Tiny Monsters

It's the little things in the garden sometimes that excite me.  Little things, like the seed pods from Baby Blue Eyes, or Nemophila menziesii Hungry Hungry Hippoeing their seeds off into the world.  It's hard to tell if they're spitting something out or getting ready to take a big bite.  Flashy Spring flowers abound (and I do have plans to highlight my favorites here), but today it's the humble, brown seed pod that captures my fancy.

A Happy Reunion with Home

 

Since last I was here, I have since:

-become Mrs. Martin

-explored the rainforests and sampled the warm sands of Belize

After the whirlwind the of the last few months, I'm rediscovering the miracle of home, the joy of domesticity.  The paradox of meditative calm and excited anticipation in the act of replacing the Winter vegetables with the small, green stems that promise the bounty of Summer.

The nonchalant experimentation of pickling Radish seed pods, worrying over the recipe and flicking through the pages of my pickling book.

Sending myself out into the garden on a quest to capture the last of the Miner's Lettuce seeds to send to a friend in need of a happy surprise.  Tipping the succulent upturned umbrella leaves as the glossy black specks reluctantly toddle into the waiting envelope.  Letting out an exclamation of joy upon discovering new little caches of seeds hidden among the sticky mint leaves.

Feeling as if I should be more excited than hurt by the fact that the front garden did splendidly in my absence, bursting Calochortus, Brodiaea and Carpenteria flowers skyward with exuberant force.

Never have I been so happy to be home, to launch into the myriad projects bouncing in the confines of my head, to relax and wander and enjoy.  To wonder why the New Year doesn't begin in Spring.  I'm home.

Ribes: For Those Impatient for Spring

While time ticks by slowly for most garden plants through the remaining months of Winter, California natives have emerged ready for Spring.  Ribes sanguineum, Pink Currant, I'll admit looks rather lackluster at the end of Summer.  Leaves turn rust-colored and sparse.  But come February the garden becomes a fairyland of hanging pink ornaments.  Delicate little earring droplets drip off the edges of branches while hummingbirds rush to visit each one.  Instant enchantment!

Violets and Douglas Iris sit at the Queen's feet, adding splashes of lavender to the scene.  I'll be honest and admit that I can't remember what variety this is.  I'll venture a guess at 'Claremont.' 

This lighter variety grows happily in a large container planted just over the Summer.  I love how lady-like this one is with her pink gloves on for tea!

Ribes speciosum, Fuchsia Flowering Gooseberry, has been going strong since January.  The outgoing, wild sister of sanguineum, this spined, arching shrub shoves out seemingly millions of these racy red drops.  The Summer months find these flowers transformed into fuzzy orange balls, slightly transparent and filled with black seeds.  To call them berries does not do them justice- more like special gifts from space aliens.  I can attest, however that they are sweet and quite tasty, although the seed to fruit ratio is about equal.  The perfect plant for a low-traffic part-sun area of the garden in need of color.  I imagine its brambles could deter roving bands of cats from entering through that hole in the fence you've been meaning to repair.  Or if I've totally lost you there, plant one for hummingbirds who have been known to nest in these.  It's a win-win!







 

Light Up the Night

If you manage the temerity to dash outside this evening, I would highly recommend plugging in a set of non-LED Christmas lights to tuck around the tender plants.  Not only will it protect them from our incoming snow (?!?), but it will also be a nice sparkly alternative to that old Strawberry Shortcake comforter.  Perhaps a quick check to remove dry, flammable material would be a good idea, too.  I can't imagine anything out there still being dry, but what's a suggestion without a disclaimer?  Bundle up and enjoy paging through all the plant catalogs coming through the mail!

A Twiggy Trellis

Introducing my latest twig trellis!  I love this design because it allows me to practice my joinery, but since there are only four joints I can accomplish this much faster than a more complicated pattern.  It also allows me to recycle long plum branches from my neighbor's tree, pruned last Summer (thanks, Janet!)

I picture this being more of a room divider than a privacy screen trellis, with the option of leaving it as is or allowing a vine to traipse across its branches.  Perhaps since they're blooming now, I think a Dutchman's Pipevine (Aristolochia californica) would be pretty cool! 

