December 01, 2018

Don't Give Up, Planting Time is Now

December 01, 2018/ Hilary Gordon

The weeks we are having right now are the best time of the year to plant shrubs and perennials for our summer dry climate. The soil is still warm from summer and autumn, but now it’s also thoroughly moist from the first weeks of good rain. The sunny days with fluffy, white clouds that come between rainstorms are the ideal time for planting. Newly installed plants will have five or six months to get their roots down into new soil before they get their first drought stress test, often in late May or early June when the first dry hot day of the new year comes along.

October 01, 2018

Blessing of Rain

October 01, 2018/ Hilary Gordon

Rain fell like a blessing on our town last night, and the night before. Gentle, persistent showers, a sunny day, and then another night of showers. The garden was so happy! Leaves that had been dusty for months were shiny and refreshed, plants that were chronically stressed during our long dry summer were suddenly perky. Our gardening seasons are so dependent on this first rain of the year, that it almost should be declared the New Year whenever it comes. Break out the champagne!

December 01, 2014

Sidewalk Gardens

December 01, 2014/ Hilary Gordon

I’m excited about a new element in the streetscape, sidewalk gardens. More and more frequently, I pass sections where the sidewalk has been removed and small gardens have been planted even where there are no street trees. Here are blooming yarrows, geraniums, sages, and lavenders. There are dramatic effects with New Zealand flax and muscular succulents. Grasses, wallflowers, and California natives like hummingbird sage or ceanothus, thrive in a profusion of colors and textures.

October 01, 2014

Why I’m Planting Ceanothus Now

October 01, 2014/ Hilary Gordon

This year, I'm desperate to plant Ceanothus now. There are hundreds of reasons to plant this sturdy, tidy, beautiful, fragrant native, but this year three of those reasons are pushing me into urgent nursery buying excursions. If not now, then soon, landscape watering is going to be very limited. So working slowly, section by section, I have been replacing plants in my gardens that need summer water with new choices that will be drought tolerant once established, like Ceanothus. I invite you to do the same.

April 01, 2011

March Showers Bring April Flowers

April 01, 2011/ Hilary Gordon

From now through July the beautiful and vigorous native plants in our native garden will bloom in turn. This is their active season, with water in the soil from winter rains, and warm days ahead. By July, the soils are dry and the fogs roll in. Our native garden quiets down, because the dry late summer months are the dormant time for California native plants.

September 01, 2010

Generosity of Nature

September 01, 2010/ Hilary Gordon

Every year I bring the inspiration from my annual trip the Eastern Sierra back to my own gardens, and try to create on a small scale a reminder of this generosity and strictness. To create a natural feeling in the garden, it’s important to resist the temptation to plant one specimen of each of your favorite plants. Instead, repeat the most successful and best suited plants. This way you can create the same feeling of ordered wildness we loved in the mountains.

January 01, 2009

Blessing of Rain

January 01, 2009/ Hilary Gordon

December brought the blessing of rain, and a few cold nights; just enough to let the plants know that it is wintertime. In our microclimate, the year is like the proverbial snake eating its tail. Fall’s colorful leaves still persist as the first spring blossoms make a tentative trial. In just a few short weeks, we’ll see our first plum blossoms, and then the year will unfurl again, as it has so many times before.

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