Chilopsis - Desert Willow

Weeping willow trees have always been magical to me. In the yard where I grew up, every spring I would excitedly await the blooming of the golden green drooping flowers that cascaded like magical jewels from the pendulous branches of my "fairy tree". It was like a secret world under that tree. When I grew up and had my own house, there was a weeping willow planted next to the driveway that made a grand focal point in our yard.

As everyone knows who has experience with this tree, they are messy and full of bugs in the summer. The roots are invasive and often sit partly above ground, ready to trip you when you walk upon them. There are green worms that live among the slim leaves, and the tree is constantly dropping thin, wiry twigs that always need raking up. My husband hated our tree in Connecticut, it was so messy. He always threatened to cut it down, but never did. Until one day.

I drove down the street towards home, and as I made the turn into the driveway, SOMETHING WAS MISSING. In total shock, I saw the tree had been murdered. Not one trace of it remained, not one stray twig or leaf. The crime scene was clean. I sat in my car and sobbed. I've since forgiven him for that horrible affront to my willow sensitivity, and have to say, even though I missed that beautiful, graceful tree, I didn't mind not having to clean up after it.

Fast forward many years. My new garden needs something sort of tall, but open-structured. We have a wide-open view of the valley below, with a peek-a-boo view of the Pacific Ocean. This gives the yard less of a claustrophobic feel (mind you, the width of the back yard is about 50 feet), and opens up to this wide open, nicely planted hillside. The hillside is a common landscape area, maintained by the community landscapers, and is planted with lantana, honeysuckle, and various other colorful, low maintenance plants and shrubs. I wanted to make a seamless transition from the yard to the open area. Replacing the ugly wood-framed, termite-infested cloudy plexiglass panelled back wall with glass panels and aluminum posts gave us an unobstructed view.

Recalling my love for willows, I knew a real willow would not fit in that space. On a trip to Tree of Life nursery, I saw what I thought would be perfect: Fern of the Desert (Lysiloma). There was one planted in the center of the nursery. I loved its twisty branches, and it seemed that it would work. The name was so charming, and captured the mood I wanted to convey. However, more research was called for, and I came up with another idea that thought would work better. It had to be fast growing, have an open, see-through structure, and had to provide some food and/or shelter for my wild pets. In my search for Lysiloma, I found another tree that I liked even better - Chilopsis.

Desert Willow grows quickly in the first few years, eventually getting to be about 20 feet tall. In the spring and summer, scented catalpa-like tubular flowers in pink, white, and lavender bloom, drawing in the hummingbirds. It is deciduous, but not messy, and the willow-like leaves decompose easily and quickly in the garden. I didn't sweep one leaf when they fell last winter, and just let them crumble into the mulch, and feed the tree. It likes light to moderate water, full sun, is hardy to below zero. Once it gets bigger, hummingbirds will make it their summer home.


Knowing it grew fast, and not having the space to dig a big hole, I got one that was about 2 feet tall in a 5 gallon container. My friend, the woman who helped me design the garden, was sort of laughing that "this is a tree?" but it is growing lushly and quickly. There were a few flowers already this year, and I can't wait to see it grow taller. It can be pruned to resemble a willow, and it's good to know it's not messy!

Salvia/Sage and Artemisia - add some silver & lace to the Garden

I have two different varieties of Artemisia growing in my garden. There are many varieties, from annuals to perennials and even shrubs that comprise this plant family. They bring in some welcome neutral color, and their lacy textures are a good foil for many plants. In Connecticut, I had a large, 4 ft tall variety in one corner of my front garden. Canyon Grey is a voluptuous, cascading greenish-gray shrub that gives an almost eerie look to the garden. Yes, that is a wooden sculpture of a hand coming up out of the plant on the steps. I'm playing upon the spooky look of the curvy branches and spiky silvery needle-like leaves. When rubbed or stepped on, the leaves give off a heady, spicy, woodsy scent. I keep this trimmed back; otherwise, it would spread all over the yard! It is great for a hillside, for that reason. They don't require much water, either.



David's Choice is a mounding type of Artemisia, with lovely small yellowish white flowers in the spring/summer. It keeps its lacy, mounded shape all year round and makes a nice architectural statement at the front of the garden bed.




