It's snowing!

Again. This storm out of Alaska is bringing snow to the north coast. For the second year in a row. Though this is normally a rare occurrence.

We're keeping the bird feeders filled, suet out, and brought the rabbit inside.

Badger's Passing

Our eyes hurt from crying. I promised I would not allow him to suffer, and he clearly had reached that point. An agonizing, but right decision had to be made. Release from pain and a body that had failed. Sleep, and dreaming of chasing rabbits, and who knows, maybe caribou.

May his next life be the step up he deserves.

Stupendous weather.

Two gorgeous warm sunny days in a row. A break from the rain and fog. Hot enough the kids wanted to run through the sprinklers. Not unexpected, we get nice long Indian summers usually, or real bad storms are late Dec. through Mar. I'd say.

gam zeh ya'avor

This too shall pass.

We wonder what the world will be like in a few years. I always wondered/worried about what kind of world I was bringing kids into, and what we would be passing down to them. Just when it seemed we were handing them a brighter world, all certainty has been removed. And the worst part is, they have voted it on on themselves. we have no say. All we can do is live with it.

I believe this election heralds the decimation of wealth, the restriction of freedoms, a turn towards the Nanny State at best, fascism at worst, and entitlement socialist society. Nothing like the world I want to live in. It is depressing beyond imagination.

Aside from that, I intend this to be a politics free space.

We're having a horrible mosquito year.

Never seen anything like it. Black swarms, like passenger pigeons, all hanging out at dusk above the vegetation, hovering alongside the eaves, getting in the house (down the chimney we think, started burning citronella candles in the fireplace 24/7) The whole town is affected.

Have fish and mosquito dunk in all the ponds in the neighborhood, and we all know it isn't us since the problem extends for miles around us. The odd thing is - West Nile Virus was the HOT TOPIC for the last few years running, with all kinds of alerts and warnings, and this year, nothing, and it is the worst year for mosquitoes in history.

My observation, having been up for hours killing mosquitoes in the house at night - they hunt in pairs. It's eerie.


☛ Mosquito Sources in your Backyard
☛ Are You a Mosquito Magnet?
☛ West Nile Virus Basics
☛ Vaccines of the Future Could be Delivered by Mosquitoes
☛ link

clearing

Made a small bit of progress this last weekend, finally getting around to clearing out the garden area between the greenhouse and the shed - where everything got dumped last summer, and then became completely overgrown with berry vines and grass and weeds. Another day should completely clear it out - then the objective would be to KEEP it clear.

So far, the area around the deck is staying together, so if I can move that repair effort outward, and keep it up, things should get back to where they were 5 years ago. BEFORE the neglect.

I am also going to buy some pond liner and redo the pond area. Make the pond bigger, all one piece. Pond liner is between $300 and $500 for a 20x25 piece (45 mil) EPDM.

I'll deal with a pump later.

The Getty

This weekend Arny visited on his way back from San Diego. He's flying out of SF today to Tibet where he's completing his senior field research on Tibetan education. I took him to the Getty, a museum near campus with really beautiful architecture & gardens. The pic above is a view of the garden area from above.
Below is a picture of these tree-like structures they've created out of rebar that are covered with these flowers. They had a couple with multicolored flowers like this, and some with only red.


The museum is up on a hill on the edge of LA looking out over the entire city. Unfortunately we were there on a foggy day but when it's sunny and clear you can see all the way to Ocean. If you come down and visit it's definitely one of the places I'd take you.

I'm done with finals and looking forward to two weeks of freedom before fall quarter starts. Hope all is well at home.
With Love,
Kelsey

My First Garden

After set up our new furniture and stocking the kitchen we decided to make use of our (fairly small) balcony and start a miniature garden. This started as a trip to get just the most basic cooking herbs: basil, thyme, rosemary and oregano. From there we decided to look for a couple of house plants and maybe some flowers. It's possible we got a little carried away, but we ended up with 8 herbs: basil, lemon basil, oregano, French thyme, sage, parsley, cilantro, and rosemary. Although some may be unnecessary, we're both excited to incorporate these fresh homegrown herbs into our cooking. Here are the many herbs we picked out: (to be transplanted to various pots this weekend)

I picked out one flower to sit on our outside table (visible in the picture) but I'm not really sure of it's name. I love the deep purple and delicate flower but admit to being concerned that I have no idea how big this will get or how needy it'll become. At this point it looks nice on the table, which is all I'm asking for.



