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Busy This Busy That
Mar. 8th, 2017 10:59 amHow about a quick listing today?
*It has been a "hoot" watching Victoria, the owl, in my owl box, as she nurtures and feeds her owlets. The owl box is kept filled with rodent carnage by Albert, a most enterprising and conscientious owl daddy. I think there may be only one egg still to hatch out of the batch of six. Due to their staggered laying times the babies are hatching on a staggered schedule. Thus they are all sizes. Victoria seems to do around the clock feeding. She must be exhausted!
*My postcard is written and stamped ready for 3.15.17, the Ides of Trump. I am daily appalled and horrified by what emanates from the White House.
*Spring has sprung here. Due to the recent rains everything is green and beautiful ... even the weeds.
* New circulating ball type fountain for my garden. So lovely and tranquil.
*Betty has come and gone. She stayed with Teaberry so that I could experience 3 days of Catalina. First visit.
*Added Signage Team to Water Conservation responsibilities. Clayton gave permission yesterday for pot purchase for parterre. My mother and I are purchasing a large fountain for succulent planting in the formal garden area.
*Haircut and color urgently needed!
*New neighbor in rental house with many cars. Usually 5 at a time but not always the same five. Not sure who is there. Pitfall of a large home next door is that hordes move in and feel free to park in front of my home.
*Daylight savings time already!?!
*It has been a "hoot" watching Victoria, the owl, in my owl box, as she nurtures and feeds her owlets. The owl box is kept filled with rodent carnage by Albert, a most enterprising and conscientious owl daddy. I think there may be only one egg still to hatch out of the batch of six. Due to their staggered laying times the babies are hatching on a staggered schedule. Thus they are all sizes. Victoria seems to do around the clock feeding. She must be exhausted!
*My postcard is written and stamped ready for 3.15.17, the Ides of Trump. I am daily appalled and horrified by what emanates from the White House.
*Spring has sprung here. Due to the recent rains everything is green and beautiful ... even the weeds.
* New circulating ball type fountain for my garden. So lovely and tranquil.
*Betty has come and gone. She stayed with Teaberry so that I could experience 3 days of Catalina. First visit.
*Added Signage Team to Water Conservation responsibilities. Clayton gave permission yesterday for pot purchase for parterre. My mother and I are purchasing a large fountain for succulent planting in the formal garden area.
*Haircut and color urgently needed!
*New neighbor in rental house with many cars. Usually 5 at a time but not always the same five. Not sure who is there. Pitfall of a large home next door is that hordes move in and feel free to park in front of my home.
*Daylight savings time already!?!
Sherman Gardens and Library
Jun. 1st, 2016 03:41 pmI am thoroughly enmeshed in planning the redesign of the formal garden area of the WCG. Often, I feel like I'm in over my head. I know what I like but there is so much to like ...how to figure out what will work is the dilemma. I have tried to engage the rest of the team in planning but for various reasons they are not available (leaving for summer, husband ill, caring for elderly parent, can't take on another thing, weekend away, all appropriate reasons.) BUT the responsibility is weighing heavily on me. I'm trying to figure out the scale, how to use the tools on the blueprint, consider budget, plant availability & more. I'm dreaming/nightmaring artistic trauma if there is such a thing. The most immediate portion is the succulent parterre since it is the first to be implemented. On Sunday Jim & I drove up to Corona del Mar to see the succulent area at Sherman Gardens. It was inspirational! It opened my eyes to doing things a little differently than I had first imagined. It also brought my anxiety to the forefront. Can I do this? Will succulents be accepted by those who see this area the old (boring) way. Will I be humiliated by my attempts? Who will be around to help? Ugh! 
Excitement mounts! I have just been named Team Leader of the the formal garden group at the Water Conservation Garden. I have been researching and sketching ideas for the parterre section of the formal garden. I was not sure that Clayton (horticultural director) would approve of using succulents to form the parterre or ground pattern ... but he did. When he asked if I would be team leader I was so thrilled. I have been collecting parterre ideas since the '80s in hopes of some day creating one. I'm like-a-little-kid excited. Just the challenge I need in my life right now. :o)
I belong to a local garden club as well as being a docent at The Water Conservation Garden in my area. Both venues are a fount of ideas not to mention providing a plethora of shared plant cuttings. Our last garden club meeting was held at a members' new home which (since no lawns were allowed) featured native landscaping. Some were natives that came back after the home was built and others were selected to suit the grounds. Many of the smaller plants came from cuttings. Our speaker for the morning was Connie Beck, a local horticulture teacher, garden club member, and a very humorous, engaging lecturer. She demonstrated ways to propagate different kinds of plants. We then were encouraged to take cuttings that we could propagate at home. So much fun. I came right home and got to work. We'll see how they progress (or not).
Next, one of my garden teams was working in the sensory garden. We trimmed back several plants and I brought home cuttings to add to my collection. I eagerly watch to verify that they are alive and growing.
In other garden news I experimented with growing moss. I am hoping to grow moss successfully at home and then try it on the cement angels in the formal garden area of the WCG. Unfortunately, my black cocker, Teaberry, decided that he liked the taste of the buttermilk in the mix and licked and scratched most of it off. Looks like I'll be making another batch.
Finally the WCG had our first ever tour of 5 gardens owned by docents. It was wonderful. So many good ideas and the organization and implementation of the tour worked like well-oiled machinery. So many compliments from the public. It was fun to talk with people who are striving to use more drought tolerant plantings.