Salvia spp. comprises a large group of annuals, perennials, and even shrubs. Most of them have delicate green or silver foliage, and many of them have flowers of pink, white, or purple. They add an invaluable focal point to the garden. Autumn Sage is a pretty perennial shrub, about a foot tall, lithe and open in structure, with petite tubular reddish pink blooms that hummingbirds love.


White Sage is a large perennial whose chunky stems can grow to over 6 ft long, with cascades of tiny bell-shaped white flowers that bees and hummingbirds, and even snails, love. The leaf, when dried, is used to make smudge sticks, a tool used by Native Americans and others to purify energy and space. Take the leaves, washed and gently dried, and gather them together in a tight package. Using embroidery floss, or string, leaving about 6 inches at one end, tightly wrap the floss/string up and around the packet of leaves, coming back down to the starting point. Tie off the ends and trim. Hang in a cool, dry place. The sage/smudge stick is ready when the leaves have dried, in a few weeks.

Sage is also a potent herb for cooking and for making sage tea. Simply pour 1 pint of boiling water over 1 oz of the dried herb, and let steep. The tea cools fevers, purifies the blood, stimulates digestion, and soothes inflammations of the mouth, throat, and tonsils. A beautiful plant, a useful herb - a real powerhouse in the garden!

Wild Visitors

One of the reasons I wanted to redesign my garden, other than it looked horrendous before I did so, was to create a space for the wildlife in the area to find a hangout. They would find shelter, food, water, a place to hide, a place to make babies, and they would provide us with enjoyable encounters with the wild world.
I don't mind if they have 2 legs, 4 legs, or more. Everyone is welcome. Well, almost everyone. The snails are quite destructive, and I've taken to handpicking them and either throwing them over the wall, or putting them in a tray of salt. These snails are not the kind you want to eat, unfortunately, or I could open up an hors d'ouevres stand! I try to encourage beneficial insects, such as those lovely beetles pictured above.

I also love my cute little brown lizards. They love to lounge on top of the wall in the sun, or on the deck, doing their Frank LaLanne imitation - push ups! When we first moved into this house, I had the back door open, and came into the living room one day to find a lizard in the middle of the floor! It didn't frighten me as much as it made me worry. How was I going to safely get this little critter outside where it belonged? I really didn't want the cute little bugger to starve to death in the house. I was able to sneak up on it (which still amazes me, as they have quick reflexes) and got a plastic bowl over him. Of course part of his tail was sticking out, but I gently slid a small piece of cardboard underneath the lizard and the bowl, and got him safely outside.

I keep a thick layer of mulch on the soil surface, and as that decomposes, it adds beneficial nutrients to the soil. Mulching makes it somewhat more difficult to keep the garden cleaned up, but I like a somewhat wild and random appearance, and when the leaves fall, they also decompose into the mulch. It's like a mini composting session under each plant. Each year, I top-dress with more mulch. Mulching also keeps the soil moister and cooler, which helps alot in the hot summer. We are very water-conscious in California, so I do what I can to minimize water usage. We don't get enough rain, usually, so anything that's planted either needs to be irrigated, or can grow with little or no water. Mulching helps by keeping more water in the soil.

We have many feathered friends who visit the garden. I do not put out extra seed for them, but rather want them to take what they need from the natural sources, of which there are many. When you plant shrubs and flowers that have certain colors or configurations, or let the flowers drop seed, the birds will find what they require. I also have a solar-powered water fountain that I clean and fill with clean water weekly. Often, I will see Purple Finches and Hummingbirds drinking there. In the spring, there was a Purple Finch nest right outside our dining room window. It was great to be able to provide a source of water for them. I saw the baby outside of the nest one morning, ready to fly away. Sadly, I had to go to work and couldn't monitor her progress, but when I got home later that day, I think I saw the Finch family hanging out on the roof.

I love to sit outside on the deck and watch the steady stream of visitors find the nourishment and shelter they need. Often, the hummingbirds will hover just a couple of feet from me, watching me, and I think they are thanking me for providing them with a nice place to live. They give me joy, and I repay them by giving them what they need. In another entry, I will discuss Integrated Pest Management. No, it's not for your family members! It's planning and planting a garden that works with nature, and keeping the plants healthy so they do not succumb to pests or diseases. It's treating these conditions in a way that doesn't harm the environment of the garden, and keeps everything safe.

