Gardening Journal

Plant your own garden and decorate your soul instead waiting for someone to bring you flowers.

It’s taken me thirty six years to realize that I can order the flowers I want on my birthday! I discovered this darling flower shop, Magnolia Flower Shoppe and ordered my very own bouquet of pink flowers for my birthday. I love it and couldn’t resist sharing it here!

I woke up to a warm spring day, and already my daughter Stella and I have fertilized most of the citrus trees. This week we planted ruby slippers, more kangaroo paws, saco palms (which are stunning; I’m so glad I discovered these), flax, white ice land poppies and sweet peas. I’ve also started (finally) putting down ground cover, under the plumeria. The bulbs are spiking up, eager to bloom and I can’t wait to see what they all look like.

My onions aren’t done, and I wonder if anything is wrong with them. I need to go back and check when I planted, calculate when they should be done. Does anyone have a good system for keeping track of plantings? Anything digital? I have dates written on scraps of paper in many places…I need one good system to keep track of plantings, fertilizing, etc. Perhaps a good goal for my new year.

The trouble spot - or rather, one trouble spot — in my yard is the hill. What I envisioned as a winding path to a secret garden hidden by huge elephant ears and other tropical plants instead sits empty, brown dirt (aka clay) and barren of green. This is definitely one section of my garden where I can only go up — so hopefully the “before” and “after” photos will reveal something delightful!

Before: The Barren Hill

The first challenge is starting. I’ve had two gardening masters out to give me their advice on what to plant; both dabble in other parts of my yard, suggesting plants & changes for the flower bed under the window; moving the children’s garden to the back near the vegetable garden; replanting the lemon grove in front. They both loved to talk about everything EXCEPT the “hill”. Finally they proposed their ideas, but honestly I couldn’t summarize them here because I don’t understand their vision clearly.

Do I do the hill myself? Or hire an ‘expert’ to do it?

For now I will attempt it on my own. I have a list of suggested plants from one gardener — latana, kangroo paws (which are already in my garden), ruby slippers, flax, lavender, sage, hibiscus, palersonia occidnetials, penstemon. First I am reworking the soil, adding gypsum to help with drainage and tilling in about six inches of planting mix.

I still hope to have a secret garden, with a small bench for the kids. Adults have mocked at my path but the kids love running through it, I want to keep the path and make fun little destinations along the way (pick a satsuma; sit at the bench; run geraniums down the back bank for the kids to pick; plant butterfly attracting plants). Here’s the path as it looks now.

So, as my little girl says, “Off we go!”

My 22 month old ate about six satsumas today! She hardly ever eats fruit, and it’s like she just discovered our tree. She walks out saying “orange” and follows the trail until she reaches the tree, slides down on her bottom and picks two — not one, but two — satsumas. She brings them in the house to wash and then waits for me to peel them. So delicious! This is the reward of gardening. . . . .