It isn't all about food in my garden - all though you wouldn't know it these days...

One of my favorite things to look at is the planting I call my "Side Porch Garden", because it is the garden next to my ... well ... you follow.

Check out that MADNESS! That crazy color work! This is not a planting for the faint of heart - it is a gaudy party dress of a garden ... and I LOVE IT!

I have a heart stopping amount of variegation in this garden - the orange flowered Canna 'Tropicanna', the tiny Euphorbia 'Helena's Blush' (in full bloom), Phormium 'Red Dark Green', and - somebody STOP me - Cortaderia 'Silver Comet'. What got into me? Well, mixing different variegation is supposed to be a no-no, so guess what I wanted to do? Play. Experiment. See if I could make it work.

If you look closely, each of the variegated plants has a soft yellow tone connecting them. The cortaderias - the grasses in the background- seem to glow with their own light, and that same color is present in the center of the canna leaves, as well as the edges of the phormium. You can't see the foliage of the euphorbia through it's spent blooms - but those blooms have become a soft buff that ties them to the rest of the variegated posse.

What makes this garden really sing for me is the blue tones of the agaves - Agave franzonii in the background and Agave 'Blue Glow' down in the left front part of the frame. They are like the yogurt raita you eat with a hot curry - refreshing, delicious, and neccesary. Their forms are dazzling, and even though this planting is a color study, shape and texture still have to be considered.

If I were putting this same moment into a client's garden, I'd probably bring in more green mounding plants to give a little more balance into the picture, and I might change the Euphorbia 'Helena's Blush' to the non variegated variety Euphorbia 'Martinii'. But in my garden - this planting stays as is.

Until another variegated wonder comes over to play!

Reader Emotional Mullet - to whom I pledged my undying affection because of that rad name - has a mystery plant sitting on her windowsill! She has enlisted the Germinatrix to sleuth out the identity of this cutting she took from a friend's plant...

... and this was my answer:

So, fasten your seatbelt. I think that attractive slice of stem and leaf you have sitting in a glass is a ... sweet potato! Ipomoea batatas 'Ace of Spades' to be precise. I have these ornamental sweet potatoes growing in by veg beds - but my version is Ipomoea batatas 'Blackie', which has more pointed, witchy type leaves. If I am right, check the 'mother plant' at your friend's house. If you dig where the main roots should be, you should find a big, swollen root - the potato! That will make my guess right - but I'm practically 95% sure right now. The stem is correct, the placement of the leaves is correct, the fact that they emerge green and then turn purple is right on - and the fact that the stems root easily is 100% sweet potato! I think we can throw caution to the wind and call this case closed!

This is one of my favorite plants ever. I like to use it as a cascading element in containers, and I also often plant it where it can drip over retaining walls ... it is really sexy at the height of summer and well into the fall. It'll disappear in the late winter for us here in California .... probably a little earlier for you - but it comes back every June, bigger and better. There are also wonderful golden green and bronze varieties. Once you go sweet potato, you don't go back!

People say you can eat the root, just like the edible sweet potato - but I'm not gonna do it. This plant is the one 'cheat' in my vegetable garden, because it is so damned awesome! Good choice of plant, E-mullet, even if you didn't know what it was you were choosing! You have excellent horticultural taste... Let's be friends!

Hel-lo!

The other day I was at the Minion's house, and I was completely enthralled by the tiny vegetable garden he has been cultivating. Since he rents, he didn't want to dig up the entire yard to facilitate his eating of fresh food - he made himself a modest plot where he grows:

(8) Champion tomatoes
(1) Cucumber
(2) Bunching onions
(5) Strawberries - there would have been 6, but one bit the dust...
And a plethora of lettuces:
(2) green leaf
(2) arugula
(2) mesclun

...all in a space that measures approximately 6' x 8'!

He started his vegetable growing project last year, before he became my Jack - Of - All - Trades, so it wasn't my influence - if anything, it's the other way around. My vegetable dreams have become bigger because of his encouragement and enthusiasm. Sometimes, a 23 year old can have alot to teach a ... a more than 23 year old.

What really knocked me out about MZ's tiny plot was the beauty of the lettuces, tightly packed together. I am seriously thinking of using them as a front of the border groundcover for an ornamental garden! Wouldn't that be so beautiful? And what a bonus - salad! MZ has been feasting on the thinnings and clippings from his lettuces for a couple of months now, and even in this heat, they are still looking great. I love it - the best way to keep your plants looking good is to eat them!

I've been integrating a few edibles into ornamental beds for quite a while - artichokes, red shiso, golden oregano ... but why stop there? Sure, most vegetables are annuals, and need more attention (read: fertilizer and water) than I like to give my "other" plants, but a lovely little strip of lettuces setting off a perennial planting - I can deal with that! Even if it means an extra sprinkle of water and a dose or two of Dr. Earth.

The dividends would be too delicious not do it!

Bella's painting
My day is so totally made! I checked my email earlier, and would you look at what reader Bella F. sent me! A beautiful watercolor of exactly the kind of friend I need to help me get this dastardly rat in hand. Would you just look at how she sat the pretty kitty just so on the fermob chair - the one I showed in the last posting; and look! ... check out the kangaroo paws dancing in the front, and there is my ever-present Aeonium 'Zwartkopf'! She's even put in my glazed pots in the background...

