Garden

Whether we’re ready for it or not, winter is slowly fading to spring.  Not like there’s been much of a change in terms of the weather.  Most of January was sunny with highs in the 60′s and, come to think … Continue reading →

Last week my husband and I got the privilege of meeting Jere Gettle of Baker Creek Seeds for the first time.  I can honestly say that I have never met a more genuine person.  We only had a few minutes to chat with him as we stopped by th...

No story in this post, just some random macro photos I took today. Enjoy the patterns, textures and colors! Nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus) Rhubarb (Rheum × hybridum) Rhubarb (Rheum × hybridum) Echeveria ‘Doris Taylor’...

After visiting several nurseries and botanical gardens lately (Annie’s Annuals | UC Botanical Garden at Berkeley | Cactus Jungle | UC Santa Cruz Arboretum | Sierra Azul Nursery & Gardens) and buying a plant or two at almost all of them, the flag ...

Since our backyard is so small, all our running bamboos are confined to containers. Planted in the ground, they would require careful monitoring to ensure that they don’t escape under the fence into a neighbor’s yard. While I do keep a good eye on ...

A month ago I wrote a post about one of my favorite succulent container combinations: Silver Torch cacti (Cleistocactus straussii) and Agave schidigera 'Shira ito no Ohi'. In addition to the Silver Torch cacti planted in that pot, I had two others in a...

When we look at the weeds that show up in our gardens every year, most are easily recognizable like lambsquarters, bindweed, thistle, many of the sedges and spurges, and most of the grasses.  But last year a new plant started growing around my gar...

We asked Gloria, our resident birdwatcher to blog for this week’s Farmhouse Festival Fridays over at The Renegade Farmer.  Click on over to their site to read more farming stories. When I was a child, I loved to climb the … Continue reading →

We spent last weekend in the Santa Cruz/Watsonville area south of San Francisco, and we stayed at the Best Western Rosen Garden Inn. Usually motel landscaping is as generic as it comes and I rarely get excited about what I see. However, being the succu...

Aaron Gryder The jockey, who relocated full time to the Bay Area last year, will be aboard the prerace favorite, Russian Greek, on Saturday.Northern California's royal road to the Triple Crown has gone global, thanks in part to a well-traveled ...