"M" is for Mediterranean Gardens, "N" is for Never Mind

The expression, "a day late and a dollar short" comes to mind. I was in Los Angeles visiting the girls last week...missed "M", but didn't know until a second ago that we've moved on to "N". So, for ABC Wednesday, I give you "M"...and as Rosanne Rosanna Danna would say... "Never Mind".

Shown above...tomato, sunflower, Mexican and Pineapple Salvias, succulents (all from my garden), blue pots from High Hand Nursery, Fair Oaks Village where the chickens run free, eggplants from the Loomis Eggplant Festival, and a fountain, cuz you gotta have water!

From Wikipedia, Mediterranean Climates: "A Mediterranean climate is one that resembles the climate of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, which includes over half of the area with this climate type world-wide. In addition to the areas surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, this climate type prevails in much of California, in parts of Western and South Australia, in southwestern South Africa, and in parts of central Chile."

So...we have Provence, Algeria, Greece and Italy, parts of Australia, Santiago, San Francisco and the Napa Valley, and, you guessed it, SACRAMENTO! We may have uber-long growing seasons and the summers can get really hot, but we're in good company. Learning how to garden in this climate can make the experience a great one...and one of the secrets is the right plant in the right place. The Napa County Master Gardeners have a nice write up on Mediterranean climate gardening on their website. Another resource is the international Mediterranean Garden Society.

For the ABC Wednesday project, my pick is "M" for Mediterranean. Mmmmm...now, if I could just get a little Aegean Sea or some coastal Pacific Ocean breezes in the mix, it would be really "N" for nifty! Oh, never mind.

a Modern Mediterranean Garden

I'm looking for a way to take the '80s out of a ranch house and give it a modern edge, so I stop by the gorgeous High Hand Nursery to see what they have in the way of pots...

These urns would do, but so would the ribbed ones...

...or these smaller ones...

The house belongs to a Greek artist...she needs a more artistic environment, I think...perhaps a sitting area with these chairs from Pottery Barn, where she can have some coffee and a chat with her cats.

I love the look, the crunchy sound, the color of decomposed granite (DG to the trades)...maybe we'll take the grass out and replace it with DG...and surround it all with lovely mediterranean plants like lavenders, mexican feather grass, purple fountain grass, perhaps a hearty shrub rose, purple smoke tree. Maybe there will be some room for a lemon tree.