Original pic - kitty sorely needed!

I have to admit to squealing with delight and running around the house. What a lovely gesture! You readers are the best! I have Suasoria to help me co-ordinate my clothing with my gardens, Katef to bounce recipes off of, Sumcool to drop in on next time I'm up in her neck of the woods (she'll even let Dexter and Sadie come along!) - and now a new friend, Bella, who captures the exact feeling of my garden (plus kitty) in her lovely painting. I stand in awe, and am so very appreciative of Bella's generosity of spirit.

Readers, you are all super cool... I'm lucky to have you, all of you!

I feel refreshed and renewed, and will take on the marauding invader with vigor. I have a watercolor cat as my sidekick in this endeavor ... who I am naming "Kitty La Bella". Fitting, isn't it?

Well, I HAD to check out Bella's website - her work is a riot of color and texture and direction ... she seems to wink at the history of painting by using classic techniques in a very sassy way. I adore art that is rich and whimsical! You guys have to stop by and see for yourself ... you'll love the rest of her stuff!

Thank you, Bella! So much!

Can anyone resist Kangaroo Paws?

Aren't they strange and cute and fierce, all at once?

I fell for them so hard when I first started gardening, but had such a hard time keeping them going! The first year after I put them in the ground they'd always look great, but every year after they'd just get skimpier and skimpier, until they would just peter out completely.

Well, what I found out after I installed my irrigation system, is that they do like their water. Since they are from Australia, they are of course pretty xeric (a fancy gardener word for dry-loving), but they seem to really appreciate a consistent, small amount of H2O. And another thing - if I cut down the stems right after they go crunchy and give up the ghost, I'll have a bumper crop of blooms the next growing season. I always like to keep spent blossoms on the plant as long as possible, to facilitate self-seeding and to give birds and other wildlife things to perch on and snack on - but this is one of those rule breakers. And I do love the rule breakers!

My very very favorite "Paw" is Anigozanthus 'Orange Cross' - see it here looking pretty snazzy in the foreground against my fabulously stripey Fermob chairs (see the ubiquitous Aeonium 'Zwartkopf' in the picture - there is no getting away from that plant in my garden, I have it everywhere). I also love the old classic Paw, Anigozanthus flavidus. The bloom in the first image is from one of the very first plants I ever put in the ground - over twelve years ago. It's doing pretty well, considering it's such an old timer.

If you don't have a garden, you can always indulge in these wonderful wierdos - florists carry them, and they are always appropriate.

In fact, I had them in my bridal bouquet - along with an Aeonium 'Zwartkopf', of course!

Last year at this time, I was relaxing with my husband and dear friends in the quaint coastal hamlet of Los Osos, California. Sigh.

This year, I am doing battle with a marauding rat who is hell bent on eating all of my vegetables before I get to them. Heavy sigh.

This is a difficult battle. I've researched and googled til my fingers fell off, I've polled readers, I've asked nurserymen and vegetable gardeners I know ... and there is no clear, consistent answer. Amanda from Kiss My Aster suggested a buttload of chili powder - well, my rat is obviously a transplant from New Mexico, because he eats his stolen tomatoes spicy. On one of my Google searches, I read many tips about using coffee grounds at the base of the plants to ward critters off, so I dumped the grounds from five morning pots around my 'Juliette' tomato. The next morning I found three half eaten tomatoes placed atop a mound of coffee crumbs. He was mocking me. Another tip I read said human urine would deter most critters, but neither my husband nor my minion would comply with my requests. And I am certainly not going to climb up on my beds, squat, and pee. I will only go so far for home grown organic produce.

Seeing that I was getting obsessed with my 'Gardener vs. Varmint' dilemma, the minion (MZ), came up with a solution that SEEMS to be working (I HATE to jinx myself, but I'm knocking on wood). He created Defender Cages out of small gauge wire mesh and rebar, topped them with draped burlap, and put circles of bricks around the bottom to keep Rat Fink from going under the wire. These surround the wire/rebar tomato cages he made me earlier, to keep the plants from sprawling on the ground and the brittle branches from breaking. The result? I have not had an incursion for a week.

Of course, the beast could easily gnaw through the burlap - rats chew through things like wood and dry wall all the time - but at this point we are hoping to make it enough of a pain so it'll just give up before giving it the old college try.

I have all these nearly-ripe luscious little oval 'Juliette' love apples hanging there, waiting for me to pluck them and eat them before the dastardly rodent gets ahold of them. So even though I am sure the Defender Cages are working, I am not going to tempt fate. The scent of a nearly ripe tomato might drive Rat Fink mad with desire and he may bite through wire or dig a tunnel to get at it, so I am going to harvest them before he has a chance to thwart me once again.

Caprese Salad, here I come!

