GardenBook

  As drought marches on, we are asked by the State of California to reduce home water consumption by 20% in our county. I took out my front lawn many years ago- not because I was a pioneer of water conservation, but because I needed room for more plants. Don't we all ? Since I had little interest in maintaining lawn it looked pretty crappy most of the time anyway.   In the city of Napa, emergency drought regulations are in place subject to a 500.00 fine for non-compliance. Water during rain or within 48 hours of measurable rain (a moot point this time of year) watering on consecutive days, excessive run-off and hosing off sidewalks or driveways are a few of the new restrictions in place. None of these are in any way a hardship for me-common sense procedures one and all, most of which I already practice.My garden gets watered once a week or less, I never hose off sidewalks or driveways, and why would anyone water within 48 hours of measurable rain ? Useful guide...

June is shaping up nicely here ,with only one day so far of over 90 degree heat and our June Gloom  morning overcast shows up most mornings.. makes for fine gardening weather.   Lilies...the pink was carefully labeled and said label has faded into illegibility. Time to peruse the Lily Garden catalog and see if I can retrieve the ID. The melon-y number is Copper Crown .  This variegated Lantana is slowly reverting; it has frozen down to the ground several years in a row. Digiplexis 'Illumination Flame' has become a grove of nicely branched plants. Drumstick Allium --Allium sphaerocephalon. Eucomis 'Sparkling Burgundy' Poor floppy Sideritis cypria . Needs more sun, so a move may be on the agenda for fall. Fuchsia 'Winston Churchill'.. The damn Daylilies are peaking now-what's left of them. I have edited down to 11 varieties , with a couple others on the hit list. This is another missing tag victim ....

  The Pacific is the focal point of this garden sited on a bluff above the ocean on the Mendocino coast of  Northern California. Unfortunately there's not much I can tell you about the gardens' history or ownership-the Garden Conservancy website takes down the information on gardens whose open day has passed , and there is no longer a guide book to refer back to. I can conjecture that this is probably not a full time residence, that the owners are not gardeners , and that funding is not an issue.  I believe that this is the guest house..the slope here is planted with grasses , heaths, cistus and others that tolerate the proximity to the tumultuous north coast. Though typically frost -free the wind ,damp, fog and robust winter storms are the challenge here. The tether-ball and basket ball courts are in the midst of a clever Podocarpus and Dodonea maze.  The maze viewed from a distance.   The deck of t...