Home Decor

Sunday was a busy day! I started off hanging the faux white wooden blinds I bought last April, yep, last April! I also hung curtain rods and put up the celery green curtain panels that my sister Sandy gave me her last trip here. I moved the chair and a half into the corner. It makes a nice reading spot for a Sunday afternoon. Granted, the curtains are not the right shade of green but for now, they will do.

I managed to fertilize all the flowers I planted last month before the latest rain came. Also surveyed the damage to the plants from the snow. I may have lost a few plants. The statice definitely didn't like the cold. I also planted the Star-gazer lilies and pulled a few weeds. I still have  a few gladiolas to plant, maybe next weekend.

Can't wait for Spring!

Snow in Ramona!

Break out the winter thermals! Stack up the firewood, cover the citrus trees, stock up the shelves and hunker down! It's going to snow in Ramona this weekend! Yeah!!!! Can't wait!

Gardening is done!

Finally, finally, finally! I got those plants in the ground that I bought last Thanksgiving! It didn't look like I had that many but when all was said and done, 96 pots were emptied.

I was sitting in my sewing room (also the computer room) enjoying my accomplishment when out of the ground popped a grrrrr...ound squirrel! Yes, he was so excited at all the new plants to eat! Couldn't stand watching him so I made up a bait trap and put it next to his hole in the ground (under my driveaway no less!). Well, haven't noticed if he's partaken of any of the bait cause I went and took a nice LONG nap. :-) I was pooped...still sick and all. Bait is from the County Ag Dept and does not have a secondary kill effect like some poisons (won't kill an animal that may eat the poisoned squirrel). It's expensive but that's why I use it.

Here's my bait trap...bait is in the center. Squirrels, rats, mice can get in, eat their fill then go away and die. Birds and larger animals can't. Ingenious! You can see some of the newly planted flowers too...daylilies, agapanthas, lavender, star jasmine, blue statice, and sea holly amongst others. I staked the trap so it wouldn't slide down the hill.

Gardening and Sunsets

I hate being sick...where this fever, coughing and sneezing jag came from I don't know but I'm not a happy camper. It's going on two weeks. On top of missing 3 days of work, when I did feel well enough to go in, my freekin car wouldn't start. Borrowed Dad's until mine is looked at and repaired on Monday.

I spent this morning positioning around 70 potted plants in the yard. Tomorrow I'll start digging them in a little at a time...still not fully well and my energy is low. It will be nice to get them planted, I bought them last Thanskgiving! The soil is damp and easy to dig so the planting will be easy too. I had my Dad's gardener come over and fix my sprinklers front and back. They work so much better now! Before the water was disappearing into the air, not much hitting the soil. Now, water is getting to where it is needed. Yeah!

Mother Nature was in her full glory again tonight. I leave you with another of her fabulous displays.

New plants for the garden!

Well Thanksgiving is over for another year. I was off all week to spend time with family. On Tuesday the 23rd, my sister and I drove to a wholesale nursery in Temecula, Hall's Nursery, that sells to the public. I found them on Craigslist. They have thousands of varieties of perennials as well as trees. The 1-gal pots were $2.00 each so I bought a bunch! I picked up more agapanthus and day lilies. I also got a few red Aust tea trees, lavender, blue salvia or was that sage?, star jasmine, a pink jasmine, some buddleya, statis, and bougainvillea. I also picked up 3 lilacs, an Anna apple, loquat and an olive that was fruiting. I don't know the variety but hope to figure it out amongst the common ones sold in the area.

That night I fixed a yummy ribeye roast with rosemary/peppercorn dry rub for Mom and Dad's 58 Anniversary. Sandy fixed some yummy au gratins. Bob came over and we all had a great dinner.

Sandy and I planned to plant these small treasures the Friday after T-day but we were both exhausted from cooking and cleaning. Come Saturday, the COLD weather and rain set in so nothing has been planted. I was going to get them in the ground this weekend but more rain is forecasted. No biggie, I should round-up the area first and kill off the weeds. Speaking of weeds, I'm going to have to get mulch or something to keep future weeds down over the years...ugg.

I was really depressed when daylight savings time came around when I realized I was no longer going to see nightly sunsets. The sun is setting earlier and earlier and I don't get off work now until it's dark outside. I miss my sunsets! Boo hoo!

Landscape projects

My friend Darlene came over yesterday to help me in the garden. With the unseasonal rains we had last week it was the perfect time to weed and start planting the new landscape. We weeded for a couple hours took a break then started planting. The first item in the ground was my Reed Avocado that Tina and Andy gave me.

Next we planted the sour orange. We were on a roll!



After that, we put in the agapanthas, salvia, day lilies, scented geraniums, flag iris and heliotrope, all drought tolerant, just outside the corner windows in the dining room. It will make a pretty display when they take hold.



Time for another break...next I dug out 4 bottle brush plants (hate them things!) and a small fan palm. Darlene likes the bottle brush so in her car they went, soil and all. In their stead I'm planting pink and purple flag iris. The bottle brush were near my Panachee fig outside my kitchen so I think it will be pretty in the spring, iris surrounding my favorite fig.

Next we planted the bare-root flag iris rhizomes I had in the garage, maybe 75-100 of them! We dispersed them randomly across the front hill. Again, come Spring, it will be beautiful. After that, we planted a Paradiso fig by the seasonal stream and 3 pomegranates across the top of the hill along the roadside for a little privacy.

Yes, I'm exhausted and can feel every muscle in my body and not in a good way...where's the advil?

By now it's close to 5:00, time to stop, pour a glass of wine and watch the sunset. Yep, another spectacular evening show.

I fixed a nice spaghetti dinner with Italian sausage and parmesian reggiano, warmed some rosemary/olive oil bread and poured a good Sangiovese wine from Orfila winery. Not too bad a way to end a very productive  day!

More fruit trees

With the rains we just had, the soil will be ready to till in a couple of days as it starts to dry out. I'm getting the bug to get the soil amended readying it for fall planting. In addition to the citrus I mentioned in my last post, as most know I have an unusually large collection of figs. I have over 90 varieties and multiples of most. Not all of these will go into the ground but I do have a list of 30-35 must have varieties to plant. The hillside I am on will need to be terraced and irrigation installed. I'm hoping my neighbors are willing to help me out with this task as they have the heavy equipment for a job this big.

With the number of figs I have planning a permanent layout is important. Do I plant the figs by color of syconium (fruit's skin), by the country they are from, by height of a mature tree; larger on the north side of the row, dwarf on the south, or how? I’m leaning towards a hybrid of country/height for my plantings. All my Portuguese trees in one row the tallest if known on the north end. I have Italian, French, American hybrids, Spanish and Middle Eastern (combining Syrian, Turkish, Iranian in one row) figs as well. This will be a fun adventure planting my own private germplasm!

Other fruit trees I want to get include a loquat, apricot, anna apple, maybe a peach and another avocado, mexicola, hass or bacon. I also want to get a few unusual plants like an allspice, coffee and kaffer lime.

Then on to the flowers. I've already planted over 100 German iris. I want lots of drought tolerent but flowering plants on the front hill. I'm thinking Pride of Madeira, Day lilies in yellow, agapanthas, honeysuckle, star jasmine,  pink babies breath, Aust tea tree in pink or red, etc. Lots of garden dreams on a drizzly day!