the weekend quick plant with harry

this past saturday i woke at 6:30, groggy and beat down from a long week of maintenance and planting. i made a cup of super extra dark strong roasted komodo dragon blend, blasted myself with a hotter than hell shower to wipe the sleep out of my soul, and found myself gunning toward a “half-day” of planting. i arrived at the job at about 8, just in time to start spacing out the 2 grand worth of plants i had purchased the previous day. i get frenetic at these moments. once i am awake and the soreness of 3 dislocated shoulders has been thwarted by motrin and caffeine, i am ready for anything the day deems necessary to throw at me.

today was not too tough, or so i assumed. i spaced out the plants for a job in laguna niguel that i had designed a few weeks earlier. armando and his crew from perez landscaping where there before me, arranging flagstones and finishing the sprinkler adjustments.

we cranked away for several hours when my phone rang – it was my next door neighbor, harry.

for several months now we have been tentatively planning to replant a small raised planter that juts out to the right of his garage. about six months ago i came home one saturday afternoon and harry was eagerly chopping away at a loquat tree in the back of the very same planter. in all the time i have lived across from harry i have admired and partaken of the fruit from the loquat treee. needless to say i was dismayed that he was chopping the thing down.

“what the f*&k are you doing”, i said. he informed me that there was a retaining wall that needed to be rebuilt just to the right of the loquat tree and in order to rebuild the wall, the tree needed to go. i didn’t quite buy the story, but decided to help harry with the tree regardless. the tree could have been saved.

he and i hacked away, lopped up, cut up and stomped down the debris. i was sad to see the tree go, but was happy to help a neighbor with a chore he was going to pursue whether or not i was there. beer included.

… a month or two goes by … i ignore the construction and don’t offer to help a bit … i stay in bed on the weekends and drink mimosas and listen as harry struggles with the rebuilding of the retaining wall. harry eventually tears out the rest of the crappy planting material in the small planter – which consists of overgrown lantana and grassy weeds. he retains a nice looking bird of paradise and that’s it.

several more weeks go by… harry and i talk about replanting… another week goes by…

this past saturday rolls around and harry finally calls me to help him with the planter. i tell him to meet me at plant depot at 2:30 in the afternoon. i finish up with the job in laguna niguel and head over to las golondrias for a carne asada burrito – with sour cream, guacamole, and rice. i eat, and drive over to the nursery and chat away with erick lux – truly one of my favorite plant people and someone who i have lots to learn from – check out botaniverse.

harry shows up and we pick out a beautiful 15 gallon mineola tangelo, two 5 gallon birds of paradise, and two flats of strawberries – “pretty in pink” and “sequoia”. the nursery is buzzing with customers and we do all we can to check out and head back home to finish the planting before dark. harry and i load the plants into my stake-bed, along with 2 bags of harvest supreme planting mix and bust out for home.

i pull up to harry’s house at about 3:30 and begin unloading the plants. he pulls up about 5 minutes later and gets out of his car holding a 12 pack of negra modelo. “planting fuel”, he says. oh great, i think, this will be fun. he begins pulling the grassy weed from the planter and i begin turning the soil in his wake. in no time at all do we weed and cultivate the planter – it’s only about 3 feet wide by 15 feet long. the soil is sandy and very easy to break apart with a spade shovel. it’s got a few extraneous roots in it, but nothing to speak of. harry chides me for not helping him with the tear-out. oops, i was sleeping and eating bacon, and lounging with my girlfriend…

harry weeding the bed of grassy infiltrators

bed ready for planting

i add in the two bags of harvest supreme planting mix, working them in with my furious OCD tendencies, and then get totally distracted because of the beer and begin pruning his pygmy date palms on the other side of the driveway. his phoenix robelini have spikes sticking out everywhere. i show him how to prune off the fronds all the way to the trunk – so that no spikes can jab a future pruner, or unsuspecting passerby, or me because i will probably be pruning them 6 months from now.

“maybe we should get back to the planting”, harry casually insists. “we only have an hour till dark.” i reassure harry and get back to the planting. “you mean maybe i should get back to the planting”, i tell harry. beer is getting the best of my saturday afternoon. in no time flat i dig the holes and plant the tangelo, the two birds and the flats of strawberries. i finish planting the last of the strawberries as the sun is going down. by the time i am done a very cold chill has descended and it’s all i can do to finish watering everything in and bail out for the evening. he offers to buy my girlfriend and me dinner for the evening. we decline, as i am tired as hell and ready for a shower. but we will gladly take a rain check for sure.

finished planting. mineola tangelo, two new birds and strawberries

harry is stoked that the planting is done and confides in me that his wife, deanna, is going to be so happy when she gets home. of course it’ll be past dark and she won’t see it until the morning, but we know we’ve done a great job – and harry is especially happy because he is banking on the fact that this is going to be the last home improvement he is going to do for the next 10 years. “i guess it’s time to buy a new house now that this one is all fixed up”, he tells me.

i know, i rule, i kick ass

good luck with all that, pal, i tell him. drink a beer and just stay put. enjoy your new tangelo tree and strawberry patch. don’t worry. why move. you’ve got an ocean view. life is good.

life is always good. you’ve just got to see it. if you don’t, you are not looking with the right intent.

