GardenBook

  It's a small bloom haul this month-the weather has been really nice but the deciduous trees of the surrounding neighbors are still hanging on and combined with the lower sun angle my garden is pretty shady right now. And hallelujah, I've gotten just about 10 inches of rain since our first big storm in October. The hoses are retired for the winter. We have yet to have our 1st frost though we've had a few mornings in the high 30's. Nothing is knocked down yet- I still have basil but I pulled the tomatoes , planted spinach, kale and 100 Ranunculus. The ground temps are relatively warm so the weeds are are triumphant and  I appear to have approximately one to two million Nigella seedlings.      Pelargonium schitzopetalum has had it's best year ever and I was really surprised to see a bloom forming this late in the year. I'm going to attempt to divide it next spring. It's tuberous rooted so we shall see how that goes.  Dahlia 'Bee Happy' is in fact happ...

Cornerstone Sonoma opened some 15 years ago in Sonoma County  as a wine country marketplace featuring gardens as art , wine tasting and shops. The gardens are now and have always been free to visit, with the hope that visitors would spend some money in the cafes, shops and tasting rooms. The founders hoped to pattern the venue after the international Garden Festival at Chaumont-sur-Loire.   You can see the echos when looking at images of the French festival, and Cornerstone came the closest to it's French inspiration when in September of 2009, 'The Late Show Gardens' made it's debut. Not the typical spring indoor 'flower show' with it's displays of  tulips, cool season annuals and flowering trees ' 'Late Show' was a celebration of  summer harvest times and the richness of our wine country fall. Many of the display gardens addressed the climate and water issues that have since  moved closer to the spotlight for California gardeners. This was conc...

  My garden is looking pretty grim this month--it's just so very dry as we enter our 7th month with zero precipitation. I've intentionally cut back on watering and it shows, but as the sun lowers and nights get colder it seems pretty pointless to waste that precious resource on plants that are about to descend into dormancy. This upcoming weekend I'll start cutting a few things back , pull some annuals and plant some spinach seeds. Here are the slim pickins' I have to share this month. Chasmanthium latifolium, one of my favorite grasses . I'll be moving it to new quarters this winter -some tree branch removal on a neighbors part has left it in too much sun.  I was really thrilled with the shade reduction but I need to address the collateral damage . Mahonia 'Soft Caress' Cutest groundcover ever, Cotula lineariloba 'Big Yellow Moon'. It's enthusiastic but takes well to chopping. NOID Aster with Spirea 'Ogon' . The rest of the Asters are do...

   August has always been one of my least favorite months in the garden. Heat, spider mites, rust and mildew.  This year it's been 6 months since our last rain, and though we are summer-dry and accustomed to months of drought this year our rainfall totals were paltry and ended a good two months earlier than usual. Still, there are blooms to be had , vine ripe tomatoes to be picked and our beautiful fall season to look forward to. Be sure to stop by and see our hostess Carol at May Dreams Gardens for more August flowers. Aster 'Purple Dome' This is Pelargonium 'Pinki Pinks' which has been blooming for months and has great foliage to boot. Bronze Fennel. It's been several years since I grew this and never experienced the prolific reseeding that some speak of. Hopefully that continues to be the case. Sombreuil Origanum dictamnus aka 'Dittany of Crete' , is my favorite of the ornamental Oreganos. The Dahlias were slow this summer and fully half of my tuber...