They’re in all the shops, being blogged about on all the gardening blogs and gardeners are boasting about how many they have. Bulbs. The promise of spring blossoms – or in some cases late winter blooms – is hard for
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Yosemite National Park
The first time I ever visited California, I was amongst the ranks of the great unwashed – back-packing, low on funds and at the tail end of a two year long trip that took me around the globe. I headed
The ways of the road
Many tourist hot-spots create such a draw that very often beautiful places near them are largely ignored as people swarm to see the more famous sights. This happens with Yosemite National Park. The surrounding mountains and towns tend to get
Gardening Girl is GO!
This week I got great news – I was accepted to do the 2011 Master Gardeners Program with Santa Clara County. The course is only held every two years and has only 50 places. This year, I was told, there
Exploring on Columbus Day
We were in shock. My husband’s work gave him the day off on Columbus Day. The only appropriate thing to do on such a day is go exploring. Lick Observatory sits on top of Mount Hamilton, and on a clear
Native plant garden at Lake Cunningham
Every Wednesday morning, dedicated volunteers arrive at the Lake Cunningham native plant garden (off Tully Road in San Jose) at 9am to begin watering and weeding. Then I trundle in at about 10.30! Well, every little bit helps, and if
Shopping for native plants.
This week I’ve had two very different native plant shopping experiences. One was very unpleasant. I won’t mention the name of the place other than to say it is closing down (and I’m not surprised) and the prices were really,
Finding it hard to contain myself
I attended a Master Gardener talk on container gardening a while back. Not that I don’t have plenty of room to stick plants in the ground, but initially, I wasn’t sure where I wanted to put things. I have this
What season is it?
I get confused by the seasons in California. Right now, I’m looking forward to the rain coming, in much the same way I used to anticipate spring time in Ireland. That’s because in many ways summer here is like the
Too mulch of a good thing!
Wow! Friday again – last week simply flew in. That’s what happens when you become engrossed in a project. My week was a whirl of sleeping, shoveling, eating and more shoveling. My aim was to have the wood chip pile