Kay - thank you, thank you! I hate weeding more than anything. Oxalis and crabgrass everywhere. It's been a challenge with the rose garden as the bed was overrun by both and I can't get myself to dig everything up and start with fresh soil as I don't think the old roses would survive. Sometimes I stop and talk to neighbors while I'm walking my dogs too. They're not very friendly, but they're ok to talk to about their plants. The neighbors across the street are friendlier, but all they have are lawns and potted palms. I seek out the gardens that stand out among the agapanthus+jasmine+nandina that most Southern California gardens have and kind of linger in front in hopes that there is someone tending it at that moment hahaha garden stalking. It's been like The Secret Garden lately, new plants growing amongst dead ones, then later on discovering they're not dead at all. It's all very exciting and I send my mom and sisters photos and we try to remember where grandma placed it in the garden, and what else she grew with it. We are bonding through this collective memory of what it looked like in its heyday. I will post more pictures once things get greener and fuller 1gteacher - I've been too nervous about direct sowing poppy seeds because I think the weeds would swallow them up. Actually, I haven't direct-sown any seeds other than nasturtium in fear that I'd pull it out by accident like I did with the dill and artichoke(that did not look like a weeds, but I was in factory-assembly-line zoned-out weed-pulling frenzy and they were so small and surrounded by Oxalis). I do have a thousand poppy seeds so... Here goes nothing, wish me luck :) mrclint - yes, my grandmother did this too! She never mulched, she just stuck nasturtiums, peas, spinach, thai chili peppers and cilantro everywhere. She would give me and my brother a list of what ingredients she needed for Sunday lunch and we would hunt everywhere, front and backyard, coz it WAS everywhere. She always had food growing year round. I just miss her a lot. At first I didn't even want the house because I looked at it and kept thinking she was there pruning her roses or then I realize she's never ever going to come back to her garden. I guess I just needed time to mourn her garden too, and now I've set to work and I see it in a different light, see every new opportunity and theres a backyard large enough to make mistakes in :) I have started reading about succession planting and I think it makes a lot of sense. I just have a hard time making decisions on what to actually plant haha. I have so much to learn :) your photo of the Washington Navel is very inspiring! And it's reminded me that I need to prune the Meyer lemon tree in the backyard that is so heavy with fruit. It's also gotten really tall. That one my grandma underplanted with cilantro. This weekend, I'll be weeding and mulching around trees as well. - Isabel

Beautiful day here today. In the 60's and sunny. Played bridge and Hostess served lunch afterwards. Went to bank, Trader Joe's and came home. Finally started taking down Christmas decorations. Will finish the messy job tomorrow while waiting for my new washer to be delivered.

It's 64° here in Larimore; it's drizzling rain and breezy. After enduring Arkansas and Texas heat and humidity the past two weeks, this feels like Heaven. Today is our 24th wedding anniversary. We went out to eat and bought a new gas grill for the patio. We also stopped by the garden center so I could get more plants for the gardens. They are still very sparce. We added three Sweet 100 cherry tomato plants, four bunches of Kale, one jalapeño and two poblano peppers, and a North Star bell pepper to the veggie garden. For the cottage side of gardening I picked up four more white cosmos, three Wave petunias (two purple, one pink) another curly parsley, four Cleome plants, two Armani peonies - and two four-packs of Super Elfin impatiens for my neighbor's two patio pots. I always put impatiens in the pots for her. I wanted two "red" peonies and Wes like the Armani's color. I know nothing about them, but I guess I'll learn! Their supplies were very limited. I have hot Tetley tea made and a "Paul Müller Selb" Bavarian porcelain cream and sugar set to add to the table today. I love this larger, funky set. Yes; like 99% of all my pretties, they are thrift shop treasures!

I really should get First Blush! Interesting how the purple spreads into the leaf tips...Is it keeping the colour all season long or plain green in summer like Purple Haze?