Easter at High Hand Nursery

A beautiful day to celebrate Easter, a day when the earth delights in its own resurrection! My husband and I have breakfast at the High Hand Cafe in Loomis, CA. In the beautiful conservatory, opening to the outside patio, we wait ...

... for this! Pretty, huh? At High Hand they do everything right!

The nursery grounds are arranged in a parklike fashion, almost like a botanical garden, with so much to inspire, from charming topiary,

to gorgeous japanese maples,

to architecturally trained trees. High Hand is first class all the way.

This cute young girl and her dad were feeding the koi. She asked me if I wanted to try and gave me some fish food which I held out in my fingers towards this huge fish coming at me with his mouth agape! He got his food, I kept my fingers, all were satisfied!

One of the pleasures of being a garden designer, I get to consider other garden spaces than just my own. While something might not be appropriate to my gardens, perhaps it would be perfect for a client, for instance, my clients who live in Curtis Park. We're getting ready to fill out their front yard planting. It's already lovely, why not go for more lovely!?! This False Spirea has beautiful tropical and lush ferny foliage with white flower clusters in the summer. Grows to be 5 - 8' tall so would be pretty as a background shrub. Just what we need.

Sitting right next to it, this sunshiny yellow-orange-pink rhody. This one's a compact 4 x 4 ...  t'would go nice in the front of that border ... especially if we can get the wild onion cleared!!!

These newly introduced osteospermum don't close up on cloudy days or in the evenings. '3D Purple' blooms - says the label - prolifically from spring thru fall. I first read about them in Horticulture magazine's new (free) on-line pub, "Gardeners on the Go". They say it blooms best in the cooler temperatures of spring and fall. Sunset Western Garden Book says they're more winter/spring blooming (November - March). I say, my experience is they can get kind of ratty looking in the heat of Sacramento's summer. Course, lots of plants do, which is why I also say, everything does better with a bit of partial shade!

There's more to be seen at High Hand ... art gallery, wine bar, florist, several fun shops ... but for us, we're inspired to go home and make our own home lovelier (or at least, clean!)... and,so, it's time to leave.

Happy Springtime!

Whether you need garden design, coaching, seasonal maintenance or planting, Geno's Garden can help!
Call me at (916) 764-5243, or email hansonja@aol.com.