Sunday, February 24, 2008

California (Garden) Dreaming

My green thumb came only as a result
of the mistakes I made while learning to see things
from the plant's point of view. ~ H. Fred Ale

Hubby and I took a class together yesterday on basic landscape design. I must admit that it was pretty rudimentary, but I think we can always learn something new, if we allow ourselves to. I learned of a few new plants that might work well in my garden this year: Pink Breath of Heaven; Dwarf Rosemary... beautiful plants.

The nicest part of the morning was spending about 30 minutes walking around the campus, looking at various plants. We actually got to see (and smell!) the two plants mentioned above. Yes, there are many plants in bloom right now here in southern California. You should see my Camellia: it's covered in huge pink flowers! If it weren't raining right now, I'd take a photo to post.

I always feel a bit in awe at this time of year. I was born and raised in Salt Lake City where flowers don't emerge from the snow until March. When I first moved to California nine years ago this month, I couldn't grasp how people gardened in a place where it never freezes. I'm still learning all the tips and techniques, but I feel blessed to be living in such a lovely, mild climate.

So it's time to put paper to pencil and draw out a diagram for our backyard, which needs lots of help! Anyone care to come over and help me make a plan for the California garden of my dreams? I'll put the coffee on.


Until next time...

6 comments:

Lora said...

I'm so jealous that you have flowers all year round. I want to live some place warm!! Everything here is covered with snow *sigh*

Anonymous said...

Did you look at any software products for creating the landscape design? SmartDraw has a pretty cool landscape feature.

PoshLa said...

Do you have decaf, sugar-free Mocha? I am there!! It took us about 7 years to perfect our gardens and now they are finally producing beautifully. Even though we live in So. Cal, like you, each town has a different zone. I have lived in two homes across the freeway from one another and different plants do well in one house and horribly in another. There are so many variables!! Bizarre. That is the fun of gardening - always a learning experience. Go for it Pattie - only 6 years and 11 months to catch me!

Diana Swallow said...

I'd come help you but my jet is in the shop for repairs and I gave up teleporting because it always ruins my hairdo. I'm looking forward to the pictures though!

I did some landscaping myself over the weekend, just basic stuff, the garden needs more work than I'm willing to give at the moment.

Happy gardening!

HappyBlogChick said...

Oh, I wish I could come help plan! I love landscape design.

Enjoy the process. It can be so rewarding.

Although right now I look out the window and think "wait, why didn't I spend the day out there Sunday?"

Oh well!

Anonymous said...

I've been in and out of creating our veggie garden (my top goal for gardening this year) the last couple of weeks. I think it would be awesome to take a landscaping class. We have two bushes that died during last years crazy weather, so I've been playing with some ideas to remove all the bushes in front of our living room window and making a flower garden. My hubbie mentioned a larger seating area with half wall and more grandiose plans, so my small flower garden has now turned into a complete redesign! It's exciting, but challenging to consider when I have such a brown thumb!