On January 9, 2022 I went to visit friends in Walnut Creek California. We went to the Ruth Bancroft Garden where they had an evening light show. The cactus, Agaves, and succulents are striking enough during the day but at night it is like being in another world. The garden was planted in the 60’s…

Buzz and Sue’s front lawn in Auburn was using too much water so they asked me to replace it with perennials, grasses and shrubs. This is a chronology of the job: The lawn had 2 trees which were going to be left but pruned. The lawn was sprayed to kill the Bermuda Grass. The dead…

We don’t get much snow at Dawn Gardens since the elevation is only 1300′. But this year we got a little snow – just enough to bring winter beauty to the garden but not enough to cause damage. Here are a couple of videos taken on golf cart rides through the garden: The Camellia garden…

Salvias are a group of plants that are free blooming and are tolerant to heat. Mexican Sage (Salvia leucantha) Midnight Sage (Salvia leucantha ‘Midnight’) Salvia leucantha ‘Daniell’s Dream’ Salvia ‘Indigo Spires’ Salvia ‘Mystic Spires’ Salvia mexicana ‘Limelight’ Salvia ‘Mysty’ Black and Blue Salvia (Salvia guaranitica ‘Black and Blue’) Pineapple Sage (Salvia splendens) Blooms in December!…

Ground cover plants are very useful in the garden in stopping erosion on slopes, keeping the weeds down and providing a low growing foreground for the garden. Creeping Wire Vine (Muhlenbeckia axillaris) is a low growing mat that spreads by rhyzomes and may be deciduous in cold winters. Can be a little invasive. Thyme (Thymus…

During the weekend of October 23rd and 24th, 2021, a huge storm came into Northern California and dumped 10″ of rain. With the rain and wind came the destruction of 3 Oak trees, a huge pine branch and a weeping willow at Dawn Gardens. One Oak tree outside the fence fell into another Oak tree…

There are more than 2,000 different varieties of Japanese Maples. They range from 12″ tall dwarfs to 30′ trees. The flowers are tiny as you can see on this Red Maple (Acer palmatum ‘Fireglow’) Here are the seeds of a Red Japanese Maple. They reseed easily in the garden. The straight species of Japanese Maple…

The Fall color is beautiful this year at Dawn Gardens. It is a little earlier than normal and with 10″ of rain, the colors are bright. Cherry in fruit orchard Sour Wood or Tupelo as it is called in Mississippi (Nyssa sylvatica). The female trees have blue fruit. Eddie’s White Wonder Dogwood in the back…

Today is the last day of the New England Garden Tour and we will visit a private garden in Gloucester, the city of Salem and a Museum in Boston. HILARIE HOLDSWORTH GARDEN Hilarie is a landscape designer with a 3 1/2 acre garden. She and her assistant maintain the garden with some outside help every…

On our way to the garden this is some of the scenery: Along the Maine coast a third of the way to Canada is this huge and beautiful botanical garden. This garden is set on 323 acres and was opened in 2007. There are 12 full time horticulturists (gardeners) with 20-25 garden volunteers. Beautiful flowers…