Few flowers are blooming in the fall but the ones that are blooming are highly valued. They must compete with the fall foliage color. Copper Canyon Daisy (Taygetes lemmonii) California Fuchsia (Zauschneria californica) Mexican Bush Sage (Salvia leucantha) Midnight Mexican Bush Sage (Salvia leucantha ‘Midnight’) Here are a couple of flowers that bloom in the…

This is the flower of Trachelium caeruleum which blooms most of the summer through November. The flowers are tiny in dense clusters shaped like umbels The common name is Throat Wort because a medicine is made from it to treat some kind of throat problems. The flowers are quite profuse and beautiful. Trachelium grows to…

Dawn Gardens is an 8 acre garden on a 12 acre piece of property in Grass Valley, CA which is composed of several different gardens with different themes and plants. It is open at least 1 day each month. No admission fee is charged but a donation box is available. See website for schedule: Dawn-gardens.com…

Jackie and Steve are my friends who live in Lake of the Pines in the California foothills. They built their house over 20 years ago and have been working on their garden all those years fighting with the voles and gophers. Jackie is the gardener and Steve is the carpenter and laborer. At the beginning…

The goal of this project is to provide fresh vegetables and fruit to the Nevada County, California residents who need it. It will provide a nature outlet for people who want to work outside and get good exercise. This area was once an old gravel parking area with poor drainage. A new French drain was…

This is a story of how these vegetables and flowers were produced in a home garden in the Sacramento Valley in less than a year: Kelsey and Steven recently purchased a house in Elk Grove. Kelsey is a great cook and had a dream of making a large garden to provide food and flowers for…

Butterfly bushes (Buddleja) are easy to grow shrubs with colorful flowers that bloom most of the summer into the fall. They are attractive to butterflies and most are very fragrant. Buddleja davidii ‘Royal Red’ Buddleja davidii ‘Buzz Velvet’ Buddleja ‘Lo and Behold Blue Chip’ Buddleja ‘Pugster Amethyst’ Buddleja ‘Buzz Purple’ at The Station Public House…

When I was in Portland recently at an open garden, I ran into a friend, Marilyn. I had met her and her husband, Stephen, on my trip to New Zealand last fall. She was telling me that they had a lot of Lilies blooming this year and wanted to know if I would like to…

My brother, Doug, and his wife, Ruth, purchased their retirement house in Woodburn, Oregon a couple of years ago and had to decide whether to keep the contractor installed new lawn that came with the new house or to tear it out and put in a new garden. They decided that they wanted a garden…