Cornus 'Winter Flame'

The Winter Flame Dogwood has about the most orange twigs and foliage imaginable while still looking natural and fitting into a native landscape. The orange foliage looks great in this muted terracotta pot.

Acer grisium

The Acer grisium or Paperbark Maple is tall rustic Maple tree that blends into a forest line or canopy row without drawing too much attention or appearing too cultivated. The Paperbark Maple will look like it's always been there while bringing year round interest with its simple green Maple leaves and pealing red bark.

Parthenocissus leaf

This lone, baby Parthenocissus tricuspidata leaf on a weathered teak table captures more light than any landscape scene I've seen in awhile.

Kiwi vine trunk

In this photo you can see a little glimpse of the huge 8" girth of this old Kiwi vine. It's like an anaconda climbing up the post!

Kiwi vine

I guess I should know better, but I always thought the Kiwi fruit came from a tree. Apparently Kiwis grow on a vine. This awesome, huge Kiwi vine covers this trellis. The vine trunk is about 8" thick. The owner of this retail nursery in Woodside, CA started this vine from a 1 gallon size container in the 1950's!

lawn spiders

Has anyone seen anything like this before? The entire lawn is covered with a blanket of spider webs. You can only see the webs in the Sun's reflections, but it covers the whole lawn. I've always thought of spiders as loners that spin their own web and live a solitary life, but this is obviously some kind of community or spider city! I'd love to know what kind of spider this is.

freshly picked green olives

The mission olive, Olea europaea, in our front yard is covered in olives so we are going to take a pass at curing them for gifts and a few just for us.
We easily collected enough olives to fill a 3 gallon bucket just from picking the olives off the lower branches that we could reach without a ladder.
We have read many different curing methods and recipes, and we are going to attempt our own version from what we have learned. We started off by checking each olive for bug bits, throwing away the bad ones and cutting a small slice in all the good ones to help leach out the bitters from the olives.
We are now on day 4 of soaking the olives in water, and I'll write more later to let you know how it's going.

Koelreuteria flowers

I love the look of freshly fallen petals floating in water. Here are the soft yellow flowers of the Koelreuteria paniculata tree floating in a fountain below.

Rosa 'Sea Foam'

The Sea Foam rose is a beautiful, light mauve colored, cascading rose that is perfect for pots and hanging over the tops of walls.

planted marble fountain - 2

Here is another view of the marble fountain at Hearst Castle with lilies and aquatic grass. You can just barely see the aquatic grass in this photo.

planted waterfeature at Hearst Castle

This beautiful fountain is planted with simple lilies that bloom white and yellow on the surface and freshwater aquatic grass underneath that helps the fish hide from raccoons. This fountain is in a courtyard at Hearst Castle.

Bed of Echinacea flowers

Sometimes you get the most punch out of a flower or simple shrub when you plant a large group of just one variety like the Echinacea 'Susie'. Echinacea don't last all year, but when they are up and blooming they create a nice show.

Toxic soil

Contractors from different trades don't think about how their work affects everyone else. You have to keep an eye on everyone to make sure your landscape will be beautiful. Many times concrete test pits, left over paint and other chemicals like this wood stain are thrown out on the same soil to be amended and planted. This will stay in the soil, making the soil toxic to the plants and you may never know why your plants aren't doing well or dying in this area.

Mown lawn path through meadow

Turning a large open space into a natural meadow instead of a water wasting lawn is very popular these days. There are many non-invasive, native grasses to choose from that are beautiful when they are green as well as when they are dormant and golden yellow. Mowing a path through a natural grass meadow creates a beautiful contrast and experience.

eco-lawn meadow grass

This is a new seed mix that creates a nice, low meadow grass that has low watering requirements and works in the shade as well as the sun.

windswept pine

Sometimes pines will have a windswept look when they first get unloaded from the truck. I have actually seen two pines that never straightened back up as the sap had already learned the bent branch form and never gave it up. The Italian Stone Pine or Pinus pinea in this photo straightened back up in less than a day.

Plumeria from cutting 3

The Plumeria I planted from a cutting in Hawaii is growing fast. Here is the latest view in a much larger pot.

Hydrangea arborescens 'Annabelle' are available as wholesale plants from some garden centers

Believe it or not; you can buy this beautiful Annabelle Hydrangea at amazing wholesale plants prices if you know the right sources. Leave a comment and I just may share a few!

Pick up some Rhamnus californicum at the garden center

California Coffeeberry is a great native plant for a hardy, handsome border shrub.

Ulmus parvifolia trunk

I love the pretty bark on a thick trunked Lace Bark Elm tree.

Hydrangea quercifolia

The flowers of the oak leaf hydrangea really are beautiful and the leaves are like hands wrapping around sculptures, garden benches or structures.

jacaranda bloom on bonsai

I had to share a close up photo of my bonsai Jacaranda bloom.

Plumeria from Cutting - photo 2

As I promised, here's another photo of my Plumeria that started as a cutting. It's really pushing out some nice leaves now!

Bonsai Jacaranda in Bloom

My Jacaranda bonsai is blooming after 8 years! I got the seeds from the fallen seed pods off the Jacaranda trees on 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica, CA almost a decade ago, and I've been nursing these puppies for so long without blooms I had almost given up. I knew it could take a long time for a Jacaranda to bloom, and finally no more waiting.
More photos to come...

On My Green Thumb Memorial!

I had to post this photo. It's too perfect for this blog. This is a bronze thumb sculpture around 7' tall outside the Clus Pegases winery in Napa Valley.

Olea europa Flora

I never noticed olive tree flowers being so beautiful. Look at this group of olive blossoms floating in a stone fountain and it will change your mind like it did mine.

One BIG garden slug!

I came across this huge, yellow garden slug today and I had to share it with you. This slug is around 7" long and bright yellow. If this isn't already called a Banana Slug I'm officially renaming this species today. Does anyone know the name of these before I renamed it?

Cornus capitata 'Mountain Moon'

These Cornus capitata 'Mountain Moon', Evergreen Dogwood, planted in a big drift look natural and still have a big flowery punch. Rustic beauty!

Growing Plumeria from Cuttings

Plumeria, the tree that the Hawaiian lei flower comes from, can be grown from a 'cutting'.

All you have to do is gently break off about 8" from a branch tip and place it in a well drained pot. Water the Plumeria a tiny bit every 2 days and make sure it has partial to full sun. They can't take the cold!

The image is of a pink Plumeria I started from a cutting about 2 months ago and it pushing through its first leaf. I'm excited!

I'll post more photos as it grows so you can see the progress.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Edible Wild Mushrooms

Look at these beautiful clumps of mushrooms! Just enough rain and shade on this hillside.

I really wish I could identify shrooms and know which ones you can eat. Does anyone know if you can eat these in the picture and what they're called?

Malus sp 'Snow Flake'

This is such a simple, beautiful apple tree. I love having some blooms before Spring! What an anxious little puppy.