Kei Truck Garden Contest

Garden Conservancy Fellow Roger Greenberg shared a fascinating story with me that I just had to share. Ever heard of the Kei Truck Garden Contest in Japan? It’s an annual event sponsored by the Japan Federation of Landscape Contractors. I’d never heard of it before, but the photos are captivating! (Photographs and story are from Collossal […]

An Occidental Garden

A group of west coast fellows from the Garden Conservancy traveled far and wide on Wednesday to visit the garden of Bay Area landscape designer Jim Dixon, who is credited with having worked on as many as 1000 gardens in the Bay Area. The day was an adventure – for sure, beginning with our trek to the […]

Garden Conservancy Open Days

The Garden Conservancy has a fabulous program called Open Days, which makes private gardens throughout the country available to the public each year for a nominal fee. The gardens are cultivated by in-the-know local volunteers and representatives, which provide great joy for garden lovers who would not normally see many of these gardens. Local volunteers work in […]

Gardens Illustrated

Cedric Morris Irises One of my favorite magazines is Gardens Illustrated – a UK magazine loaded with everything you would ever wish to read about. The most recent issue just arrived! It is so robust that it takes several perusals to absorb everything contained within. I love several things about this magazine. There is always a […]

Garden Onion Rings

Our kids came over on Sunday night to watch the Golden State Warriors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in game 2 of the NBA finals. I served BBQ chicken, ribs and beef brisket with homemade onion rings. I had just harvested the last of my white onions that morning and decided to use a few of […]

What gardening has taught me

Thanks to Jan Sargent for sharing a wonderful TED talk with me, entitled “What Gardening Has Taught Me About Life” by social artist Tobacco Brown. The description provided by TED says it all: “Gardens are mirrors of our lives, says environmental artist Tobacco Brown, and we must cultivate them with care to harvest their full […]

Health benefits of favas

I just shared the update about my fava bean crop and because it yielded so many beans, I was curious about their health benefits. It turns out they are a very healthy legume and are dense with nutrition. According to an article in SF Gate, fava beans have no saturated fat or cholesterol and contain a […]

Crazy about favas

Last Thanksgiving, for the first time ever, I planted fava bean starts, which my mother-in-law has done for years. (Check out my post last fall). The idea was to provide a winter cover crop (green manure) in my vegetable boxes, and one that is known for putting nitrogen into the soil, so that my spring […]

Hever Castle & Gardens

After Sissinghurst, we drove for 45 minutes to Hever Castle and Gardens, which our friend Val told me is considered “The Garden of England”. Both the castle and gardens are open to the public – and you definitely want to see both. For those who are interested, you can even stay there. Anne Boleyn’s bedroom A […]

Sissinghurst Castle Garden

This past week, I finally saw THE GARDEN outside of London in Kent – Sissinghurst. Alex surprised me with a day trip to both Sissinghurst and Hever Castle & Garden last Sunday while in London, and it was unforgettable. Amazing lilac growing on the side of the structure Woodland garden I have heard about Sissinghurst for years but had […]

Garden Gems

Carolyn and I love visiting gardens when ever we have the opportunity. Every garden we visit has beautiful flowers. Lately, I have been very interested in all the little gems that gardeners build and tuck into their gardens. The following photos are some of the wonderful non-flower surprises I have found in gardens. The photo […]

Beatrix Potter

I love reading a good biography. Beatrix Potter’s Gardening Life, The plants and places that inspired the classic children’s tales by Marta McDowell was a gift from a friend. It was a great read, but really brought back wonderful memories of reading the authors stories to my kids when they were little. Helen Beatrix Potter was […]

PlantSnap

I wonder if you’re like me… You travel around looking at beautiful gardens and you encounter plants in new locations that are unfamiliar to you. OR, you don’t recognize plants in your own backyard. That’s me – on both counts. If you’re lucky, you’re with a friend who is also a horticulturist, who can ID […]

Spring is Here

Spring seemed to arrive a bit later this year. I didn’t fully get my vegetable garden planted until the third weekend in April.  Last year I planted a good three weeks earlier. In the last week as the weather has warmed up seemingly overnight, artichokes are ready to pick, the rose bushes are full of […]

Spring is springing

Is there anytime more wonderful than springtime? It is my absolute favorite time of the year. And nothing exemplifies spring more than a garden beginning to bloom after a season of dormancy. Here are just a few of the wonderful plants blooming in my garden right now… Iceberg roses Delphinium Viburnum Foxglove ‘Royal Sunset’ roses on the […]