Wordless Wednesday: Macro Novice

Black-Eyed Susan

Rhododendron

Gingko

Hydrangea

The Belated Blogoversary Botanical Interests Giveaway

Botanical Interests in Colorado was one of the sponsors of our 6th Garden Bloggers Fling (San Francisco, July, 2013). A while ago (4 years of ago), I did a primer on growing vegetables for GalTime, using the info on the Botanical Interests seed packets, and got to do a give-away with their seeds.

Since my 5th blogging anniversary was in August, I asked them if they'd sponsor my give-away. They said "yes" and here is the 1st prize, The Botanical Interests Seed Sprouter Kit! Well ... it has been sitting in my dining room for a couple of months, now, so I guess Miss Sticky Fingers (who wants to keep all prizes for herself!), should put it up for grabs. There are packets of  assorted sprouting seeds that will be given away, too. So lots of prizes ... Mung Beans, Sandwich Mix, Radish China Rose, Fenugreek, Wheat Berries, Alfalfa, Broccoli.

How it will work ... post a comment on this post saying something about sprouts. (Also, make sure a return link to you shows up in the comment box so I can contact you.) Random drawing for winners will take place on Nov. 30th.

Thanks to Ryan Schmitt and Botanical Interests for helping out with this. (Ryan gave us each a t-shirt with a big radish on it! 'Nuf said ...) Here's the video of the seed sprouter in action:

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.

Garden Bloggers Fling - A California Kiss

Above the town of Walnut Creek, on the hill overlooking the valley, is a garden that is like a California kiss!

Don't you think so, too?

This landscape has it all ... a place to stroll, a place to putter 

a place to sit and watch 

the grass grow and grow, happy that it needs no mower!

 A place to listen to the sounds of one's own creek ...

and appreciate the sun that makes the flowers so happy!

To look out over the hills and valley with a cow for company!

(Photo credit:: www.thequeenofseaford.blogspot.com)

  

For two hours in July, we get to relax in this garden (I'm in the chaise above!). Fling organizer, Kelly Kilpatrick, (owner of Floradora Garden Design) was one of the designers on this project. Lucky for us!  

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

L.A. Bits 'n Pieces

From my L.A. Trip in June ...

Clockwise from the upper left: I'd like this truck!, baby squash and blueberries at the Hollywood Farmer's, Market, perennial morning glory cloaking building next to a West Hollywood nursery, Bitches Brew!, nasturtium and spanish steps, my daughter, Julie's art

Garden Adventures: Golden Gate Park Conservatory of Flowers

The Conservatory's website has a great history detailed on it, and I realize in writing this that many of the dates coincide with my parents and grandparents lives. The Conservatory was opened to the public in 1897. My mom's maternal parents came to San Francisco from Ireland in the 1860's. Her father migrated from Ontario at the end of the century. My dad's parents came to San Francisco in 1906 after the earthquake to help rebuild the city. My mom's parents lived in the park tent cities after the disaster.  Did they all visit? I'm sure. They lived in neighborhoods adjacent to the park. My family, like the Conservatory, survived!

From this history: The Conservatory of Flowers has captivated guests for more than a century. This gem of Victorian architecture has had a long and storied history, and is the oldest wood and glass conservatory in North America. As a city, state and national historic landmark, the Conservatory remains one of the most beloved attractions in Golden Gate Park.

Although the building appears very large from the outside, from the inside it is spacious and airy and actually limited in its displays.

A sign in the conservatory

I believe this is a pitcher plant.

another sign

An artist rendition of a lily pod hangs in the air above a pool and the collection of carnivorous (and/or tropical) plants. It's humid and healthy in this room. If you wanted to grow these kind of plants, you'd have to replicate these conditions.

 Our official 6th Annual (and my first) Garden Bloggers Fling

To find out more about the Conservatory's history, click here!

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

Outdoor Classroom at Soil Born Farm in Citrus Heights

California Poppies, blooming in November! 

Last week I met up with Chris and Robin of Elderberry Farms Nursery and Peter Larimer, the landscape architect who designed the new outdoor planting plan at Soil Born Farms. I'm going to be taking photos of the plants monthly so we can have a visual record of how they do. The plants are a collection of native and Mediterranean plants, all on the same watering schedule. I shall be the "scientific photographer". Wish I had a white lab coat!

I took a lot of not-so-good photos as we walked around and took inventory. Here's a lavender that's not making it. Planted too deep or over-watered in some other way? Mulch to close in on the plant?

Here's Chris looking at a dead plant ... a silver lupine that was killed by a ...

 red-humped caterpillar! Yuck!

Deer Grass (Muhlenbergia rigens) is a popular native grass, described as moving nicely with the wind and a great pollinator plant. Here it is in August,

 but I've seen it pretty dried out looking, too. This is one of my objectives regarding being involved with this project. I like to know how plants look thru the seasons. Because, as you can see, it's not lush and green in November!

My favorite thing, however, was not the plant walk-thru, but the outdoor classroom with its native no-mow grass.

Here's a full view.

There are gracefull sweeps of sitting walls.

The arbor is covered with a wire mesh,

that will eventually be covered by Thompson Seedless grape vines.

