Bamboo-zled

Not enough rain.   Weeds everywhere.  No helpers.  If I weren't so stubborn, if I hadn't invested so much of myself, I'd be tempted to give up gardening.  Maybe go in for rock collecting.  

It is an early year for everything.   The Chinodoxa have spread around the iris.  If you haven't planted it yet, add it to your list for next year: it is a most satisfying bulb, trouble free and cheery.  It blooms in the gap between paperwhites and the proper daffs, and it spreads.  In this case that's a good thing.

Hellebore foam at the feet of the ceramic bamboo - another very satisfying plant, and the only bamboo that will not spread - despite what your bamboo-zled friends will tell you.  Hand made by my friend and fabulous artist Paula Hamilton.

In the fall I planted daffodils in pots, the bulbs almost touching, with pansies on top.  The gold crowned sparrows ate most of the pansies, but the daffs are a huge hit.

Boxwood cones planted last year to give winter structure to the garden - brilliant.  I'm not taking credit for inventing the idea, just for translating it to my garden (stolen, borrowed, whatever).  And for the placement.  Hard learned, hard earned.  So happy to have that skill.

The Patio we built one mothers' day invites  you to sit.  But no gardener ever has sat in her own garden unless she was pulling a rose thorn out of her finger, or deciding on the best place for a prized plant.  Even with guests present the true gardener is leaning over to pull a weed or snick off an errant tendril of clematis.  Guilty as charged. 

The stone stairs, better with boxwood.   And hellebores - they carry the garden thru winter.  

Grape hyacinth tucked into odd corners at the edges of paths are blooming.  They get lost in the garden beds, unless you have them in huge sheets, but walking along contemplating the weeds, just a handful of flowers catch my eye, and are a note of happiness.

 Forget me nots.  Without them winter would be grim.  If you don't pull them when they're gone to seed and mildewed, but give them a haircut instead, they will bloom all summer.  And start blooming earlier next year.  I fling the seeds I've trimmed off everywhere, and in the dead time between winter and spring my garden is a sheet of blue.   

Spring is hovering just over the horizon, that bustle and rush.  Then comes the baking summer and the long evenings, gardening long past the time any sensible person would have gone inside.  But now, just this day, my garden is magic.  Off to look for fairies and photograph the violets.  Quickly, before this moment is gone.

The Garden In Winter

Sloat Nursery has tips for getting your garden ready for winter.  These are from their website - check it out.  Sign up for emails.  Then get yourself outside and start winterizing.  And weeding...

FROM SLOAT

Let’s be honest.  The glory of gardening is usually found in growing and harvesting vibrant flowers, herbs, fruits and vegetables.  The clean-up and winter prep aspect of gardening (while incredibly necessary), is sort of, well, “meh”.  That being said, we want to encourage you to take an afternoon or two to clean and prepare for the cold and rainy months ahead.  Follow our list of 8 simple steps, and voilà, you’ll be finished in no time!

1. Clean out leaves and dead plants from gutters, walkways, containers and raised beds.

2. Use Forest Mulch Plus on perennials and vegetable beds to enrich the soil for next spring.

3. Stock up on frost blankets. Protect plants from freezing temperatures with lightweight garden fabric that acts like a miniature “green-house” when frost is expected.

4. Clean garden tools to get them ready for next year. Shovels and pruners can be sprayed with Bahco Clean Spray to keep them from rusting over the winter months. Cleaning your tools now can also help keep diseases from getting into next year’s garden.

5.  Stake newly planted trees to support them through their first winter. We offer a wide variety of stake lengths and widths.

6.  Use E.B. Stone Organic Ultra Bloom. It helps build immunity to disease and supports better root and bud formation for spring bloomers like Rhododendron, Azalea, Camellia, flowering plum and Magnolia.  (plus it makes your oranges and tangerines sweeter!)

7.  Cloud Cover is multifaceted. It’s not just a go-to for protecting plants from frost damage, Cloud Cover also:

•  Protects against moisture loss when propagating or transplanting new plants.

• Protects plants from hot and drying Bay Area winds.

• Does a great job keeping Christmas greens fresh.

8.  We receive multiple inquiries each fall about how to prevent disease and insects from taking over fruit trees, nut crops, citrus, vegetables and ornamentals.  We recommend two products to ensure a disease free harvest next year.

Monterey Horticultural Oil: To help prevent scale and overwintering eggs from mites, aphids and other insects, we recommend a fall application of Monterey Horticultural Oil. It’s a spray oil emulsion made with highly paraffinic-based petroleum oils. Monterey Horticultural Oil should be applied while trees are dormant.

Monterey Liqui-Cop (Liquid Copper): Helps prevent disease infestations such as peach leaf curl, brown spot and scab. Dormant sprays are traditionally applied in the fall once leaves have fallen, and again in mid-winter, then in spring as the buds begin to swell. Liqui-Cop is widely used in agriculture and is very rain resistant.
Note: Monterey Horticultural Oil and Liquid-Cop can be applied at the same time.

And when you get done with all of this, if you're still in a gardening mood, I have poa annua taking over the world and boxwood in need of a trim...