Flashy Ground Cover, Rock Purslane

Strolling through this year's San Diego County Fair garden exhibits, I happened upon this ground cover perfection, Calandrinia spectabilis, or Rock Purslane. Aptly deserved, it was awarded "Noteworthy Plant" recognition.

Calandrinia spectabilis is a stunning evergreen shrub with succulent gray-green foliage. It is jaw-dropping spectacular in mass. Not only does it have a wonderful foliage and a soft look to it, it's fuschia-pink flowers on tall upright wispy stalks add even more drama. These precious vibrant flowers bloom almost year-round in Southern California gardens.

Calandrinia spectabilis can reach 2-3' tall, and up to 5' wide. It is a drought tolerant shrub, and will tolerate poor soil. It likes to be watered deeply twice a month, spring through fall, and once a month November through March. Deadheading spent flowers will encourage more blooms.

The Calandrinia spectabilis complements succulents, cacti, grasses, olive trees, and California native plants in many types of garden settings. I have a pea gravel courtyard with a centered water fountain. I planted a few Calandrinia spectabilis around my courtyard fountain to add a little color and surprise.

What a great plant find. I recommend planting this shrub ground cover in your garden or your favorite container. Look for it at your favorite local nursery, especially one that specializes in succulents or California natives. Please share if you have this shrub in your garden. Please comment on how you have used it in your garden.

VintageGardenGal Tidbit Thyme....

A fabulous facial is just as important to a "gardener gal" as her gloves, and favorite hoe. For those that live in the San Diego area, treat yourself to Orgin Day Spa. First time clients, mentioning VintageGardenGal, are entitled to 20% off a facial. I love their "Signature Facial." Treat yourself, and start your summer right!

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Not everyone loves rhubarb. It seems like there are two types of people in this world. Those who love rhubarb, and those who don't. I fall into the category of loving rhubarb. I look forward to baking with it in the spring, picked fresh from my garden. I keep it in a tucked away place and basically just let it be. When I initially planted my rhubarb plant two seasons ago, I put a bottomless vintage pail over it to force it's desired stalks to grow straight and long. It worked.

For those who love rhubarb, you probably know quite a bit about it. It is often found cleaned and bundled at our local stores in the produce section, and farmers markets spring time into summer. For those who love rhubarb, it is always a treat to find it fresh, as it does have a short harvest season.

If you are planning on planting a perennial rhubarb plant in your garden, keep in mind, it takes about two years for your plant to be harvest-ready. A rhubarb plant likes full sun, acidic soil, and moderate water. Mulch it well in the spring and fall. Three to four rhubarb plants will suffice for a family's needs.

In spring, choose long, crisp-looking stalks from your plant. Gently pull at the bottom of each stalk to harvest, rather then cutting it from the plant crown. Harvest stalks carefully, leaving at least 1/3 of your original plant. Rhubarb plant crowns can be carefully divided with a shovel when they become too large.

Rhubarb stalks can be kept fresh in a refrigerator, preferably unwashed for about a week, and also can be cleaned, diced, and kept frozen in your freezer. Do not eat rhubarb leaves, as they are poisonous.

I thought maybe I could "dig up" some new facts about rhubarb you might not know.

Rhubarb is a vegetable, and not a fruit.

Rhubarb is related to Sorrel.

Rhubarb is usually cooked first before adding to recipes, due to its intense tartness, and fibrous stalk structure.

Rhubarb plants are long lived, and can be productive for a life time.

Rhubarb pairs well with citrus fruits like oranges and grapefruit.

Rhubarb as a savory, pairs well with meat stews, and legumes like lentils.

Rhubarb has a highly acidic property which reacts to baking soda in a magical way, creating amazing baked goods.

Rhubarb varieties come in green, pink, and red colors.

Rhubarb comes in purely ornamental varieties, too, so look to see if your rhubarb plant is edible or ornamental.

Rhubarb is an incredible plant. Tuck it way in a quiet sunny spot, or boldly plant it as a foundation plant in your garden. It is a low maintenance plant, pest and disease-resistant.

It's tart taste easily transforms into sweets, savories, baked goods, syrups, sauces, drinks, and jams. In fact each spring, I anxiously anticipate from "cooking circles" what is this year's newly creative way to use rhubarb. Please share if you have rhubarb plants in your garden. Please comment on how you like to cook or bake with rhubarb.

VintageGardenGal Tidbit Thyme....

A fabulous facial is just as important to a "gardener gal" as her gloves, and favorite hoe. For those that live in the San Diego area, treat yourself to Orgin Day Spa. First time clients, mentioning VintageGardenGal, are entitled to 20% off a facial. I love their "Signature Facial." Treat yourself, and start your summer right!

I've got "Sally Holmes" rose envy. One of my favorite roses, Sally Holmes is a great country rose charmer and it's flowers remind me of multiple bridal bouquets bursting with happiness. I have a climbing Sally Holmes rose which I adore, but I have never seen a Sally Holmes rose as happy as the one my girl friend has planted auspiciously in her front yard on a low split rail fence.

