Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "flowers"

Daisies, Tomatoes and Parsnips, Oh My!

2011-10-14T17:58:11Z

Daisies, Tomatoes and Parsnips, Oh My!

The relationship between what you grow and the air you breathe

Researchers at the University of Virginia found that air pollution is destroying flower fragrance, making it harder for bees to find flowers when foraging. This proves that the relationship between the air we breathe and what we grow can be a crucial factor on whether your garden will have the best petunias on the block or whether they fall flat. The Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District and the air districts of the region want to provide tips on how you can make the most out of your garden. This can be done while reducing pollutants in the air you breathe and bringing to your attention avoidable health risks when outside tending to your plants.

Getting The Most Out of Your Garden
You can help Spare The Air by practicing simple tips while gardening or taking care of your lawn. In order to breathe easier, consider the following:

• Try using air friendly pesticides or biopesticides as an alternative. Certain types of vegetables and plants, such as spinach and certain varieties of bell peppers, require heavy pesticide use to cultivate crops. When you use pesticides, the residue gives off small particles that are dispersed into the air. These particles get into our lungs and create many health risks. Instead use biopesticides derived from natural materials such as animals, plants, bacteria, and certain minerals. For example, canola oil and baking soda have pesticidal applications.
• Dispose of your pesticides safely. Leftover pesticides can leak or give off fumes that, if not disposed of correctly, can contribute to the region’s poor air quality. If you have leftover pesticides, see if your neighbor can use them. If not, contact your local solid waste management authority for information on hazardous household cleanup days. Do not pour the remaining pesticides down the toilet, sink or street drains as this may affect the waste water treatment system. If the container is empty, follow the directions on the label or throw it directly into your trash.
• Plant native plants. The great thing about native plants is they grow naturally in our region, making them easy to find locally and cutting down on travel to find non-native species. They are low-maintenance and help reduce the impact on the environment. Plus, they look great!
• Use electric gardening equipment. It is a fact that gas mowers represent five percent of U.S. Air Pollution (EPA). By using electric mowers, weed whackers and other air friendly garden equipment you can help Spare The Air.
• Recycle old lawn equipment. By recycling you are reducing your carbon footprint and getting rid of air polluting gas mowers and weed whackers.
• Composting. In a special bin or a well maintained pile, collect cardboard rolls, clean paper, coffee grounds, leaves, non-treated grass clippings, cotton rags, tea bags and other compostable items. This can later be used as soil to cultivate plants and vegetables. By adopting a holistic approach when it comes to lawn care you can lessen your impact on the environment.

Your Gardening Lifestyle
Adopting a “green” lifestyle is a step in the right direction to keeping yourself and your loved ones healthy. This lifestyle choice may not only include how you garden but also where you buy your products.

Consumers and farmers that locally grow their fruits and vegetables contribute greatly to reducing the air pollution. When fruits and vegetables are grown locally there is no need for trucks to transport these items to far destinations, which cuts down on air pollution. Also, when you know that your produce is coming from your own backyard or even a local farm you can ensure that the product is fresh.

Can You Dig It?
Vegetables, fruits and plants are usually seasonal and every season usually has a time of day when it is best for you to be outside planting them, such as the morning or early evening. Not only are these the best times for your plants, but they’re also when air quality is best, making it healthier for you. Gardening is fun and relaxing but it can bring about some avoidable health risks. Sign up for Air Alert at www.SpareTheAir.com to receive an email containing the daily air quality forecast each day before noon; this will help ensure you always plan your gardening hours with your health in mind. Take these facts into consideration before you decide to garden:

Health risks associated with being outside during a high air pollution day include:
• Aggravated cardiovascular and respiratory illness
• Added stress to heart and lungs, which must work harder to supply the body with oxygen
• Damaged cells in the respiratory system
• Wheezing, coughing and watery eyes

Using an electric mower and disposing of your pesticides safely are just a few things you may have picked up in this article. Most importantly, be aware of the health risks you face if you’re outside when air pollution is elevated and the steps you can take to avoid them.

Over the years your hard work has paid off to keep Spare The Air days to a minimum, so keep up the good work! To stay up to date on the Spare The Air campaign and fun activities, follow us on Twitter @AQMD or become Scooter’s Facebook friend at SpareTheAir Scooter. For more information on how to receive free educational materials or to sign up for Air Alert, please visit www.SpareTheAir.com.

Disclosure: On behalf of the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District

‘Flowers’ raise funds for foster kids

2011-08-31T13:37:53Z

“The Language of Flowers” expresses the yearnings of the heart.

