards right now.  And while I'm at it, why not paint it black. This is a Frankenstein fence job, out of my jurisdiction.  But I think with my repairs,  it will make it through a few more winters for a couple hundred bucks. Before: After.  *Different direction, sorry. This 3' side is 77' long, the other taller (6') portion of the fence separating the front from the back is probably 30' guesstimate.  I didn't leave too many plants along the fence line, but it's crazy how much better they look with a black backdrop. The area connected to the the gate (to the backyard) is ready for some love. No idea what I'll do with the stock tanks.  The fixing & painting took one full day, and 2 afternoons.  I was sore when I was done- mostly my forearm from painting, but also my legs from squatting 10,000 times. So I switched to something fun this af...