Well, as you can see from the photos below, there are indeed some cherry trees blooms, but these are on the smaller trees which I think are slightly different from the Japanese Cherry trees that fill the interior of the park. I did notice a few sporadic blooms on the larger trees, but I would goes they have about another 2 weeks or so before they are in full flower.

That said, the blooms that are there are quite striking. I hope you enjoy the photos! As always, click for larger images via Flickr.

Pictures of Cherry Blossoms in Previous Years – 2003 2008 2010

Lake Balboa is located in the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles, CA, near the intersection of the 101 and 405 freeways. Here is a map showing its exact location.

View Larger Map

Photos: Cherry Blossoms at Lake Balboa, Los Angeles, CA is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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1. Lake Balboa Cherry Trees Bloom 2010
2. Photos: Los Angeles Cactus & Succulent Society 11th Annual Exhibit and Plant Sale
3. Descanso Gardens Cherry Blossom Festival, March 19-20, 2011

GardenCampLA is a community organized, gardening-focused, unconference which calls upon local communities and people to share their knowledge, expertise and other important information on developing your garden, landscape design, and public garden environment.

What is an unconference?

Unconferences are self-organizing conferences, similar to many professional conferences, but instead of hiring well-known, professional speakers, they call on the attendees themselves to provide the content and focus for the event. Every person who attends is highly encouraged to present on some topic deeply important to them or, barring that, to facilitate an open breakout session or round table discussion or even just to engage and converse with their fellow attendees between presentations. A few organizers band together to find a venue for the event, recruit sponsors and invite attendees, but the focus of the unconference is driven solely by the attendees.

Some might question the usefulness of presentations by their peers, but we have found that there is an enormous amount of real-world expertise available in each and every local community. GardenCampLA utilizes a format that draws out that expertise and benefits everyone. GardenCampLA (and other unconferences) provide a structure and an opportunity to share this expertise in ways that traditional conferences do not. Additionaly, GardenCampLA can also attract gardening professionals who can use GardenCampLA as a way of introducing themselves to a new audience..

How was GardenCampLA developed?

The genesis of GardenCampLA was found in the BarCamp unconferences held around the world. GardenCampLA founder, Douglas E. Welch, was a long time attendee of BarCamp, which is an event that embraces any topic — although it often leans toward technology — and PodCamp — which is focused on podcasting and new media. After seeing the success of BarCamp as a way to illuminate and educate within a community, Welch that the unconference concept could also be applied to the specific world of Gardening.

What is the typical structure of GardenCampLA?

Each GardenCamp can and should be different, but there are some basic steps that suit the purpose of the day.

Much like any unconference, each GardenCamp is driven by a small group of passionate organizers in the local community. These organizers locate a venue, select a date, collect volunteers to assist on the day of the event and sponsors to cover the minimal costs of the GardenCamp.  Local restaurants can be recruited to provide breakfast or lunch.  Local stores can offer gift cards for their services to be used in a free raffle for attendees, often held at the end of the day. The organizers are also responsible for promoting the GardenCamp by reaching out to local media for coverage, sometimes bringing in various media as sponsors.

On the day of the event, attendees arrive, check in and are greeted in an opening session where the organizers briefly explain the mechanics of how the day will proceed. Typically, there will be a schedule board, divided into a grid of rooms and session times. Most GardenCamps have 3-5 session rooms for each hour of the day, as well another series of rooms or seating areas are available for open, un-moderated, “breakout” discussions. This combination of presentations and open discussions allows for a wide variety of content to be shared across the day and allows the attendees to choose among this content as most benefits them.

After the opening session, attendees proceed to the schedule board and begin placing their presentations, and breakout discussion topics on the board — selecting both a room and a time for their presentation. As the time for first “session” period approaches, attendees make their way to the session or breakout rooms and the first presentations begin.

Between each session, attendees are given 15 minutes to re-visit the schedule board and select their choice for the next session period. This process then repeats throughout the day. When possible, a catered lunch is provided, allowing the attendees to remain on-site and continue their discussions and networking between morning and afternoon sessions.

A closing session ends the day thanking the attendees, sponsors and organizers, soliciting feedback from the attendees and, in some cases, offering a door prize raffle of items from various GardenCamp sponsors.

