Sunday, January 15, 2012

Scavenger Hunt #1


Look what the wind blew in – a reminder of summer, when my grandgirls came from Oregon to visit. Since they were little I have given them printed scavenger hunt sheets to use while they explore the garden. Before they were readers I took photos in the garden (of flowers, ornaments, signs) and added them to Word documents.The girls would “x” each image as they found it. Now I have a variety of scavenger hunt sheets with written directions or questions at the ready – some easy, some advanced, for them and for younger children who come to visit. After a blustery day last week, I walked out to find paper copies of one version trapped in a salvia. This inspired a bouquet.


The first task, finding something to match my husband Cliff's brown eyes, was easy. I pruned some shrubs and a walnut tree, selecting some of the darkest branches, surrounding the vase with some redwood cones for more rich brown.

The second task, finding something in the garden to match my own eyes, proved harder. My eyes are hazel, which I’ve always meant a greenish-brownish color. I turned the camera around and snapped a picture of my eye. What a surprise – who knew my eye had so many colors? Ornamental grasses, a mix of greens and browns, came close. Needed something bluer, so I added some cuttings from buddleia and dusty miller. 


Next on the list: find a flower that has two colors. No problem; the Fourth of July rose is still blooming, as are the red-and-yellow blanket flowers. Find a flower that has three colors - another rose, and peachy snapdragons. Voila! The scavenger hunt bouquet of the day is done.





















Monday, January 9, 2012

Autumn in January

Too late to make a bouquet of the leaves of the Roger's Red Grape - they have arranged themselves in glorious disarray on the litter beneath their trellis.The leaves attune my eye for rich redness, and as I search for more, I find it in the Liquid Amber tree nearby. A morning bouquet of reds and yellows takes form. 


The Liquidambar styraciflua, or American sweetgum, began as a small volunteer under its mother tree at my in-laws' Los Gatos home. It may grow to be 65 or 100 feet or more tall - why did I plant it in a rose bed? This is an example of a gardening habit I hope to outgrow. I plant something where I have space, without much hope it will survive. When it does, thriving unexpectedly, it outgrows the space and doesn't relate in size or structure to what is around it, having been placed there randomly. Then it is time to decide whether to move it or get rid of it. For now, this tree, about 18 feet high, will stay where it is, inspiring bouquets.



Saturday, January 7, 2012

Start, dammit

"You're going to post something on your new blog today," I said to myself upon arising. I came up with the idea for my blog weeks ago, created it a few days ago, have posted nothing. Coffee at hand, hours passed, as I researched themes, blog platforms, other blogs. I can research a topic to death, to exhaustion, until it takes me far, far away from where I stared. Today, just today, I will stay on task. I will stay with this simple theme on Blogger. I can make it fancy, complex, let my perfectionist tendencies go wild later, right?

It is winter. In my garden in the Santa Cruz mountains in California (Bonny Doon) there is plenty still blooming, and every few days I pick something, plunk it in a vase or other container, and photograph it. Later, I will play with the idea of bouquets, the concept of vases and whatever arcane ideas come to mind or mood. But today, just to get started, I'm going to share with you a picture of me holding a bouquet in 2007. I e-mailed this to a neighbor of my mother, a good friend, Wilma. I sent it to her as a Mother's Day greeting. When the garden is crazy with bloom in spring and summer, it makes me lonely; I want to share it. Sometimes the only way is to take a picture and pass it along.

Sharing the bounty, electronically