My Garden Diary

One very handy garden tool to have in the garden is a record book of all your plants. When I re-landscaped our yard, I kept every plant tag and label, the plans drawn up by my designer, graph paper layouts, and other pertinent information that I wanted to save for reference. I have a nice loose-leaf binder with pockets that I can store everything in. As I add a new plant to my space, I go online and find the best description of each plant, including a photo, and print up the page for my notebook. I also have 2 pages at the front. One lists the bloom time of each plant, and the other page lists various tasks that need to be done for certain plants at certain times of the year. I can look at that at the beginning of each month and see what I need to do.

I also keep a date book, and list when plants are blooming, the weather, if we get rain, and the amount, and when I feed the various plants and shrubs. I list little things I do, such as putting leftover coffee on the soil around my roses, azaleas, camellias, and tibouchina - anything that likes some acid soil benefits from a little coffee! Knowing I have to keep track of things makes me a better gardener, because I go out every day and get up close and personal with my shrubs to be sure they are in good health.

It's great to have everything at my fingertips, and it's become a terrific resource when I want to share some pertinent information on a plant with a friend.

Compost - putting waste to work

I always wanted a compost pile when we moved into our first house in Connecticut. My dad has huge circular piles, surrounded by wire fencing, in his huge back yard in Massachusetts. Not wanting to wait years for stuff to decompose, which is how long it takes in these huge piles (which have to be aerated every so often, and it's difficult, back breaking work), I purchased one of those brown plastic 3 ft tall rectangular bins that you can find in various catalogs and garden centers. I kept up with it for a couple of years, but it was placed too far away from the kitchen for food waste, and ended up not being used.

When we moved to California, to a little postage-stamp-sized yard, I lamented that I would definitely not have the room for any kind of compost pile. Lo and behold, when the mail came one day, there was a fat envelope from "Compost-Tumbler" advertising their different spinning composters. There was a huge one for big yards (a friend of mine has that one, and it gets really, really heavy and hard to turn), and another style for smaller yards. I found the perfect space for it, in a small niche on the side of the house. It took about an hour to put together.
Every day, I put coffee grounds, egg shells, vegetable or fruit waste, white paper or newspaper-only the black and white part, no colored ink, paperboard egg cartons, even dog fur from when I brush Charlie, etc. into a small plastic bowl next to my sink. When it gets full, every other day or so, I make a trip to the bin--it beats putting it down the disposer, or throwing it into the garbage. Garden waste also goes into the bin. When I weed, deadhead, cut back any plant, the material is disposed of in here, instead of in the trash. It took about 6 months for the first batch to be ready. Because the bin is in a mostly shaded spot (no other place for it where there is sun), I added a compost accelerator. Now, I have compost pretty much whenever I want it.

Composting is an adventure in basic science. Take carbon-based waste products and mix them with nitrogen-based waste products, give them some time, some heat, and a few spins to stir it all up, and you get black gold. As if by magic, a rich, nutritious substance is created from what you might throw away, free for the taking. You can put some into a bucket, add water and let it steep to make a tea for your plants. I took clumps of compost that were filled with earthworms and buried them in my garden so that the worms could find a new home. They will aerate my soil, and continue to do their work as they eat and poop their way through life in their new home.
the top photo shows an earthworm crawling on the inside of the door, and bottom photo shows what the waste turns into: dark, loamy and moist.


When you get the ratio of carbon-based material to nitrogen-based material just right, there is no noxious odor at all. The ratio should be about 50-50, dry to wet materials. If there is too much wet stuff (such as vegie waste) there won't be enough oxygen in the pile and it won't heat up. If there is too much dry (such as paper or dried plant material), there won't be enough moisture and nothing will be able to break down. The pile should smell sweet and loamy. What was once waste is now fertilizer. Kind of a neat metaphor for life, as well.

Blue Eyed Grass -- Sisyrinchium bellum

When I first saw a picture of this plant, I knew I had to incorporate it somewhere in my garden. The best place to find native plants near me is Tree of Life nursery in San Juan Capistrano, at mile 7 on the Ortega Highway. Tree of Life is a quiet, serene space that is like a botanical garden. I love to walk around and see the incredible array of native species they have cultivated. As I learn more about what grows in California, the nursery has become an invaluable resource for me. Every plant is labeled with pertinent information.
Though this is a grass that will reseed naturally, and will do well on a hillside or in a meadow, I really wanted to incorporate this dainty, sweet little plant with its gorgeous blue color into my small space. The leaves are tall, narrow and spear-like, rising up from a basal bottom. The color ranges from white to violet blue, and there is a golden-eyed variety as well. It's semi-evergreen perennial that does well in nearly any space with little to moderate water. I have it planted near some Yerba Buena, underneath a pink rose bush.