What is GardenCampLA? is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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Related posts:

1. Is there a #GardenCamp in your future?

It was our first time and we were very pleased with the selection of plants for sale and the various displays. It is sometimes amazing what small groups and societies around Los Angeles can do. We have friends who are members of the Del Aire Rockhounds and their gem shows are quite amazing, too.

Rosanne and Joe had a prickly time on this cactus bench…

We picked up a few small succulents to refill a planter we purchased a Joe’s school a few years ago. A few of the cacti had died, but one remained. Our purchases will help to fill out that container again. It was also good to get some advice on caring for succulents as it is one area where I am severely lacking my gardening knowledge.

Here is a slide show of some photos I took of our visit. Click the link below if you don’t see the slideshow in your RSS reader or email program.

View the Los Angeles Cactus and Succulent Society Slideshow

Photos: Los Angeles Cactus & Succulent Society 11th Annual Exhibit and Plant Sale is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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2. Event: Encino Cactus Festival To Highlight Fire Safe Vegetation
3. Video: Water features from nature – Water in Millard Canyon, Angeles National Forest

My Skinny Garden at Lowe’s Naperville Saturday June 4th!

Tomorrow morning I’ll be joining the Troy-Bilt team at Lowe’s in Naperville, IL to try to answer your gardening questions while they show off their awesome equipment.  If you are in the area, please stop by to say hello!  I would love to be able to meet some readers.  If you do stop by, remind me to tell you about the “thrown objects room” at the Troy-Bilt facility.  I visited in early May and had the opportunity to see all the crafty ways they test safety and noise level on their equipment and I’ve been planning to write about it but haven’t gotten around to it, yet.  It was far out!

Lowe’s

1440 South Route 59

Naperville, IL.  60564

10:00-1:00

Map and Directions

via My Skinny Garden at Lowe’s Naperville Saturday June 4th!.

Disclosure: This post is in conjunction with my paid partnership as one of the Saturday6 from Troy-Bilt. All thoughts are my own.

Event: #Saturday6: My Skinny Garden at Lowe’s Naperville Saturday June 4th! is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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1. Join Douglas for a Saturday6 Garden Q&A and Troy-Bilt product demo – Sat., May 21, 2011
2. Photos: Saturday6 kick-off event at Troy-Bilt, Inc, Chef’s Garden, Inc, Culinary Vegetable Institute and VeggieU
3. Event: Urban Beekeeping 101 – June 5, 2010

So, let me float the idea here of a GardenCamp unconference here in the Los Angeles area!

I would love to get together with other gardeners and hear what they have to say about their favorite gardening topics. There are a lot of great organizations here that might be potential partners for the event — providing space, providing sponsorship funding and maybe even providing a few speakers and attendees for the day.

Are you interested in putting together a gardening unconference here in LA or in your own local area? Let me know in the comments to this post or via email at agn@welchwrite.com. If there is enough interest I will set up a dedicated mailing list that we can use to get the ball rolling. I would especially like to here from organizations, gardens and garden-related businesses here in LA that might be interested in hosting such an event.

Is there a #GardenCamp in your future? is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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Related posts:

1. Interested in a gardening/nature/outdoors unconference?
2. Wildflower and California Poppy Bloom info

When I first moved in to my home 25 years I was dismayed by all the aphids, but just as I was thinking of applying some pesticide, I noticed a ladybug here, a ladybug larvae there. Sure enough, after blasting off the aphids for a few days the ladybugs moved in in force and took care of any remaining problem.

Other questions from the day included soil amendments, composting and one couple bought the Japanese Maple I had chosen to decorate our display for the day. I guess I have better taste than I though. (LAUGH)

My Troy-Bilt area rep, Vince was a good companion for the day had everything set up by the time I arrived. We both took turns approaching customers and handing out the specially printed booklet of gardening tips, introductions of all the Saturday6 bloggers and even a paper heart on the back, imprinted with wildflower seeds.

Three more of the Satuday6 will have their local events on Saturday, June 5, so keep your eye out for announcements of names and locations here.

See a slide show of photos from the day on my Flickr Photostream

Disclosure: This post is in conjunction with my paid partnership as one of the Saturday6 from Troy-Bilt. All thoughts are my own.

