Holy compost – its been busy!

Damn its been a busy week! First my pumpkin seeds came in from mail order, the chickens are finally producing eggs at the same time (3 eggs per day), Interior Therapy (with that kook Jeff Lewis) is finally on, and I found a Julia Child chocolate cake recipe that would put you in a coma (from either the amount of butter used or the amount of awesomeness in it!)!

Along with life’s normal, chocolate-baking-seed-collecting-reality-tv-show-watching madness… I worked my butt off to make up for all of the rain from last week – many of my plants were really needing to get into the ground and settled. The rain last week delayed all of my planting projects, and the dry weather was an excellent reprieve. Last night Matt and I went to a fabulous event to raise funds for the HEAL Program in HMB, and this morning we attended (with delight!) a Sunset garden tour with other garden writers (more on that later!). In between all of the shenanigans, it’s the week of the SF Flower & Garden Show – or as I like to call it, “Insanity Week.”

In short, I’m exhausted and inspired.

Apryll and I strolled the show bright and early Wednesday morning, admiring booth after booth of garden lovelies…

Need a pink pair of garden gloves? It’s there.

Want some chocolate covered marshmallow logs? Booth 23-something. 4 for $15.

Need a cart of succulents and a corn dog at 10:30am? All at your finger tips at the SF Flower & Garden Show!

Awesome flower lights at the show… they bloom – open and close! (If you were intoxicated, it would be a real entertainment piece!)

A ridiculous cluster of the good, the bad and the ugly! But that’s what garden shows like this are all about… tons of diversity!

Plumeria from a sweet little booth. It was completely decked out in an “Island” theme… coconut shell necklaces, tropical plants and lovely flower jewelry. I splurged on two Plumeria “sticks”… one in yellow and one in white. Who knows if they will grow, but I’m willing to try it!

The dolls over at Habitat Design! I stopped by for a quick chat and they were working away like little bees… the booth was awesome! Tons of fabulous garden-inspired creations from their artisans. Apryll’s fav was a silverware chandelier! Mine was a darling terrarium…

This isn’t the image of my Vanilla Plantifolia (Once I saw it, I turned to Apryll and said, “Fuck!”. I knew I was going home with yet ANOTHER plant!) but it’s a gorgeous orchid from one of the many orchid suppliers at the garden show. If you are an orchid enthusiast – run, don’t walk! And bring the credit card!

Dee over at Harley Farms (out of Pescadero…) had GORGEOUS copper garden tools. This might have been the best thing I saw at the show… although the plant selection was a close second. She had shovels, edgers, trowels and cultivators… I was drooling over all of them. Ah, if only I could justify $150. per tool… Another day. Another credit limit.

(Sorry for the crap-tastic image quality… my camera was not happy with the inconsistent light)

Oh but the dahlia selection! I bought about 4 types… sticking with mostly dark purples. To be honest, I love dahlias for their weird tubers more than anything else.

And the seed selection was wonderful this year… an abundance heirloom varieties!

So, if you haven’t gone to the show yet – head on over. It’s open from now until Sunday.

If you have gone… what was your fav?