March 4, 2014 by Born To Organize

Four-in-One Fruit Tree

Fruit tree tags

A couple of you have asked for more info on our four-in-one fruit cocktail tree. I think the idea is genius. One tree receives three additional grafts of different fruit. In our case, the tree grafts include peaches, nectarines, apricots and plums.

We first learned about these trees from our neighbor, Gwyn. She’s in the process of creating an edible front garden. Pretty cool, eh?

My then ten-year-old son was so excited with the idea that he asked for one for his birthday. Talk about a gift that keeps on giving. The tree turns five this year. Sadly, we lost one of the grafts, the smallest and weakest of the four. The other three remain healthy and strong.

This is the perfect tree for gardening in small spaces. You get to grow multiple varieties on one tree. They even fruit at different times! Trees are available with up to six grafts in a related family. You can buy citrus, stone fruit or apple.

Our tree is in bloom with three distinct flowers. The bees arrived in between the storms. Don’t you just love that steady hum of industry?

Plum blossoms

Apricot buds

Peach buds

You can read more about ‘fruit salad trees” here. Please let me know if you plant one of your own.

March 3, 2014 by Born To Organize

Generous Spirits, Caring Hearts

The goodness of bloggers abounds.

Bloggers near and far filled my mailbox these past several weeks with treasures of hand-made goodness. I’ve never met the bloggers at In Search of it All or Garden Sunshine. Before blogging, I’d never meet Boomdeeadda either. Yet they all have one thing in common: a generous spirit and a sharing heart.

Once upon a time there were pen pals. You mailed letters to someone you didn’t know who lived on the other side of the world. If you were lucky, they wrote back. Now we blog.

Gardening Nirvana came to life as a place to write about the things I love. I never dreamed of the community that would gather around it. Who could imagine the connections, the learning, the support and the fun that blogging had in store? I came for the writing and stayed for the friends.

If you blog with regularity, you know what I mean. If you’re new to the medium, you have wonderful things to look forward to. Finally, if you’ve never blogged, start today. You’ll be glad you did.

In Search of it All

The lovely, lace embroidery, below was a ‘just because’ gift from Marlene Herself at In Search of It All. Isn’t it beautiful? Marlene blogs from the northern state of Oregon. She describes herself as “a young at heart senior citizen that still has more questions than answers.” She enjoys reading, sewing, quilting and of course writing. Pop on over to her blog to read her unique perspectives of the world. You’ll be glad you did.

Embroidered lace snowflake by Marlene Herself

More embroidered lace from Marlene

Garden Sunshine

Diane blogs from Ontario, Canada. She shares her gardening progress on 7+ acres of land at Garden Sunshine. Her photos and projects are stunning. Garden Sunshine sent the blue heart pin, cotton square and calendar, lovingly crafted while she waits for the sun to shine again. Apparently I’m her top commenter. Who knew? Thank you for the shower of gifts.

Stars and hearts pin crafted by Garden Sunshine

Hand-knit cotton square by Garden Sunshine

Garden Sunshine photo calendar and notebook

Boomdeeadda

For those of you familiar with the “Boom Room”, it will come as no surprise that this little treasure arrived from Edmonton, Canada via Boomdeeadda. Kelly describes herself as “living the dream with Mr Right and two rescue cats, Petals & Blossum. Life and Love is enhanced by the many on going projects. This is a Journal of these and other bits along the way.”

Through blogging we’ve formed a close friendship. We celebrate our kindred spirit, which extended beyond blogging into texting, phone calls, Skype sessions and in-person visits. Next stop, the Ellen Show. ;-)

Hand made goodness from Boomdeeadda

Virtual Gifts

Special thanks (and apologies for not acknowledging this sooner) to Pauline at The Contented Crafter. I appreciate your kindness and support.

A warm thank you to Val at Nikitaland for passing on a bit of sunshine. Much appreciated.

February 28, 2014 by Born To Organize

Friday Flowers

The rain continues. I had a white-knuckled drive across the valley this afternoon, with bits of flooding across the freeway. I’m happy to be home and enjoying the rain with my feet firmly planted on the ground. Flash-flooding is inevitable with so many months of parched earth.

Hopefully we can weather this storm without loss or injury. Everyone forgets how to drive on wet roads.

Traffic conditions aside, what a happy soaking in the garden. Signs of spring were everywhere this week. Come take a look:

Coral Abutilon

Fragrant freesia

Garden peas

First tulip

Jasmin buds

Sweet Alyssum

February 27, 2014 by Born To Organize

Raspberry Teasers

Two summers ago the raspberry vines produced mouth-watering fruit. Many a summer’s day, we would head to the garden after dinner and eat them right off the vine. They were melt-in-your mouth delicious.

