Tending the Early Spring Garden

"Each spring.....a gardening instinct, sure as the sap rising in the trees, stirs within us. We look about and decide to tame another little bit of ground." Lewis Gannett

I'm spending wonderful early spring days in my garden....planting annuals, herbs, and enjoying the breeze, the cry of red-tailed hawks, and the house wrens at the bird feeder. I'm also thinking of Vanessa Bell in her garden at Charleston Farmhouse in Sussex in the 1920's 30's and 40's...wondering what she was planting in early spring or deciding which piece of ground to tame.

Peaches on a Rainy July Morning

“It’s very nice here you know, and it’s very lovely now, all pale brown……..The peach tree is covered with peaches.” V. Bell

In our dry, southern California Mediterranean like climate, it rarely rains in July. This morning we were blessed, waking up to the sound of a soft, summer rain. The intoxicating scents of white and black sage, artemisia californica, and laural sumac fill the air as raindrops dance on three almost ripe peaches.

I will gather the peaches in a basket this afternoon...and make a wonderful peach cobbler!

The Garden on New Years Day

"Notwithstanding our disasters born of unseasnable frost and wet, sunless skies,I console myself with the reflection that on the whole we have made good progress. The garden is in better order than it was....last year" H. Rider Haggard A Gardener's Year

My Silverado Garden survived the winter storm of late December 2010. The creek rose.....10 feet perhaps.....bolders roared......past the house and garden. New Year's day brought 30 degree weather and frost. All in all, only some damage to tips of salvia waverlies, and this wonderful view of a sycamore leaf incased in ice in the frozen birdbath.

Gardens with good bones.....

"I like the gardens with good bones and affirmed underlying structure.....well-marked paths, well-built walls, well-defined changes in level."

Russell Page The Education of a Gardener

My Silverado Canyon garden in mid April is in full bloom---especially the Salvia greggii "Lipstick"---, accentuating the good bones, well-marked paths and well-built walls.

The Garden in early April

"Gardening has compensations out of all proportion to its goals. It is creation in the pure sense."
Phyllis McGinley.....The Province of the Heart

My Silverado Canyon garden in early April is a feast for the senses and takes my breath away .....Lilacs, abutilon, bacopa (white and pink), begonia richmondensis, tulips, iceland poppies, alyssum, viburnum, anisodentia and the magnificent western red bud all in bloom. Campanula, roses, and geranium incanum are on the way!

                                                                            

The Garden in December

"For the gardener, winter is a season in its own right, with enough time to seek out the best, often elusive scents, notice the texture of bark, enjoy shadows cast on the lawn by trees and trelliswork. ~Rosemary Verey...1990

In December, my Silverado Canyon Garden has only a few spots of color.....the glorious sycamore, the red and gold California wild grape, a few white roses here and there, and of course the hardy salvia waverlys that seems to delight and thrive in the weak light and cold days.

The Garden in August

"Gardening should really be done in blinders. Its distractions are tempting and persistent, and only by stern exercise of will do I ever finish one job without being lured off to another."
Richard Wright "The Garderner's Bed-Book"

This past weekend I spent some wonderful moments in my garden, being lured from first one job to another. Watering the perennials, roses and herbs (parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, basil, tarragon, chives and mint). Roses always need dead-deading this time of the year, as does the vibrant pink valerian. Speaking of which....masses of tiger swallowtail butterflies chased each other and followed me throughout the native garden on Saturday. What a magnificent sight they are! Cucumbers are coming along nicely......at least the flowers. Will we get any to eat, I wonder? Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes are sweet and succulent, wonderful tossed in a big green salad. The peaches are ripening.....turning sweet and the most beautiful color. I need to get to them before the scrub-jays. The hose is still not patched; dreary job, no inspiration there. Maybe next week. Oh, what I wouldn't give for more space to grow a big vegetable garden....sweet white corn, bush beans, peppers, melons and more.