the last bit of yesterday was finished off at the farm, doing some general clean-up and a bit of planting. the guys weed whacked and planted clusters of jade in the succulent mother garden – i poked around taking pictures and organizing the accumulating detritus that the wind brings in on the field. on the driveway, a number of volunteers have established well in the compacted gravel. seed from Shasta Daisys, Nepeta, Stock and Feverfew – all have been brought in from my truck or the wind, and have settled nicely in various parts of the long driveway. it’s weird how you can try so hard to get something to grow in your garden, and it dies. but do nothing to cultivate a plant elsewhere, and it thrives. the mother garden is maintaining well, despite a lack of water and attention. some of the succulents are growing, but most are just maintaining, bright in color and healthy – but not exuding too much energy this time of year.
teeth i found in the field
i forget the name of this ground cover...
yarrow who planted itself in the driveway
discolored tree frog on the water tank pump...
Feverfew in the driveway
echeveria growing in the mother garden with concrete blocks
Aeonium growing in the mother garden
Today is the Fall Equinox (9/23/2011), an Equinox occurs twice a year when the Earth’s axis is tilted neither away nor towards the Sun. In garden terms (given there are no natural disasters where you live), your garden looks good. Probably a bit tired from the Summer’s bloom, but still full and spotted with color from the remaining mild weather. Rain and cold haven’t put it to sleep quite yet, and you still have enough time to get those last Winter veggies in the ground before turkey day.
*I l o v e this time of year.
If this time of year was a man, I’d marry it. I find myself writing “Fall” over and over on my notebooks. My papers are doodled with, “Mrs. Jennifer Fall. Mrs. Jenn Fall. Mr. & Mrs. Fall.” Let’s just say if Fall was porn, I’d be subscribing to “Deciduous Studs xxx” and having a grand old time. Yep, me and Fall are getting pretty serious.
Botanically speaking, my garden is rather schizophrenic this month. On the Coast, we had a heat wave and frost in Feb, a cold summer, and the sun is just now warming up our sea-salt-soaked bones. My lavender plants have just been sheared back from their summer blooms, the annuals are filling out and flowering, but my roses, salvias and poppies are spent. Generally gazing over the whole garden, it doesn’t look bad, but not as full and flowering as was last year.
Ah well.
In my recent nursery trips, I was able to procure some fabulous black bearded iris, black calla lilies, black poppies and black pansies. As you may or may not have guessed, I’m really into planting black flowers right now. Maybe it’s my mood from the shorter days and the darkness descending, maybe it’s Halloween inspired, or maybe I just like black. Either way, it’s Fall and I’m primed for the season!
What are the Fall plans for your garden?
I can’t believe Fall is almost here. It truly is the most perfect time of year for us Coastsiders… the waves have been gorgeous, the weather is turning from frigid to warm, and plants in my garden are finally starting to perk up and blossom. I’ve had growth and flowers all year, but it seemed like there was never that initial big swell of growth. You know, when you can almost see your plants expanding before your eyes. One week you walk by and everything looks nice, then the next you walk by and everything is completely out of control… lush, co-mingling and gorgeous. I feel like I haven’t really seem that much this year.
The seasonal change really hit me around friday of this past week. I dragged my plague infected self out of bed (sick w/ strep/cold/gnarly stomach flu for 2 weeks!) and slowly drove to HMB Nursery – top 5 places on Earth that leaves me completely happy. I gingerly pushed the cart down aisles of 4″ perennials, careful not to over do it. And by “over do it” I mean, not to barf or spend too much money. After filling up the cart, I headed up toward the register and saw the bulb boxes. For the 11th time (11 years of STILL finding myself surprised) I said, “Bulbs already!”. It is the one thing each year that reminds me another year has come and gone, and I am ever closer to that compost heap in the sky. Seriously, it freaks me out to see how bulbs are coming into nurseries earlier and earlier. I’m still picking my dahlias and now I need to think about tulips? It seems ungodly or something…
Maybe I’m just being too dramatic. What do you think about the fall/winter almost upon us? Are you finding bulbs anywhere?!