Sally Holmes rose was originally bred in England, and brought to this country in 1976. It has many attributes besides its good looks. It is prized for it's vigor, long bloom season, fragrance, and stout disease resistance. Its pale white-creamy flowers are tightly packed in clusters with deep green foliage, creating a romantic look. It is a shrub rose, but can be trained as a climber.

Sally Holmes roses do well in Zones 5-9. They like full sun. The average size of this rose is 6-8' high by 4-6' wide.

This delightful rose works well in the garden with planted companions such as hydrangea, viburnums, junipers, ornamental grasses, and generally most perennials. Wherever you plant a Sally Holmes rose, I'm sure you will be delighted.

Please share if you have a Sally Holmes rose in your garden. Please comment on how you have planted your Sally Holmes rose in your garden.

VintageGardenGal Tidbit Thyme...

Attention Chicken Lovers! Spruce up your chicken coop for VintageGardenGal's Annual Chicken Coop Photo Contest. Send in your photos this month to bonnie@vintagegardengal.com

Last weekend, I experienced this year's  Secret Garden Tour of La Jolla, and was thrilled at the homes and gardens showcased on the tour. Each home had an Artist in the Garden, Designer in the Garden, and Musicians in the Garden, which elevated the garden settings to poetry.

At one of my favorite homes on the tour, this historic 1925 home was decorated in tasteful architectural salvage. The table display, and Designers in the Garden, were Etceteras in La Jolla. I loved their entire table vignette, but was absolutely smitten by their vintage frog place card holders. I had never seen them so small and dainty. A perfect anchor for a name card.

The entire place setting with the pewter cups, peacocks, fruit, woven  twig place mats all  worked  together to create a warm and inviting table.

Vintage flower frogs are fun to collect, and can re-purposed for holding table place setting, cherished photos, bills, business cards, and even their original purpose--flowers. Vintage flower frogs can be found at shops like Etceteras, fleas markets, garage sales, and online.

VintageGardenGal Tidbit Thyme...

Attention Chicken Lovers! Spruce up your chicken coop for VintageGardenGal's Annual Chicken Coop Photo Contest. Send in your photos this month to bonnie@vintagegardengal.com

I love going on garden tours because there is always something new I learn, something new I've never seen, something clever someone has done with their garden.

On a recent garden tour this spring, this was the case, with the garden owner using a mailbox to store her garden hand tools. Look closely and you can see the whimsical "bluebird blue" mailbox, which is now functioning as a safe haven for garden tools.

This garden which has been in the making for over twenty years, is simply gorgeous to mention first, with meandering paths, and filled to the brim with mass plantings of roses, native shrubs, vines, and trees. There is no place for a potting or storage shed in the middle of this garden. The garden owner blended and styled a mailbox into her garden, so as to save steps, and have her tools handy.

This is all about garden economizing. Saving your energy to reach for the mailbox to deadhead that rose, rather than running all over. Hand tools are close by, and stored together when they are needed. It is the concept that I want to point out to you. You can adapt this concept to your style and garden.

Yes, that is Larry Himmel, a local news celebrity, in the garden. His crew was filming this delightful garden the same day. Please share if you have a special container to keep your garden hand tools. Please comment on where you store your tools for your garden.

VintageGardenGal Tidbit Thyme...

Attention Chicken Lovers! Spruce up your chicken coop for VintageGardenGal's Annual Chicken Coop Photo Contest. Send in your photos this month to bonnie@vintagegardengal.com

On the recent tour of this year's Encinitas Garden Festival, one of the private gardens had a beautiful white-picket fence enclosing an immaculate raised bed vegetable garden. Adjacent to the vegetable garden was an open area with a pathway and fruit trees. In addition, there was a fabulous focal point of creative staggered containers, using wine boxes, galvanized tubs, and burlap bags. Something so simple, with a "wow" factor. It is structural, functional, beautiful, clever, and unique all in one. Hats off to this homeowner, and their herb garden.

This is reminiscent of an idea in Rosalind Creasy's new book, Edible Landscaping, where she describes how to stagger and arrange different size half-wine barrels for a perfect container grouping.

Most of these containers can be found in local farm and garden supply stores, such as Grangettos, Home Depot, or even flea markets for the weathered and rusty look. Look around your garage, sheds, utility areas for possible containers you might already have. Wine boxes can be found at wine shops, wineries, and friends who are in wine clubs.

It is still important to create holes for drainage in the case of the galvanzied tubs, and line the wooden wine boxes with heavy plastic, small rocks for drainage, and then your preferred soil. Eventually burlap bags will break down exposed to weather elements, but will hold up through a few seasons. Gardener's burlap is strong, yet very reasonable, coming in ready-sewn bags, or longer sheets of material.

With very little expense, and a lot of creativity, you might be able to create a unique container focal point in your garden, too.

