March 20, 2012 by Born To Organize

Vernal Equinox in my own Backyard

Happy spring! Here’s what’s happening in my own little slice of garden paradise.

To Bee, or Not To Bee?

Raspberry Vines

No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn. ~Hal Borland

Flowering Bulbs and Budding Fuchsia

I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose I would always greet it in a garden. ~Ruth Stout

Pittosporum Greens

In the spring I have counted one hundred and thirty-six different kinds of weather inside of four and twenty hours. ~Mark Twain

Flowering Carrot

Spring is sooner recognized by plants than by men. ~Chinese Proverb

The Bees Arrive on Schedule

All things lavender:

Cowichan Valley Lavender Farm: Beautiful drawings and additional links

Lavender Crafts: How to make lavender wands.

Learn more about the relaxing properties of lavender at The Hub

Provencal Lavender Field Maps (for that fantasy vacation to France)

Lavender in art: Watercolor on Etsy.com

For additional garden quotes, visit the Quote Garden.

March 13, 2012 by Born To Organize

Magnolia Liliiflora, You Make my Heart Sing

Our Beloved Tree

We have two Magnolias in our yard, equally magnificent but unique. The more traditional tree, a grandiflora st. mary towers over the house and provides shade and shelter for neighborhood birds. It’s also an evergreen so we tend to take if for granted since it’s covered in shiny green leaves year round. It produces huge white blooms, and lemon-sized seed pods.

The smaller, more compact Magnolia is only about six feet tall. It started out in the back yard, where it suffered from a fungus every spring. We transplanted the tree to our front yard where it now happily thrives. The Tulip Magnolia (magnolia liliiflora) is deciduous. It starts to wake up in early March with a show of pink and fuchsia, tulip-shaped blooms.

Ah, spring. All kinds of goodies in store.

Magnolia Bloom

Magnolia Liliiflora

March 11, 2012 by Born To Organize

Scrapbooking Retreat: A Page from the Garden

Storybook Creator Garden Page

Twice a year I attend a weekend retreat not far from Apple headquarters, where I pursue my love of scrap-booking. Tucked into a cozy conference room with 16 like-minded, creative, and uniquely wonderful women, I pursue my craft. Pam and Staci, the Creative Memories consultants who put together this retreat, take care of all our basic needs: meals, snacks and caffeinated beverages. This is the first year I’ve left my clever tools and colorful papers at home so I could dedicate my energies to learning Storybook Creator 4.0, the latest in digital scrap-booking from CM.

I wish I could say it was all smooth sailing, but like most endeavors involving a computer, I did my share of hand wringing along the way. Of course the weekend isn’t just about crafting. Like a modern-day quilting bee, the women in Meeting Room “A” laugh and share stories of love and courage, strength and loss and the inevitable changes of life. I’ve learned Pixels2Pages and the spirit of camaraderie, the intricacies of 4.0 and the importance of a softly closed door. I marvel at the stereotype of the “weaker sex” as I’ve shared meals and space with this powerhouse group of “croppers,” a sharing, caring group of women who’ve got my back.

What does all this have to do with gardening? Just this: on the darkest of days, my life blooms with sisterhood. With gratitude to the female posse that helps me grow.

March 6, 2012 by Born To Organize

Spider Plant Sprawl

One by one, the root-bound spider plants relocated to the fence line. We jokingly refer to that area of the garden as the back-forty. It’s also where big, hairy spiders go, so they can do their garden business without scaring me on my daily rounds.

The back-forty is a transitional home for plants who’ve outgrown their pots but don’t currently have a good place to go. One of the potted spider plants sheltered a nest of mourning doves one year. Eventually the pot was too crowded for a nest or a plant. Time to visit the back-forty. Sometimes I empty a bit of soil left in a pot, and a forgotten bulb rolls out. I give it a toss into the mix and carry on with my gardening chores. It’s every plant for herself back there: find a place to put down your roots, or move over for the next plant. Since nothing that we’ve purposefully planted under the pine tree lives for very long, I’m hoping my stealth plan takes root.

Two spider plants and an asparagus fern have been up to the challenge so far. The acidic soil and shade agrees with them and they seem impervious to a steady shower of pine-needles. At the rate they are multiplying, the back-forty relocation plan is looking like a success. Gardeners know that hope springs eternal or perhaps it’s spring that brings eternal hope.

Asparagus Fern Spider Plant Tango

Mourning Doves

February 13, 2012 by Born To Organize

Eudora: Greek Goddess of Rain

When Life Gives You Lemons...

It rained today! The real deal, too, not just a sprinkle. I can’t remember a time when so many of us welcomed a cold, February rain.**

If my plants could talk, they would be singing the praises of Eudora. Their blooms, buds and branches relished every drop.

Thirsty Cyclamen

Camellia Buds

Lavender Reflections

Perfection at the end of a Branch

**San Jose’s arid climate averages just 15 inches or rain a season. To date (2/13/12) we’ve recorded a mere 2.78 inches of rain, only 30% of normal.

