September 27, 2013 by Born To Organize

Mexican Sage: Low Maintenence Wonder

Bees are good for the planet

Not everything in the garden takes work. As flowering plants go, Mexican Sage (Salvia leucantha) is a low-maintenance wonder. This glorious specimen lives at the curb. I bought it for five dollars a decade ago, planted it in a spot without any irrigation, and within a short period of time it tripled in size.

Year after year, it produces glorious purple flowers. The bees love it and so do the hummingbirds. It’s also a favorite of a few little girls on the block. I gave one of them permission several years ago to help herself to a few blooms on her walk. I appreciated her interest and her lovely manners. She asked first.

Salvia Leucantha (Mexican Bush Sage)

Of course you can’t please everyone. The water meter-reader left a grumpy note one year asking me to “clear the shrubbery” so he could do his work. The sage is so soft that you can push it aside, or snap off a few twigs. Perhaps he was just having a bad day. Early this year, I removed a few lower limbs, knowing it would fill out completely by early fall. That did the trick. The plant is full and lush, but the lower branches float above the water meter.

Water Meter, clear for the reading

Attracts butterflies, hummingbirds and bees

Vibrant purple, soft to touch

Last year my sister dressed up for Halloween as the Corpse Bride from the Tim Burton movie of the same name. I picked several branches of sage and wrapped them into a headband for her costume. Once dried, they were a perfect addition to the headpiece. Her friend Kim designed her makeup and together we created her costume.

Corpse Bride

Why plant a Mexican Sage:

Drought tolerant
Low maintenance
Attracts butterflies, hummingbirds and bees
Soft as velvet with vibrant color
Show-stopping beauty
Looks great on a costume

August 13, 2013 by Born To Organize

Garden Walks

One of our favorite summer pastimes at the end of a hot day is taking a walk. The days are long so the sun is still up past 8 here in Silicon Valley. It’s nice to simply head out the front door and meander through the neighborhood.

Mighty Mouse likes to follow us down the block, though on our last walk, he encountered a territorial feline. ‘Words’ were exchanged, but he thought better of an altercation and returned home. I worry about him when he heads toward the park, so if he insists on coming we just circle the block instead.

Aside from the balmy weather and my husband’s good company, I love checking out all the gardens. It’s a great way to get ideas for your own yard.

I wish I could identify all the plants we see, but since half the fun is speculating, I’ll let you guess along with me.

A fabulous pumpkin growing along a cute picket fence.

I love this shade of rose. Do you know the variety?

More roses

Gorgeous foliage, unknown plant.

Any ideas? It’s a bulb of some kind.

iFruit
I didn’t think we could grow apples in the Valley. I thought they needed a good frost.

I wonder what this was? It reminds me of a rose hip, but the foliage looks like a different plant entirely.

Oh, and I think Mouse’s ears were burning when I greeted this kitty at the curb. I couldn’t help but notice the resemblance. This sweet kitty has personality to spare as well.

Thanks for joining me on my virtual walk. If you’re in the neighborhood, be sure to stop by.

April 22, 2013 by Born To Organize

Earth Day Rainbow

As I write this post, I hear a duck flying toward the park and smaller birds singing in the trees. I walked with a friend and her dog this morning through beautiful Willow Glen, a neighborhood known for it’s established trees, beautiful gardens and eclectic homes. Some days I pinch myself that I live in such a beautiful place. You live here too. It’s called Earth.

Origins of Earth Day

The idea came to Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, after witnessing the ravages of the 1969 massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. Inspired by the student anti-war movement, he realized that if he could infuse that energy with an emerging public consciousness about air and water pollution, it would force environmental protection onto the national political agenda. Senator Nelson announced the idea for a “national teach-in on the environment” to the national media; persuaded Pete McCloskey, a conservation-minded Republican Congressman, to serve as his co-chair; and recruited Denis Hayes as national coordinator. Hayes built a national staff of 85 to promote events across the land.

As a result, on the 22nd of April, 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment in massive coast-to-coast rallies. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values. – Source: Earth Day Network

It’s hard to ignore climate change, the recent oil spills and the growing list of extinct animals and plants. Our local news informed today that San Jose just passed the second-driest winter on record since the 1800s Gold Rush.

That said, knowledge brings power, and in an age of broad social media, the masses will no longer be silenced. I strive to honor this place we call home, by using less, staying informed, educating others and raising my boys to be stewards of the earth.

