High-Tech Gardening Journal

From year to year, I never seem to remember when the daffodils first appear, when the japanese maple starts to bud or when I pruned my roses at the beginning of the season.

Although I have tried several times over the years, I have never been able to maintain a gardening journal for more than a few months. In many ways, AGN, functions as my journal, but even then I don't refer back to past entries as much as I could.

In an effort to remember the gardening events of this year, I have taken to entering them into the calendar of my Sony Clie as repeating yearly events. These then will provide automatic reminders next year. I am hoping this will remind me to enter even more data in coming years, creating a perpetual calendar specific to my garden.

Cherry Blossoms at Lake Balboa

After reading some recent wildflower reports from the Poppy Reserve, I decided to postpone our trip to sometime later in the month. This gave Joe and I a chance to check out the cherry blossoms at Lake Balboa Park in Encino.

The trees are blooming, but they are not a their peak, yet. Still, they are quite beautiful and offer many opportunities for photos. When the bloom is at its height, though, it is like there is a great pink cloud floating over the lake.

The best surprise today was the large wisteria which are growing on trellises around the lake. Several were totally covered in white and purple flower spikes.

The lake was quite busy today, almost like a Saturday or Sunday. I spotted at least 3 painters and a television show was also filming today.

Try to visit the lake over the next few weeks. The bloom should increase dramatically. You can tell the end is approaching when leaves begin to emerge.

Lake Balboa

(818) 756-9743

Balboa Boulevard, south of Victory Blvd., Encino

Encino 26 acre lake. Rent a paddle boat to explore the beautiful lake or spend the day fishing from the shore... the lake is stocked regularly by the Department of Fish and Game.

The Gardening Launchpad

On occassion, if you look through the Recent Referers list on the left, you may see that someone found AGN by visiting this site. TGL is an excellent place to start your search for gardening information. They regularly feature interesting web sites, have special gardening tips and even gardening humor.

If you get a chance, check out The Gardening Launchpad.