Author Archives: planting

Found

One dead and chewed up bird on studio welcome mat.
One dead and chewed up Hardenbergia in front of studio.
Swiss Cheese holes in all of my Broccoli Rabe plants.

Lost

Tiny mind.

My Friday already?


I took a weekend of my very own. Borrowed a book on CD from the library and drove up to SF to get out of my own head for a minute.
It was lovely. There was rain and walking and eating and reading and picture taking and it ended too soon.
It was a new to me hotel that had a make your own waffles for breakfast bar which clinched the deal for me. However by the second day the beeping of the waffle machines was a bit irritating.
And here it is my weekend again. Where did this week go? A blur.
I’m looking forward to some time in the yard. It’s been hot all week. The last legs of summer.
If I had my way and a ton of money, I’d have an apt. in SF to escape to at least once a month.

My Friday already?


I took a weekend of my very own. Borrowed a book on CD from the library and drove up to SF to get out of my own head for a minute.
It was lovely. There was rain and walking and eating and reading and picture taking and it ended too soon.
It was a new to me hotel that had a make your own waffles for breakfast bar which clinched the deal for me. However by the second day the beeping of the waffle machines was a bit irritating.
And here it is my weekend again. Where did this week go? A blur.
I’m looking forward to some time in the yard. It’s been hot all week. The last legs of summer.
If I had my way and a ton of money, I’d have an apt. in SF to escape to at least once a month.

My Friday already?


I took a weekend of my very own. Borrowed a book on CD from the library and drove up to SF to get out of my own head for a minute.
It was lovely. There was rain and walking and eating and reading and picture taking and it ended too soon.
It was a new to me hotel that had a make your own waffles for breakfast bar which clinched the deal for me. However by the second day the beeping of the waffle machines was a bit irritating.
And here it is my weekend again. Where did this week go? A blur.
I’m looking forward to some time in the yard. It’s been hot all week. The last legs of summer.
If I had my way and a ton of money, I’d have an apt. in SF to escape to at least once a month.

Prayer to Saint Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

and let me not strangle my daughter for drawing on her own ass (how does she do that?) and leaving ink stains on the toilet again.
or leaving powdery pop tart crumbs on the side table for two days.
where there is anger and spite let there be a trip to San Francisco to breathe some different air and let this stomach bug be gone before I set out.
where there is irritation and frustration, let there be laughter or at least a quiet smile and a new perspective.

Prayer to Saint Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

and let me not strangle my daughter for drawing on her own ass (how does she do that?) and leaving ink stains on the toilet again.
or leaving powdery pop tart crumbs on the side table for two days.
where there is anger and spite let there be a trip to San Francisco to breathe some different air and let this stomach bug be gone before I set out.
where there is irritation and frustration, let there be laughter or at least a quiet smile and a new perspective.

Prayer to Saint Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

and let me not strangle my daughter for drawing on her own ass (how does she do that?) and leaving ink stains on the toilet again.
or leaving powdery pop tart crumbs on the side table for two days.
where there is anger and spite let there be a trip to San Francisco to breathe some different air and let this stomach bug be gone before I set out.
where there is irritation and frustration, let there be laughter or at least a quiet smile and a new perspective.

Mid September in the garden

Enjoying every moment in the garden this month. If there is morning fog it burns off early and the days though getting shorter are clear and not too warm. It is sunny/hot though in front of the studio where I’ve cleaned up the pots a bit. I decided to go for simple and dramatic instead of color. I planted this feather grass

and this umbrella grass.

The roses we hacked a couple of weeks ago went into pots with some of the bacopa and the roses are already leafing out. If only they’d quit with the black spot and rust already!

The cabrones (aka gophers) were at work again in the central garden, leaving little hills of sifted dirt mounded outside the bed. This time in the Mary Rose bed. The rose doesn’t look bad and neither does the oregano beneath it so I’m not sure what they were after. The eggplants are still there and look none the worse. One plant has 3 or 4 little eggplants I think I’ll be eating next week. I also planted some broccoli rabe in pots a couple of weeks ago and they are leafing out nicely. I think I can probably keep those going all year. Perhaps the buried bottles may be working as that bed and the central be were the only ones I didn’t plant the bottles in and they did get the gaura in the central bed!

The ginkgo bed is also doing well. The lavender and sage her are stunning.

The woolly thyme is slowly spreading. Settling in. And two of the many nasturtium seeds have sprouted and though I was disappointed at such a paltry show, like Scottie said, you only need one of those. I think that will look splendid when it starts it’s creeping up and around all the blue in the lavender.

Scottie tackled the Cecile Bruner over the hammock this weekend. That was a job. Trimming that rose can feel like you’re wrestling a very large clawed cat. Pull out the peroxide and the band aids!

It’s a lot sunnier in that corner now and I have to remember not to do the laundry naked as the neighbors now have a clear view into our laundry room.

The Buddha was finally removed from the fish tank and now sports a glorious lime green patina across her cheeks.

Last weekends work


Scottie built the dogs a proper house complete with name above the door and many pillows inside.
The trash, recycle, and green waste now have a little home as well and we’re all happier for it.
No more mud and spider webs to crawl through, no ugly plastic dog kennel. Now the real test will be whether they go into their little abode when it rains as opposed to standing out in it whining which is what they usually do.

There was no work in the yard this weekend as Scottie took off for the desert and left me to my own devices and those devices included laying in the hammock reading and drinking my vodka mojito. I did water some but discovered our watering system for the ginkgo garden will not work. We’ve got a little bunny sprinkler that we set in the center of the garden and it gets to every corner. However, the little hens and chicks under the tree seem to get way more water than they’d like. They’ve begun to rot so I’ve had to use the hose and aim instead which I actually enjoy so…..

