Garden report: Planted seeds for sunflowers today after planting more seeds for hollyhocks and red and pink poppies. I am germinating some English lavender, “oriental” poppies, and larkspurs.
Buds are starting to bloom and it feels like the garden is about to pop with color. My intention is to plant tall flowers that can greet me as I head to the cottage. If they are successful, I would be great to have them around the cottage. The goal would eventually involve having tall and climbing flowers obscure the cottage altogether. Instead of entering from the left side, have it fenced with an arbor entrance in front and have people walk a path to the front door. I would still get light but it would be dappled light from hollyhocks, roses, lilacs, sunflowers, sweet peas, and additional color from lavender, poppies, irises, and larkspur. The huge news i just noticed that one of my irises have finally sprouted after a couple of years not doing a damn thing except not dying. My neighbor has these beautiful irises and daffodils, so I know they work in this climate. So I am hoping to add irises and daffodils into the mix once the other flowers are established. If you are a praying or chanting or able to put something out to the universe or god or spirit, can you direct that energy to break down the high and the ridiculously resilient ridge off the coast of California and bring much needed spring and early summer rains? Don’t do it for me, do it for the garden that serves lizards, birds, bees, butterflies, dragonflies, and bugs. Do it for the animals up in the foothills around us. Do it so we don’t have a really bad fire season in the American West. If we can get a miraculous reprieve, that would be most appreciated. Thank you and enjoy.
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We had worked with our contractor, Jesus for some time before we had him build a storage shed. Our storage shed has been fantastic. He and his crew had done a stellar job building fences and large planters. We have always been impressed with the quality of his work and he was a pleasure to work with. The space inside is 10x14.
We needed to create a multipurpose space which is an office, art studio, and reading nook. The nook has the potential to be a place to have tea or wine with a friend or two when it is safe again. By moving things around I can stretch and do yoga, or turn it into a meditation space. He started work on July 20th and we agreed that he could just work on weekends as we were not in a hurry. He was done in August and I was moved in by September. The space is very versatile and is comfortable year round. I can play music or make phone calls without bothering neighbors. The space has a reading nook. It is gets plenty of light to do art. He installed an AC/Heating unit in the wall which I really do not have to use too much because we are in a moderate climate. The space has been through strong winds, rain, heat waves, and wildfire smoke just fine. When there was a power outage for three days, this space was a great place to hang out and read in bright natural light. We had him paint the exterior a combo of Behr Sliced Cucumber and used Behr Ultra Pure White to make the green pop. We had him paint the interior with Behr paint that was matched with Benjamin Moore White Dove and again we chose Behr Ultra Pure White for the trim. We chose White Dove because it is a favorite with designers. It is a creamy and soft greyish-yellow cream color that goes perfectly with the Pergo Outlast + waterproof flooring in Vintage Pewter Oak which is a grey or greige wood grain with greyish cream accents. I wanted to have neutral walls for when I do art, I did not want too much color bouncing off to mess up the color values. Jesus installed light cans and put in hue lights which can create color in the room when needed. We are so happy with his work, we plan on using him in the future for other projects. There is a corner of my garden where hollyhocks have taken root in random ways that are now calling out for more tall flowers and other flowers for the foreground and in containers. My goal is to create a cottage garden for the cottage. At this moment, I am soaking more giant hollyhock seeds to plant. I was painting sunflowers yesterday and got inspired to purchase sunflower seeds and teddybear sunflower seeds for more height and variety. Then ordered Delphinium seeds for more height and color. Then I remembered sweet pea flowers, so I bought seeds that promise the flowers pictured above. Sweet peas are fragrant and will contribute to the cottage feel. I may be a little late I am afraid but I can always try next year and plant in January. I do not normally choose annuals. I prefer perennials that come back every year. What I may do is plant some in containers and protect them from being blasted in the summer. I have also purchased seeds for various oriental poppies for borders and containers. I need to figure out how to keep them all watered during another dry season for us. I may have to shower with a bucket to capture water. This makes me wonder if we should indeed build a desalinization plant. I had been against it, but that was when we were getting rain water pretty frequently. The past couple of years has been dry. While I was writing this, I went to the Weather West blog by climatologist Daniel Swain to get more bad news. The Ridiculously Resilient Ridge is back keeping back any moisture from us in April. Just 3-4 years ago we would be in the track of all kinds of rain while other parts of the Bay Area might not get precipitation. This is how I got the idea I could have a cottage garden. I need to figure out something. Maybe I will need to get a drip system going, but also I will need to plan for recycling water. I might very well need to focus my intentions and ask the next full moons to give us reprieve from this drought. Yes, I know that is probably an impossible ask to have climate change shift somewhere else to blast the RRR away so we can have late rain in May and June, but it doesn't hurt to try.
It is times like these, I wish I was a weather witch or that I was a weather witch. I will be praying for us to get stuck in an el nino pattern or a pattern that supports a cottage garden.
I am not proud to admit that 2020 put me in a state of not being interested in tending my garden when it could have provided therapy. It was almost like I couldn't bear the beauty when everything was going wrong. It almost seemed disrespectful. As we are re-emerging to a better place, I am returning to find that my garden is re-emerging as well. My lilac were barren just a couple of months ago and I feared my neglect would lose them.
Yet no fear, as they recently grew leaves and buds appeared, and now there are blooms. My roses are starting to bloom after being cut back drastically. My lavender asserting themselves and are, quite frankly, being showoffs. They have survived the pandemic, wildfire smoke, winds, drought, heat, and my neglect. Like the outside world, not everyone made it to the other side, but the garden for the most part the garden pulled through. I hope this garden provides inspiration for all of us. |
AuthorIn a Zone 9 garden, north of the Golden Gate Bridge. Archives
April 2021
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