Happy Earth Day

by angela@diggingbliss | Apr 22, 2006 | Uncategorized

President Bush is in Sacramento today to help celebrate Earth Day by visiting the California Fuel Cell Partnership demonstration facility in West Sacramento.

In addition to his expected praise for alternative fuel sources (ahem), the Texas oilman (ahem, ahem) strongly feels “… the human being and fish can coexist peacefully.” So do I, Mr. President. So do I. Well, probably not salmon, trout or tuna, but definitely other species. Someday. Maybe. One can only hope. You’re such an optimist, Mr. President, I’ll bet you can envision a world in which, one day, cars are powered by the renewable fin power of peaceful fish. Peaceful fish that are paid a living wage and whose children attend better schools. Better schools for schools of fish! Dare we dream this American dream?

President Bush also makes the bold ecological statement that “It isn’t pollution that’s harming the environment. It’s the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.” Really gives you pause, doesn’t it?

Happy Earth Day.
😉

Barbara Martin Says Earth Day Should Frighten You

by angela@diggingbliss | Apr 22, 2006 | Uncategorized

I agree. Here’s her timely blog post.

Are you celebrating Earth Day every day? Sometimes it’s hard to do it every day and in every way, but we can all take little steps that will have a lasting effect. Earth Day’s a great day to buy a worm bin or start a backyard compost pile, plant a tree, sign up for a creek clean-up, or send a donation to an environmental organization.

Nature Conservancy
Sierra Club
Sacramento Valley Conservancy
California Oak Foundation
California Native Plant Society

When I was a kid growing up in Sacramento, I remember playing in the field next to my grandparents’ house in the Arden area. The field had a creek, tall grasses, ladybugs, polliwogs, frogs, turtles and snakes. Then came the Alta Arden Expressway. The creek was dammed. Then came the developers. The field of my childhood, where I learned about bugs and flowers, cardboard forts and first kisses, is now a parking lot and more homes.

The other day I visited the Sacramento Valley Conservancy’s Deer Creek Hills Project near the Rancho Murieta gated housing community, country club and golf course. I was very startled to see a turtle at Deer Creek Hills. Was it alive? Yes! Was it a real turtle just like the ones in my old field? Yes… only Deer Creek Hills is teeming with much more wildlife and unspoiled beauty than my nostalgia-blessed suburban field. Is this turtle safe? Probably, because it’s living on protected land. Are developers itching to build new homes all around it? Is the pope Catholic?

Deer Creek Hills Bird & Wildflower Walks

by angela@diggingbliss | Apr 20, 2006 | Uncategorized

Date: Saturday, April 22nd
Time: 9:00 a.m.

Birds and Wildflowers of Dry Creek Hills Hike

“Hikers should meet at Latrobe and Stone House Roads (north of Highway 16 or Jackson Rd. and west of Rancho Murieta). Both roads can be accessed off of Jackson Rd. Carpooling is strongly encouraged since parking is limited, and all vehicles should park on the dirt portion of Latrobe Rd. Weather is unpredictable, so please bring layers of clothing for all weather types. Water, light snacks and a hat for warmth and shade are also suggested. There is active cattle grazing at Deer Creek Hills, and the conditions of hiking routes vary and may include stream or fence crossings and uneven terrain. Heavy rain and/or wind cancel hike/ride. Please RSVP at 916 216-2178 – tour size is limited for your enjoyment.”

Don’t miss this beautiful and informative walk led by local birder Ed Pandolfino and other naturalists. Just minutes from Sacramento!

Brought to you by the Sacramento Valley Conservancy

birds from top to bottom: Western Kingbird, Lawrence’s Goldfinch, Western Kingbird and Barn Swallow

Why I love garden blogs

by angela@diggingbliss | Apr 20, 2006 | Uncategorized

I’ve been asking myself lately, “Why do I garden blog? Why do other gardeners blog?” and I have come to the conclusion that we do it primarily because we’ve been given the opportunity to show what magazines and newspapers don’t– real gardens. I read a lot of garden blogs and see more popping up every day and what keeps me coming back are the daily triumphs and tribulations of people doing their own gardening. I have learned so much from other garden bloggers and the more I read, the more excited I become about gardening (if that’s even possible).