A lot of local businesses and organizations helped with both the financing and the construction of this project! Well done! Soil born is a great educational resource for the Sacramento area. They have made it possible to have a native nursery which gathers and propagates plants indigenous to our area, and they host a number of classes and events for young and old. Besides that, it's a bit of country in the heart of the city. Chickens, birds, big sky, quiet. They're growing and will only become more of an influence as time goes by.

The old meeting ground! Cute, isn't it?

For more info about Soil Born Farms, click here!
For info about the Elderberry Farms Native Plant Nursery
 and their free PBJ lunch/Wednesday morning workdays, click here!

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

A Tale of Two Houses

Garden Bloggers Fling 2013: We arrive at Filloli in Woodside, CA on the hottest day of the year. Stumbling from our bus, we scatter, looking for shade. After a visit to the cafe, we decide we need to make the best of it ... and venture forth, determined to soldier on. A nice docent suggests the film room. Ah, it's dark and cool in the center of the building ... we watch the film.

It is surprisingly interesting! It's mostly about William Bourn, II, who built Filoli. But, he also was the owner of a gold mine - the Empire Mine -  in Grass Valley (in the Sierra foothills) where he built a sweet mansion (much less grand), known as the Bourn Cottage.

The stairs leading up to the Bourn House at the Empire Mine

I have been there a few times ... A "Seed" class (yes) I took a few years back received special permission to collect seed from the grounds. There was almost a church-like feeling created by the tall tree canopy. The seed I collected was from the Horse Chestnut tree. Later, we cleaned and labeled the seeds we collected and put them away for their germination period.

Horse Chestnut seeds - non edible ... lots of them lying around, the squirrels ignored them.

In the film, we learned that Bourne spent some time as a young man in Europe. Those castles and estates got to him! 

He had to come home early, however,  perhaps his father died - seems like he had to take on the family business ... which led him to Grass Valley and the gold mines.

I have to include this picture, because whenever I've gone to the Empire Mines (except for the seed field trip), the males in my family have a lot to say, looking at those mining shafts and all that equipment, and stuff.

There's a peacefulness to settings like this one ...

and, this one.

I find I like quiet spaces ... in the mountains, in the garden. If I lived in either of these places, this is where I would spend my time, with a book and a glass of lemonade, watching the birds. Filoli is very grand, and it was fun for me realizing I already had a connection with the man who built Filoli. 

To find out more about the Empire Mines, click here!

To find out more about Filoli, click here!

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

Tower Theatre celebrates it's 75th!

Not all of life is exciting, but it's often interesting. The leaves have been changing , that's interesting. 

Driving thru the tree canopy on 15th Ave. on my way to Tower Cafe and Theater.

  The Tower turned 75 on Monday. The Bee says it marked the occasion by showing the 1938 film that opened the theater, "Algiers", starring  Charles Boyer (who I never liked). I survey the current movies ... there's a Robert Redford film, "All is Lost" - looks like an action adventure, nail biter! 

A bit of the very large fountain sitting in the front courtyard that is surrounded by benches and palms.

Parking lot botany: Canary Island Palm, Phoenix canariensis

 and, what's this one? Mediterranean Fan Palm Chamaerops humilis

I see a couple of Moorish fountains sitting to the side of the next door, Tower Cafe (known for its french toast and garden setting!). Could they be for sale?!?

I grab a burger to go and head home, noticing the fall color of the trees ... 

 a gingko - I am now officially part of the drive-by media!

Home! My tupelo has just about dropped all its leaves. I am fond of this tree, with its central leader (straight trunk), and its perfect, cone shape. It produces messy blue berries, however ... the birds like them, but you should see my car! 

That's my day! 

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

Sunnyside, Portland

Growing up, I got many opportunities to sing and dance on stage. My mother, after all, was the owner of a dance studio! One of my signature songs was, "Sunny Side of the Street"! (I had a tap dance, too!)

Grab your coat and get your hat, leave your worries on the doorstep.
Just direct your feet, to the sunny side of the street.
Can't you hear that pitter pat? And that happy tune is your step.
Life can be so sweet, on the sunny side of the street.
I use to walk in the shade, with the blues on parade!
Now, I'm not afraid. This rover's, crossed over.
If you haven't got a cent, you'll be rich as Rockerfella ...
Gold dust at my feet, on the sunny side of the street.

Sunnyside is in SE Portland ... a neighborhood of great restaurants, odd bits and pieces ... a neighborhood with charm. When I visit our daughter, Meg, I love to walk the neighborhood. Some houses and gardens are run donwn, some are experiencing renewal. It all works together.

Sunnyside Porches

Sunnyside Perennials

Sunnyside Trees

Sunnyside Silliness

Three generations of Hansons enjoy each other's company!

The Garden Bloggers Fling will be in Portland next summer. We'll be visiting some world class gardens ... the Japanese Garden, perhaps the classical Lan Su Chinese Garden. We'll see some stellar private gardens, for sure. Maybe we'll go up the Columbia Gorge or head to the coast. One thing for sure, however, Sunnyside will be right up there with them and worth the trip!

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