Spring is when the world and our gardens revive and re-invigorate. And so do we.

As a friend or a follower, you know I love Great Dixter as my second garden home. Don and I visited there in late September, 2023and were treated to the usual Dixter hospitality and magic. One of the themes at Great Dixter is succession planting, involving special care to always have blooms whether it is late winter or late autumn.

Where else can you enjoy a 47 acre garden that includes a stunning flower display and a walk to the Pacific ocean? I previously shared the Mendocino Botanical Garden on my website under the tab “Gardens to Visit”. It is worth a visit to their website, and a real visit to the Mendocino/Ft Bragg area on the northern California coast.

This is the time of year when wildflowers are everywhere, if you look for them! They may surprise you when you’re on a walk or riding in your car.

What is a more cheerful sight than the daffodils of Spring. One of the early flowers to break through the browns of winter. I have multiple varieties of them planted everywhere.

Early summer flowers will be the topic of this blog post. It is quite hard this time of year to stay out of the garden when it is changing every day with new blooms and new colors and new excitement.

Beautiful California poppies blooming at the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve.

Why plant marigolds with your vegetables? Tagetes, the scientific name for marigold, is a must in your garden for multiple reasons!

Hellebores are often overlooked in gardens maybe because they don’t typically display the bright spectacular colors. But they add a subtle beauty in the late winter or early spring and bloom in my garden at the same time as daffodils.

We raised 4000-5000 pounds of giant pumpkins this year. We share our fun here and at the bottom, you’ll