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Sunrise
We've got family in town so I couldn't manage a long post today. I've been working hard in my garden all week but there was little to show that was worth photographing. I'm offering best wishes for a...
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In a Vase on Monday: Seasonal support
Now that I've cleared my cutting garden, there aren't many flowers to fill a vase. My options are to focus on foliage, go small, or make use of succulents. I'll probably use all three strategies off...
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Fall Visit to the Getty Center (Part 1)
My sister-in-law was in town and my husband and I thought she might enjoy a trip to the Getty Center as she hadn't been there in well over a decade. As a matter of fact, I haven't been there in over...
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Fall Visit to the Getty Center (Part 2)
This post picks up where my last post left off at the open plaza at the bottom of the Stream Garden, which is the upper section of the Getty Center's Central Garden. To orient you, I've provided...
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In a Vase on Monday: Seashells by the seashore
It's the 10th anniversary of In a Vase on Monday, the weekly meme hosted by Cathy of Rambling in the Garden to feature floral/foliage arrangements featuring cuttings from contributors' gardens. To...
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Bloom Day - November 2023
When I look at my garden I see far fewer flowers than there were last month when I still had dahlias, zinnias and cosmos but I admit I still have more than many gardeners in colder parts of the...
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A colorful end to the week
After a long stretch of very warm, dry weather, the temperatures fell and the skies finally turned gray on Wednesday. Although rain had been in the forecast for more than a week, the chances had been...
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In a Vase on Monday: Fleeting beauty
I suspect I've used this post title before but it describes both of my arrangements this week. As at least one reader anticipated, I decided to feature the Hibiscus flowers that surprised me last week...
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New plants and new challenges
Seedlings and new bulb foliage are just beginning to emerge in my cutting garden.Tiny larkspur (Consolida ajacis) and more robust sweet pea (Lathyrus annuus) seedlings have made an appearance, along...
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First-rate foliage
When flowers fade into the background during the fall season, foliage is allowed to stand out. It's a great time to take a closer look at it so I did.  I wanted to share the highlights, as well as a...
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In a Vase on Monday: Goodbye Emanuelle and hello Itsy Bitsy
It's getting harder to pull together arrangements using what's blooming in the garden but I managed to do so again this week. My first arrangement was created around the last of the Amarines to...
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Gardeners are the most generous people
I met up with blogger friend Hoover Boo of Piece of Eden at Sherman Gardens in Corona Del Mar yesterday. Workers there were in the midst of setting up a nighttime light show scheduled to launch in...
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Sherman Gardens in late November
As mentioned in my last post, I met blogger friend Hoover Boo of Piece of Eden at Sherman Library & Gardens earlier this week. This botanic garden sits alongside the busy Pacific Coast Highway in...
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In a Vase on Monday: New blooms and old
We're expecting unseasonably warm temperatures early this week and I allowed that to be an excuse for cutting my first Hippeastrum bloom on Sunday for today's vase. I went overboard and purchased nine...
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A Week of Flowers: Looking back at January & February 2023
I'm belatedly joining Cathy of Words and Herbs for the last three days of her annual 'Week of Flowers' series (described here in her kick-off post). She started her posts on Friday, December 1st and...
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A Week of Flowers: Looking back at March & April 2023
I'm joining Cathy of Words and Herbs once again for the sixth day of her Week of Flowers series. Spring usually arrives early in my part of coastal Southern California. In 2023, in the midst of a...
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A Week of Flowers: Looking back at May & June 2023
It's the final day of the Week of Flowers series hosted by Cathy at Words and Herbs to boost the spirits of those of us in the Northern Hemisphere already looking forward to the more flowerful seasons...
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In a Vase on Monday: Not much to choose from
Overall, it's been a very dry start to our so-called rainy season. Although Tropical Storm Hilary gave the garden an unexpected boost in September, we've had less than half an inch of rain since our...
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Here one day, gone the next
The holidays sneaked up on me this year. There was a time when I routinely completed most of my Christmas shopping by Halloween, leaving a lot of time for decorating, baking, letter writing, and just...
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Bloom Day - December 2023
I checked last December's Bloom Day post before starting this one. There were more flowers in December 2022 than there are this December but then we got over four and a half inches of rain between...
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