Lastly, we picked out 2 things for inside the apartment. Both are very small and will hopefully grow fairly well over the next year that we're here. We'd like to have a few bigger house plants but right now they don't fit into our budget... so we're counting on these growing into the plants we had in mind.

The weather has been low to mid 80s all week and we're getting a lot of afternoon sun on the balcony. As long as we keep them watered I think we'll be set. Maybe we should have started with 1 and waited to see if we could keep it alive before buying a dozen plants but so far they're looking pretty good. Any advice?

The First Party on the Deck

Last night we had the first party on the deck, with the barbeque, the umbrella all lit up, candles in hurricane glass, the fire pit in the patio area below, 28 people altogether. Way too much food. Kids roasted marshmallows and made smores.

I'm 50 and it's the first time I've really done this. How did that happen.

Anyway, it's devastation out there this morning. :)

The only real problem is I need serving/side table for occasions like that, a folding table with a white tablecloth, because the food took up all the room on the table, even with a couple of smaller tables holding the chips and dip, the baker's rack holding the watermelon and incidentals and the serving cart holding the drinks, plates and cups etc.

All in all, a good day the whole family together including my sister and her family and my parents, all of our kids, with two of them leaving for LA today.

Progress

of sorts. Once again I find I am digging my way out of the backyard disaster - Last year it was stripped and clear and ready for sod, and we didn't do it and now it is growing in, the nice clover has dried out in the heat and been replaced with what I call knotweed, with berry vines and tall grass, too tall to cut with the mower, a job for the weedeater. Not as bad as it was last year prior to the stripping, but on its way.

I have control over a small area, and I am starting from the deck and moving out. With a hoe, shovel and rake. At this point, my plan is to clear out the edges, and get the Nursery landscapers in to take care of stripping the center, laying the sprinkler system, putting in the perimeter (sidewalks or mowing strip) and laying sod.

THEN, it will be done and be a simple matter of mowing, something I used to be able to keep under control.

THEN, I can tackle each of the side areas, the garden by the greenhouse, the area a round the playset, the back area where the secret garden will someday go, and little by little, it will become what I have envisioned and planned for.

Today, I re-cleared the area which will be a patio just below the deck where the firepit and chairs will sit. I bought benderboard (expensive sh-t) and blocked it off.

The skies are still hazy from smoke, though it seemed the inversion layer lifted late in the day and we actually had clear blue sky. Temps up to 80 in the shade again. No records were set.

What's blooming? - roses, the styrax, watsonias are about done, poppies, daylilies, passionvine, the mockorange... crocosmia is starting...

(Update: I got sidetracked and it got away from me again, so I'm digging it out AGAIN, years later)

Beauty.

I have Pink jasmine planted all over. Climbing fences, on the shed... evergreen, flowers profusely, smells amazing.
from Wikipedia: Jasminum polyanthum is well-known as a house plant in the USA and Europe. It can also grow in the garden, when climate conditions are good. USDA hardiness zones: 8 - 11. It grows fast and easy and flowers nicely[1]. Outside it can be used to cover walls and fences etc. It can grow in sun and light shade as well. It is propagated by seed and by suckers. Jasminum polyanthum was given the Award of Garden Merit (AGM) by the RHS in 1993[2]. It was chosen on the Bicentenary list of 200 plants for the RHS: “This popular houseplant is an easily-grown, evergreen, half-hardy climber with loose panicles in summer of many strongly-fragrant pink-backed, white, trumpet-shaped flowers. It does not suffer pest or disease problems and is simple to propagate.”[3]

I wouldn't have believed that at first, then one day I found I had a bunch of layered rootings in the bark around the kids play structure, which was cool, because it meant a bunch of baby jasmine for friends...now a few years later as I am weeding I find not only layered rootings but what resembles extensive electrical wiring - like cables funning along the fence line, just tons and tons of shooting runners, very difficult to control. I don't know if it's just due to benign neglect, and that if you stayed on top of it you wouldn't have this problem, or whether it is, as they say, hugely invasive.

I still love it, it's just not as simple to control either the top growth or the runners as it seems at first.

Nice and hot.

Still hazy smokey, but 80 degrees in the shade. (I know it sounds cool to you when it it 114 in some areas, but this is really hot for us.