Author, Vanessa Diffenbaugh is doing just that as she kicks off a nationwide book tour with a five hundred dollar a head fundraiser to raise money for foster kids who have aged out of foster care, followed by a talk & book signing at Tsakopoulos Library Galleria on Wednesday, August 31, 2011, 7:30pm to 9pm.

The petals hide the tragic inequities of foster care. Her protagonist, Victoria, a damaged foster kid, ages out at 18 and finds herself sleeping in a park. She works at a flower shop for change and communicates meaning through her artistry of flowers. It is what she determines is what she is good at, a creative outlet and sets the direction for her to help herself and others. Victoria’s journey unfolds with love and forgiveness through the “language of flowers” engaging readers and subtly prompting them to act against those inequities.

A native of Chico, CA, and a graduate of Stanford University, Diffenbaugh, 33, sets the scene in parks familiar to Sacramento. The parks could well be our own backyard. That’s because she wrote the entire book here recalling hours at a café on S Street. Plus, she draws from her own experience teaching art to low income youths and life of being a foster mother.

Inspiration for the book’s protagonist came from a 15-year-old girl that Diffenbaugh and her husband mentored.

“We loved her and considered adopting her, but she was so hard to get to know. Even after a year with her in our home we couldn’t get through to her.”

Hidden in ‘flowers’ is strong emotion, one that has universal support as the book has been translated in 34 languages, and is a No.2 perfect-seller in Italy. It has also been a subject of choice for Glamour, NPR, Ladies Home Journal, and Good Housekeeping. Vanessa appears this month on an interview about the book through BBC Breakfast.

Along with the book release, she also founded the Camellia Network, a non-profit whose mission is to create a nationwide movement to support youth transitioning from foster care.

The meaning of camellia in the language of flowers is “My destiny is in your hands.”

We all have a role in influencing the society we live in by sharing our talents with our youngest citizens.

Spring is in bloom at the Historic Cemetery

2011-05-23T06:59:59Z

The Sacramento Historic Cemetery on Broadway hosted an informational flower tour on Saturday.

The 10-person tour group, led by guide Sharon Patrician, made its way around the cemetery, enjoying the multitude of plant life that the site has to offer. Members of the tour group were free to ask Patrician questions, explore plots and take photos.

Patrician pointed out noteworthy plants and flowers along the way. Tour favorites were the fragrant historic rose bushes, vibrant red poppies and the rice flower, named for its pearl-like formation.

Patrician passed around a primrose flower from a plant that has been in the ground for 10 years, encouraging attendees to feel its “silken quality.”

One bloom that Patrician is eagerly anticipating is that of the Neo-American iris, a flower she described as “like no other,” with brown, yellow and blue stripes.

Patrician said the cemetery’s plots are maintained by some 120 volunteers. People with a love for gardening adopt a plot and, with their own funds, plant, groom and maintain flowers and other plant-life plant life.

Patrician explained that there are different approaches to maintaining a plot, and pointed out one area she described as having an “Oriental scheme,” in that it had a lot of green, not many flowers and a sense of serenity, with everything thoroughly clipped back.

In contrast to the “Oriental scheme,” Patrician maintains her own plot, Hamilton Square, with an approach she describes as “rambling:” plants draping over the sides of walls, mingling plant species and the occasional weed.

She said that although volunteers have a lot of freedom with how they maintain their plots, it's also important to respect the fact that people do come to the cemetary looking for their ancestors. Plant growth isn't allowed to get so unruly that it obscures the information on a gravestone, Patrician said.

Walking under a canopy of weeping cypress, Patrician talked about the cemetery’s resident barn owl, who hides in the trees during the day to avoid being harassed by crows.

Patrician informed the tour that cypress are planted as “memorial trees” because the Victorians associated their dark green foliage with “mourning and life everlasting.”

Patrician explained that though the trees aren’t labeled, the cemetery keeps a complete inventory of the trees on the property.

According to Patrician, plants prefer nitrogen-rich rain water to treated water. She also said that thoroughly watering plants can be a blessing and a curse: doing so results in more weeds, but it also encourages plant growth that may not otherwise have been possible.

In addition to watering strategies, Patrician talked about the crucial role bees play in the success of plant life. If the honey bee doesn’t survive, she said, native bees will have to take over their share of the work.

The cemetery is home to over 65 native bee species, but, unlike honey bees, they are hard to round up and have very specific tastes, Patrician said.