I love birds - who doesn't? Well, I'm sure SOME people don't love birds, but ... Anyway.
I want birds to be happy in my garden, so I have a lovely birdbath for them, but that birdbath is a big fake-out. After a couple of years of being eaten by mosquitoes (I am fairly certain NOBODY loves mosquitoes, except for maybe some type of scientist who has to love awful things, in order to study them for the benefit of mankind) I realized my birdbath was a breeding ground for skeeto larvae. Duh. Took me long enough.

At first I thought I could empty it every night and re-fill it in the morning. Three days of doing that kicked that idea to the curb - what a pain in the ass it was! The dish part of the bath was heavy, and then re-centering it on the pedestal while leaning over my aloes and echeverias was really annoying. I know. I'm a baby. Maybe that was that for the old birdie pool.

But I like my old Smith&Hawken birdbath. It isn't really my style anymore, but it was the first thing I bought for my garden - I couldn't bring myself to de-commission it. So I bought a big bag of clear glass marbles, and a few big hollow "bubbles" and turned my birdbath into a still life. I really loved the look - but I did feel bad for the birds who no longer had a pretty shallow bath with which to wet their feathers and their whistles.

The answer? A paella pan! I collect enamelware, and I have an old Dansk paella pan that I perch in different places around the garden - one week on the corner of my fence, the next week in the middle of my big monster aloe... wherever the spirit moves me. The birds love it, and it is the easiest thing to dump the water out at night and fill up in the morning. Now I have my bubbly bath that birds can't use (but that makes me happy) AND a place for my avian neighbors to frolic and hook-up.

You can find paella pans for a song at yard sales, or you can use any shallow, colorful dish that you can easily dump and refill - I'm sure it would make your local feathered friends very happy.

Do any of you have DIY birdbaths? Share! Let us copy you!

I am bereft.
Again.
But this time it isn't a tree killing neighbor, or a hot wind from the desert, it is a nasty, mean, greedy critter.
I think it's a rat.
Or a possum.
Or a squirrel.
The minute my tomatoes turn red, right before I myself am going to pick them, this horrible fiend does a night raid and steals away with my beautiful, much-anticipated tomatoes. I run out to my beds in the morning ready to harvest - and all the reddish little bite-sized globes are GONE! No little half-nibbled ones, nothing - just a stem with no tomato dangling from it.

Does anyone have any tips? Any help? Anything? I want to eat some of my tomatoes, and the old adage of "plant one for the pests, one for the mildew, and one for you" is of no comfort.

I want my 'maters!

I have to make another one of my shocking confessions.
I don't compost.
It's alot of things, not the least of which is that the time and effort it takes to tend a compost heap exhausts me just thinking about it ... but really, the biggest reason I don't is that I don't have any place to put a compost pile. The few areas of sun are needed by my gardens! The only place I can see putting a compost pile is in the deep shade under my fake pomegranate tree, but then it wouldn't get hot enough to 'cook'. Another thing is that traditional compost needs a balance of brown material (dead leaves, newspaper, coffee filters...) and green material (mostly lawn clippings). I have plenty of leaves, but I have no lawn... and going around the neighborhood begging for leftover lawn grass - well... everybody around here already thinks I'm a kook.

But I want my own compost! So I've been tossing around the idea of bringing in a mighty army to do the work for me, a Legion Vast that likes to work in the shade:

Yes - Worms.

I am taking the plunge into Vermicomposting! The red worms will feed on the newspaper and vegetable scraps I give them, and will reciprocate by giving me the best stuff one can use in a garden - worm castings! Yay worm poop! The worm box also has a spigot where you can drain the liquid from the bins and then use that worm tea to water your vegetables ... wow. My vegetable garden is about to get busy!

This decision takes a load off. I feel so guilty grinding up my scraps in the garbage disposal and sending all that goodness into the sewer ... now my Mighty Legion (Vast) of wriggling poopers of goodness will collaborate with me on making my garden a healthier place.

I can't wait!

OMIGOD... It. Is. So. HOT!!!
Today it was somewhere around 109 degrees in the inland valleys of LA County - and guess where the quaint hamlet of Eagle Rock is? Right on the cusp of East LA and the San Gabriel Valley - one of the extreme hot zones. Luckily, we get a nice breeze every so often, but nothing is blowing up my skirt today. My garden is getting the look it usually doesn't have until mid-July - it's hunkering down, getting ready to handle the dry 96 degree or hotter days that start in the middle of the summer and don't let up until October. But June is always mild.

In Los Angeles, we have this thing called 'June Gloom', and I (as well as most gardeners I know) look forward to this time. There is a thick cloud bank called 'The Marine Layer' that settles over the LA basin all the way to the foothills of the San Gabriels, and it keeps things cool and gray until the clouds burn off around 1pm. This means the days rarely get over 75 -80 degrees, and the gardens flourish. June Gloom is like a state of grace for SoCal gardeners - it is an extra month of spring for us.

But not this year! It hasn't been gloriously gloomy at all. When the sun rises at 5:52 am, it rises to a blue, cloudless sky, and it shines way too brightly - ascending to it's zenith, burning hot, singing "Back in Black" or "We Will Rock You" ... taunting The Marine Layer to "Hit Me With Your best Shot".

Sometimes the sun can be a real pain in the ass.