GardenBook

  May is always a bit of a pinnacle for bloominess in my garden, and as an added historical element the CDC decided that my fully vaccinated self can de-mask outside and inside. However, I won't feel the return to normalcy until I can grocery shop mask-free. In spite of everything though , GB Bloomday has continued on-no masking needed.    This is Asteriscus maritimus 'Golden Dollar'. I planted two of these last spring in my Agave meadow, and it is a winner for sure.  Climbing rose 'Sally Holmes '. Sally has benefited this year from a very large branch that was removed from a neighbors tree , and a very hard pruning this winter.  Clematis 'Niobe'. Usually the first Clem to bloom , this year the variegated Wiegela just gained a bit to much size and set it back a bit. I'll be doing some control pruning on the Wiegela this weekend.   The scented Pelargonium 'Attar of Roses'. It's a beast. Not quite there yet but I'm so jazzed that my Yucca ...

 Travel has always been a season marker for me -the late winter business trip to Florida, my annual spring road trip, usually to Socal or the Central Coast,  Garden Bloggers Fling in summer and every couple of years a horticulture related trip to 'somewhere' with my east coast garden peeps.Add in an August business trip to Chicago, September business trip to Washington and a fall road trip to wrap up the year. Some years more business trips , some years more personal trips. In 2020 I took one brief August road trip to the coast during what turned out to be a temporary post surge loosening of Covid restrictions. It's pretty easy to avoid other humans on the Mendocino coast.  Other than that the year was one long exercise in life as a homebody -which was not necessarily a bad thing. I didn't miss the business travel at all-after 30+ years I don't care if I ever take another business trip. I missed my personal travel, but I was able to make some home repairs with the $...