California Native - Humboldt Lily

On our hike last Saturday in the Angeles National Forest, we came across this excellent example of a native Humboldt Lily along the path to Switzer Falls.

More information on Humboldt Lilies is available here and here.

Information on Desert Tropical Plants

My friend, Jo Ann, recently forwarded this link to me and I think some of you might be interested.

Desert-Tropicals.com doesn't sell plants, but it has a host of information about planting, growing and maintaining tropical plants in the desert. They also have another site, Gardening in Arizona that addresses the specifics of gardening in that state.

Monticello Garden Virtual Tour

Gardening.About.Com has a link to this excellent site about the gardens of Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home in Charlottesville, Virginia.

We visited the home many years ago when we were in Maryland for a friends wedding. The gardens are indeed quite amazing. I highly recommnd a visit for anyone who might be in the area. You can also visit Ash Lawn-Highland, the nearby home of James Monroe and Montpelier, the home of James and Dolly Madison, a little further up the road towards Fredricksburg.

A Quintessential Garden Picture

Prarie Point - A view of the world from a garden on the Blackland Prairie has what I consider a quintessential garden picture. It looks more like a painting than a photograph.

This would look great hanging in any room of the house.

Lavender Honey

It looks like we won't make it down the the Lavender Festival this weekend, but I was talking with a friend yesterday about Lavender Honey. This isn't honey made from lavender flowers necessarily, but rather Lavender-infused honey.

Here are few links on making your own lavender honey and other lavender treats.

How to make Lavender Honey

Elaine's Lavender Page

Local Harvest.com - Local Honey

Paths of Discovery from Sunset Magazine

Paths of discovery gives an introduction and some quick guidelines for making paths in your gardens.

I have had an on-going conundrum about what to use in place of the pea gravel that was here when I bought my house. It continues to disappear into the soil and I still haven't made a decision over what do use in its stead. Maybe this article will help me make up my mind. (Probably not, but it is worth a try! (SMILE) )

Smartgardening - Schedule of Workshops and Regional Events

Smartgardening is a section of the LA Department of Public Works web site. They hold a series of composting workshops and regional events throughout the city.

At these events, you can pickup up information on composting and even purchase compost bins at a discount.

Their schedule is now updated for Summer and Fall 2004.

Agapanthus

We were down in Malibu today for a few hours and I found these wonderful agapanthus in bloom.

Click for larger images

Why don't you eat your roses?!

Rosedude has an excellent post on the myriad of ways to use roses in the kitchen.

"Why Don't You Eat Your Roses?"
That's what my dear wife said to me recently when I inquired about the availability of a meal in our house. I took her literally of course, nerd that I am, and began speculating about the possibilities. [ Continued at RoseDude]

Magnolias - a nicer view

I came across this posting on the Zanthan Gardens site.

It takes a more charitable view of magnolias than my position in an earlier post.

The photo with the post is first rate, as well.

The mood strikes...

As is often the case, I ended up doing some gardening this evening without really thinking about it.

I was called out to the garage to put some air in a basketball and before you know it I was attending to some long neglected tasks. First, I repaired the little hose stub that connects the big hose reel to the spigot. It is merely a piece of old hose stubbed out with replacement ends. One of the collars that holds the hose end place had split. Whenever there was a buildup of pressure in the hose, it would shoot off in a dramatic fashion, soaking anyone nearby.

With the hose fixed, I could easily mix upa few gallons of liquid fertilizer that I picked up a week or more ago. I have found that when using drip irrigation and saoker hoses, the traditional ganular fertilizers don't break down fast enough. It is ok when we have some rain, but during the summer months I have decided to switch over to liquid fertilizers to get more of the food into the ground right away. As is my typical, low-tech want, I use an old (but well marked) 1-gallon milk jug to make mixing and application a cinch. I fed all the roses, some other bedding plants and the entire patio bed before I was done. It took about 5 gallons of the mixture (1 tsp to 1 gallon of water) to do it all. Now I will watch to see if this makes a difference.

Finally, we inherited a large, but somewhat sad looking, aloe plant from a friend when she moved to Hawaii. I had been neglecting it for a while, but I knew it needed a bigger pot. It kept tipping over at the slightest touch. Sure enough, the plant was entirely rootbound. I potted it up, with the last of my potting soil, in a larger recycled nursury pot and soaked it down throughly to seat it in the pot. I'll keep an eye on this one, as well, in the coming weeks.

Sometimes the slightest nudge can get me gardening. I just need to listen more often to the little voices pushing me out into the garden

RHS Chelsea Garden Show 2004

Even if you didn't arrange to get to London for the RHS Chelsea Garden Show, you can still experience the wide variety of gardens using the 360-degree panoramas provided on this site. Information is provided on the awards, as well as detailed layouts and lists of the plants used in each garden.

Today is a good day to dream a little gardening dream!

Via Gardening.About.com