Come join the swallowtails, mayflies, & bees in flirting with flowers!

July 22 is right at your doorstep, the day of the East Bay Garden Conservancy's Open Gardens.
Start at any of the gardens listed on the website.

My garden is close to Harlan Hand's Memorial Garden published this week in the Chron.

 In my garden you will find a fiesta of colors, reds, oranges, yellows, blooming in Dahlia's zinnias, agastaches and more.

At the end of the documentary, Queen of the Sun, one answer to the need for supporting bees was to plant flowers. Planting flowers is part of the scene of sustainability. Bees and other pollinators need flowers.
I've got flowers! Come get some ideas, and if there are seeds you are welcome to gather a few.

Annies' Annual's are well represented in the garden, as are the local nurseries, and many plants from Suncrest growers.

From Annie's there are annuals and perennials in bloom in the tiny native front 'meadow'.
And from Suncrest, dark leaved dahlia's and bright red flowering coral 'tree - shrubs' both backing up the bronze patina of the large sculpture.

All the gardens on the tour are a must see. Go to the website and get a map to organize your day.

I will be giving a demonstration in my garden at 11 am. on how to make concrete stepping stones, and painting demo for terra cotta pots.

See you in the garden!

If you were to come to my house, you would find 7 very full bouquets of flowers plopped between in-progress ceramics. In full swing for the Garden Conservancy East Bay Open Day is what's happening here. I spoke to Erin over at the Conservancy in the fall asking her why the East Bay has not been on 'open days' for awhile. Her reply of 'not enough interest' was met by me with well I'm intersted. A bunch of other gardeners came on board, even as it's scheduled for the awkward month of July. Thus bouquets. My garden is in full bloom right now. Weird. Huh! I nod my head in disbelif while cutting roses, snaps, calceolaria, clematis, scabiosa saying to myself..if not now l when?  Part challenge, part experiment, part foolishness I'm cutting back in the hope of cut and come again for a lot of things and making space for a new crop of 4 inchers mostly from Annie's Annuals. Annie has got year round color over there. There are a lot of flower friends that I like to see that just come in the summer. Zinnias, caliopsis, bachelor buttons, petunias, sunflowers to name some favorites. And then there are the vegetables. I'm still planting beans, tomatoes, various squashes along with a new crop of lettuce.

So hope that you come for the open day to see how it all turns out. July 22. There is much more info on the Garden Conservancy website www.gardenconservancy.org/opendays/

Ann Leyhe of Mrs. Dalloway's Bookstore has some color combo surprises for you in her garden as does Leslie Piels of Toad's Potted Plants (both will have their gardens on this year's tour) jJoin the three of us at Mrs. Dalloways on July 14^th for a preview presentation, conversation and summer tea with berries at the book store. Check out. Mrs Dalloways..www.mrsdalloways.com.

This will be the last open garden here for a bit. The garden will not be open the first two Sunday's of July as I'm doing this prep work and also taking a few days hiking or glazing ceramics.

Next year I'm thinking of organizing some workshops or something instead of having the garden open. Not to say that this is your last chance, but it is for awhile so hope you can make it on the 22nd.

In the meantime, my garden adventure for the year here at home was making a small meadow of california natives, a mix of annuals, perennials, bulbs and shrubs in the front garden. Wanted to see what could be done with color and texture with a new palette. Made for a wonderful meadow up until now so we will see if supplementing with a few new additions from Annie's and a major cut back will extend the bloom time.

More garden notes to come on the blog and facebook.

See you in the garden, or nurseries,

Keeyla

Night Hunters If you have been considering the advocation of becoming a night hunter, snail and slugs will provide you a hunting ground to practice in. Wearing a mask might further spook your neighbors who will already be questioning you when meeting by the garbage can in the morning when depositing the compost bucket into the green can. In my case, my neighbor Jill questioning. "Was that you Keeyla shining a light into my bedroom window at 11:30 at night"? Could it really have been that late? It could. After all is done, I head out to the garden to gather up snails & slugs into one of those compostable milky white bags you get now at the health food store. I count them. You would think that after getting 60 of the lil' buggers on Tuesday there wouldn't be any more to harvest Thursday night. Not so. Plenty more. Where do they come from. In my garden I look everywhere. I know that they are especially fond of the inside rims of pots and succulent strapped shaped leaves like you find on agapanthus. At this time of year, April, I'm out saving my ranunculus. ( Do you know that I heard on the radio that Octopi is now Octopuses?) That is the kind of random thought that occurs to the brain collecting ranunculus feasting slugs. Believe it or not, I say a little prayer..telling these cute, slimy, slipping along bent stems with their feelers out critters that they are welcome back in another form that helps my flowers. As water, perhaps, is what I'm thinking. It helps my guilt as I plunge yet another one into my compost bag. I used to dig a hole in the daytime in prep for my nightly hunts so when I caught one chewing away at the stem holding up some flower or another, I'd deposit it in the hole to be covered over. Hurrying them up on their way to becoming compost. Still think that is a good practice if you have the foresight to dig a hole. So often I refer to my Mom as a path finder in my life as a gardener, not so when it comes to snails and slugs. Cory's snail bait in the bright yellow and red box was an always to be replenished supply of the garden shed. I don't like using poisons.  Beer pans work for while, copper collars for awhile. And the web is full of suggestions. I prefer to go out and hunt them down. You can feed the snails on corneal and lettuce and serve them up as escargot. I tend to prefer my garlic on french bread to dip into seafood soup with my snails sea faring relatives. My neighbor has one of those 'coal miner' lamps that is on a stretchy band to put around your head. It's on my list of things to get someday. I just use a cheapo flashlight. One client who didn't like to get the slim of snails and slugs on her fingers, told me that she used chop sticks to catch them. One student asked me  what do with a snail she'd found.  I told her to, excuse me, kill it, she picked up a rock and smashed it with such force that it splattered all over her face. Please don't follow her example. And yes, getting rid of the gooey slim does present a problem!  When people tell me what a great job I have, I agree, but then think of the list of job chores comparable to dealing with snails and slugs. While I've offered  clients my snail hunting services, I've yet to be taken up on this. I've grown quite fond of going out into the garden at night. Gives you a whole different perspective and somehow a deeper bonding with your plants. In the evening dew drops suspended on the edges of leaves and stems is what brings out the snails and slugs..I'm rather sympathetic to that as it is quite glittery by flashlight. --  There are some precautions to be made to nocturnally inclined gardeners. Two eager midnight maidens reported to me how they slimly escaped the  'talons' or rather the 'fangs'  of death  on a darkened garden path by stepping on poisonous snakes. One barely came out alive taking over a year to recover the other almost lost a leg and the blackened swollen limb was no picnic to endure. So those inhabiting snake or other dangerous animal territories should take all precaution. The rest of us knowing the lay of the land before venturing out is a good idea. A note: I've added to my catch of night crawlers; grubs, cut worms, earwigs, and walking sticks. Have fun joining the 'Night Crawlers'