Rainbow?

No rain means no rainbows, so I’ve created a garden rainbow instead.

Strawberries, California Poppies, Yellow Day Lilly, Cat Mint, Crocus, Lavender

How will you celebrate Earth Day?

January 21, 2013 by Born To Organize

Sweet Alyssum: Growing a Namesake

Alys Milner (Lancaster)

Sweet alyssum is easy to grow. True to its name, it has a light honey-scent, with tiny white flowers that grow close to the ground.It’s intoxicating.

Alyssum is an annual, starting small, then spreading a foot in diameter by late summer. When I want it to grow in a certain spot, I’ll buy a six-cell pack. It easily self-seeds, so I often scatter the spent flowers around the garden in the fall, then enjoy what comes up and where the following year.

As I was plucking weeds in the side yard this week, I noticed at least two dozen alyssum seedlings. I’m sure I pulled out one or two in my zeal to rid the dirt of pesky weeds before I realized what they were. I made a hasty retreat.

My garden is not complete without Sweet alyssum and here’s why:

I’m named after my father’s sister, Alys, a fashion mannequin in the 1920s.
My father was an English horticulturist.
My former boss called me ‘Sweet Alys’

What better flower to honor my father and aunt than ‘Sweet alyssum.’

Sweet Alyssum

What’s in a name:

The spelling of Alys dates back to the 1600s. In Welsh the name means ‘of the nobility.’
Sweet Alyssum (Lobularia maritima) originated in Greece.

November 23, 2012 by Born To Organize

Black Friday: The Garden Edition

Welcome to Black Friday, the garden edition. We stayed away from shopping centers today, and enjoyed life near home. I walked with a friend on one of our local trails, where we spotted mallards, geese and a stunning beautiful swan.

Our tree is up and decorated, the lights are hung and after a relaxing dinner at home, I lit Bayberry and Cinnamon scented candles. I love cozy evenings with family.

Petals and Blossum are a pair of lucky black cats, staying cozy in their home in Canada. Those kitties assumed, with the legendary confidence of a cat, that they named Black Friday after them. Aren’t they clever?

You can see a picture of the sweet little twosome at Boomdeeada. They work their way in to several posts. Thanks for the inspiration girls.

Black and White Camellia

Black and White Pansy

Black and White Bud

Black and White Allium

Slinky, Unfiltered

Slinky Scratches and Itch

Slinky Stretching

Slinky Walks

October 25, 2012 by Born To Organize

Blooming Thursday: Hidden Cyclamen

Many years ago, my friend, Leslie, gave me a gorgeous cyclamen for Valentine’s Day. I was between relationships and probably feeling sorry for myself. It was a sweet gesture and a stunning specimen of a plant.

Brilliant Fuchsia

The cyclamen sat on my coffee table for many weeks, producing bloom after bloom. Then, with little warning, the leaves began to drop. I’m not one to give up easily on plants, so I tried the usual things: more water, then less water, different light. Nothing. Eventually I was out of ideas. I upended the contents of the pot into the small strip of dirt near my apartment door. Imagine my surprise a year later when the cyclamen “came back to life.” Turns out cyclamens are tubers, also known as corms. The plant had simply gone dormant.

Cyclamen corm with emerging heart-shaped leaves

Cyclamens remain one of my favorite winter plants. I planted three in colorful pots on the deck last winter so I could watch them bloom from my kitchen window. When spring rolled around, I transplanted them to larger pots and paired them with spring annuals.

As my potted darlings closed up shop in the late spring, I scooped them out of the soil and moved them to the lower garden. I found a small patch of dirt under some tall grass next to the Magnolia tree. They would be in good company and would stay cool all summer long.

It was a sweet surprise to see them back in bloom this week, refreshed from the recent rains and ready to flourish.

Shaded by the grass

What’s blooming in your garden?

Cyclamen Care. I especially like the beautiful drawing at the end of this link.

Halloween Countdown

Collector Pumpkin

August 31, 2012 by Born To Organize

Complimenting the Sunflowers: The Color Purple

In color theory, yellow compliments purple. The colors are directly adjacent to one another on the color wheel, in the same way green is to red, and orange is to blue. Without consciously realizing it, I’ve complimented brilliant yellow sunflowers with purple Lavender, Ageratum and nearby Mexican Sage.

