 |
| October 2014 |
Somehow it has worked out that most of our entertaining at the SJC house takes place in the winter months. Dozens of relatives come from all over the country to visit and dare I say hundreds of friends stop by some time between Halloween and Valentines Day. Needless to say, they are certainly missing the prime time in the gardens which I would have to say is spring, followed by summer and then fall.
 |
| November 2014 |
By the time winter rolls around most of the prettiest scenes are tired and taking a rest. Roses are either spindly or cut back, most iris are sleeping and of course the clematis, wisteria, flowering shrubs and vines are either bare or devoid of blooms at best. Even the willowy grasses are often cut back to bristly stubs. I am thankful for the azaleas and camellias, of which I have planted many, and there are always the plants that look good consistently year round which add the foundation to the gardens. I do try to add some seasonal color in the way of cool season annuals that I probably would skip if not for the onslaught of guests. As you can see by the top picture, the Moonlight Garden was showing signs of a long hot summer a couple weeks ago, so a carload of bright white perennials and annuals in addition to some organic fertilizer has brightened up this focal point and will go a long way to keep this garden looking good until the spring plants start to wake up. If you look closely, my 'Golf Ball' (more like Basketball) pittosporum look terrible, having been covered with blight all year. They are supposed to stay small and round, hence the name, but these became so large and gangly they were trimmed back at the wrong time and have become a mess. I'm debating whether to remove them all together or just cut them back and
give them another chance. But enough about problems! I've been out every weekend with a watering can and some seaweed fertilizer to make sure this area is robust for the upcoming months and all our guests because next weekend there will be soccer balls, baseballs and maybe even a few Frisbees landing among the newly planted daisies and phlox and they need to be as robust as possible!
Just for fun here's a look at years past. If you are on Pinterest and 2010 looks familiar to you, it has probably been pinned a few thousand times!
 |
| 2009 |
 |
| 2010 |
 |
| 2011 |
 |
| 2012 |
We've had a busy few weeks with lots of house guests including grandchildren, both ours and others', visiting. The weather has been mild, but the grapevine tunnel in the Moonlight Garden became a shady retreat for them on days when they were left to their imagination to entertain themselves. I grow the grapes for ornamental purposes since the birds get to them before we do, but the kids had a great time harvesting any that had turned red everyday. Baskets were filled with fruit everyday as they scoured the gardens for something to pick. They thought it was great that they could actually go outside and find something to eat instead of the kitchen!
We have a tradition of putting stones with our grandchildren's names on them in our Moonlight Garden. We move them around periodically and create a purpose for the kids to explore the garden when they come to visit, looking for their "rock". We have just had to add two more rocks, seen here in the early morning drying from the sprinklers, to the garden in honor of our two new grandsons. It will be a while before they are old enough to realize they have a place mark in the garden, but the older kids have already discovered their new cousins' rocks, much to their delight!
When the weeds are under control, the voles are vanished, the flowers are deadheaded and the vines are tidy, it is time for the best part of gardening - spending time in the garden with family and friends. Last weekend was a busy time with lots of activity including five kids and three grandkids visiting to celebrate birthdays and Father's Day. Although the swimming pool gets lots of activity, the driveway is for bikes, tykes and scooters and the front lawn is the site for ball games, the back perennial garden is where my granddaughters like to hang out. Enough flowers for picking as many as you want, curves and corners for exploring and a patio for hanging out with grandpa on a warm summer day. That's what it is all about.
The most useful my garden is all year is for the annual Easter Egg Hunt. This afternoon the yard will be filled with some of my favorite kids searching for the elusive eggs carefully hidden by the kids that did this same event years ago and have outgrown it. These are the days that make childhood memories and I am thrilled to be a part of them. Have a wonderful holiday!
My sweet granddaughter is always eager to wander the gardens with me, even if it is freezing and she needs a heavy coat. Her favorite thing to do there is to harvest whatever is ready in the vegetable garden, but this time the pickings were slim due to the hungry rabbits that have been visiting. The only things they don't touch are the lemons (naturally, too high), the onions, and...
...evidently they aren't fond of bok choy! Project for this spring? Install some attractive and effective fencing!
The front lawn is often called the "play" lawn at our house. It is used almost daily for wearing out our young energetic dogs. The grandkids play all kinds of ball games here when they visit as well as navigating the DG tricycle track that surrounds the lawn . Here is my brother-in-law to-be a couple weeks ago playing a fierce game of croquet. Another favorite is bocce ball. It is probably the most peaceful garden on the SJC property as it is the home of the Moonlight Garden with only white flowers and all kinds of shades of green foliage. It has shady spots and sunny areas that evolve as the sun moves overhead. There are a number of different seating areas that allow the observer to see the gardens from different angles. Although it is a large lawn it is drought tolerant (as lawns go) and entirely organic and a very important part of our home, as any lawns should be these days.
My granddaughter insists on spending time with me in the garden when she comes to visit for the holidays and watering is her favorite pastime. You can tell she is a gardener by her eclectic choice of clothes and you can tell she is a princess by her headgear. She 'waters' the flower heads "because that's where their mouths are!"
I scoured my photos for a picture of the David Austin rose called 'Evelyn'. I had one in my garden in Laguna and it was a beauty, one of my favorites. I eventually took the rose bush out because it became overrun with growth from the 'Dr. Huey' rootstock. The reason I have been searching for a picture of this beauty? We have a new granddaughter and her name is Evelyn!
I have a new favorite Evelyn!
Last weekend we had the pleasure of having our son's family come for the weekend. There were lots of June birthdays to celebrate as well as Father's Day. Although my grandson enjoys the yards as places to play softball and run around the paths, it is my three year-old granddaughter that really appreciates the gardens. She patiently walked around the garden with me (in a Minnie Mouse hat) at sunset, pointing out and positioning all the blooms for me to photograph. Later she told her grandfather that I knew how to grow "really beautiful flowers". I may have a prodigy!
For some reason my husband (who is not a gardener, but does appreciate gardens) always talked about putting dinosaurs in our garden. I didn't worry much about it because after all, where would he get a dinosaur? Well, he had them made. Life-size ones. Four of them, by an amazing artist I have mentioned before named David Wolf. This is Dolores the Stegosaurus grazing in the garden.
The children in the after-school garden club at El Morro Elementary school released ladybugs a couple weeks ago to help control aphids on their vegetable plants. There weren't many aphids, but it seemed like a fun thing to do to teach them about bugs that help the garden. Too bad the ladybugs don't eat rabbits which is really the problem!
