Now that we have moved and are planning some updates to the already established beautiful gardens here in our new home, I though I would reflect back on what I grew in my Chualar Garden. Of course I had successes and failures along the way but the posts below reflect what worked and what did not. Let’s chat about How to Develop a Mature Garden in California. I thought it would be fun to gather all of my posts on that garden in one place for my benefit and hopefully yours.
You can click on any post that sounds interesting.
The Importance of Structure in the Garden Part Two
As I elaborated in part one, the backbone of the garden are trees, hedges, evergreen shrubs, walls, fences, arbors, gates, and other man-made elements. All of these items work together to create a permanent and vertical dimension. In addition, the secondary structural elements such as paths and paving have a major impact on how we
The Importance of Structure in the Garden
Welcome to the latest edition of Project Design. Mary Ann, Annie, and I are joined by one of our favorite new bloggers Kerry from Graham Hill Design, and Marie’s Home and Garden, and our old pal Karen from Garden Home and Party I was hoping to spiff up my outdoor living areas but ran out
How to Achieve a Collected Look on your Porch or Patio
You can add character, charm, and personality by combining the old with the new. Don’t be afraid to mix and match styles, finishes, and textures to give your porch or patio interest. Think outside the box and don’t be afraid to repurpose items. Let’s take a look at how to achieve a collected look on
My California Garden in Spring-Part Two
Thank you so much for all the kind comments about my front garden. My back garden consists of the pool/patio area and what used to be called the rose garden. The rose garden is on the other side of the fireplace in a safe little corner where the deer have never trodden. If you read
My California Garden In Spring Part 1
Hi Everyone. My garden is so pretty this year due to the late spring rains I thought I would do an updated post . Parts of my garden are over 30 years old and all of it is at least 20 years old. There are positives and negatives to having a mature garden. The positives
Roses in the garden and a Garden Party
Heather from stylemindchic.com and Jennifer from awellstyledlife.com is sponsoring a #stylefocus event where we were asked to showcase our own personal style or what inspires us with a post from the past. My garden always inspires me. Enjoy and be sure to stop by and see Heather and Jennifer for tons of inspiration!! Spring came
My favorite Garden Roses… The Yellows
As a follow up post to Pat Welsh’s rose pro program I thought I would do a post about the roses that I have had the most success with in my own garden. I am not a fan of modern roses per say although I do have one or two in my garden. I prefer
How to Grow Beautiful Roses
Pat Welsh’s book Southern California Gardening was written in 1992. If you could see the dog eared version I have you would know what a valuable resource it has been for me. For those of you that have followed my blog for a while you know that I grow primarily antique and David Austin roses
My Rose Garden-What is Blooming Right Now
Good Morning. I hope you had a nice Mother’s Day. We social distanced with our son and daughter-in-law, in their new recently completed backyard. I will do a post on that soon. They had planned a surprise visit from “little summer” but she didn’t feel well so they were unable to come. That was extremely
The Collected Look in My Garden-How you can Get It
We have all had more time to appreciate our Outdoor Spaces during this pandemic. Would you like a more personal, bespoke look for your garden? A Collected look has personality, interest, and history. Collecting and gathering things from your travels, flea markets, and or architectural salvage and antique shops add sense of history and character
Do You Think Purple has Power in the Garden
Purple is possibly the most intriguing color in the garden. Because it is both hot and cold it works well with so many other colors in the garden. My new garden has very little purple. I think we are going to have to do something about that. Let’s take a look at Do You Think
This is the area that I will be working on in my new garden. I love the iceberg hedge by the way. You can’t beat iceberg for it’s disease resistance and constant blooming habit.
Many of the plants that did well in my Chualar garden will not thrive here. I am learning as I go. I am working to incorporate some David Austin and Romantica roses into the established gardens here. I don’t intend to reinvent the wheel. If it “aint broke don’t fix it”. I will say it is sometimes harder to work within the already established parameters rather than starting from scratch. Follow along it will be a challenge, especially since my gardening partner is only on one foot for the next couple of months!
Thank you for reading How to Develop a Mature Garden in California. You might also enjoy my posts about my former town garden Designing a Small Town Garden, and Backyard Town Garden Design.
The garden in your former home is beautiful,
It takes a lot of good soil and good fertilizer to get the best results and of course the right
amount of water and the right placement in the garden. Love the rose bush you had, just beautiful. I’m with you on modern roses.