Alena Jean Nursery & Flower Shop
I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to post about Alena’s shop! Other than being friends with her forev’s, Alena’s shop is one of my weekly addictions:
Cracked out from green tea at the sushi lounge - check.
Veggies & fruit (and those crazy good malt balls) from G. Berta farm stand - check.
Flowers from Alena’s – check!
Alena opened her adorable shop on 340 Purissima (x street Mill) in Half Moon Bay, in 2005. Nestled in the amazing barn her dad (Jerry Whiting) owns and operates his landscape construction company out of. Jerry has been doing coastal landscapes since the 70′s, and has created gorgeous gardens all over HMB and beyond. She started small, just using a corner of the barn, sharing the rest with her dad. As business grew Alena booted him out and e x p a n d e d, creating a fabulous flower shop and nursery. There you will find flats and flats of gorgeous Annie’s Annuals, and other hard to find gems. Alena’s style leans towards (grabs and smacks about) the eccentric… always interesting and architectural. You will find your basic and beautiful rose and lily flower arrangement – but you’ll also find arrangements with artichokes, pods of all sorts, tillandsia, moss dripping, wild branches… in all sorts of cool vessels. However, my favorite part of the shop, is the shop itself. It’s worth a trip just putzing around and eying all of the gorgeous wood architecture and interesting fixtures. Wide plank barn wood. Irrigation key handles. Driftwood. Yep, it’s rustic heaven!
Next time you are in HMB – or need some fabulous flowers – check out Alena Jean Nursery & Flower Shop!
340 Purissima, HMB. 650.726.3662
Hours – Tues – Sat/ 10 – 5pm. Sun/ 11 – 3pm.
Yesterday in the early evening, I drove down to my farm to unload some flats of tomatoes and lavender I bought from the nursery. I normally wouldn’t drive all the way down to the farm to just unload a couple flats, but it was the tail end of a shit-tastic week and driving south tends to help my mood, in the event I’m feeling less than great. I slowed my truck on the driveway, which made that fabulous crunching sound, which for some reason reminds me of Fall no matter what time of year it actually is. I pulled the flat of Lavender out of the back of my truck, and placed it at the end of the newly mowed planting strip. The field had been cover cropped in early Fall, and now was a bona fide meadow, just under knee high with favas, mustard, thistle and little wisps of grass leaves. I walked through the field and surveyed how everything was doing; herbs like lavender, thyme, sage and rosemary were thriving in their little mulched beds. The ground was hissing with a beautiful cacophony of bugs moving from mowed section to meadow, probably somewhat displaced but happy to be soaking in the last bit of sun for the day. I walked back down the driveway, and thought about getting in my truck to drive home. Instead, I thought it best to nap on the driveway, next to the field. The flat of thyme I forgot to plant the day before made a wonderful pillow for the next hour.
I understand it’s cold and snowing elsewhere in the world. But here, in Half Moon Bay, CA – it’s almost 70 degrees.
In tribute to this fabulous weather that is inspiring emergence in my garden, here are some lovely emergence related links.
Take a moment to indulge:
We worked at the farm yesterday, moving soil and other debris with the tractor, and all around having as fabulous of a time you can have when working in dirt. Dustin must have moved something and found this little guy:
I’m guessing from this website he’s a Pacific Ring-necked Snake. Mildly venomous and delightfully colorful, we all instantly stopped what we were doing to poke and coo over our new little mascot. Once we were done scaring each other with him we put him safely in a wood pile where he acted dead, coiled into himself in self defense. Once we went away I’m guessing he slowly eased up and slithered in between the rough branches of the pile, finding himself a cool and protected place to rest from the days events. Hopefully he isn’t scared away for good and will show himself from time to time..
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Dirty Girl Gardening is a sister company to Wildflower Farms ,our organic landscape design company based out of Half Moon Bay, California.
For information and to get started on your next landscape project please contact Jennifer at Wildflower Farms or 650-726-5883 