Last year I transplanted the vines to make room for an impromptu pumpkin patch. They pumpkins self-seeded in the compost bin and needed a place to grow. The raspberry canes grew into vines, but not a single berry. Not one! We missed them terribly.

For years I bought beautiful red berries at the market, only to be disappointed by the taste. After growing them I learned that the mouth-watering taste was in the dark berries. Red fruit looks pretty in the market, but doesn’t come close to delivering on taste.

I’m happy to report that the vines have recovered. They’re sending out healthy green leaves along their prickly, red stalks. Stage one is looking good. Next up: white flowers. Then I’ll know we’re back in business.

Raspberry vines and daffodils

Will the vines produce fruit? Only the shadow knows for sure

Healthy foliage, happy gardener

So, here I am counting my berries before they grow, but I can’t help myself. Fresh rain and the countdown to spring bring out the optimistic gardener.

Stay tuned.

Do you have a favorite berry?

February 26, 2014 by Born To Organize

Fab Freesias Frolic in the Rain

It’s raining. Honest to goodness, puddle-forming, hair-curling rain.

This is the first substantial rain in San Jose in two months. Everyone else seems to be suffering from too much weather; we haven’t had enough. I walked with a friend for an hour this morning and it never let up. Fantastic.

My garden freesias share my enthusiasm. This is their first shower of the season.

Nature’s perfection

Refreshed

They aren’t the only ones happy about the downpour. The squirrels are chasing each other around and around the pine tree with glee. Meanwhile, a hummingbird tried to make sense of the fruit tree. It’s known as a four-in-one or a fruit cocktail. It’s one tree with four grafts. This one grows pitted fruit: peaches, plums, apricots and nectarines. The grapes were an after thought by yours-truly on her way to the compost bin. They still had some life in them so I hung them on the branches for the birds.

Hummingbird at rest

I’ve enjoyed watching the progress of this potted beauty. It sits on the back steps, so I can see it from indoors. I pass it on my way to do the daily rounds: emptying the kitchen compost bin, snapping pictures, checking on things. I pulled weeds for an hour yesterday, and cut back some of the dead growth from last November’s frost. It felt great to get out there and do a bit of work after nursing a crummy cold for over a week.

Four week progression

The yellow freesia was a surprise. It popped out from under another plant and seemed to bloom in a flash. Yellow is such a cheerful color, don’t you think?

Yellow freesia buds

These popped up earlier this week

If you are sick of the wind, the rain, the snow or the drought, I hope things turn around for you soon. I plan to enjoy every minute of this rainy day and, fingers crossed, hope for more to come.

February 25, 2014 by Born To Organize

How to Plant a Garden

There are three ways to plant a garden.

You can start with seeds, gently coaxing them with warm soil, water and light.
You can buy established starter plants from a local nursery or garden center.
Or…you can get out-of-the-way and see what the earth has in store.

We refer to them as ‘volunteers’ around here, tiny seeds that make their way into the soil by a variety of methods and grow up to be the healthiest plants in your garden. Volunteers are the handy work of the wind, the birds and in this case a little self-control from the organized gardener. I like things tidy, even the garden, but have learned to show restraint.

It’s one thing to pull out weeds or cut back dying branches. That helps the garden grow. But dead-heading flowers isn’t always best. When I sat on my hands and let my annuals go to seed last fall, wonderful things happened.

For starters, lots of birds. It was a joy to stand at my kitchen window and see them visit throughout the day. They ate a few, dropped a few and now I have a self-seeding patch of annuals ready for a good soaking from tomorrows promised storm.

Don’t you just love nature?

Small garden patch near the sidewalk
brimming with tiny seedlings

Look closely: sprouts galore

Variety is the spice of life

February 24, 2014 by Born To Organize

Everyone P**ps

You can take the girl out of England, but you can’t take the English out of the girl.

I came really close to naming today’s blog Everyone Poops, from the children’s book of the same name. Written in Japanese, and translated into English, I first spotted this book nearly twenty years ago in a Mendocino bookstore. I giggled.

My dad was British, my mom Canadian. We used more polite words when discussing bodily functions, and even in my fifties I give pause before using this particular word.

Yet today on my hike, when this lovely deer provided a front row seat to her daily elimination, I kept thinking about that book.

Taking care of business

On her way

I thought of other things as well. She was trusting enough to hold my gaze while at the same time holding that position. It was fun for me, hiking alone, to have her walk along the same path for a few hundred feet before heading up the hill.

