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Click to download your own copy of this Cherry Blossom desktop for your smartphone
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Wallpaper will now be available as an option under Settings, Wallpaper
A friend mentioned that the Cherry Trees at Lake Balboa near me here in Van Nuys, CA were blooming. It seemed much too early of that according to my records of previous blooms, but I decided to drive buy today and check things out.
Well, as you can see from the photos below, there are indeed some cherry trees blooms, but these are on the smaller trees which I think are slightly different from the Japanese Cherry trees that fill the interior of the park. I did notice a few sporadic blooms on the larger trees, but I would goes they have about another 2 weeks or so before they are in full flower.
That said, the blooms that are there are quite striking. I hope you enjoy the photos! As always, click for larger images via Flickr.
Pictures of Cherry Blossoms in Previous Years – 2003 2008 2010
Lake Balboa is located in the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles, CA, near the intersection of the 101 and 405 freeways. Here is a map showing its exact location.
The wisteria that covers our back pergola has always struggled. Like some other gardeners have written, wisteria is a finicky beast that blooms only when it really wants to and only under the perfect circumstances, which can vary from plant to plant and variety to variety.
Our wisteria has only bloomed twice in the past 15 years, if memory serves and never prolifically at that. It throws off lots of leaves but no flower pikes. Even worse, when we built the new pergola a few years ago, we had to cut it back hard in order to tear down the old structure that was there.
Link: Constructing the new pergola – February 2006
With all of that history, though, I am optimistic for the next couple of years. We recently removed a pine tree that heavily shaded the entire pergola. Now that this has been removed I am already seeing a difference in the wisteria. It seems a bit healthier overall and I think the extra sunlight will do it well.
Here are some photos from today showing leaves both just starting and fully expanded to take in the sun.
Click photos for larger images
Our little volunteer tomato plant is kicking up production this week. I don’t know if it the mild weather or a bit more sun, but I count around 20 new flowers on the plant and I am already seeing new fruit being set. Hard to believe we can have this much production in February, even here in Los Angeles.
This tomato was a volunteer that sprouted from the homemade compost I used to start some other seeds. I left in several seedlings until I could identify them and was so happy when I spotted this tomato. It continues to surprise me everyday with its vigor, even stuck in a pot like it is.
I came across these in the Baking Bites blog, which I read via RSS. This posts crosses a couple of my interests. They are cookie cutters, so this post is about food, but they are flower-shaped and other garden shaped cookie cutters, so this crosses in the gardening topic. Oh what to do? Where do I post this? Everywhere, I guess. (SMILE)
These cookie cutters have deep indentations so that they shape the cookie as well as cut it out. You can highlight the design with icing, but I usually just like the plain cookies. The article has some good advice on the best cookie dough to use. You want something that doesn’t spread very much when baked, so that the detail remains in the final product.
Link: Even more cookie cutters from Amazon.com
It may not be time for spring as far as the flowers in your garden are concerned (even during a mild winter), but with this set of Garden Cookie Cutters you can get spring started in the comfort of your kitchen. These cookie cutters are some of the cutest cutters I’ve seen in a long time because the plastic is shaped just like the finished cookies. The cutters punch out very detailed cookies not just the outlines of cookies – in eight different designs, including a rose, daisy, tulip, dahlia, ladybug, butterfly, bumble bee and dragonfly. They’re easy to grip and kids will have just as much fun with them as adults, especially since the plastic handles are more kid-friendly than you’ll find on some cookie cutters.
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Read the entire article on Garden Cookie Cutters from BakingBites.com
Click the link below to view/download your own copy of this Paperwhites Desktop Wallpaper for your computer from A Gardener’s Notebook.
Download this garden desktop picture for your computer
The daffodil foliage had been pushing up over the last few days, but as I drove away from the house today I noticed a flash of yellow from the street side bed. Sure enough, this daffodil was fully opened. Many more tome come, but there is something special about the first one of the season.
What is happening in your garden — or what will happen once the snow subsides?
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You have probably seen my photos and videos of our wine bottle garden edging project. This photo shows a similar approach using an entirely different material. I am not sure where you would source enough of this pipe cheaply, but obviously this person did.
One issue with using unique items for your garden edging is that their small diameter means you need A LOT of them. The wine bottles are probably 4″-5″ in diameter but that is still much smaller than a brick, a stone or using some bender-board edging. This also means it takes more time to install, as you have to lay each piece separately.
I like that the gardener filled each pipe with soil and stones and then planted small succulents. I think this is a great use of otherwise wasted space in the edging.
Still, I really like the look of our wine bottles and these steel pipes. Click through on this Pinterest link for more garden photos and ideas from the original blog.
Source: floradoragardens.blogspot.com via Douglas on Pinterest
We haven’t made a trip out to Descanso recently, but this would certainly be cool to see in person. There is a lot of interest in vertical gardening lately and this does it on a grand scale.
Link: Descanso Gardens Web Site
Vertical Garden Installation at Descanso Gardens from Descanso Gardens on Vimeo.
