Here in Southern California my local forecast shows another two days of rain coming starting tomorrow morning. Considering the fact California is in a state of serious drought, all rain is welcomed. Last year was to be the year of the drought-breaking El Niño, but that never happened. Earlier this fall a few long-range forecasts guessed for…
Gardeners know how easy it is to add color to their landscape. The choices nowadays are truly endless and the list expands daily. What a great time to be a gardener. Red, orange, yellow, green, white, brown, purple, pink. All easy. Getting black and blue in the garden, however, can be a different story. So why is blue…
Back on August 25th, 2015, famed plantsmen and palm tree growing legend Mardy Darian passed away at 82 years young. I first met Mardy in 2008 when I went with a few friends to tour his Vista, California, garden. In an effort to limit visitors and to generate some income to assist with his water bill, Mardy would charge…
There has been one particular area in my garden that has bugged me for quite some time now. It is a highly visible spot that receives a lot of sun year round and is occupied by some of my favorite plants. Lately, in an effort to further meet the water restrictions the drought in California has imposed,…
This past Saturday the Palm Society of Southern California (PSSC) held their quarterly meeting . This May meeting included two wonderful gardens tours in the Mission Viejo area. While I have been a member of the PSSC for many years now, I am usually unable to attend these meetings, as something kid-related always seems to take up my calendar. Lucky…
Spring time in my garden is when I like to make the major changes. Spring is also when I find myself planting 90% of everything I will put into the ground that year. However, before any plantings, time must be dedicated to ripping plants out. We all know that life isn’t fair, and tough choices have to made when building…
One of the things that I really enjoying doing is helping people with their landscape planning or updating. While I have neither the time nor interest to manage full landscape projects past my own yard, I do offer help with landscape and plant consultation. The overwhelming majority of new landscapes that are put in on a new Southern Californian tract…
You just know when something isn’t right with a plant. It is almost a sixth sense. One day while walking the garden I noticed one of my Foxy Lady Palm’s (Wodyetia x Veitchia) was browning on the lower two fronds. I have found this to be the result of one of two things: 1) The…