We learned that since black bees are too big to fit inside a flower’s opening, their method is to punch a hole in the base of a plant and extract the pollen that way.

The tour's final stop was the grave of Alexander Hamilton’s youngest son, William, who had come to California to seek his fortune in the gold rush. Positioned beaneath a low-branched Valley oak, Patrician called the grave an example of “cemetery politics.” William’s family had a monument built for him that included on it a large bust of his father along with his father’s name. Patrician explained that the family wanted to make certain that everyone who visited the grave site would know that Alexander Hamilton was William’s father, which she described as being “rather disingenuous.”

Finishing the tour, Patrician lamented the difficult financial situation that nonprofits, including the cemetery, are facing. She added that in difficult times, when a lack of funding means losing those things that “keep you sane in a urban setting,” the Historic Cemetery’s strong volunteer base is what will keep it going.

“If the parks ever close, you can always come to the cemetery,” she said.

For more information on the cemetery's guided tours, check out their website.

For information about volunteering, contact the Volunteer Coordinator at patricianone@att.net.

The Sacramento Press' Mother’s Day gift guide

2011-05-07T06:07:18Z

Mother’s Day is coming Sunday, and The Sacramento Press has a few gift ideas that are sure to let mom know how much you love her.

Gift idea No. 1: Send your mom on a relaxing getaway.

Super Spa, located at 1722 J St., Suite 1, offers a variety of massage services. Relaxation or therapeutic massages range from $40 to $120 depending on the length of the massage.

A warm stone therapy ranges from $90 to $140, and a head and scalp treatment for 30 minutes costs $40.

Every 60 minutes of massage includes an organic aromatherapy steam.

According to owner Suzanne Saunders, Super Spa's "Treat Mom to 90 minutes of bliss" special includes a L'initié facial care with Univera's super hydrating line-reducing face cream.

"We we will finish with their radiant and tightening skin toner," Saunders said. "She will be glowing for days."

Super Spa offers a chiropractic service, nutrition consulting, yoga sessions and a rain forest tub with Super Spa Me Organics bath salts, soaps and organic teas.

They have couples and single spa packages, including a chocolate rub and scrub package with a steam, 90-minute massage, body scrub, one-hour rain forest tub soak and organic chocolate.

Gift idea No. 2: Make her garden special.

The Gifted Gardener, located at 1730 J St., is a family-owned store that has an array of garden accessories, bird feeders and chimes to spruce up mom’s garden.

According to sales associate Taffetta Lassen, customers can expect store items to range from 25 cents to $270.

The two most popular items for the Mother’s Day holiday are chimes and bird feeders.

“Ninety-five percent (of our items) are meant to be outside,” Lassen said. “(We want to) encourage you to live outside, preferably in the garden.”

Several notable gifts include handmade clay flowers from Thailand, a large rock collection with various inspirational words, shea butter-enriched soaps in rhubarb, linden and honey almond, and gnome statues.

Sales associate Xian Kwong is Lassen’s son. "(Mother's Day) is a pretty big holiday for us," he said. "(We offer) something pretty for her garden."

One notable gift is a colorful hanging slate plaque with a hummingbird and flowers painted on it, which can be purchased for $23.

Gift idea No. 3: Buy her beautiful flowers.

Relles Florist, 2400 J St., is having several specials for Mother's Day with their cash-and-carry option. If you go directly to the store, you can purchase flowers at a discount if you pay with cash and take it with you.

According to Jim Relles, the president of Relles Florist, they carry at least 200 varieties of flowers from orchids, lilies, sunflowers, birds of paradise, liatris and anthuriums.

Relles said he recommends preordering flowers, but they have never sold out on Mother’s Day.

“We’ll have plenty of flowers (for Mother’s Day),” Relles said. “Mixed spring arrangements (are) very colorful.”

Relles also said that the average arrangement costs $40.

The arrangement below costs $40 and includes carnations, stock, pink statice and purple pom pom chrysanthemums.

Below is another arrangement that costs $40 and includes roses, carnations, statice, solidago and pom pom chrysanthemums.

“Roses are beautiful for Mother’s Day,” Relles said.

Gift idea No. 4: Treat mom to some retail therapy.

Several downtown Sacramento clothing boutiques have plenty of gift ideas for mom.

Sugar Shack, 2425 J St., is the perfect destination for the trendy mom. Sugar Shack has cute spring dresses and tops, belts, shoes and sunglasses. Also, they have lots of locally handmade jewelry.

Several of the brands the boutique carries include Toms shoes, Chaser, Level 99, Ark and Co. and OBEY.