The sunflowers line the top of the deck, while the lavender shrubs grow in front. The fragrant flowers bump up against the steps, softening the hard edges. Lavender is one of my favorite plants. It blooms for months on end, with a distinctive scent, valued for its restorative and relaxing powers. I dried a bunch of lavender in the garage, and used a few blossoms in my bath. I’m dreaming up ways to share these powerful blooms this Christmas.

Lavender Lines the Deck

This week I planted Ageratum and Baby Tears in a moss bowl, added some LEGO® Brick furniture and called it a Fairy Garden. It wasn’t until I took a step back from the arrangement that I realized I had surrounded the sunflowers with purple goodness. I love the shape of the fluffy blooms, but I also delight in the little saucer shapes with the dotted edges just before.

Ageratum Graces the Fairy Garden

Dominated by tall grass, the Dwarf Plumbago is easy to miss. It resides in the lower garden and to the right of the steps leading to the deck. Don’t you just love the red burst of seed pods in the center?

Dwarf Plumbago

The magnificent Mexican Sage grows at the curb, in an otherwise unremarkable section of the sidewalk strip. The sage goes dormant around December, when we give it a hard prune, then resumes its show of color, spring through fall. It’s a popular plant with children on the block due to its soft, velvet-like flowers. The hummingbirds are also big fans, frequently tussling over the right of territory.

Mexican Sage
Drought-Tolerant and a Hummingbird Favorite

On the subject of territory, my sister Sharon “owns” the color purple. It’s been her favorite her entire life. Sharon, this one’s for you.

August 12, 2012 by Born To Organize

Looking up at the Cosmos

Looking up at the cosmos this evening was a treat. I fell in love this summer with these magnificent flowers. Like any new love, I’ve enjoyed the novelty and discovery of uncharted territory.

Writing about cosmos for this blog and snapping dozens of photos along the way has enriched my garden experience. I’ve captured small changes I might have otherwise missed in pictures and prose. Such simple pleasures.

All week I’ve wanted to gather a few seeds, but the heat has been oppressive. This evening, after an hour of tending to the less glamorous garden chores, I sat cross-legged in front of the cosmos and took a moment to enjoy the view. Then, using a soft toothbrush, I swept up the seeds gathering on the pumpkin leaves below. I’ll package some of the seeds for holiday gifts and the rest will be carefully stored in my Seed Keeper for next year. I’ve spotted several black and white songbirds lately, so I’ve left plenty of seeds behind for them too.

Seeds safely stowed, I rolled on my back and took a few photos from the ground looking up. For a moment in time I was a girl again, lying barefoot on the grass, eyes skyward. Time for a bit of daydreaming until reality intrudes.

Cosmos Looking Up

Cosmo Seeds

Cosmo seeds at the Beach

Blooming Thursday: Dwarfed by the Cosmos (gardeningnirvana.wordpress.com)
Sit Back and Enjoy a Cosmo (zone9b.wordpress.com)

June 28, 2012 by Born To Organize

Blooming Thursday: Dwarfed by the Cosmos

I’d like to give a shout-out to the bird, or perhaps it was the wind, for planting the cosmos. These pink and yellow beauties are my new garden darling, the flower I didn’t know I loved. They were part of a mixed flower seed packet from last season. We had several flowers bloom over many months, but nothing as spectacular as this. Around the corner from their original home, a leafy green plant emerged. I let it grow along with the pumpkins and now this flowering lovely is taller than I am. I’m 5’10” so that is saying a lot.

Here’s a little photo journal of life among the cosmos:

Dwarfed by the Cosmos

Sisters

Ruffles

Seeds!

The flower cycle

June 14, 2012 by Born To Organize

Blooming Thursday: Flowers that Shouldn’t

Flowering Basil

I checked on the basil a day ago and all was well. Today it flowered! Maximum production requires more pruning then I realized. The flowers are pretty but the prize on the basil plant are those delicious leaves. They are at their best, before the flower.

One of my favorite uses for basil is caprese salad, made with basil, mozzarella and tomatoes. It’s also delicious in pesto.

So when the sun goes down, the pruning shears come out. Can’t you just smell it?

How to make Caprese Salad.

Easy Pesto: Step by step

How to dry Herbs: I’ll stick with it fresh, but all you cooking gurus can give this a go.