Monday, April 30, 2007

Theodore Payne Garden Tour

The garden tour was wonderful!

I worked Saturday til 1 pm but managed to visit two gardens in Santa Monica, one in Mar Vista, and one in Westchester. All were very lovely and inspiring.

The Mar Vista house especially gave me hope, as they had planted in March and August of 2006, mostly 1 gallon plants, and their yard looked fantastic.

I've also learned that I want more Heuchara (coral bells) and a mallow. I think, though coral bells like shade, I can plant some in locations that will get afternoon shade and morning sun, since we're on the coast and it's cooler here.

Dave really loves the bunch grasses, so I'm sure we'll get some more of those -- also maybe some blue-eyed grass as well...and maybe some irises for the shadier garden.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Theodore Payne plants

Okay, here's the list of what we planted this weekend:

Verbena lilacina (from Baja)
"Blue Mist" manzanita (ground-coverish)
2 x Heuchera "Rosada" for the shadier side yard
Heuchara maxima for the shadier side yard
Galvezia "firecracker"
Eriogonum grande rubescens
Eriogonum umbellatum
Verbena gooddingii (more of a desert plant, planted it in the gravel near one of the big rocks)
Lupinus longifolius
Arcto. manzanita
Yucca whipplei "Our Lord's Candle" (planted in the gravel with rocks)
Salvia "Pt. Sal"
6x Deschampsia elongata -- I swear, these have already grown since planting them.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Still avoiding RoundUp....

We dug up some of the grass (same as we did the trees) and will be doing that throughout the yard still in hope of avoiding the use of RoundUp. We had a soft rain as we finished the planting and watering....it's been really dry here and any rain is good.

Saturday, April 21, 2007

More native plants!

Spring Break, the Napa wine trip and a week of work later and here's a quick update.

All the fruit trees are doing something. The Beverly Hills apple is the slowpoke of the bunch, just started to leaf out now, which I suppose (or at least am hoping) makes sense because it is supposed to bear later than the other apples.

Most of the Las Pilitas plants are doing okay. The yarrows liked yesterday's rain.

Grass is (not surprisingly) coming up through the mulch. We're going to try weeding it and if necessary some judicious applications of Roundup (yes, I've caved to the eventual necessity of using Roundup).

We bought more plants from the Theodore Payne Foundation today. They have a great nursery and I was able to get some plants that I'd wanted but Las Pilitas didn't have. I'll post a list shortly, as well as take some pics of the yard with plants.

The front yard is still taking most of our house time. Painting the dining alcove, kitchen and kitchen nook will probably be the next indoors task.