Hiking companion

Generally they close the park trail to traffic, but the gate was open this morning. As I snapped away, I heard a large truck pull up behind me. I moved off the path to let the truck pass. I giggled some more.

Clean-out Tank

You’ll never hear this discussed on Downton Abbey, but the reality is it’s true. Everyone p**ps.

February 21, 2014 by Born To Organize

Greenhouse Envy

Mini greenhouse

Last year I watched with admiration as Sarah the Gardener built her second greenhouse. Sarah writes a fabulous blog about her garden in Australia, and is about to publish her second book on the subject. Check out her amazing garden.

I’ve always liked the idea of a greenhouse. My dad planted that seed years ago as he too wished he had one at home. Living in Silicon Valley means houses are small on small plots or large on small plots, but rarely will you find a house with a big piece of property attached. It’s simply cost prohibitive. Those of us who garden make do with the limited space. We have great weather year round and a long growing season to boot. I have zero room to complain.

So imagine my delight when I saw an ad in the paper for this scaled down and highly affordable mini-greenhouse at our local garden center. It was on sale for $39 bucks which is a steal if you ask me.

I put it together over the weekend and it’s ready for plants. I’m going to take stalk of my seed collection this weekend and then the fun begins. Planting seeds!

Spring, also known as the Vernal Equinox, is just a month away in this hemisphere. As Sarah puts her garden to bed for the winter in Australia, our California garden will be waking up.

I’ve Been Framed

Thanks to all who voted and commented with your suggestions earlier in the week on I’ve Been Framed. The straw-colored hallway won. Here is a video of the art as I approach. I hung her so our eyes meet when I walk by. It’s nice to live with someone who sees eye-to-eye with you every single day. I promise not to let it go to my head. ;-)

There was a great artist named Pauline

Who lived with a kitty so darling

She made fabulous art

Art filled with great heart

Now it hangs on my wall thanks to Pauline.

February 19, 2014 by Born To Organize

I’ve Been Framed

Framed!

I hope you weren’t here looking for an espionage post. What I meant was, my art’s been framed…and I love it.

Last month I won a blog giveaway from The Contented Crafter. The prize was an art print of my choosing from her Etsy shop. Be still my crafty heart.

Pauline is a mixed-media artist, blogging from New Zealand. Her art is full of optimism and joy. It makes me happy.

When Pauline first opened her Etsy shop, I snapped up the original of this print as a gift for my friend, Elizabeth. Elizabeth loves butterflies, original art and I felt certain she would love this too (and of course she did). The original piece arrived with plenty of time before gifting so I got to enjoy it for a few weeks. Then I wrapped it and sent it to its new home.

Then, serendipity: another blogger offered to sponsor a giveaway on Pauline’s blog, I won, and the rest, as they say, is history!

I’m the proud caretaker of the Butterfly Sprite print which arrived in the mail post-haste. She’s now framed and ready for viewing.

Framed and ready for the perfect spot

Here is where I could use your help.

When we remodeled nine years ago, we went from white walls to color in every room in the house. I love it, but it’s another element to consider when hanging art. Please take a look and let me know what you think by voting in the poll that follows. I’ll share the results later this week.

(A) Bedroom “mermaid” wall

(B) Bedroom entry wall

Hallway, long view

The Contented Crafter sells her work on Etsy.

February 18, 2014 by Born To Organize

The Long and the Short of It

Do you ever look at photos on other blogs and think: “I wonder what’s around that corner’? I catch myself doing it all the time. What’s behind the house just outside of view? Where is the wheelbarrow in relation to the garden? Is that what I think it is?!?

Of course it’s none of my business, but that doesn’t stop my curious mind from traveling along the path. The solution is simple. I’ll buy a private jet so I can travel around the world, meeting all my fellow bloggers. I’ll deliver in-person hugs, and then, when I finally let go, hours of tea-drinking and a Q & A will ensue. When I arrive home, I’ll know the long and short of it.

Sadly, no room in the budget for my private jet fantasy. It’s fun to dream though.

Today I took photos with both the long and the short view. Closeups are usually more interesting, but seeing the origins of that closeup can also be fun.

Burgundy Fringe Flower (Loropetalum)

This beauty grows along the back fence under the Pittosporum. It gives a lovely splash of color from a distance, and continues to delight up close. Those fringe-like flowers look like fairy garden pom poms in the making.

The closeup

I wrote about the intoxicating scent of the Daphne a few weeks ago. It’s still covered with tiny flowers, but the fragrance seems to be fading. I think it’s pretty both near and far.

Daphne in the garden

Daphne up close

These low-growing plants hug the patio near the outdoor table. Purple and white look so pretty together and the Alyssum smells like honey. I love sitting out there in the summer.