Succulents and More™

I first visited John Kuzma's garden in Portland, Oregon during the 2014 Garden Bloggers Fling . At that time, it was still recovering from an unusually harsh winter that had set many plants back, but that didn't make it any less impressive. Last September, three years later, I had the opportunity to see how the garden had progressed . In a nutshell: splendidly! Like fine wine, fine gardens only get better with age. In what is beginning to look like a tradition, I was back at the Kuzma garden a couple of weekends ago in the company of Loree Danger Garden Bohl, Kathy GardenBook Stoner, Sean Hogan and Preston Pew of Cistus Nursery , and UK plantsman extraordinaire  Nick Macer of Pan Global Plants . John and his wife Kathleen—the very definition of gracious hosts—had invited us over for drinks and nibbles. Nothing could dampen our spirits, not even the rain that started to fall in the early evening.  For me, this trio of Yucca rostrata in the front is one of the hallmark

As I mentioned in this post , I recently spent three fun days in Portland, Oregon. They were filled with all kinds of plant-related activities, including garden visits, the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon's Plant Fest, and— do I need to say it? —nursery hopping and plant shopping. Since I flew to Portland and back, I could only take a few plants home with me. Fortunately, fellow blogger Kathy of GardenBook , who lives in Napa, happened to be in Portland at the same time and offered to be my plant transportation service. Yesterday, I went to her house to pick up my haul. When I set everything out on our driveway, I realized that it was more than I had remembered buying: Even so, there are few plants I now wish I had bought, especially at Cistus Nursery . Oh well, there's always next time...

Like spring, fall is prime time for plant sales. The last weekend in September seems to be particularly busy, making me wish I could be in more than one place at a time. Below are the events I'm aware of. If you know of any other sales, please let me know and I will add them. In the calendar listing, you can click on any of the events to see details. That's what it's all about! CALENDAR

I just got back from a long weekend in Portland, OR. The nominal reason for my visit was the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon 's Plant Fest , a half-day program featuring a special lecture (this year by Kelly Dodson and Sue Milliken of Far Reaches Farm ) and a plant sale. Fortunately, friend and fellow Northern California blogger Kathy of GardenBook  was in Portland on business. She'd taken her own car so she could buy plants, and she agreed to transport my haul back with her. This allowed to me to buy with abandon—something I wouldn't have been able to do otherwise since I flew there and back. Kathy lives only an hour from my house so picking up my plants will be easy. Loree of Danger Garden  and her husband Andrew once again gave me a home away from home; they're not only great hosts, but also the nicest people. It was wonderful being able to step outside and explore the Danger Garden as much as I wanted. I took a lot of pictures and will have a couple of long posts

When I visited landscape designer Troy McGregor in mid-April , he was redoing a major part of his backyard—the area that would have been the lawn in the good old days. I was there when a shipment of rocks arrived, and throughout the summer I was wondering what Troy had done with them. Last Saturday I went back to Troy's to pick up some plants, and I finally saw the finished product: a masterful multi-level rockscape that is now home to the kinds of plants I love. If I woke up one morning and saw this view from our front windows, I would have a happy smile on my face. 

The weekend is almost over. The only good thing about it: It's time for another Weekend Wrapup (WeWu). The calendar is relentlessly moving towards fall, but the weather here in Davis seems to be blissfully ignorant. It's 95°F right now on Sunday afternoon at 4pm! I'm looking forward to change of scenery, and temperature, this coming weekend when I'll be in Portland, Oregon. But for now, let's dive right in. Hot weather, hot plants. Billy balls ( Craspedia globosa ) is my personal "it" plant for summer 2018. The first one, planted in the spring, did so well that I've added three more. All of them are in the succulent mounds in the front yard. I'm keeping them well watered since they're still getting established but the heat doesn't seem the faze them.

A couple of Saturdays ago, I went to Walnut Creek for the Ruth Bancroft Garden's 2018 Local Garden Tour. I had the opportunity to visit three out of four water-wise gardens. One was Brian's garden, which I  showed you in this post . Today I'll take you to the two other. These two gardens are located right next to each other. What's more, they were designed/overhauled by Laura Hogan of Arid Accents  and, as a result, have a cohesive look you rarely see in two neighboring properties. The front yards' limited plant palette combining rocks with agaves, grasses and silver-leaved perennials is an effective foil for the streamlined architecture of the 1960s Eichler-style homes. House #1   The agaves in the front yard of garden #1 were moved from the backyard where they had outgrown their space. A great cost-effective way to create something new with what you already have!

Annie's Annuals in Richmond, CA is having a big Labor Day sale: 20% all plants, both in the nursery and online. If you can't make it to the nursery, you still have until midnight Pacific Time tonight (September 3) to place an order on their web site . I made the 1-hour drive to Richmond on Saturday morning, armed with my wish list and camera. As an Annie's follower on Facebook and Instagram , I knew that their display beds were bursting with color. Unfortunately, the battery pack in my camera gave out early—I'd grabbed the one that doesn't hold much of a charge anymore—but I still got a few dozen good photos so you can get an idea of how picture-perfect the plantings are right now. Always a sight for sore eyes