Photo: Talking gardens and gardening at Troy-Bilt Saturday6 event is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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Related posts:

1. Photos: Saturday6 kick-off event at Troy-Bilt, Inc, Chef’s Garden, Inc, Culinary Vegetable Institute and VeggieU
2. Join Kylee Baumle in Findlay, Ohio for a Saturday6 Garden Q&A and Troy-Bilt product demo – Sat., May 21, 2011
3. Join Douglas for a Saturday6 Garden Q&A and Troy-Bilt product demo – Sat., May 21, 2011

Wow! What a meal! The produce was fresh, fresh, fresh and even I, a non-veggie-loving individual, loved it. The beets had been stored since last November in their custom-built root cellar and had sweetened over the months. I am not a big fan of beets, but these were mighty tasty.

As I have learned on our family trips to Sicily, freshness is nearly everything when you are talking about food. Produce degrades rapidly (unless you are talking about root vegetables like beets, parsnips, etc) and the sooner it gets to the table, the better it will be. I think this is one, huge, reason we are seeing a resurgence in home vegetable gardens. The worst veg out of your own garden can still taste better than the best veg at the store — mainly because it is at the peak of its freshness.

Disclosure: This post is in conjunction with my paid partnership as one of the Saturday6 from Troy-Bilt. All thoughts are my own.

Photo: Saturday6 Lunch Menu at Culinary Vegetable Institute is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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1. Photos: Saturday6 kick-off event at Troy-Bilt, Inc, Chef’s Garden, Inc, Culinary Vegetable Institute and VeggieU

From Hoe and Shovel…

Meet Meems :: Saturday6 Gardening Q & A at Lowe’s

Cynthia “Meems” Glover from Hoe and Shovel
http://www.hoeandshovel.com

Cynthia lives and gardens in her beloved native state of Florida only a short distance from the beautiful shores of the Gulf of Mexico. She is a blogger, freelance writer, amateur photographer, Master Gardener, and garden coach. Cynthia specializes in Florida-friendly and native plants, while steadfastly adhering to “right-plant, right place” in her mostly shady garden.  It is her passion to share and teach all she’s learned while gardening in a challenging growing climate and to inspire hopeful gardeners to enjoy their gardens, too.

Troy-Bilt has teamed up with six bloggers from across the country calling us the Saturday6. And guess what? I’m one of the Saturday6! Isn’t that exciting!!

THIS SATURDAY I’ll be on hand to answer your gardening questions at the New Tampa Lowe’s.

Here’s ALL the scoop

Where:
Outside the garden center under the tent
New Tampa Lowe’s Store (#1003)
6201 Commerce Palms Dr.
Tampa 33647

When:
May 21, 2011, Saturday
10:00 am to 1:00 pm

What:
A Troy-Bilt representative will be there with products available to test run and I’ll be on hand to answer gardening questions. Sound like fun?

All we need is YOU to join us and make the day a success!

Meet Meems: A fellow Saturday6 blogger hosts a Troy-Bilt demo and garden Q&A is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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Related posts:

1. Join Douglas for a Saturday6 Garden Q&A and Troy-Bilt product demo – Sat., May 21, 2011
2. Join Kylee Baumle in Findlay, Ohio for a Saturday6 Garden Q&A and Troy-Bilt product demo – Sat., May 21, 2011
3. Photos: Saturday6 kick-off event at Troy-Bilt, Inc, Chef’s Garden, Inc, Culinary Vegetable Institute and VeggieU

Garden Q&A and Product Demo

Join fellow Saturday6 member, Kylee Baumle at Lowe’s Home Improvement in Findlay, Ohio on Saturday, May 21, 2011 from 10am-1p.

Troy-Bilt area manager, Scott Jennings, will have a selection of Troy-Bilt equipment and tools for you to test out and together they’ll have lots of great gardening conversations, Q&A and more!.

When: Saturday, May 21, 2011 – 10am-1pm

Where: In the Tent, Lowe’s Home Improvement, 1077 Bright Rd., Findlay, OH 45840 [Map]

Who are the Saturday6!

Direct from their backyards, these bloggers share their trials, tribulations and triumphs in all things lawn and gardening. Now, they’re teaming up with Troy-Bilt® to bring you their best tips and tricks to help make your Saturday in the yard a rewarding one. Let us introduce you to the Saturday Six. In coming months, you will see more from this talented group in The Dirt with how-to videos, sharing favorite lawn and gardening projects, product reviews and giveaways, as well as out and about at local Lowe’s® stores.