VintageGardenGal Tidbit Thyme...

Attention Chicken Lovers! Spruce up your chicken coop for VintageGardenGal's Annual Chicken Coop Photo Contest. Send in your photos this month to bonnie@vintagegardengal.com

Just when the heat of late spring is too much for my annual sweet peas and they start to fade, my perennial sweet pea, Lathyrus latifolus, seems to kick in and surprise me with it's "oh so delicate" orchid-shaped blooms. Looks are deceiving, however, there is nothing delicate about this sweet pea perennial plant. It is a workhorse as beautiful screen for you in your garden, natural banks, roadside fences, and hard to plant areas.

Hardy to Zone 3, it is more drought tolerant than annual sweet peas. It likes sun, and will bloom more profusely with plenty of sun. Perennial Sweet Pea comes back year after year, easily self-sowing and can reach 9 to 12 feet high. It blooms late spring to summer.

Perennial sweet pea flowers are quite different from it's annual sweet pea cousins, too. They have no fragrance. Their flower palette is very feminine, blooming in shell pink, white, and mauve colors only. The perennial sweet pea flower is a diminutive 1" size, smaller and less wavy ruffle, from the sweet pea flowers you are most likely familiar with.

Each flower is a perfect tiny orchid shape, aligned in a straight row of spray on its vine. Perennial sweet peas are great as cut flowers in arrangements as a small bouquet, or using the entire dramatic vine with its spray of  sweet pea blooms.

It has history, too. It is an heirloom vine, which Thomas Jefferson grew, enjoyed, and called "everlasting pea"  in his day. Modern day, Sweet Pea Queen, Renee Shepard, of Renee's Garden has the Perennial Sweet Pea seeds available to purchase on her website.

In celebration of  all moms on their special day,  Happy Mother's Day!

Come and be a part of what has quickly become a tradition in Encinitas, the annual Encinitas Garden Festival & Tour on Saturday, April 30, 2011! This very special event celebrates our community, gardening, and the horticultural heritage of Encinitas!

Our featured neighborhood this year is the historic tree-lined Crest Drive in Cardiff with diverse gardens and panoramic views of our community west to the ocean, and east to the backcountry. Details below.

Saturday, April 30th, 2011 16 private gardens 23 Marketplace Vendors Tickets now available on-line at www.EncinitasGardenFestival.org  Tickets also available at Anderson La Costa Nursery, 400 La Costa Ave. Encinitas, CA Barrels and Branches Nursery, 1452 Santa Fe Drive, Encinitas, CA Cedros Gardens, 330 S. Cedros Avenue, Solana Beach, CA Madd Potter, 310 North Coast Hwy 101, Encinitas, CA Weidner’s Gardens, 695 Normandy Road,  Encinitas, CA Sunshine Gardens, 155 Quail Garden Drive, Encinitas, CA Glorious Gardens Landscape, 495 Leucadia Blvd, Encinitas, CA To purchase tickests by mail order, please click here.  Ticket orders MUST be postmarked by April 26th, 2011 Advance ticket prices: Adults $21, Children 10 and under $7 On-the-day ticket prices: Adults $25, Children 10 and under $10 Ticket sales at the Gardener's Marketplace are by cash or check only.  Sorry, we cannot accept credit cards on-site. In case of drizzle, the event will go on.  In case of rain, the event will be cancelled and we thank you for your contribution. For parking directions and other details, please click here

New Plants, New Ideas Enjoy 16 great examples of plants and gardens ideally suited to our climate Artists, Speakers, Food, Silent Auction Our 2011 speaker line-up offers something for everyone: 10:30 AM Creating a Waterwise Garden Kimberly Thorner 11:00 AM Rainwater & Graywater for Gardens Greg Bullock 11:30 AM  Backyard Raised Bed Gardening Madalaine Charnow 12:00 PM Urban Chicken Gardening Heather Thelen 12:30 PM What's New & Cool in the World of Gardening Nan Sterman 1:00 PM Alstroemeria Liz Younflesh 1:30 PM Using Soils to Reduce Water:  Compost and Mulch Sharon May 2:00 PM Composting with Worms Maryanne Bache 2:30 PM Combining Waterwise Perennials w/Succulents Samantha Owens 3:00 PM Tiered Gardens Stacy Sieber   2011 Sponsors Maggie Houlihan and Ian Thompson

Contemplate the Future Visit a labyrinth to meditate on the day's experience and on life in general Ride a Double Decker Bus to the Gardener's Marketplace Park at Mira Costa College San Elijo Campus and ride the free bus, starting at 9:45 in the morning.  Buses run all day long, between the parking lot and the Marketplace.  Pick up your tour map at the Marketplace, then stroll from garden to garden at your own pace, in whatever order you choose. Hungry? When you get tired of walking, stroll on back to the Gardener's Marketplace for lunch or a snack from Annel and Drew's Kitchen, Bull Taco, or Lion Coffee.   Rancho Santa Fe Plaza