Hair New Era

My friend Jo and I spent a lovely morning together yesterday. As usual, we started out with breakfast at our favorite little cafe in Graton - they serve excellent coffee there and the scrambles are delicious as well.











I was good - I only bought a beautiful columbine and a small trellis that you can put into a pot. But in my head there are many colorful dreams of a beautiful garden this year. Every year I can't wait to get the garden going. The calendula are beautiful and rich right now, and since we have unusually warm weather the peonies are already on their way out of the soil. I have been trimming trees and cutting back old and dead branches and twigs, preparing the way for new growth. I feel whole when I can work in the garden and feel the soil between my fingers.

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When we moved into our house ten years ago, the backyard was nothing to speak about. Sure, it had a nice redwood deck, but there was a lot of concrete and the flowerbeds were desert-like with a few fruit trees. You really couldn't call this a garden; it was a yard.


However, it held a lot of potential.

Over the years I eventually turned the desert into a lovely colorful blooming paradise, going through a lot of trial and error - and I mean a LOT. I learned which plants worked in what location (and which didn't). The hardest part was amending the soil - we have mainly adobe and it needs a lot of compost to get the soil workable.


But all the hard work eventually paid off, and I love my wild garden. Yes, I call it a garden now, even though there's still the concrete. That, however, is a great foundation for half barrels that hold most of my veggies, and huge colorful pots. The garden is full of wildlife - so far I have counted about 25 bird species who stopped at the bird feeders. There are lizards, squirrels, skunks and raccoons. And of course, the cats from the neighborhood!







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