I often have the uncomfortable suspicion that gardens celebrated in magazines, on TV and to a lesser extent in newspapers are not maintained by the people who own them. There’s just something missing. There’s a unique joy in personal garden blogs you don’t see anywhere else, not to mention the fact that blogging beats all news media in terms of freshness.

Your first rose of the season is blooming this morning? Blog it in real time. Snails are eating your prized dahia? Blog it in real time. We share your pain and we might even be able to pass on a snail-proofing tip you can implement mere minutes after you discover the little buggers munching away. You just made your first salad from greens and edible flowers you grew yourself? Blog it and thanks for the vicarious thrill. Salad for two, but enjoyed by hundreds and immortalized forever on the web.

Garden blogs are welcoming. They’re a way of saying, “Howdy, neighbor! Come have a peek over my fence and see what we’re growing here.” They’re a way of sharing your love of gardening with “neighbors” all over the world who also happen to be avid gardeners. Not all neighbors are. Most of mine cut a monthly check to landscapers, so I rarely have an invitation… or reason… to peek over their fences. Garden blogs help gardeners connect. I suspect most of us have more dirt in our keyboards than your average blogger. I suspect most of us have more plant tags on our desks than your average blogger.

I also garden blog to help me remember what I planted, when I planted it, and what it looked like in bloom. Even more exciting, I can show you what it looked like when it was ready to eat! I’m growin’ my own dang food here… you’ve got to see this! This is my public blog, but it’s also my personal diary. And because there’s so much going on locally in the way of gardening events, it’s hard not to want to make note, and as long as you’re making note, you might as well share with other gardeners… of all thumb colors.

I still can’t get over the fact that Blogger hosts my blog for free and allows me to upload as many photos as I want. Thank you, Blogger. Blog on, gardeners!

Spring has sprung

by angela@diggingbliss | Apr 18, 2006 | Uncategorized

To fill in the front of this border, today I planted some greenhouse-raised annuals– ‘Apricot Chiffon’ California poppy and Salvia ‘Blue Denim’. I had first seen ‘Apricot Chiffon’ poppies blooming at Annie’s Annuals. But at $5.95 a pop, I’m glad to have found a seed source. Just this little section required 23 plants. That’s $136.85 in Annie’s currency. Seeds were $2.35 from Territorial Seed Company. Now normally I simply broadcast California poppy seeds in autumn, but hybrids like ‘Apricot Chiffon’ never come up (for me) while regular old Eschscholzia
californica always does. Go figure. Anyway, these hybrids are a spectacular pinky peach color and are stunning combined with something blue like ‘Blue Denim’ Salvia from Select Seeds. I’ll try to post an updated photo once these babies fill in. I’ll be on snail patrol tonight. I can apply Sluggo, but my dogs like to eat it. Even if I sprinkle it when they’re not around, they make a beeline for it as soon as I let them out. Little rascals.

With the break in the weather, I’ve been trying to fill in some gaps in the garden. The fence is an eyesore I’m hoping my princess flower shrubs will cover, but they defoliated after we had a few winter frosts. Still, they’ve grown to about four feet tall from the little 4″ inch babies they were when I plunked them in my shopping cart at Whole Foods last summer. On impulse, of course. Despite their frost-induced nudity, those purple flowers and fuzzy green leaves make P.F. shrubs worth the wait.

My “heuchera/columbine bed” has grown rapidly in the last few days.

I’m cuckoo for heuchera…

Late afternoon light illuminates reddish grasses and grasslike plants like Stipa arundinacea and New Zealand flax.

I had to flip my Smith & Hawken firepit over so it wouldn’t collect rainwater. With the change in weather, I might be able to flip it back over soon. Woo hoo! It doubles as an outdoor grill.

