Until Then, I Have Enough

Nothing is perfect here yet.  I have ideas and energy to give them shape.  But it takes time.  Time to plan, time to plant, time to turn the leaves and lawn clippings into compost, time to consider water in a dry land, time to let things fill in.  I want intriguing pathways and inviting places to sit – or at least places that would make you imagine we actually sit in the garden.  I want all the interest we’re supposed to have: evergreen structure for the barren winter; pops of color for the heralding of spring; interesting bark, variegated foliage, and shade from summer’s wrath; and heartbreaking, nostalgic color in autumn.  I want a sunny patch of fertile soil for the pleasure of contributing praise-worthy tomatoes to our dinner.  And I want a rock, half buried in the shadowy ground, covered in moss.

I think I will have these things someday.  Or, at least, I will have some of these things some days.  Until those days though, I will remember that I have enough.  I will remember that some day I will want nothing more than what I had today. 

The light from the setting sun gave me pause.  A bright, quiet moment to be savored.

The scent of jasmine, finally climbing the arbor with vigor, was intoxicating.

I live within driving distance of the Napa Valley, aka "Wine Country".  I was pleased to see grapes
already growing on this vine in the ground less than a month. 

Birdhouse and suet created at a birthday party . . . more for us than the birds.

It looks like she's running from the camera but she's really just chasing
her new dog, Gus.  Her laughter and his tiny yips fill the evening with
innocence and my heart with gratitude.

The Annual Mother's Day Garden Tour Part 1

I've been taking my wife and mother-in-law to a garden tour each Mother's Day weekend for the past seven years.  The tour raises funds for an elementary school in the neighborhood where these gardens are.  

It's a great tradition for us even though we all feel like it's become much more of a "backyard living" tour than actual garden tour.  There were seven stops total and I'll share pictures from most of those stops over the next few days.  

This first house was by far the most "garden like" house on the tour.  

There was no lawn in the front yard.  Only the flagstone patio with the fountain in the middle as pictured above and the flower beds shown in the first picture.

I love rain chains.  I've never been able to get one that worked very well for me but I love the look and the whole idea behind them.

I remember a whole thread of posts on Dave's Garden called "Show Us Your Compost Bins".  I think a lot of avid gardeners avoid composting because they have small spaces and they don't want it to look bad.  But this three-bin series fits right into the yard and doesn't look bad at all.  

The sound of running water is always welcome in the Sacramento heat.

These adirondack chairs were right next to the pond.

A single grape vine growing in this narrow side yard.

This jasmine-covered arbor smelled wonderful.  My wife, who sneezes every time she even happens to see a jasmine plant remarked out loud that she thought it might be worth all the sneezes to have this in our yard.

I'll leave you with a shot of their back porch.  The watering can was a staged item, I'm sure, but it was a nice touch.  

Stay tuned for more pictures in the coming days and happy Mother's Day to all the Mother's out there.

Mother's Day Garden Tour Part II

If you missed Part I you can find it "here".

Let's dive right back in with the fourth house on the tour.

Not everyone can live on a golf course, but if you have the desire, I suppose you can bring the golf course to your front yard.  This is not my style at all, but it's not my house either.

Yes, that's a putting green.  It's surrounded by Mondo Grass though and I like that.  I use it all over my yard.

I'll be blunt.  This was my least favorite garden on the tour.  I would have done a lot of things differently if it were my house, but even so I did like a few features such as these nicely concealed utility areas:

I also liked this piece of art work tucked into a corner of the yard:

But about 90% of the backyard was decking material and although I think what they had was nice enough, it was just too much wood for me (That's what she said!).

And like everyone in Sacramento, they were going crazy with their tomatoes.

The next house on the tour was my daughter's favorite.  For some reason it was decorated in a Pirate theme.  I guess it was advertising for a company.  If my daughter was the target demographic, it worked.

The yard was nice, but the hospitality left something to be desired.  I think they poisoned the grog.

These treasure chests may be filled with riches, but the real value in placing something here is in screening the hot tub.

Before we set sail on this house, let's have a look at a few of the more land-lubbing features of this garden like this large Japanese maple.

This fence hides the pool equipment.  It should look great when these vines (bower vines, I think) grow in more.

This next picture is for my daughter.  She thoughts these beach balls were "so cool".

The next house on the tour was my favorite.  This garden felt lived in and cared for to me.  I didn't get the impression that everything was planted three weeks ago.  This garden clearly has a loving caretaker.  My first clue that I was going to enjoy this garden was this Japanese maple which looks like a Koto-no-ito to me.  Translated, that means "golden old harp."  I love this tree and have a smaller version in my own yard.

And then there was this awesome bench.

Due to the shadows, the sunlight and all the people, I didn't have a chance to frame this scene as well as it deserves, but if you can look past its shortcomings as a photograph you can get a good sense of the feel and layout of the garden.

Here's a closer view of the stepping stones, ground cover, and the rocks edging the beds.

This garden had a nice-sized patio and covering it was this iron structure with bamboo roofing.  I fell in love with this because I love iron in the garden and the bamboo covering would ease the sticker shock a bit since I don't think I'd ever be able to afford a full awning's worth of iron or steel.

Like plants?  Here are a bunch of them:

And check out the colors on the Japanese maple (probably a 'Bloodgood' but who knows?)

The final house was a bit of a let down after this past one but in the front yard along their walkway to the front door they had this pretty cool "water feature".  Our summers are so hot here that any kind of moving water is always a welcome sight.

This fountain was also in the front yard along their driveway.

In the backyard was yet another fountain; this one much larger.  The artwork hanging on the fence was part of the garden tour's fundraising.  I believe those were painted by the elementary school kids.  If they were done by the homeowner . . . well, I hope that's not their day job.

The garden wasn't all about water features though.  There was nice looking hardscaping too.

And gazing balls . . . Sometimes I think gazing balls look great.  Most of the time, I think they look tacky.  Thoughts?

Thanks for joining me on my tour!  I hope you enjoyed it.