Kylee Baumle from Our Little Acre http://ourlittleacre.blogspot.com/ Kylee Baumle lives and gardens in Zone 5b in northwest Ohio, where she tames the native clay to produce vegetables, fruits, and as many annuals, perennials, shrubs and trees as she can fit onto an acre surrounded by rural farmland. Author of the popular gardening blog, Our Little Acre, Kylee is a freelance writer and photographer who feels fortunate to have a husband who sometimes joins in on her gardening projects and who loves cats as much as she does.

Douglas E. Welch from A Gardener’s Notebook http://douglasewelch.com/agn Born in the epitome of small town America – New London, Ohio – Douglas Welch spent many summers digging and planting vegetables in his grandmother’s garden or driving a tractor on his family’s small soybean farm. Computer work called him to the big city of Los Angeles, but he managed to take a piece of Ohio with him. When he and his wife bought their first home, they inherited an overgrown, 10 year old garden. He has spent his years renovating what was a meticulous Japanese garden into a small piece of woodland among the urban cement. This double life illustrates his belief that balance in this modern world requires a combination of high-tech and high-touch living. Douglas’ gardening column and podcast, A Gardener’s Notebook, began in 1996 and is available at DouglasEWelch.com/agn.

Jennah Watters from Jennah’s Garden http://www.jennahsgarden.com/ After a lifetime of consciously avoiding helping her mother garden, Jennah started gardening voluntarily in 2007, when she and her husband bought their first home. It came with only a few sad, half-dead bushes and one all-the-way-dead mum. (Things are much better now.) Notorious for moving plants several times before being content with their location, Jennah gardens by trial and error, and attempts not to dwell on the error. She is wife to a deputy sheriff and mom to two cats and one dog, and hopes to one day be as good a gardener as her grandparents.

Cynthia “Meems” Glover from Hoe and Shovel http://www.hoeandshovel.com Cynthia lives and gardens in her beloved native state of Florida only a short distance from the beautiful shores of the Gulf of Mexico. She is a blogger, freelance writer, amateur photographer, Master Gardener, and garden coach. Cynthia specializes in Florida-friendly and native plants, while steadfastly adhering to “right-plant, right place” in her mostly shady garden. It is her passion to share and teach all she’s learned while gardening in a challenging growing climate and to inspire hopeful gardeners to enjoy their gardens, too.

Gina Thomas from My Skinny Garden http://www.myskinnygarden.com Gina lives and gardens in the Chicagoland area, zone 5b. One summer day in 2007, she decided to grow an organic tomato – four years later, most of the yard of her small house has been replaced by vegetable and perennial gardens. While she still considers herself a novice gardener, killing the occasional plant, every now and then, she grows something phenomenal or builds something interesting. Her greatest gardening accomplishments are the cedar pergola built over a weekend with good friends, raised vegetable beds she constructed herself, and the trip to Las Vegas she won in a tastiest tomato contest. Her philosophy is simple – grow, marvel, eat, laugh, persevere. Gina is a part-time freelance writer and the cofounder and vice president of Forest Park Community Garden, a nonprofit 501(c)3 dedicated to educating the community on building organic sustainable food systems. Gina chronicles her gardening and DIY conundrums at her blog My Skinny Garden.

Mark Clement from MyFixitUpLife http://myfixituplife.com Mark Clement is a licensed contractor, co-hosts the live radio show MyFixitUpLife with his wife Theresa, regularly contributes to “Extreme How-To” magazine, “Professional Deck Builder” magazine, AOL’s DIY Life, DIYNetwork.com, HGTVpro.com, OldHouseWeb, “Old House Journal,” and has been a featured guest on DIY Network, Discovery Channel, HGTV and PBS.

Disclosure: This post is in conjunction with my paid partnership as one of the Saturday6 from Troy-Bilt. All thoughts are my own.

Join Kylee Baumle in Findlay, Ohio for a Saturday6 Garden Q&A and Troy-Bilt product demo – Sat., May 21, 2011 is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

Subscribe to A Gardener's Notebook using RSS | Follow @gardenersnotebk on Twitter | Like AGN on Facebook

Related posts:

1. Join Douglas for a Saturday6 Garden Q&A and Troy-Bilt product demo – Sat., May 21, 2011
2. Photos: Saturday6 kick-off event at Troy-Bilt, Inc, Chef’s Garden, Inc, Culinary Vegetable Institute and VeggieU
3. Douglas and AGN join Troy-Bilt’s Saturday6!