Flower & Garden | Gardening in My Rubber Boots

Apr 2

Heaven = Wine Country & Gardens

This past weekend we visited the San Francisco area for the San Francisco Flower & Garden Show and to visit Sonoma. The first series of pictures were taken at the show. If you missed it this year then you should really check it out next year. It’s full of garden ideas, inspiration, shopping, seminars and shopping. Oh wait, I already said shopping…

Lately, I’ve been feeling like I need to add more art & sculptures to my garden. I’m missing the small details. That’s why most of my pictures are of items that inspired me and should help me pick affordable art to add to my garden. The second set of pictures were taken at Cornerstone right outside of Sonoma. It’s a beautiful shopping area full of art and display gardens. It’s a must see when visiting Sonoma.

The last set of pictures are of wine tasting at Ravenswood and Chateau St. Jean wineries. We also walked up & down Lombard Street in San Francisco. Just because it was there.

: Japanese Quince bonsai

: Copper owl watching guard

: Copper Armadillo BBQ

: Beautiful wood bench

: Aeoniums

: Celtic Lily water feature

: Stone fragments used for walkway

: Tropical garden

: Artistic balls on show lawn

: Ancient looking Olive tree

: Elephant’s Foot Palm (funny)

: Agave

: Little faces in the Habitat Dance with a Red-Headed Snake garden

: Stone Basins

: Fish reflection

: Koi

: New Orleans Pond with alligators and succulents

: The Living Room (living walls)

: THE chair at Cornerstone

: Metal fencing

: Water feature

: Succulents

: Cement paver made to look like wood

: Water Basin

: Giant Pot

: Mermaid

: Stone filled with succulents

: Our future bathtub

: Driftwood coffee table

: Metal gate filled with flowing water

: Succulents planted with stone pillars

: Garden Sculptures

: Alley leading to large round stone

: Garden art

: Garden from galvanized tunnel

: Alley of trees

: Compost fence

: Woven wood fence

: Agave, Rosemary & a large stone

: Travis

: Cornerstone garden sculptures

: Barn in Cornerstone’s gardens

: Work of art

: Pas de vins poules mouillees

: Chateau St. Jean Garden

: Drinking a bottle of Pino at Chateau St. Jean

: Chateau St. Jean Palm tree

: Bocce Ball at Chateau St. Jean

: Travis & I looking down Lombard Street

: Lombard Street

While we were in town we also visited with a lot of great folks I met online through Twitter.

Mar 31

3 Comments

Ordering from Annie’s Annuals & Perennials

I realized today that I hadn’t posted about my WONDERFUL experience with Annie’s Annuals & Perennials. In late January they had a one-day special so I decided to see if they had any plants I couldn’t live without (I found quite a few). Not only do they have a unique/vast selection but they also have a “Wish List” so you can get an e-mail when out of stock plants become available.

If you don’t have their catalog or haven’t ordered from Annie’s Annuals & Perennials, you are missing out. I don’t think I can explain it better than the bio on their site:

“Specializing in rare and unusual annual & perennial plants, including cottage garden heirlooms & hard to find California native wildflowers.”

My Annie’s Annuals & Perennials order:

Asphodelus albus “White Asphodel” (sun)
Claytonia sibirica “Candyflower” (shade)
Delphinium elatum ‘Double Innocence’ (sun)
Dianthus arenarius (sun/part shade)
Digitalis ferruginea ‘Yellow Herald’ (sun/bright shade)
Fragaria vesca ‘Golden Alexandria’ (sun/part shade)
Geranium pyrenaicum ‘Bill Wallis’ (sun/part shade)
Gladiolus tristis (sun/part shade)
Scabiosa caucasica ‘Perfecta Alba’ (sun)

They even let me request a delayed shipping date so the ground would be ready for planting. I got my order last week and was pleasantly surprised by the packaging and the condition of the plants. The soil/roots for each plant was wrapped in moist paper, plastic and then set in a plastic pot. The pots were then placed in a cardboard spacer in the shipping box.

I would order from Annie’s again in a heartbeat. In my opinion, the quality of plants I received is worth paying for shipping every time. Thanks Annie’s!

Mar 14

6 Comments

What’s Blooming March 15

Camellia

Euphorbia

Bloodroot

Candytuft

Variegated Arabis

Daphne 'Summer Ice'

I have no idea...

Bleeding Heart

Bergenia

Saucer Magnolia

White Hyacinth

Purple Hyacinth

Grape Hyacinth

Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day takes place on the 15th of every month and all started with May Dreams Gardens.

Mar 8

3 Comments

Seed GROW Project Starts April 4 – My Seeds Have Arrived!

Nasturtium "Spitfire" seeds from Renee's Garden

Starting April 4, over 40 garden bloggers nationwide will post their experiences growing Nasturtium “Spitfire” seeds from Renee’s Garden. I’m posting a little early only because I’m excited I got my media kit and free seeds from Renee’s Garden. What a fun project!

I heard about the Seed GROW Project in early January and jumped at the chance to participate. The first Sunday of every month we’ll all post a status of our seeds/plants so we can compare how they’re doing in different climates using various techniques.

I’m planning on starting some indoors and some right in the garden. I’m also going to plant in a couple different locations – like next to the chicken coop and in the veggie garden. Can you imagine the beautiful green foliage & bright red flowers growing up my white chicken coop?

You can read more about the Seed GROW Project and find a list of blogs participating by clicking here. Starting April 4, the GROW site will also provide links to all participating blog posts so you can find them all in one location.

I can’t wait to read all the posts!

“I’m growing Nasturtium “Spitfire” for the GROW project. Thanks, to Renee’s Garden for the seeds.”

Mar 7

2 Comments

Adding Native Plants to Our Landscape

Our Conservation Plant Sale Loot

The Snohomish County Conservation District held their 25th annual plant sale this past weekend at the Monroe Fairgrounds.

I’m almost ashamed to admit it but this is not my kind of plant sale.

That being said, here’s what I picked up:

Evergreen Huckleberry (Vaccinium Ovatum) x3; Red Flowering Currant (Ribes sanguineum) x5; Kinnikinnick (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) x2; Camas (Camas Leichtinii) x3; White Flowering Yarrrow (Achillea millefolium) x2; Common Thrift (Armeria maritima) x2; Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) x10; Pearly Everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea); Cascara (Rhamnus purshiana) x 5

Now I just need to find room for all these crazy plants. Since most are okay with part shade, we’ll probably put them in the new beds we’re creating in the back yard. I’m thinking the Cascara is a bit of a stretch for us – there are five and they can reach up to 30 ft! Anyone want one?

The plant sale also offered a lot of conifers and deciduous trees that looked great! If we had more than .12 of an acre we may have considered some of those as well.