Hi Cindy,
Are you on piped town supply water or rainwater collection tank? Most summers here in our garden in northern New Zealand we have a problem with limited rainfall and only a 50,000 litre rainwater tank to keep our semi rural garden ticking over. Sadly this January and February we have been hit with two major weather events, one a cyclone, causing catastrophic devastation to some of our principal fruit and wine growing areas and many thousands made homeless with the floods. We are losing trees from root rot when the tidal river beyond our boundary broke it’s bank and only time will tell how much more will be lost. Difficult times for gardening in our changing climate.
Hi Angela
We do not live in that home anymore but we did have a well and everything was dripped. Everything in the front yard was pretty much drought tolerant as well as the side. We had 0 grass. The back corner had roses and was the only zone that had more high water requiring plants. They did have water problems last year so I imagine some of the roses had to go. Where we live now, we are also on a group well. We do have a small patch of grass here. Everything is on drip and most of the plants don’t require a lot of water. We tore out all of the modern roses here, over 15. We will replace with about 9 David Austins. My husband, when he is back on his feet will start the process of checking all of the drip.
Cindy,
Thanks for this. As an avid gardener I will find the links very useful. I have the Pat Walsh book and use it for a variety of questions that pop up in my own garden. I planted my first David Austin rose this month, thanks to your recommendation. I chose Olivia rose, my first granddaughter’s name. 😊
Karen B.
Let me know how you like Olivia Rose Karen! Love her name!
Hi Cindy,
The gardens are beautiful. Being around this kind of beauty just brings serenity to one’s soul.
💗🌹💗the roses. I’m with you on the vintage type of roses. That is my preference as well.
I find through pure observation that roses are tricky to care for. They are like raising and taking care of children, it’s ever ending. My Master Gardner puts up sail shades. In the summer that can last 5 months it takes a good amount of nurturing to protect them from our harsh intense heat. It’s a true labor of love.
I’m not a gardener, however I have enormous
respect for those that are. Playing in the soil is such a healthy hobby to have.
Is there anything you can’t do?
Hi Katherine
Roses can be both tricky and forgiving. It is very hard to kill them! They do require regular water and fertilizer to thrive. That is why I prefer the old garden roses and the David Austins. Any rose that is disease prone get’s the shovel!
Lovely to look at in the dead of Winter 🙂 My garden will never look like that because I am in a much different growing Zone but I certainly appreciate a beautiful garden when I see one
Hi Lauren
What zone are you in? I am revamping a couple of old posts of a couple of beautiful gardens I featured years ago. Stay tuned!
I wonder how you are managing the frost in the Paso area? I live in Arroyo Grande which gets little to no frost. Due to the CA drought, we have added succulents to our landscape. They become mush with low temperatures, okay so far. The deer have gotten my roses the last two years. I am so bummed!
Hi Nancy
Interestingly, we have several citrus trees in our courtyard. The former owners had them on wheels and wheeled them under cover in the winter. We put non-led Christmas lights on a timer and have them come on every night at dusk (since late November) They are doing well. My husband made the mistake of taking one of my succulent pots out from under the awning and it became mush as well. All that are under the awning are fine.
Looking at your beautiful house in Monterey, what is the paint color of the door and shutters?
Hi Estee
The door is Benjamin Moore Kensington Green. The house is color coated (the color is in the stucco), and it was a custom mix.
How gorgeous! I can just imagine how fragrant your garden is at all times of the year.
Hi Bette
We do not live there anymore, and we have an entirely different but equally beautiful landscape here, that was designed by the former owners. I have a small patch that I am working on, but there will be very few changes.
Your properties are so so inspiring. It is really a challenge in our area, with clay soil, broiling, humid summers and deer – lots of deer. I am now having to relandscape most of my property – I have lost so much.
I just love your roses – so gorgeous. If I didn’t have the deer problem, I would try the iceburg roses! Gorgeous! Thanks for the ideas and inspiration! And you are also lucky to have a gardening partner! Hope Steve is doing well!
Hi Gray
We had horrible clay soil at our former home. This soil is like concrete! Deer love roses. They have had issues here. The backyard is fenced but they could get in if they wanted.
Everything looks so beautiful ❤️
Thank you Rosemary. It was a labor of love, but now someone else is enjoying it!!