Clothing prices range from $29 to $150.

A cute gift for mom that you can find at Sugar Shack is the polka-dot blouse below, from Ellison, which costs $38.

Clothing Remix, 2419 J St., carries new and used women's clothing, accessories and shoes.

According to co-owner Julie Vue, although their fashion pieces might look trendy, she said they “don’t want to rule out anyone.”

Vue said that the accessories and clothing range from $5 to $70.

Starting Mother's Day, they will offer 30 percent off of new merchandise and 20 percent off used merchandise.

They also offer styling tips on how to spruce up your wardrobe. According to Vue, if customers like a particular item, she shows them how they can incorporate it into their style by matching it with a pair of sandals or a nice blazer.

“We believe in trying the pieces on,” Vue said.

Vue said that she uses today’s magazines as inspiration combined with the customer’s personal style.

Below is a flutter sleeve blouse, from Von Chic, which costs $39.99.

The Cotton Club, at 2331 J St., is a boutique that offers unique, natural fiber clothing and all kinds of accessories.

They carry casual to professional women’s clothing, from tops, blouses and dresses. They also have a large selection of scarves, purses, jewelry and hats.

Their clothing and accessory items range from $25 to $120.

Several of the brands the store carries are Cut Loose, Tribal, Nomadic Traders, Color Me Cotton and Flax.

Was your mom obsessed with the Royal Wedding? Treat her like a queen with one of the Cotton Club’s colorful hats.

One gift idea at the Cotton Club is this purple top below, which costs $84, by Color Me Cotton.

Make your mother feel special this Mother's Day. No matter what you get for her, she will appreciate anything that comes from the heart.

Bonsai Show: photo essay

2011-04-12T05:11:27Z

The American Bonsai Association, Sacramento (ABAS) held its 52nd Annual Show and Sale over the weekend at the Shepard Garden and Arts Center in McKinley Park, Sacramento.

Bonsai is the Japanese art of growing and shaping miniature trees in containers to imitate the forms and shapes of full-sized trees.

The show included displays of over 100 bonsai trees, suiseki (Japanese viewing stones) displays, workshops, and bonsai vendors from around Northern California.

East Sacramento hears the whisper of spring

2011-02-21T06:52:04Z

The clouds broke apart and the wind slowed. Under a spanking clear blue sky East Sacramento gave a hint of spring. Blooms, the highly esteemed and the lowly weeds, opened their eyes and peeked out at the day.

Welcome Back Springtime on the Farm

2010-02-17T22:13:41Z

Springtime will soon be in the air and you and your family are invited to get take a break from the 9 to 5 and city life to experience the awakening of life. The Center For Land-Based Learning at the Farm on Putah Creek is hosting Welcome Back Springtime at the Farm on Putah Creek Sunday March 28, 2010 from 10:00am – 4:00pm.

The Center For Land-Based Learning is a non-profit whose stated mission is to “engage youth in learning experiences on the land that foster respect for the critical interplay of agriculture, nature and society.”

Under the leadership of Mary Kimball, Executive Director, the Center uses a network of farms, ranches, and natural ecosystems as educational laboratories for inner city, suburban and rural high school students. The staff of educators, Land-Based Learning Graduates, and working farmers imparts an appreciation for where food comes from and knowledge about environmental stewardship. Connecting students to their own communities while developing leadership skills and the ability to work cooperatively in diverse groups are just a few benefits students experience while in the program. In the end, the development of future farmers, environmentalists, and caretakers of our earth and its resources is the true goal of this important organization.

Springtime is a wonderful time to experience everything the Farm on Putah Creek has to offer you and your family. There are miles of walking trails along Putah Creek, a bountiful organic market garden, hedgerows in full bloom, ponds of teaming tadpoles and birds and wildlife all around.

A few of the many hands-on activities offered the day of the event will include hayrides, a guided educational walk along Putah Creek and the cultivation of spring vegetables in our garden. You can take part in the feeding and gathering of eggs from the chickens and hold a cute baby chick. Adults and children of all ages will be invited to take part in the study of soil in our soil pit and learn about the many species of birds and other wildlife we see around the farm. There will be many activities available for you to do or you can simply relax and take in the beauty of the blossoming hedgerows. Don’t forget your camera, as there will be plenty of photo ops.