 

Obviously, the twine and sticks will deteriorate before the redwood does.  However impractical that might be, I like the idea of being able to make a canvas which can hold a number of different looks over time. Many products are built for life in the name of sustainability- which is always good practice, but it's also important to remember the fickle tastes of the consumer!  I for one enjoy a change of scenery and am excited to create something that supports it without adding to the waste stream. 

Lovely Weather We're Having... Shoreline Edition

Funny how much time wedding planning takes!  I decided to take a little break yesterday, and armed with a chocolate milkshake I traversed to the MLK Jr. Regional Shoreline, one of my new favorite parks for its lack of people and abundance of birds and native plantings.  Imagine my surprise when I found the parking lot half full!  Apparently at high tides, the endangered Clapper Rail and other like-minded birds are displaced from their shore-side homes and take refuge at the end of the dock that extends into the marsh.  Birders of all degrees gathered on the edges with camera lenses bigger than the birds themselves, snapping photos and chatting.  Please follow me through a photo tour.

I'm so in love with the colors of this photo.  And the composition.  And how it takes a bridge and abstracts it into a series of lines and color.  Ok, I'm really proud of this one, even if it was just me documenting something interesting.

This is part of a disc-shaped sculpture- isn't the patina so lovely against the sky?  I wandered around the sculpture on a large expanse of lawn, admiring the new native plantings.  At the blink of an eye, a large bird emerged about six feet away from me seemingly out of no where and flew off to a distance.  The crowd of birders turned their tripods to me and this amazing creature and started snapping away.  "Is that...  an owl?!" I called over to them.  "Yes!"  Wow!  Sorry, Burrowing Owl to disturb you, but you were quite wonderful to happen upon!

Look closely in the bottom, left portion of the photo for the Burrowing Owl, sending me disgusted looks.  Obviously I don't have the sort of camera equipment that others at the park had...

A Crow (?) descends on a post, which for some reason is outfitted with an old satellite.

As I wandered around, I collected a few objects to assemble.  A large mussel shell, a leaf from a Salvia, and a downy feather found in a large, flowering Mallow among the Yellow-Faced Bumble Bees.  I loved it for the textures mixing together and the shadows the feather made on the shell.  It combined senses so well- touch, tactile, sight.  (I didn't feel like tasting was an option).

There ends our adventure!  How are you enjoying our respite from rain and gloom?

Where In The World Have You Been?!

Yes, yes- that was quite a blogging sabbatical.  I'm sure you haven't been worried sick about me, but I thought I might explain what I've been up to lately.

Foremost, leaves.  Oh, so many leaves.  Thank goodness for that last storm, battling them off their perches so we won't have to fight them again until next year.

Enjoying the views, from a picnic in Lake Merritt...

...to sunsets right out the kitchen window.

Testing the limits of the amount of plants the truck can hold.  Turns out the answer is lots!

Hosting friends for New Year's.  We created a tableaux to attract various things we wanted this year- riches, travel, love, light, friends.

Mostly I've been occupied by fermenting in the kitchen (that's a positive thing, by the way).  I'm anxiously awaiting my first batch of sauerkraut, made with the traditional juniper berries and a little bit of apple.  I'm continuously surprised by how easy it is!

My second loaf of Sourdough came out of the oven last night and I'm learning so much about the alchemy of bread baking!  Did you know you can attract the natural yeast in the air with flour and water?!  Anyone want some starter?

So as the new year continues, many new things are just waiting to inspire us.  I'm so excited to continue documenting my inspirations here.  It's great to be back!

A Study in Texture

 

Tufts of grass undulate and hopefully hold tasty morsels for a hungry coyote.  I love how this looks soft yet scratchy at the same time.

This building facade in downtown San Rafael seems superfluous, but I find myself fascinated.  How wonderful that the architect decided to add these aerodynamic rock-studded panels.  The repeating pattern sets an imposing tone by visually elongating the height of the building.

First grass, then rocks and now grass with rocks!  I know the owner of this garden meant for the rocks to suppress the weeds, but the harsh edges of the rocks are softened by the thin blades of grass and create layers to the surface.  Serendipity. 

How funny to have come across this composition of gravel and Fescue a week later at Osmosis spa in Freestone.  It's the varying sizes of grasses that really captured my attention, spreading as if they were a contagious condition.