We spray painted our old metal motel chairs last weekend (before last) and man are they bright. Yes even for me. That key lime green has been toned down believe it or not with some leftover lemongrass paint from the shutters and trim but it still requires eye protection to look at straight on. The table’s marigold is also a bit over the top. I’d thought it would be a deeper orange. They are growing on me. Those chairs have been with us for years and have been through many incarnations. I think my favorite was when Scottie painted one in zebra stripes and the other like a cowhide. They’re old and rusty but they still rock and provide perfect seating for ginkgo garden viewing.

September and October are normally the best time of year here on the central coast and so far so good.
New plantings:
grasses in the pots in front of the studio and a coleus in a pot next to the Japanese maple.

This morning before I even opened my eyes it occured to me that the lights in the fish tank are supposed to go off during the day! Just like yesterday morning when my first thought was, that there was no way granola could be that expensive!
I can’t wait to hear tomorrow’s revelation.

This morning before I even opened my eyes it occured to me that the lights in the fish tank are supposed to go off during the day! Just like yesterday morning when my first thought was, that there was no way granola could be that expensive!
I can’t wait to hear tomorrow’s revelation.

mirror self

It’s just me and Lu today and maybe all weekend if things go as my daughter has planned. The Dishwasher is off playing with guns and I am left to captain our little ship. I’m no count at it. I’m easily distracted. Yesterday I bought the fixin’s to make my own granola and it wasn’t until this morning I realized I was grossly overcharged. Looking at the receipt this morning it appears I bought some $57 worth of tea! I don’t even like tea. I was thinking about the stupid raccoodle Maria was telling me about earlier in the day. A poodle crossed with a raccoon? It’s too grotesque to even think about but ever since she mentioned it I haven’t been able to get that horrific image out of my mind. That and the tremendous fear of being a single parent this weekend was eating away at my brain when I forked over all that money for breakfast cereal.
And wouldn’t you know it, every time that crazy Dishwasher leaves town something goes wrong with the fish tank. The lights have gone out and though I know nothing about it I know the lights aren’t supposed to go out in the morning.
Not that I mind alone time. I actually love it more than is decent.

mirror self

It’s just me and Lu today and maybe all weekend if things go as my daughter has planned. The Dishwasher is off playing with guns and I am left to captain our little ship. I’m no count at it. I’m easily distracted. Yesterday I bought the fixin’s to make my own granola and it wasn’t until this morning I realized I was grossly overcharged. Looking at the receipt this morning it appears I bought some $57 worth of tea! I don’t even like tea. I was thinking about the stupid raccoodle Maria was telling me about earlier in the day. A poodle crossed with a raccoon? It’s too grotesque to even think about but ever since she mentioned it I haven’t been able to get that horrific image out of my mind. That and the tremendous fear of being a single parent this weekend was eating away at my brain when I forked over all that money for breakfast cereal.
And wouldn’t you know it, every time that crazy Dishwasher leaves town something goes wrong with the fish tank. The lights have gone out and though I know nothing about it I know the lights aren’t supposed to go out in the morning.
Not that I mind alone time. I actually love it more than is decent.

mirror self

It’s just me and Lu today and maybe all weekend if things go as my daughter has planned. The Dishwasher is off playing with guns and I am left to captain our little ship. I’m no count at it. I’m easily distracted. Yesterday I bought the fixin’s to make my own granola and it wasn’t until this morning I realized I was grossly overcharged. Looking at the receipt this morning it appears I bought some $57 worth of tea! I don’t even like tea. I was thinking about the stupid raccoodle Maria was telling me about earlier in the day. A poodle crossed with a raccoon? It’s too grotesque to even think about but ever since she mentioned it I haven’t been able to get that horrific image out of my mind. That and the tremendous fear of being a single parent this weekend was eating away at my brain when I forked over all that money for breakfast cereal.
And wouldn’t you know it, every time that crazy Dishwasher leaves town something goes wrong with the fish tank. The lights have gone out and though I know nothing about it I know the lights aren’t supposed to go out in the morning.
Not that I mind alone time. I actually love it more than is decent.

Pinedorado Weekend

Bacopa. This summer’s favorite for pots. This one is spilling over it’s pot on the wall on the back deck.

Another weekend spent in the yard!

We stole away early on Saturday to avoid all the drunk clowns on little motorcycles. Pinedorado again. This is the first one since we’ve lived here that we haven’t gone to. I couldn’t bear the thought of it this year for some reason so we opted for a trip to the Evil Home Depot.

Things we (mostly Scottie) did this weekend:

The Gingko garden is now done. I was planning on planting chamomile between the pavers but since I couldn’t find any, I opted for some wooly thyme which has lovely little purple flowers. I finished planting the nasturtiums seeds, threw down some mulch and have been sitting the rest of this afternoon watching Scottie go go go. He’s building the dogs and the garbage cans a little house! He also finished the deck in front of my studio, dug up and cut up the dead fig tree and finished the fence around the Gingko garden. The man is unstoppable.

The fig tree, we discovered was eaten away at the roots by those cabrones, the gophers. Just as well, it was too close to the studio. Now that area will have to be rethought. A bocce court? Should I just keep paving it? I’m too tired to even think about that today. It’s been unbearably hot this weekend.

More nasturtium seeds in the driveway. I also have some calendula seeds that are almost ready that I will also broadcast in the driveway. Easy, low water and reseeds itself like crazy.
If and when I find some cerinthe, I’ll plant some in the driveway as well.

Also planted four little english lavenders around the plum tree and so far Cassius has been behaving. Going up the hill to do his dirty work.

Planted another 40 daffodil bulbs in the driveway and more in the central garden.

I think I’m ready for my vodka mojito and then a nap.