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The scruffy side of summer
As mentioned in my last post, my garden has slid into the summer doldrums, taking the gardener with it. There's no better symbol of the reasons for that than the Agapanthus. They bloomed later than...
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Summer Containers
I have a self-imposed rule against planting during the summer months, specifically late June through August. But I admit that I make a lot of exceptions. One of my most notable exceptions permits...
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In a Vase on Monday: Close, but no cigar
I was hoping to have dahlia flowers by now but they're still taking their time reaching bloom stage. The buds closest to that are those of Dahlia 'Catching Fire' but only one bud was even near to the...
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Summer botanic garden highlights
When I visited South Coast Botanic Garden in late July, my focus was the new pollinator garden but that doesn't mean I entirely ignored the rest of the garden. Even in the early morning hours, it was...
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Things are looking up
During the so-called "dog days of summer" it's hard for me not to look askance at what's wrong with my garden. I looked up the origins of that expression and found that, according to one source, the...
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In a Vase on Monday: Dahlias, at last
I'd expected to have more dahlias in bloom by mid-August. As it stands, only two varieties have produced flowers fit for cutting so far but that's better than none! This is the latest season start...
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Bloom Day - August 2023, a day late and a dahlia short
Since 2018, I've depended upon dahlias as the backbone of my summer flower garden. My tubers got a late start this year because the cool season flowers held on for an extended period, as did our...
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Maybe meadows aren't for me...
I visited South Coast Botanic Garden's "Phase One" Pollination Garden in late July when it was only just coming into bloom. I'd planned to go back to see it in full bloom four to six weeks later but...
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In a Vase on Monday: Preparation for Hilary's Visit
So Southern California took a direct hit from Tropical Storm Hilary this weekend. While gardeners on the east coast of the US and other parts of the world may be used to hurricanes and tropical...
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Wild & Weedy Wednesday: Edible weeds
I'm joining Cathy of Words and Herbs for her 'Wild and Weedy Wednesday' meme again this week. I've got three plants that are bona fide weeds in my garden, two of which are edible and one which...
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Foliage that can handle the heat
Trying to look beyond my garden's late-summer woes, I conducted a haphazard assessment of the foliage in my garden just before Tropical Storm Hilary arrived. My focus was the foliage that holds up...
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In a Vase on Monday: Too early to welcome fall?
My first floral arrangement this week makes me think of fall. In the middle of another heatwave, the cooler temperatures associated with the change of seasons is appealing. To be honest, my area...
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Summer Doldrums
I'm suffering from cabin fever. It's been too hot to do much of anything outside for most of the past week. I've gotten in an hour or so of gardening during the early morning and the early evening...
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More work than I'd anticipated
In the middle of our most recent heatwave, I started renovating the back garden bed that sits just outside my home office window. While I'd been thinking of pulling out some of the succulents there...
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In a Vase on Monday: Dahlias aplenty
While several varieties of dahlias have yet to make an appearance, those that have shown up are producing more than I can cut in one sitting. I have three arrangements this week, all of which feature...
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Moving ahead with fall garden projects
We've had a blessedly cool stretch of weather and I've plunged ahead with more of the garden projects I've had on my mind for many weeks.The first involved the removal of the Echium webbii I featured...
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The late summer cleanup continues
I tackled a couple of other projects this week. One is only partially completed but I'll share the progress to date; however, I'll start with the project completed yesterday morning with my husband's...
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In a Vase on Monday: A late summer flower shortage?
Who says there's a late summer flower shortage? I have - many times! It was true in my case before I started a cutting garden and planted dahlia tubers and zinnia seeds. Dahlias and zinnias can...
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A predictable casualty?
As summers go, this hasn't been a bad one. Yes, we've had heatwaves but my area hasn't experienced any temperatures of 100F or higher this year. And Tropical Storm Hilary filled my empty rain...
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Bloom Day - September 2023
In mid-August I whined over the sad state of affairs in my cutting garden, especially the significant delay in getting my dahlias to bloom. I won't run through the reasons for this again. Suffice it...
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