This fuzzy fence at the Pierce Point Ranch in Pt. Reyes combines two of my favorite textures:  weathered wood with the ruffled softness of mosses and lichens.  Here's a detail.

I love the juxtaposition of the deep, clear lines of wood grain and the tiny details of the different plants growing on it.  The closer you get to look at it, the more you see.  It also doesn't hurt that it's following my favorite new color palette that I can only describe as faded dull. 

Contemporary Admidst the Chaos

 

While most of the East Bay is awash in Arts and Crafts style homes, more contemporary spots peek through the dark wood shingles and redwood lintels that dominate our area.  This '60s style home needed a garden to match its architecture.  Out go the roses, boxwoods and Japanese Maples (poor things- Japanese Maples in a West-facing garden seems so cruel).  The chaos of the existing garden becomes clean and exciting- spots of red dominate in summer with ribbons of Zauschneria.  Mimulus aurantiacus and California Poppies Maritima form lift their orange faces to the Spring sunshine.  Calamagrostis foliosa and Senecio mandraliscae (String Bean Succulent) provide an evergreen (and everblue, respectively) background.  

In keeping with my current fascination on the theme of "clashing colors are beautiful colors," Verbena lilacina flowers happily alongside the reds of Summer and oranges of Spring, giving off its light scent year-round.  Hummingbirds are gonna flip out over all the new choices they'll have, while skippers can sip the Verbena's nectar and drop their eggs over the grasses.

 photo taken from shelterrific.com

It's not always about the plants, however.  The traditional bread-loaf shaped mailbox gets switched out for a sleeker version.  I found this local designer's mailbox and love the simple yet functional shape.

Another colorful, low water garden to better match the surrounding landscape, its visitors and most importantly, its owners.

Updates and New Things to Click On!

Well aren't I just full of news today?  Not only did Idora HQ experience the first Monarch sighting in the front garden (seen here sucking on a Malacothamnus flower), but the website's been updated with pretty new pictures and Facebook folks can now visit a brand new spiffy Facebook page.  (You can also "like" any of the posts you see here with the button dealie at the bottom.)

I forgot how big Monarchs are!  Hopefully this one will enjoy the puny Asclepias fascicularis I planted a few months ago.  An exciting start to the morning and motivation to get all those plants and bulbs in the ground that I've accumulated over the past two months! 

Oh My Gosh, Oh My Gosh, Oh My Gosh!!!!!!!

The title of this post is the soundtrack anyone within a mile radius was treated to as I experienced my first tarantula sighting on Mt. Olympia in Mt. Diablo State Park yesterday!!!!!  We walked along the North Peak Trail/Road, hoping for spectacular views on a clear day and maybe, just maybe a chance meeting with a fuzzy-legged spider.  How perfect that we encountered both!
 
After a warm Autumn rain, male tarantulas emerge from their underground burrows to look for a mate.  I should note that the hand in the photo above is not mine- the fascination/fear of spiders keeps me close, yet at a safe distance.  I have a hunch that getting over my fear would lessen the fascination factor that I feel.

He crawled along robotically on the side of the trail in a mix of dried grasses, rocks and discarded Bay Laurel leaves on a sunny North-facing slope.  I wonder if the fact that we couldn't see his eyes lent to the idea that he was more machine than arachnid.  Perhaps there's too many insect-meets-post-apocalyptic movies out there! 

While the spider-sighting took center stage, the remainder of the hike provided plenty of opportunities for breathless exclamations and happy discoveries.  A few examples:

The muted color palette bowled me over- golds, grays and greens mixed among dark silhouettes of pines and oaks.

The Bay Laurels had produced their pear-shaped nuts, which I just read can be roasted and are relished for their unsweetened chocolate-like flavor.  As the sun fell upon the leaves, the aromatic scent surrounded the trail.   

The golden skeletons of Spring remained all across the hills- dried bulb stalks and seedpods.  This Clematis vine decided to dress as "Cousin It" for Halloween- flufferifous!

Not sure how we're going to top this hike, but I'm determined to try!

