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Spring's ups and downs
Spring officially arrived at 9:06PM PDT yesterday, which makes today the first full day of the spring season. It'd be hard for me to walk into my garden now without feeling the pure joy of it. The...
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Succulent bed renovation - progress report
I'm nowhere near done renovating the succulent bed in front of our garage but I've made significant progress. This post will serve as an update.The first task was to bring in a cactus soil mix to both...
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In a Vase on Monday: The spring extravaganza continues
We got a fifth of an inch of rain on Saturday as forecast and my 50-gallon replacement tank was ready to receive it, thanks to my husband's effort in retrofitting it. It wasn't a lot of rain but it...
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My plant shopping objectives
I don't like to see large bare spots in my garden and, as there are a lot of those at present, finding suitable plants to fill the gaps is the main driver behind my current plant shopping expeditions....
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Sneak Peek at South Coast Botanic Garden's Bloom! Exhibit
South Coast Botanic Garden has been boosting its Bloom! exhibit for some time. It officially opens April 1st but preparations to immerse visitors in spring flowers have been going on for some time....
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In a Vase on Monday: My version of Fabergé eggs
As our rainy season approaches its end, we had an unusually soggy weekend. Rain was projected all day Saturday through Easter Sunday but I took advantage of an unexpected break between showers in the...
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Wide Shots - April 2024
The quarterly wide shots I take in spring are generally my favorites. I took those presented here last week in the days leading up to our most recent rainstorm. Although spring's wonderful surprises...
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The search continues...
Within the span of five days, I visited two more garden centers in the search for plants to fill vacancies in the succulent bed I've been renovating. I can't claim any discoveries that have pulled the...
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In a Vase on Monday: Spring spectacle
I can't help myself. I've keep cutting flowers for the house. It doesn't noticeably diminish the flowers in the garden because they keep coming, thanks to the relatively bountiful rainfall we've had....
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Wild and Weedy Wednesday: Opportunists and Survivors
As the saying goes, "April showers bring May flowers" but rain in general is guaranteed to deliver weeds. Some are pretty wildflowers that have simply gotten a bad rap due to their assertive behavior....
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African Daisies (A Bloom Day Prelude)
You may have noticed that I generally refer to plants by their botanical names. Maybe that comes across as pretentious but I do it mainly because those names make the identity of plants clear, whereas...
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In a Vase on Monday: Dashing about between rain showers
A chance of rain was forecast for this past weekend but it was predicted to be light, if it showed up at all. When rain arrived in the form of intermittent showers on both Saturday and Sunday it was...
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Bloom Day from A to Z - April 2024 (Late Edition)
As abundant as spring can be here in coastal Southern California, this year is more exuberant than most. I've an embarrassing volume of plants in bloom. I carved out some of them, the so-called...
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South Coast Cactus & Succulent Society Show & Sale
I didn't make it to last year's local Cactus & Succulent Society show and sale but I made a point of getting there last weekend. Like the 2022 sale, it was held in a nearby art center only fifteen...
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In a Vase on Monday: Everything everywhere all at once
I never thought I'd say that I have too many flowers available to cut in my garden but that's how I felt on Sunday morning. I usually fixate on a few flowers and create an arrangement (or two or...
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My last nursery run this spring?
I visited a local succulent outlet late last week in search of small plants to fill in some of the empty spaces in the bed I've been renovating. I shopped OC Succulents in Irvine for years but it's an...
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Revealing my renovated succulent bed
I've been groaning over the succulent bed adjacent to the garage in our front garden for several years. It's gone through numerous tweaks since I first planted the area in 2016 following removal of...
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In a Vase on Monday: Opposites
Surprise! I have two arrangements this week. (Just kidding - I know regular readers would be more surprised if I had just one, especially during the spring season.) They could't be more different....
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This year's local garden show
Although the garden show in nearby Orange County hasn't been worthy of the name for many years, a neighbor and I attended late last week nonetheless, mainly to peruse the vendor stands. We arrived on...
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Beauty & chaos on the back slope
Largely hidden from view, my back slope on the east side of our property generally peaks in late April/early May and this year is no exception. It's invisible from the main level of our lot so...
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