September 6, 2011 by Born To Organize

Cats Among the Plants

Without further ado…

Life Among the Ferns

“I tawt I taw a puddy tat…” ~ Tweety (Looney Tunes)

Kitty Hammock

This better be important...I was napping.

“Nature abhors a vacuum, but not as much as cats do.” ~ Lee Entrekin

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“Cats always seem so very wise, when staring with their half-closed eyes. Can they be thinking, “I’ll be nice, and maybe she will feed me twice?” ~ Bette Midler

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“Meow is like aloha – it can mean anything.” ~ Hank Ketchum

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“There is no snooze button on a cat who wants breakfast.” ~ Author Unknown

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Slinky Takes a Walk on the Wild Side

Just Visiting

August 10, 2011 by Born To Organize

Garden Log: August 9, 2011

The Autumnal Equinox is a mere six weeks away and our vegetables are showing signs of late-summer fatigue. We were excited to harvest our robust stalk of corn but knew it was best to harvest within two hours of eating for maximum sweetness.

Early August Harvest

I put a pot on to boil, but sadly we were about a week too late. The corn had already started to dry and was flavorless and tough. We’re hoping for better luck next year.

We love to plant tomatoes and pumpkins with corn as an afterthought. Next year I think we’ll dedicate one-third of the planting beds to a block of corn to increase the likelihood of success. This is a great primer on planting corn in small spaces: How to Grow Corn

Squirrel Food?

Tomatoes have been slow to ripen this year, due to moderate heat. We had late season rains, and cooler temps, neither of which seem conducive to their ripening. The plants are covered in green fruit, so we’ll hope for some hot days ahead.

Our sunflowers bloomed, but not before one of them reached the rooftop! It’s over nine feet tall. Magic!

Nine-Foot Sunflower

We’ve kept a close eye on our pumpkin crop, fencing off as best we could to discourage squirrels and rats. That said, we’ve noticed a recent onslaught. We harvested a few pumpkins this week after finding several partially eaten fruit. We have two exquisite white pumpkins,our first year planting the (Cotton Candy) variety and several smaller orange ones.

We also planted:

Batman Pumpkins

Dill Atlantic Giant Pumpkins (not!)

Full Moon Giant White Pumpkins

And a few leftover from last year’s carvings.

A handful of pumpkins were left to ripen on the vine. An offering of corn and partially eaten pumpkins rest on the grassy side of the fence to appease the late night snacking crowd.

Show Me Your Teeth

A gardener can dream, can’t she?

YouTube upload: A walk through our vegetable patch: Crunch, crunch, crunch…

Cotton Candy, Lumina or Full Moon Giant

June 21, 2011 by Born To Organize

Green Thumbs are Genetic

Dad was a horticulturist by trade; a gardener by hobby. It recently struck me how much he loved both. Because I was so young when he died, I’ve had to work hard at separating the gentleman from the myth, the man versus the legend. I’ve coveted every detail our mother could share until her memory faded with age and dementia. In 1989 I met his sister and my name sake Aunt Alys at her home in Northwood, England, returning with a fistful of photos.

What I’ve learned is this: he was a beloved brother, a generous spouse and a dad who loved his kids. He involved us in his hobbies, took each of his daughters on individual “dates,” and regularly brought home small gifts that he would hide behind his back till you guessed “which hand.” He was also a big tease, finding ways to “steal” your desert when you weren’t looking. He enjoyed photography and home movies and filled them with images of his children, the cats and the garden. He painted with oils with our mother as his muse and taught us what it meant to have compassion and integrity.

One of the most precious gifts our mother gave us was to say “your father would be so proud of you girls.” Daddy, the feeling is mutual.

Eric Milner: Landscape Notebook

A Method of Growing Grass to Water's Edge

Carport Patio Design

Garden Steps

June 21, 2011 by Born To Organize

Planting Tomatoes: A Little Humor

My sister forwarded the following story. It made me smile.

An older gentleman living alone in New Jersey looked forward to planting his annual tomato garden, but it was very difficult work. The ground was simply too hard. His only son Vincent would usually help him but he was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son describing his predicament.

Dear Vincent,

It looks like I won’t be able to plant my tomato garden this year. I’m just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. I know if you were here my troubles would be over. I know you would be happy to dig it for me, like in the old days. I’m feeling a little sad. I hope you are well.

Love, Papa

A Handful of Goodness

A few days later he received a letter from his son.

Dear Papa,

Don’t dig up that garden. That’s where the bodies are buried.

Love, Vinnie

At 4 a.m. the next morning, FBI agents and local police arrived and dug up the entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old man and left. That same day the old man received another letter from his son.

Dear Papa,

Go ahead and plant the tomatoes now. That’s the best I could do under the circumstances.

Love you, Vinnie