Garden Clean-up Becomes Halloween Decor

The rains last weekend decimated most of the Eriogonum flowers (that's California Buckwheat for those not Latin-inclined).  A quick snip of the spent heads revealed a neat mound of green underneath.  Pretty amazing for a plant that looked completely dead two weeks ago.  I saved an armful of the dried flower stalks, however to aid in the Halloweenization of the house.  They're not exactly spooky, but they will lend a frightful air alongside the shrunken apple heads, rubber bats and blood-dripping candles.

Here's what they looked like a month or so ago:

Carefree pink blooms inviting the bees and skippers in the Springtime has now devolved to dark and creepy puff-ball sticks.  Happy Halloween!

Bee House Bundles!

Don't you just want to shimmy inside one of these cozy little bee residences?  After harvesting an armful of Festuca stems topped with airy seed hulls, I saved the trimmed stems which looked like little straws and decided to bundle them up into tiny native bee condos. 

After attending the "Gardening for Wildlife" class at Tilden Park a few weeks ago with the Meeses, I've been stepping back to consider what my garden provides and what it's lacking.  While I provide tons of nectar, seeds and larval food sources, shelter remains in "some other place" for the daily visitors I receive. 

Hopefully these little straws, hanging horizontally from my Malacothamnus shrub will attract tiny little bees and other insects to sit and stay awhile.  Then in turn, insect-eating birds will decide to come 'round.  Then, dare I wish for a Red Tail Hawk to do a screeching fly-by?! 

While the neat ends look appealing to me, the bees supposedly will prefer the varying ends, choosing a straw close to a joint in the stem that they can build their nest against.  Hanging it 3 to 6 feet off the ground helps prevent moisture from rotting the straws and also keeps the obvious predators away.  I've read that bees need the morning sun to warm their wings (much like my morning coffee, I guess!) before they begin their day's journey, so orienting the house East or South-East facing makes the chances of this house getting used much greater.  The Pollinator Conservation Handbook can be an excellent resource for such things!

Since native bees come in all sizes, small lengths of bamboo or varying diameters of holes drilled into wood also do the trick.  Not all bees use ready-made holes, however.  Carpenter bees make their own by chewing a tunnel into wood, while bumble bees sometimes use discarded rodent nests.

Many projects to come in order to better provide for wildlife, but in the meantime I'll hang my houses and wait impatiently for the parade of woodland animals and insects! 

Adding Greenery to the Green Fair

Turnout might have been light, but my booth rocked the green fair!  I planted a couple of my vintage ballot boxes with the hot colors of Autumn- 'Tuxedo' Ceanothus, California fuchsia, and Dudleya pulverulenta surrounded by tumbled porcelain.  I had quite the convergence of rusty things, graciously lent out by Aunt Joyce as well as a sidewalk chalk area rug.

 I'm especially excited about my new twig trellis-I'll take some decent shots in the next few days to properly gloat about it...

Next time I'll have to have a large sign with my logo and "Landscape Design" on it so folks recognize what it is exactly I do.  Now that it's over I have quite few extra plants- anyone care for a few or are y'all up to your ears in Fall planting like me?  Don't even get me started about bulbs!

Did She Say 'Plant Sale'?!

Monardella micrantha 'Marion Sampson'

Just in case you haven't left the cave recently, the East Bay California Native Plant Society plant sale is this weekend!  I'll be volunteering on Sunday in the loading area.  It's such a festive atmosphere with so many happy people- I highly recommend stopping by!  Make a day of it by strolling through the Tilden Botanical Garden (which I still can't believe doesn't charge admission!) and coming to Native Here Nursery to pick up a few plants.  Hope to see you there!

Come to the Fair, the Green Fair!

 You haven't heard a peep from me lately as I'm preparing a table at the Greening Oakland Homes Fair next Saturday the 16th at Ashby Lumber (the one on Ashby).  I'm so excited about the event that I'm constructing a new trellis design and will be putting together fun containers of splashy-looking native plants!

If you're wondering about doing some remodeling or just want to be a lookie-loo, come on by and say hello!  There will be a ton of experts on sustainable energy, green building, and thoughtful design.  (and me, of course!)

Obsessive Squirrel Mode Begins Tomorrow

Brodaiea californica

So the fact that I'm expecting a box today that contains 39 pounds of bulbs isn't excessive or anything, right?  I mean...  right?!?

(Most of them aren't for me, I swear!)