DARK KNIGHT

A Mother's Day Gift that bloomed 2 weeks ago after planting it up at the cabin.

Is the name of this new rose on the market

that reminded me of a lovely tye-dye work

with an ombre' quality.

My two pups and I on Mother's Day

at Roger's Gardens in Corona Del Mar ...

masks or no masks?

Both actually.

No mask as we walked across this hidden gem of a beach to the Newport Jetty

so we could watch the boats go in and out of the channel.

Glorious Day with my babies.

HANGING WITH MY PEEPS

I got real lucky this year and had a double Mother's Day with my kiddos.

On the actual day my girlie took me out to brunch and shopping in the Orange Circle District.

It's one of the oldest communities in Orange County

 filled with cute eateries, boutiques and antique stores.

It's also a thriving college town filled with young people.

It's home to Chapman University,

a prestigious private college here 

where several of our Alumni have graduated from or are currently attending.

Right Shreya Sheth!  

Then last weekend both the kids were able to hang out and take me to brunch

at a very cool place for hipsters called Bosscat Kitchen and Libations in Newport Beach.

It was pretty much out of my comfort zone,

loud and trendy,

but my children loved it.

From there it was off to Rogers Gardens in Newport,

my all time favorite Nursery.

Because it's Spring,

the flowers were amazing as you can see.

And there was a Rose competition going on where we could vote for our favorites.

Mine were the Ketchup and Mustard Rose above and the Yellow Tea Rose below.

My son was able to stay into the evening and helped me plant all the lovelies we bought.

Thank you Dani and Zach for making Mother's Day so very special for me!

I love you both with all my heart.

xoxoxoxooxoxoxxoxo

Roger's Gardens with my Son

A couple of weeks ago my son called and asked me if I wanted to hang out and spend the day with him.

You betcha!

So Zach, being the Plant Scientist in the family, suggested we go to Roger's Gardens, one of my all time favorite places.

Our first stop were the Orchids.  

Roger's has an extensive collection that always seem to be in bloom, no matter when we visit. 

Here are a couple of shots of the ones that really caught my attention.

Next stop, the Bromeliad family.

I love their display ideas using old worn shutters.

And alongside were the anthuriums from Hawaii.

A soft & lovely pink variety.

The blooms were spectacular!

I adore this waterfall feature that I saw at Roger's last year.  

The birds were using it for a birdbath.

See the little bird at the end of the fall?

There was also a lot of people watching going on.

I found it fascinating to watch the wealthy trophy wive's shopping for the perfect plants for their yards with their personal gardeners.

Wow, to have that kind of money, and to be able to afford anything in the place!

The raised bed lettuce garden was ginormous, the selection of vegetables impressive (I bought for the first time asparagus plants) and the rose selection went on forever.

Several of the succulents were in bloom, and we saw many plants whose flowers were very exotic looking like the bush below.

Fuchsias hold a special place in my heart.  

My mother had a knack for growing them in our warm So. Cal. inland climate.  

They prefer the moisture from the ocean and thrive at Roger's which is located in Newport Beach, about a 1/2 mile from the Pacific.

The Japanese Maples were so delicate as their leaves were unfolding from their buds.

And the pink blossoms on this weeping willow were magnificent.

The cannas were in their full Easter glory...

and here is Zach checking out the flowers on this willow. 

We were especially impressed with how they were training this plant to wind up the pole.

And of course I couldn't leave the place without a picture of this beautiful arrangement of tulips.

I hope you enjoyed a peek at this magical place. 

Mother's Day 2013

A beautiful surprise from my girl!

Only 2 months behind now on my blogging, being off for the summer really has it's advantages  :)

Mother's Day morning, my daughter Dani surprised me with this crazy wonderful sculpture that she made for me from cereal boxes and silk flowers.  She alerted Jim that she was downstairs and when I walked down all sleepy eyed, she jumped up from her hiding place behind the dining room table (scared me to death  LOL) and yelled out "Happy Mother's Day".  Then my poor baby had to trudge off to work, so my son Zach showed up to whisk me off to one of my favorite south land places, Roger's Gardens in Newport Beach.

Thank you Dani girl for that beautiful piece of art, I will treasure it and bring it out every Mother's Day.  You couldn't have given me a more special gift.  I love you!  

Newport was a sunny 74 degrees, perfect weather for visiting this amazing place full of plants and garden design.  We walked in to the most lovely and delicate bouquets of flowers, just dying to go home with us  :)

And then there were the Hydrangeas, the blues and purples my favorites.

And we couldn't pass up a visit to their greenhouses full of blooming orchids of every variety.  The one below really caught my eye.

And the anthuriums from Hawaii were in full bloom as well.

Once outside again we found the blossoms on this tree to be highly unique as well as it's fruit.

What I especially love at Roger's are the creative and artful displays like this very cool water feature, and the paper mache' and wire birds with paper collage.  Zach bought me one of these.  I had really missed doing paper mache' this year with my Beginning 3-D students, so I'm thinking we might try some birds next year and these are such great examples. 

These paper collaged 3- d cut-outs were really unusual, I wish I would have picked up one as well.   

Zach treated me to a bite of lunch beach side, then back home to check out the nasturtiums in my lush May garden.

What a fantastic day you two planned for me.

I love you both so very much...all the way around the world!

The Last of My Summer Blooms and Harvest

This spectacular hibiscus bloom on a tiny little plant I got in a Home Depot sale.  Ever since I put it in the ground it stopped blooming :(

This sweet little cacti had 6 of these flowers this summer, and the flowers are almost larger then the whole plant.  One of my pots on the right that I made last school year when I demoed throwing and altering pots from the wheel.   

My topsy-turvy strawberry plant that bore 5 whole fruits.  What a disappointment !  and they weren't sweet at all, I probably should have fertilized more. 

Even though you only see one boysenberry and it's not even ripe yet, I'd say I harvested about 3 dozen off this vine this past summer.  My largest crop in the 3 years I've been growing it.  :)

Even though I had hundreds of fragrant blossoms this spring, I was only left with 5 grapefruits after the Santa Anas got thru with their blowing season.  But hey, at least they all didn't blow away!

This was my first year trying to grow a grape vine, pretty funny, huh?  Even though they look pathetic,  believe it or not, they were sweet and delicious.

And here's the little guy I showed you the other day, and these are his flowers, so delicate.  And all of this growing in an escargot shell.  Roger's Gardens in Newport Beach come with with the most clever planters!