Grafting It’s a quieter time of year in the garden, and a good time to let ourselves and the landscape rest. For those of us who are always busy, it’s a good time for projects to prepare for the season ahead. One of the quirkier and most rewarding winter projects is [...]
The Winter Garden Here in the Bay Area, we enjoy a climate that makes outdoor living possible in every season. The coldest weeks of winter might be spent inside, true, but even on the shortest days of the year your garden can be enjoyed! Is it possible to have a beautiful [...]
Fall Garden Close-Up: Seeds, Roots, & Bulbs This time of year, it may seem like things are drawing to a close in the garden. You’ve already harvested vegetables and fruits, and many of the flowers are giving one last show before it gets cold. So what else could possibly need to [...]
CLIMATE ZONES 101 If you buy plants in nurseries or research garden ideas online, you have probably noticed that plants sometimes have “zone” numbers listed. While there may be some folks well-versed in planting by zone, others of us want to know exactly what those darn numbers mean! Planting zones allow [...]
LOW-WATER, HIGH-FASHION GARDENING Alright, it is now officially hot. We’re feeling it, and our gardens are feeling it too! The long summers here are always a bit of a reminder that we should be savvy with our water use. Maybe you’re interested in lowering your water bill, but what if cacti [...]
Flowering Vines For Spring Twining gracefully up a trellis or covering an entire wall, vines are the vertical planting element that take foliage and flower in the landscape to new heights! There are myriad vines that we use in our designs, each with a different purpose in mind. Vines are [...]
Winter Décor From the Garden Every year around this time, we love bringing nature into our homes to make things feel seasonal and bright on the longest nights, whatever holidays we do or don’t celebrate. While you can of course buy wintery décor at local stores and nurseries, we prefer to [...]
Oh, Deer… Deer-Resistant Plantings Beautiful and graceful deer are a gem of Northern California’s wildlife, but when they are feasting on your garden, they can be voracious enough to drive a gardener crazy! So how do you prevent deer from mowing down anything they can reach? While not always totally untouched, these are [...]
Planting Under Oaks Of the many icons of the Northern California landscape, the oak is both a beautiful and impressive individual. Both inland Valley Oaks and the Coast Live Oak can live to hundreds of years, grow into beautiful gravity-defying specimens, and support entire habitats within their surroundings. If such a [...]
The Early Spring Garden The Groundhog has spoken, the verdict is in. 2020 will have an early Spring! Whether or not we trust the Groundhog, we have to admit that we are all ready for Winter to be over, to get our hands back in the dirt and our minds back [...]