This fun family daylong event is free of charge. You can purchase food and beverages or feel free to bring your own picnic lunch. The Farm on Putah Creek is an easy driving distance from Sacramento and very close to Davis. For more information and driving directions call or visit the Center For Land-Based Learning’s web site at: (530) 795-1520, http://www.landbasedlearning.org. The address of the Farm on Putah Creek is 5265 Putah Creek Road, Winters, CA 95694. Don’t miss this once-a-year event.

Valentine's Lesson

2010-02-15T18:33:59Z

The vacant spot next to the liquor mart could’ve been a sandwich shop, a travel agency, a cell-phone distributor, or a butcher. It could’ve been anything. But three days before Valentine’s Day, it opens its doors as a flower shop, and that’s nothing short of bloody brilliant.

The morning of, I walk across the street to spend fifty bucks on a dozen pink roses, a little box of chocolates, a vase, and a teddy bear. The place is hardly put-together. Sparse shelves in the corners, milk-crate boxes used for tables, flowers propped up in paint buckets. One big refrigerator houses specialty roses with price-tags reaching eighty to a hundred bucks. The other flowers are reasonably priced. There’s a family working behind the counter arranging bouquets, working around a table strewn with ribbon and wrapping paper. For as impromptu and bare-bones as the operation seemed, I found out that the business was here to stay, that this wasn’t only a special appearance for Valentine’s.

They taught me a lesson about life.

A flower shop at any other time would’ve been a complete waste of effort. A new business faces so many challenges in today’s economy that even the idea of starting a new business is sort of a joke. But how can you avoid those challenges? When my grandmother opened a coffeeshop in Auburn almost a decade ago, we had three customers a day—if that. We made fifteen bucks at the most. And this flower shop—open for three days—is making fifty bucks from each customer, ten or fifteen customers an hour.

What they did was corner the market—if I’m using that phrase correctly. They knew that anyone within a five-block radius with a wife, girlfriend, or floral-appreciative partner would be needing flowers and chocolate. They opened in time to advertise with street-side signs. They pulled in a good-sized profit before they’d even had a sign made for their door—it looked like they were running the thing out of a garage. All it took was timing.

And that’s the lesson, isn’t it? Timing. I’m sure this wasn’t the only flower shop to open the week before Valentine’s. The trick is to be good at something that people need and know when they’re going to need it. My advice is to look into fireworks—they’re big around July. But how can this advice work for me? I’m not sure, yet. People always say that “timing is everything,” and I believe that’s true, but there’s not much I can do about that since I’m not a florist and I don’t have a holiday to exploit. Looks like I’ll keep waiting for now.

Even if I didn’t learn anything valuable from watching a new business succeed, I still made my girlfriend smile, and that was all I wanted anyway.

The language of flowers is being spoken at Capitol Public Radio through watercolor!

2009-06-05T00:48:56Z

Artist, Jennifer J. O'Neill-Pickering is speaking the language of flowers at Capitol Public Radio through watercolors.
Have you ever wondered what the veiled meaning is that is associated with a specific flower? Then, you might want to go view the twenty-three watercolor paintings by artist, Jennifer J. O'Neill-Pickering, on display at Capital Public Radio through June 26th.

Different cultures and different periods of time have assigned various meanings to flowers and some of these are still with us today. During Victorian England, these meanings developed into a language called Floriography. People then selected different flower bouquets to convey various thoughts and feelings to their friends, family members, and to that special someone, sentiments of the heart. For instance, you’d give the calla lily to someone you think is beautiful because it means beauty and a Camellia to thank someone because it signifies gratitude. Even the names of flowers can be playful or ominous. Take the Foxglove, which are also known as Fairy Thimbles, Witch Bells and Dead Men Bells.

The artist has been painting flowers for over thirty years and her watercolors in the lobby and adjacent room of CPR, create a Garden of Eden for the eyes. Indeed many of the flowers represented in the show were painted in the artist’s garden. “Gardening was, a gene I inherited from my mother and grandmother”, she says. The artist paints from life and memory and never from photography because” there is always something lost in the translation and usually the spirit of the subject matter."
The work ranges from small delicate botanical studies to large scale works that are influenced by impressionism and filled with symbolism. Three works from The Mandala Series are also, included in the show because as the artist states "flowers are living mandalas". The artwork affords an opportunity to select a favorite flower that will last a lifetime and runs until June 26th at Capitol Public Radio M-F8:00 AM to 5PM, State University Drive (off Folsom Blvd., Sacramento 916-278-8900. Free to the Public.

