GardenBook

  I continue to experiment with the photo location. And the arrangement has a couple experiments as well. I have never used stems from my collection of scented Pelargoniums, nor can I recall ever using Heuchera foliage. It will be interesting to see if these hold up.Last weeks Rose extravaganza lasted way longer than I expected it to so maybe this one will exceed my expectations as well.  The Pelargoniaum is  P. 'Attar of Roses' which I acquired last year on a road trip to Southern California. Highly recommended ! I also included unopened budded stems from the  polyantha rose 'Gourmet Popcorn' ,a few sprigs of Sideritas Cypria, and the umbel is Cenolophium denudatum..   Don't know which Huechera this is, and frankly who can keep track of the seemingly  endless new cultivars that seem to be rolled out every year.I have 6 of this one, whatever it is and if it passes the vase life test I'll be using it often .  The vase is vintage...

 It's been very many years since I have visited a zoo, and I couldn't even tell you which zoo it might have been, but I had heard anecdotal  information  that suggested the Santa Barbara Zoo had good landscaping with excellent plants  and was worthy of a visit . I'm always up for  some plant viewing so I  added the zoo  to my road trip agenda. A bit of googling revealed that this particular zoo is well regarded, is small, provides naturalistic settings for the animals and it was only ten minutes from my hotel .   There were a lot, really a lot,  of children there, and the facility had numerous family-friendly features including a large park like play area , picnic areas, Giraffe feeding and a zoo train among other attractions.  Because I am notoriously child-phobic I spent quite a bit of time positioning myself  as far away as possible from the hordes. If I were to visit again , it...

 I have reduced the rose population in my garden (from roughly 70 to about 30) and a big bowl of roses is not as frequent an event as it used to be. I love a bowl of roses, and since the first flush is winding down it was now or never.  I'm still struggling with my location  for the photos-this will have to do, out of focus though it may be.  The pink in the center is the floribunda 'Our Lady of Guadalupe'  and I expect it will have a vase life of about two days. Below 'Our Lady' is 'Eden' aka 'Pierre Ronsard' which is already blackspot bound-I expect this to be a particularly bad year for that affliction.  The white is Sombreuil ,  most of the yellows below are  'Molineux.' a David Austin Rose that is so outstanding I have three.  'Golden Celebration' in the middle.  The vase is a Bauer Hi-Fire thrown by either Fred or Jim Johnson in the mid 1930's.  Be sure to check out  all the vase offering...

 My February road trip to the central and south coast of California was disappointing in the weather department. I enjoyed my trip but there were plenty of horticultural activities that  were rain-outs. After returning  home I  decided to re-do the trip in April.It was a somewhat fiscally irresponsible decision -I was basically shelling out the bucks for the same trip , two months apart. It was worth it, and I have no regrets. My only disappointment this time around was that there were no rooms available in the hotel of choice in Santa Barbara, so I had to fall back on my Best Western option in Carpenteria. I was ok with that-who cares much about the lodgings when you have Lotusland and the Taft Garden on the agenda.  At some point during my February trip I read information about the renovation of the Skyview Motel in Los Alamos. Anyone who has traveled US-101between Northern and Southern California in the last several decades will recognize thi...