Matilija Poppy, The Fried Egg Plant

(Romneya Coulteri, native to California) Looks like crepe paper, absolutely beautiful huge blooms. This one's still in the pot, thinking of planting it near the deck because I want to SEE it - AND they are very fragrant, I hadn't realized that before. I have another one planted in the far back, and it has migrated under the fence into the alley, so near the deck might not be such a good idea. A little further out...
Care - Once established, Matilija poppy doesn't need fertilizing or extra water.
Cut old stems back to the ground in late spring using bypass pruners. Propagate by dividing the rootball or, from seed; direct sow outdoors in fall. Bag seedheads to capture ripening seed. Allow pods to dry on plant; break open to collect seeds.
Interesting note, though - Very much a Fire plant, this native of dry, California canyons is often found in burned areas. These seeds are a challenge to germinate. Since this plant's seeds are triggered to germinate by smoke, one way to get them to germinate faster is to sprinkle them lightly with moist soil, cover that with pine sawdust, and light the covering (don't use any accelerants). Burning that continues for at least 15 minutes is best. Water when the fire is out to wash the smoke chemicals down to the seeds, since it is the smoke rather than the fire that induces germination. A less effective way is to burn pine sawdust, mix it with potting soil, moisten, and plant seeds in this mixture. A third method is to smoke the planting medium with burning pine sawdust.

Passion flower!

Homegrown, no attribution necessary. Planted a couple of weeks ago. Need to train it up the fence.

A few years later and it has taken over. Covered the fence, and climbing up the house. Going to cut it back severely. See what happens. It's beautiful, though. Lush and the flowers are awesome.

Cutting back the jasmine has been a massive undertaking, it has sent out cables almost the entire length of the property.

An inspirational place

The Inn of the Seventh Ray as inspiration.

Maybe this is the answer to my lighting dilemma. Nothin' like twinkly white Christmas lights. And white panels...

Monkey Sea, Monkey Dunes

M, K, and friend J - winner today, Sandcastle Contest

Smokey, hot & sultry

Looks like fog, but it is not. It's smoke from the hundreds of fires that fabulous lightning storm caused. The lightning storm that raged over the weekend had over 6000 strikes according to a spokesperson at Calfire this morning in Shasta County. 602 fires consuming thousands of acres range from Santa Cruz to the Oregon border and from the Coast to Nevada but the states to the North and East of California also had their share of strikes and resulting blazes. This leaves fire crews “spread thin all over.” CalFire Report for entire state of California
Total Fires: 1,032
Acres involved: 132,235
Structures Destroyed: 17 residences, 1 commercial, 19 outbuildings to date.

Beauty, but with a real down side. Smoke so thick up and down the state that visibility in some places is almost zero. People being told to stay indoors.

Dividing water lilies

Water lilies can spread from seeds or the rhizomes. And mine has definitely spread. At first I had it in the pond in its pot, but the dog kept pulling the pot out of the water and chewing on the rootballs. So I took it out of the pot and let it naturalize. It's been in there for years and blooms more each year.

Today we cut a chunk of the rhizome off for my neighbor who is putting in a pond. I wasn't sure how it would go, but, I'm not worried anymore.

Best LIGHTNING Storm we've ever had

Found this shot by Destiny Young/Boonville this looks like what we saw.

Started last evening (SUMMER SOLSTICE), still light out, strange and fabulous cloud structures, the simultaneous sunset, thunder, flashes and streaks of lightning over the ocean. Everyone on the street came out to watch in awe. None of us had cameras. A few drops of rain, but a very dry storm. The lightning came and went all night, further away, so we saw the flashes but didn't hear the thunder. Awesome!

Roses

John F. Kennedy. (J&P?) Catalog says it has the strongest fragrance of any white rose - the flourishing scent of fresh fruit, the soft vanilla hues and the play of greens. It's pretty hard to mistake this rose for any other, with its hourglass form, sculpted ivory petals and the way it unfolds as gracefully as a good story, the effect is classic elegance.



Blooms 5-6" (and they weren't kidding, the roses are HUGE!) I bought this January 24, 1998. It's planted by the front window, very healthy, huge blooms, great scent - a definite FAVORITE. I'm thinking a few more in the back yard are in order. If cuttings of this one are as successful as Madame Leonie, it will be great.

(Note: Some online forum discussions question how JFK Rose does, with varied reports. Mine flourishes, tall, at least 6 feet, blooms reliably, huge creamy white blooms, great fragrance, has tolerated this coastal air, fog, cooler temps. Enough that I'm looking for another 1 or 2, and will also propagate by cuttings)

Albertine is another great rambler, planted starts from a friend, always puts on a good show. I still like Madame Leonie better, but Albertine blooms longer and more often.

Front Yard, New Bed

Solution

blurb.com
Free bookmaking software for Mac and PC
Softcover, Hardcover with a dust jacket or Hardcover with images printed on it.
$19.95 - $95.95 for 8x10 inches (20x25 centimeters)
An alternative to trying to rebind the journal.