It will do well in a container with mixed annuals, or placed into little spaces between shrubs and perennials. It will go dormant in a dry garden in the summer, but with added water, or along the coast, it will stay in bloom. Pests and diseases tend to leave it alone.

Sticky Monkey Flower--Mimulus

This cute 2-3 ft tall plant grows wild in parts of California and is considered a native. It comes in several colors, and there are mimulus with yellow blooms growing wild along the hillsides in my neighborhood. The one I found at Tree of Life nursery in San Juan Capistrano is scarlet colored, though it seems more of an orange to me! Each blossom has a cute little monkey face inside it. The foliage is bright green, and sticky. Insects love it, hummingbirds love it and they need very little water. They tolerate a wide range of conditions and soils. The plants live for only a few years, but the stems can be weighed down with rocks, and roots will form where the nodes touch the ground, and the old stems can be severed from the mother plant. Aphids love monkey flowers, probably because of the sticky leaves and fleshy stems. I also discovered that snails like the leaves too. I put a plastic collar with copper tape around the entire plant when I put it into the ground. They need good air circulation to prevent fungal diseases.

Hebe

When I was redoing my garden, I decided my accent color would be cobalt blue. I began buying pottery and other accessories in that deep blue color. I liked that it would contrast with our new brown Trex deck, and I have always loved the color. Wondering if I could repaint my resin Adirondack chairs (which were a boring off-white), I went online and found that Krylon makes a spray paint that does exactly that. Off to the hardware store with a couple of color ideas in mind. I picked up a few cans, including one in a darker blue to give the chairs a bit more interest. It was as if I'd bought new chairs--the effect was striking, and made a really effective accent in the garden. I've taken many photos using the chairs as a contrasting backdrop.

At the top of the steps in the side yard, I incorporated 2 cobalt blue large ceramic pots to carry the color theme from the front to the back (I have a large cobalt pot in the corner as the path curves around towards the side yard, filled with Pink Muhly grass and a purple lantana). As you travel through the various gardens, one common element ties them together: cobalt blue. Pick a color, or a shape and add those accent pieces in each area of your yard to weave a continous thread throughout. You could choose tall or short square cubes as pots, or a certain color of pots in any shape, sticking with the same shade (or very closely matched), or use whatever strikes your fancy, keeping one of the elements the same.

By putting 2 pots with the same plant in each across from each other, I created an imaginary line one might pause at, and I did this to announce a transition from one "zone" to another. The trick of a good garden layout is to plant different zones, and make a pathway weaving through them that entices one to stop every few feet and see the little treasures that are planted there. I also like to put in cute little knick knacks, or small stones, or something that delights the eye. Into each pot, I planted a Wiri Bush Hebe.

Hebes (pron. Heh-beh) are compact evergreen shrubs with short glossy green leaves and hot pink to magenta flowers in spring through summer. They can be pruned lightly after flowering, encouraging new growth. They like well-drained soils, and do well in containers, growing to about 3-4 ft tall. A native of New Zealand, it looks good in a tropical garden, and the two I've planted "announce" the Tropical zone in my garden. As you travel down the steps, you view ferns, exotic looking aeoniums, a 15 ft tall banana plant that has huge red and green leaves, a pygmy palm, and birds of paradise. Hebes will grow in Zone 7 (further south than Connecticut), but do not do well where it's really hot, unless planted in part shade. For those of you literary-minded souls, you may recall that the Greek goddess Hebe was the cupbearer of ambrosia at the heavenly feasts.

Butterfly Bush - Buddleia davidii

Tiny deep purple flowerets with a bit of orange in the center form a huge cluster at the end of long leafy stems, drawing in butterflies and hummingbirds, moths and bees... that is Black Knight Buddleia. The first Butterfly Bush I planted was in my garden in Connecticut, where it bloomed happily from early summer until frost. It drew occasional hummingbirds, and even hummingbird moths (yes, there are such things!) and plenty of Monarch butterflies. I now have 3 planted in my new garden in California, and love to sit on the deck in the afternoon sunshine, watching the hummingbirds zip in, hover, gather nectar, and zip away. (photo above was taken from my deck) They will reach 10 ft high with about a 6 ft spread. The leaves are gray-green and kind of fuzzy. If you like an open habit with bobbing, colorful flowers of incredible depth of color, this shrub is for you. It will die off in areas that get frost, but will come back year after year.