Don't let rain fool you, summer is almost here

2009-05-05T13:31:52Z

Unseasonable rain showers have kept maypole dancing to a minimum for the first few days of May. But longtime dwellers of the Central Valley know to keep their shorts and tank tops handy. It is going to be scorching hot soon. Spring is effectively over. Like a clock-watcher at the end of her work shift, spring is so out of here the moment the summer sun arrives, and nobody is going to see her mild days and chilly nights again until 2010.

So forget looking up at the cloudy skies. Look down on the ground. Wildflowers -- or weeds, if you please -- tell us that summer is coming. If you've done any crawling around in the grass in the last week or two, you'll have noticed that most wildflowers have gone to seed. The bees and Persephone have done the work of regeneration. The biosphere gets another turn on the solar the merry-go-round.

This Storksbill fruit, for instance, has grown its full five inches. There is nothing left for it to do but dry up and get stuck in your sock.

The wild radish (yellow) and the ubiquitous hairy vetch (white-tipped purple) have both been knocked up and have seed pods to show for it.

(These wild radishes do in fact taste like radishes).

The rose clover below has a beautiful generic name: Trifolium, which is Latin for three leaves. It is in the pea family like the vetch. The writer is unsure where the clover keeps its seeds, but if you look very closely at its flower you can see the typical Fabaceae form of each of its florets.

All photos were taken by Jeff McCrory at the Sunrise section of the American River parkway

Rick's garden

2009-04-26T01:16:27Z

Leaving the house can be somewhat of a chore. Some days it's nice to be secluded in my apartment, reading or watching television. However, once I step foot outside of the apartment, I immediately feel a warm pleasantness come over me. Rick's garden sprawls across the small front yard. The garden is an explosion of all kinds of different plants, colors and textures.

With every new day of spring and summer, there is always something new and interesting blooming, making for a pleasant surprise. There are traditional beauties like roses and irises, but also plants to satisfy unusual tastes such as Mullens, which grow over six feet and are covered in pods and look as if they arrived from another planet.

When Rick Castro and Larry Fox bought the house over four years ago when it had not been lived in for many years and had suffered a fire. They gutted the house, by putting in new amenities while still maintaining the structure of the house. When my boyfriend and I moved in nearly two years ago, Rick was just starting to develop his garden. His main themes are, Victorian style (to match the house), native plants and drought tolerance.

Because of water shortages and waste, it is very important for Rick that his plants use as little water as possible. Drought tolerant plants are not only convenient in their minimal use of water but in that they can thrive in arid areas such as Sacramento. One of Rick's more interesting plants is the Sago Palm. The Sago Palm grows in a confined space and only generally reaches a height of six feet. It is coniferous and also kin to the Ginko tree. They can be traced back to the Mesozoic era and are often referred to as "living fossils". Rick was lucky enough to find the Sago at a garage sale and instantly liked it for its Victorian look (Victorians loved palms).

White and gray were two of the colors Rick had in mind to dominate the garden. White flowers are not only visible at night but also reflect light and color from the other plants. Another factor in some of his flower choices is a desire to attract hummingbirds. By planting red flowers next to white flowers with an especially tasty nectar, the hummingbirds flock to the garden.

Vegetables can also be found in the garden. He chose self-seeding leeks, Swiss chard and kale. Not only do these vegetables look very ornamental but they are tasty as well. Rick plans to grow more vegetables and herbs in the significantly larger backyard because of their growing success.

For mulch, Rick collects fallen leaves and covers the ground with them. This is an efficient way of reusing the leaves and a very effective one. I have hardly seen a weed. He is also working on a worm compost, using worms to compost food scraps and other organic material into a nutrient rich soil.

If I had to narrow down my favorite plants in the garden, they would be the more unusual ones. The Melianthus major Honeybush is tall and imposing, with jagged leaves and whispy maroon blooms. The Mullens are also tall and, at first, have a fuzzy appearance with small yellow flowers. As they age, the fuzz and flowers disappear into hundreds of dry pods. Rick's Foxgloves take my breath away with their beauty, looking like the layered ruffled dresses of the Civil War era. The Lamb's Ears, which resemble overgrown sage leaves,add texture and the gray color desired by Rick. Euphorbia may be my favorite of the bunch with their bright green color and suction cup look. I also appreciate the rose bushes because they are some of the plants that survived the fire.

By using drought tolerant plants and composting and mulch, Rick has created a beautiful and eco-friendly garden for all that pass by to enjoy. People have likened his garden to The Wizard of Oz because of its unusual plants and bright colors. Rick enjoys the otherworldly comparison and will continue to garden, introducing people to new and interesting plants.