"Gardening is the slowest of the performing arts."
– Mac Griswold
01/03/17:
A brand new year for gardening adventures! I can hardly wait for spring.
With all the holiday busy-ness now over, I'm getting back into the normal flow of spending about 2 hours a week out in the yard tending to my plants, and 4 hours writing about them, taking pictures, and maintaining the website and social media accounts. Variety is the spice of life, but there's also such comfort in resuming the familiar patterns of a pleasant pastime.
Yesterday I started a list of my plants that have been easy to care for and generally hardy, such as the bacopa. This one's been blooming continuously since May. It never seemed to need trimming, deadheading, or treatment for pests or disease. African daisies and petunias are other noteworthy performers, so I might devote more of my pots to these in 2017.
I have now read the Golden Gate Gardening Book in its entirety. It got me interested in trying to grow more species of plants that are considered appropriate for our coastal region: African blue basil, snap peas, borage, pineapple sage, and Peruvian lilies (Alstroemeria). In addition to plants not mentioned in the book, I'm considering introducing some traditional cottage garden flowers: delphiniums, rhododendrons, and wisteria. I will research the proper climate and care of these first. My main concern, not just with flowers but for herbs and vegetables as well, is that there's not much full-sun space available in the yard, no matter how strategically I arrange the containers.
Clicking on the small images below will bring up a larger version.
Bacopa, other winter blooms.
Bargain begonia.
Lemon tree.
I spent some peaceful hours this past 3-day weekend on the couch, looking out the window. From there, I can not only enjoy the birds on the feeder and the playful squirrels; I can also observe how my fuchsia, camellias, coniferous trees, and little lemon tree are doing as the seasons change. The lemons are slowly turning brighter green, almost yellow now. I've been watching them grow and ripen slowly since spring.
In houseplant news, I finally succumbed to the temptation of buying one of the discounted "holiday gift" plants that are found in grocery stores at this time of year: I impulsively brought home a slightly wilted begonia, even though the only other one I've owned was very short-lived. I do know more about gardening now, however, and am paying closer attention to the needs of plants in general, so we'll see how this goes.