I deadhead the spent flowers, and give it a shot of fertilizer in the spring. It does like to be watered, and here in California, I give it regular irrigation. In Connecticut, it would thrive on the rain we got in the summer. There are many sizes and flower colors available, depending on the variety. I've seen pink, white, and lighter purple colors. They are easily pruned to desired shape, and can even be trained to just a few stems, just keep an eye on suckers. There are no pests that bother it, but I have to say that in early spring this year, I noticed some of the leaves were gnarled/curled with a sticky substance in between. I removed those leaves, and the plant is fine. It is more or less maintenance-free.

The deep purple blooms are a real focal point in the garden, and I love pairing the shrub with annuals of contrasting colors. I add pots in my gardens to plant something neat or unique, and because it's usually an annual, I can change it up when the flowers die back.
One hint to keep this from happening is to be dedicated in deadheading. A flower's natural cycle is to bloom and produce seed as the bloom dies. If you deadhead, you don't give it a chance to make the seed (or to expend the extra energy to do so), and it keeps blooming. Also, I give every planted pot a shot of water soluble fertilizer twice a month. Potting soil has few nutrients and they get washed out every time the plant is watered, which could be daily. I've had good luck with geraniums this spring/summer by doing this, and they've put on an incredible show which is still going!

Grevillea

The tree had to come down. It never should have been planted where it was. Previous homeowners put this narrow attractively shaped tree in a corner to provide some shade and interest. Hummingbirds even built a nest in it last year. However, for five years, I cleaned up after this loquat tree that was planted just outside our back door. I spent 3/4 of the year picking up after this messy tree. Narrow leathery leaves, nearly a foot long, were shed most of the year. I don't know how long it took the leaves to decompose, as I didn't put them in my compost heap, but threw them in the garden waste barrel to be picked up weekly. Then, the inedible berries cascaded and bounced off every hard surface, creating a real mess when stepped on. Perfect example of the wrong plant in the wrong place.

Nothing like a blank slate to rattle my brain. Hours were spent pouring over garden books and online garden sites. I now had a corner to fill with something and no real idea of what to put there.
There was a nebulous image floating in my mind of "the look" I wanted: something open and airy that would ultimately be about 10 feet tall, would add color and interest and not be messy. It also had to do well in a large pot. I'd had the loquat flush-cut and didn't want to dig any large holes, since there was a drainage pipe, wiring for the garden lights, and irrigation lines under the surface. The plan was to use the same crushed multi-colored gravel in this space as I'd used on the walkway in the front of the house. I loved the different colors and textures of the stone, and thought bringing the same element to the back yard was a real design winner! Believe me, I am far from being a landscape designer, as it takes me hours to come up with a plan for even the tiniest space.

I called the stone place and was able to purchase several sacks of the gravel, which I had loaded into the back of my car. So excited, I didn't stop to really think about how I was going to lug the sacks (about 70 lbs each) from my car to the back yard. My garden cart was buried under stacks of stuff in the garage. Besides, I have 8 steps that go down to the back yard on the side of the house, so the cart is not really all that manueverable. It worked great in my huge garden in Connecticut, but is a real pain to use here! Faced with making many trips back and forth, I put on my gloves and proceeded to fill a coffee can with stone and pour the contents into a 1 gallon plastic plant container until it was full. Don't ask how many trips it took to fill a 4x5 foot space with gravel, about 4-6 inches thick. I was exhausted! And even when I look at the area, I can't believe it took that much gravel to fill the space.