Gotta love this!

A moss room, from the Chelsea Flower Show...

The past

Yeah, this what Dad & I usedta look like. :) We were young once, too, you know.

The fabulous Playset

Made of Port Orford Cedar, does not splinter, wears like iron. Spent many many hours looking for a good playset, lots of books of plans, responded to an ad in a local paper - Playset for sale, you dismantle and move, something along those lines. It was a doctor who was moving to Peru or somewhere. He wanted $700 and we paid it. One of the best buys, and best investments we ever made. Been in since 1999. Needs new canopies now, but otherwise same as the day it came here.

It has a castle, a sandbox, a fireman's pole, a slide, swings, monkeybars, and a tire swing. It's seen many hours of fun. The monkeybars became a rite of passage, because at first the kids were too little, it was too high, and too scary, and they'd try it and there were many screams for help. But when they mastered it, it was a BIG deal. Not just our kids but the neighbor kids too. They've set up tadpole farms in the upper castle. They've almost outgrown it now, all but the swings. We'll see what this summer brings.

(Just did a quick google search - the company, Krauss Craft Inc. is still in business, selling playsets, but boy have they changed.)

Can't resist

They STILL Have 'em! Gargoyle Downspouts... Must be a good seller! Improvements

Backyard plantings

Detail

What to do?

My neighbor's parents live in SoCal. These were landscaping ideas for the backyard.

The promenade

As it ended up, with poured concrete pillars and a stamped concrete patio/dance floor, it was a spectacular success in my book. Fun to see the sketches turn into something real. (And, yes, I will post pictures!)

Draft overview

Shows two additional patio areas, color scheme creamy yellow stone and tinted concrete or stucco to go with the house and the Italian feel, not red brick. More details when these projects rise to the 'get it done' level. There's a bocce ball court near the area of that lower patio, so that may dictate some changes. There's still a need for a nice barbeque area, just may have to be in a different spot.

Gotta plant a FIG tree

For one thing, then I can make Katie's Fig Recipe.

Fig Tree tips
Hmmm... Figs are shallow rooted and the roots are aggressive - the tree gets quite large and shades out everything under it....never knew that.
Cooking Light on growing figs Some of the best-tasting figs spoil quickly and cannot be shipped out of the region where they are grown. That's a good reason to grow your own.

Lots to choose from! Violette de Bordeaux - A small, super, jet black fig from Spainl, considered by many to be the very best tasting fig. It's very hardy,good for cold climates. Two crops. It's highly productive in pots. Dwarf and prolific.

The best pergola detail

You don't have a pond...

You have another birdfeeder! He sits on top of the greenhouse promotory, then dives and swoops up with a flash of orange in his beak. My goldfish. It's not even a big pond. You hear that Kingfisher clacking, and know he is out there. It is a neat thing to see, gotta admit. I've had an egret twice, and a blue heron once. But the Kingfisher is a repeat customer, and comes back every year.

Secret Shade Garden

Tucked in the back corner, white hydrangeas and rhodies, azaleas, etc... (well, right now that area is covered in Blackberry vines. But this is the plan...)

Just right

I want, I want...

Pottery Barn's current outdoor catalog is an amazing visual treat. Everything is cool, the colors are cool, the hanging bed and benches, the umbrellas...every single page, awesome!



OK, so I don't live in Oahu, and the tropical colors may not exactly work here, but the concepts, the blocks of color - get the look. And don't be afraid of color. This is as much fun as a bulb catalog. Lots of things circled.

PS: I'm liking this digital clipping. The colors won't fade like the magazine photos, and I can link to the source, or anything related.

The color scheme

Mostly purples and oranges and white. Less yellow and as little pink as possible.

Exceptions are daffodils and flowering almond, and well, a few other things, more as time goes on.

and the bulb order

The coolest thing

Stenciled umbrellas. Absolutely gorgeous at night! They're lit inside (and were long before all the new umbrella light you can buy at Ace and elsewhere now. They also have an interior cloth piece, it looks like that softens the light underneath... I first saw these YEARS ago, they're in one of the early journals...a quick look online shows they are still in business (a good sign). It reminds me of a story that illustrates why advertising is important. Yes, it can generate immediate sales, but there's a story of an ad for a piano in National Geographic. A man had cut it out and kept it for 10 years, planning to buy it, and one day he did. Sometimes it pays off later.

Related post
Hedgerow Studio Stenciled Umbrellas, on pinterest