Passionate about Passionflowers

by angela@diggingbliss | Apr 17, 2006 | Uncategorized

I’m crazy about passionflowers and was looking online recently for non-rampant cultivars or species. In the Sacramento area, the more cold-hardy forms can do a little too well under certain circumstances. This one, Passiflora tulae, attracted me with unusual form, clear pink and orange color combo and modest growth rate. Kartuz Greenhouses specializes in rare and exotic plants and offers a nice Passiflora selection, including this P. tulae. I’ll report back on how it performs in my garden.

(Photo is from the Kartuz Greenhouses website)

Somebody Pinch Me!

by angela@diggingbliss | Apr 17, 2006 | Uncategorized

Sacramento Bee reports “Wet weather finally coming to an end“!!!!!

A few things blooming this April morning…

by angela@diggingbliss | Apr 17, 2006 | Uncategorized

Geranium and Viola with Santa Barbara daisies in the background.

Pink hellebore

Columbine ‘Clementine Rose’

Ooh, sideways orange pansies and purple Nemesia!

Yellow Lady Banks rose

‘Lavender Mist’ Scabiosa

Seed-stopping

by angela@diggingbliss | Apr 14, 2006 | Uncategorized

Much more challenging than the horticultural processs of seed-starting is the act of seed-stopping. Seed stopping involves planting the seeds you have and not ordering any new ones. Like eating just one potato chip or drinking just one glass of wine, seed-stopping takes willpower. Some of us are seedaholics. It’s in our DNA. It’s a sickness, like diabetes… or Pilates… ok?

My SSA (Seed-Starters Anonymous) meetings are always the same:

“Hi, my name is Angela and I order from Select Seeds, Renee’s Garden, Johnny’s, J.L. Hudson… even… ebay. Late at night, I troll the seed racks at Raley’s and Long’s. I scored a pack of Genovese basil at Long’s the other night. For God’s sake… Genovese basil… at a drugstore! Basil’s tough to crack, I tell ya. I already have basil plants, but after giving those Genovese babies a good long shake close to my ear, I couldn’t resist an online binge later that night on Renee’s primo packs of Windowbox Mini Basil, Mrs. Burns’ Lemon Basil, Salad Leaf Basil, melons, peppers, beans and chard. Then I crashed. Woke up the next morning with wrinkled seed packets stuck to my face. Where’s my sponsor? Is my sponsor here tonight? Oh, hi Martha.”

“It’s a good thing… you came, Angela. We love you and we want to help you. We can only do that if we know how deeeeply afflicted you are. What you’re buying. Remember, take it one packet at a time, and tell us everything you’re buying and whether or not you’re prepared to plant.”

“Oh, I’m prepared to plant, Martha. I probably have enough in my possession to be dealing, but I swear, I’ll plant everything I bought. I’m just taking it one packet at a time. Would someone pass me one of those lemon poppyseed petits fours? Gee, I wonder who brought these, har har.”

In the Spirit of Full Garden DisclosureREPOST

by angela@diggingbliss | Apr 14, 2006 | Uncategorized

NOTE: Please don’t link to this blog entry… yet!
There appears to be a serious bug in the blogger “backlinks” mechanism, and it causes IE, Firefox and AOL to crash badly. The original “In the Spirit of Full Garden Disclosure” post of Monday, April 10 gathered two backlinks, and that triggers the bug. Until the bug is fixed we’re reposting the entry to shake off the backlinks. Feel free to add more comments to this one! We’ll try to straighten it all out later.
Thank you,
Angela’s technical consultant, aka husband.

Garden bloggers have been discussing the fact that magazines and TV shows rarely show gardens in anything less than a state of perfection. So they’ve started baring all on their blogs. Why? Because they can. Because we should. Because society’s overly-obsessed with the notion that everything must be perfect– our clothes, our bodies, our cars, our homes, our gardens. The cool thing about blogs is that we’re free to share the truth.

Now it’s my turn.

I have a lot of planted pots of varying shapes, sizes and colors. A week or so ago, they were mostly scattered around the yard. Even though it’s a potpourri of pots, I think they look more cohesive grouped together like this. The empty-looking pots actually contain summer bulbs. Real early-spring gardens have bare pots and pots with plants not at their peak bloom period.