Armed with photos, measurements, and a book on grasses, I drove to a large garden center nearby (Plant Deport in San Juan Capistrano). Whenever I am stumped, or need ideas, I go to this nursery. The selection of everything garden-related is huge. Pottery, tools, soil, amendments, annuals, perennials, succulents, herbs, everything is right here. I knew if I just walked around long enough, I would find that special something. I considered the grasses. Walked around the trees and vines. Up and down the aisles, waiting to see what would pop up into my consciousness. Turned a corner, and THERE IT WAS! There were only two of these at the end of one of the aisles. I had no idea what this plant was, but it was perfect. One of the pots had a half-torn label on it, but there was enough of the name to go on: Grevillea Long John. Excitedly, I walked to the little shed where the reference books are kept, and found many pages about this plant. It seemed that this would be IT. I got some help loading it into my car, and got it home with very little damage. Hubby helped me plant it in the pot that I'd already prepared with cactus soil (it's quick draining).

What struck me most about the Grevillea Long John is its open habit, almost like a pine tree with these curly magenta pink sticky flowers that hummingbirds crave. Most of the plants in my garden were put there for the specific reason of providing food or shelter for the various wild creatures in the area. Grevilleas are a huge group of woody shrubs and low ground covers, native to Australia. All have these tubular flower clusters and antenna-like pistils that will sometimes bloom year-round. It makes a great specimen plant, background shrub, and can be pruned to make a formal hedge. They don't like fertilizer, and after deeply watering weekly for the first year, they need only monthly watering until the rainy season. Pruning the branch tips promotes flowering and it's rarely bothered by pests.

The newest small garden/focal point in my yard is now complete. I wanted something that reminded me of the desert, hence the gravel in the muted desert colors. Providing some counterpoint to the "dry look" is a small mosaic slate fountain that was on the sale shelf at my local hardware store -- talk about a serendipitous find! To finish the area, I added some grasses for softness and movement, and a few small succulents for added texture. The garden came out even better than I had envisioned, and it will be delightful to watch it grow. By the way, the hummingbirds discovered the garden within a week, and I love to sit on the steps, listen to the fountain, and watch as one comes to gather the nectar. Often, one will hover just a couple of feet from me, staring at me for several seconds. I get the feeling I'm being thanked for providing this sustenance, and I also feel very blessed to be visited by my "wild pets"!

Welcome to my "new" garden!

Sit back, relax, and follow me on to a mysterious, winding path that will take us through beautiful places. It's time to discover the joys of working in the dirt and claiming our small piece of Mother Earth. In this blog, I want to introduce you to my favorite plants. They are special for many reasons. Perhaps their colors or forms and textures are unique. A certain plant fulfills a specific space requirement. Sometimes, a "happy accident" results in a serendipitous arrangement of color and beauty.

Since moving from the east coast (Zone 6-Connecticut) to the west coast (Zone 9/10-
south Orange County coast ), I've had to learn about an entirely new plant palette. There are many plants from Zone 6 that will grow in my garden. Excitedly, there are plants from Australia, New Zealand and even tropical areas that will grow in my outdoor space as well.

Capitalizing on the several microclimates that exist in my relatively small space, I have two main zones. The lot size is about 5500 sq. ft. and the house takes up more than half of that. There is about a 4-1/2 ft wide swath of earth on 3 sides which comprises my small garden. The longest area goes along the side of the house and is what I call the Tropical Zone, and it is mostly shaded, but is also a wind tunnel. There are various ferns, succulents, and other tropical-looking exotic plants in this space. The back yard (my Low Maintenance/Low Water Zone) includes a deck, raised up about 1 foot, with no railing or benches that opens directly onto/into the planted space. Steps lead down from that deck onto a hardscape (concrete and brick) patio. The yard is about 50 ft wide. This part of the yard gets sun for most of the day in the summer, although the right side spends more time in shade than the left.

The front garden is also small, and contains some small grasses, a collection of California natives, various succulents, a pink rose bush, and 2 types of jasmine. There is a small crushed multi-colored stone and flagstone path that leads one through here, and to the side yard. This area gets a few hours of afternoon sun. This area is also a low maintenance/low water zone.
The jade plant growing in this area is a baby from the Mama Jade that sits in a huge pot by our front door. Mama Jade is over 30 years old, and was an indoor plant in our den in Connecticut. She has doubled in size in 5 yrs, and has flowered every year since being moved into her new home. Mama made her cross country trip in the back of my SUV when my son and I drove out to California in 2005. She is indeed special!

As I discover new plants to introduce you to, I will include their growing habits and other pertinent information. Please feel free to contribute your experiences and discoveries, as I would love for this to become a type of bulletin board for other gardeners. Include product links for things that have worked for you, and add to information that is included here.