An uncoiled hose in the background? I’m aghast.

I have a bad habit of leaving empty pots all over the place. They eventually make it to the greenhouse or back to a nursery for recycling, but jeeze, I can be lazy.

So can my 13-year-old son and his friends.

Pool equipment, tools and crap. I really need a shed.

The bed that never looks finished.

My chair planter. It’s falling apart, but I’m giving it a go for one more season. I re-planted the seat a few days ago and birds have been stealing the coir liner for their nests. I’m happy to contribute, I just need to know ahead of time to buy more coir. Something chomped to death the schizanthus plant I raised from seed and excitedly placed at the front of the chair. Again, I know snails gotta eat, but schizanthus? Talk about champagne tastes.

This is perhaps one of the sorriest sights in my yard. This particular spot has hideous drainage and has been flooded much of the winter. As for the toys, let’s just say the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree. And if it does, nobody here’s gonna pick it up.

An upright shovel in the yard is actually an improvement for me. Usually they’re lying on the ground waiting to trip someone.

Leaves from my oak tree have stained my patio umbrella. Flowers from the same tree are all over the table and patio. Fallen twigs? Well they’re everywhere. The yellow-billed magpies and other birds use them for their nests, so I have an excuse to leave them on the ground. Where’s a new umbrella and a mow-and-blow crew when you need one?

Needs plants! The rubber ducks are a classy touch, no?

This is the my only “wet shade” bed. I’m working on establishing a mosaic of different heucheras and columbines. I also planted a couple abutilons, tree peonies, and lavender trumpet vines. A little impulse purchase ming fern sits in a pot waiting to be planted. This bed will be pretty as a picture… someday.

What it looks like on the Smith & Hawken website.

What it looks like after one summer (candle melted) and one winter (full of oak leaves and rain water). Also, the candle base was a little crooked right out of the box, unlike the perfect catalog specimen they chose to photograph.

Heucheras and columbines and vines and stuff that haven’t filled in to the point of magazine lushness.

Except for the patio crack, this view actually looks pretty good! You can’t see the portion of the patio cover still under construction.

This is not a what my piles of crap look like. This is actually a rather neat pile of crap gathered by other household members in preparation for a birthday party. I aspire to this level of crap neatness. The birthday happened and the crap still sits in plain sight.

Ooh, this is spectacularly crappy. My ornamental grasses are just coming up, I’m behind on my weeding and I need to fill more plant gaps. The empty black can with white label ties in nicely with Annie’s black and white coloring, don’t you think?

Weeds and a wet dog chew toy.

Nibbled Chinese ground orchids and pots containing new ground orchid acquisitions. Empty reddish pot laying on its side is a mystery.

Lawn looks crappy after a wet winter and two doggies. Adjacent bed is the one with bad drainage.

Yes… I own plastic Adirondack chairs. I bought them at the grocery store.

One herb window box, just starting to grow again.

Another herb window box coming back to life.

My Bush Garden Gnome next to some nibbled pansies. He must have gotten hungry.

Let me out!

Let me in!

They do this all day and night. I live to serve my dogs and they know it. They think we’re cheap for not putting in a dog door.

The greenhouse. I need to decorate it. Not that I’m complaining about having a greenhouse. When I also have a chicken coop and a shed, my life will be complete.

A friend gave me these metal thingies and I spray painted them. I spray paint things a lot. I have a lot of metal thingies. I have a lot of metal thingies that I spray paint a lot. I’m trying to cut down on thingie painting.

Another thingie. Weeds in my greenhouse. Oh, the horror.

Yes, I own plastic and metal pool furniture. Believe it or not, they came from Smith & Hawken. The empty half barrels are being reserved for overflow tomato plants. I always start too many tomatoes.

This ceramic donkey spent years living on my grandmother’s front porch. When I see it, it reminds me of all the times she opened her front door, happy to see me.

My newly-planted “fruit shrubs”, newly dug by Dan and Annie. I get no canine respect.