- enjoy the garden-

scott

how to kill clover in your lawn

yup. it’s that time of year when weeds begin to infiltrate like mad. grassy weeds and broadleaf weeds alike begin popping up wherever they can – in planting areas and in the lawn. in planting beds the weeds are never quite as bad as in the lawn. that’s just my personal opinion – others may disagree, but i find that i have a way easier time getting on my hands and knees and weeding around plants than i do weeding in the lawn. for one thing, it  is easier to see the weeds that you are dealing with when they are in planters. second of all, you can move plants out of the way and get under most flowers and shrubs well enough to pluck them out by the root.

clover at the base of a palm tree

but weeds in the lawn are a whole other story. i have given weeding lawns by hand my best shot in the past. i have literally spend hours pulling clover out of a fescue lawn by hand. it actually feels like you are making progress at some point too. until a few days go by and the clover comes back even stronger. sometimes i even use a screwdriver and gently pry the roots loose. i do advocate weeding by hand as much as possible. but sometimes the problem is just too big to overcome by hand weeding.

clover in a fescue lawn

i combat  many weed problems by using a pre-emergent herbicide, which should be applied to planting beds and lawns prior to any sign of weeds. this is especially effective for grassy weeds in lawns – like crabgrass, which can become a total nightmare if left untreated year after year.

as far as the broadleaf weeds go – clover, dandelion etc.., there is a simple solution if weeding by hand is just to time-consuming and maddening. the answer – use chemicals. i hope to not ruffle the feathers of staunch eco-friendly “green” people out there – but come on, sometimes you have got to fight fire with fire. i am all for making as little of an impact on the earth as possible, so i advocate using chemical methods only when absolutely necessary.

ok, follow directions below – and no, i am not being paid by ortho. this is not some cheesy advertisement and i did not sell out. this is simply what gets rid of clover very inexpensively in lawns.

broadleaf weed killer and hose end sprayer

pour weed killer into hose end sprayer container

set dial to appropriate amount per gallon

attach hose to sprayer

spray lawn with herbicide

*please follow specific directions for whatever herbicide you decide to buy – remember to be very careful when using chemicals. follow directions on labels, that’s what they are there for.

joie de vivre.

this is a guest post by my friend and fellow gardener ozzie ausband.

I wandered lost…  a broken human being. I -finally- took a break from the madness & dark road I was traveling. I got it all together. I put away the baggage & dealt a blow to my demons. Starting to garden & landscape with Scott has helped me tremendously. I find myself falling into the rhythm of the earth. I cut back & prune plants & roses. I see new life forming & growing all around me. We watch all life move around us in a slow-motion play of beauty. As the world moves frantically in its ever-present race of acquisition, Scott & I stay in the calm flow of nature. Tranquility. My mind & soul are no longer in turmoil. Sure, I make far less money than I once did as an RN. However, I sleep better, my mind is calm & my body strong. I am part of the earth…and all things in it. Ozzie

hippeastrum - amaryllis

the atrium succulent garden

wednesdays are always a fun break from the maintenance routine i usually stick to. i keep the day open for bigger planting and/or pruning projects. recently, i’ve been doing more and more succulent and cactus plantings. i would have to say that these are definitely some of my favorites. when i originally moved from pennsylvania to southern california about 10 years ago i immediately fell in love with the wide array plants that can grow here – namely cactus and succulents.

unlike arizona where a lot of people plant their yards with this type of landscaping, people in so cal seem to fancy english and mediterranean gardens. most of my clients in fact have lots of roses, lavenders, hydrangeas, azaleas, camellias and higher maintenance shrubs, vines and trees.

so within the last two or three months i have been so stoked to have had the opportunity to do full gardens with a free reign of cactus and succulent choices. today we replanted a small atrium in the middle of a house in san juan capistrano.

ozzie raking out debris after the tear out

ozzie eyeing up for plant layout

i would say that the whole scale of the planter was probably about 10 feet long by 5 feet wide, so it was a pretty small area to clear out and replant. the atrium sat walled in, literally in the middle of the house, closed off by sliding doors. it doesn’t get full sun by any means since it is walled off, but there was a very impressive 8 foot tall euphorbia cactus already growing there – so i figured it got decent enough light and heat to support a succulent garden.

we tore out some limp looking pennisetum grasses and struggling heathers. the soil was sandy and easy to dig. we buried an existing 1/2″ drip line around the perimeter, and then hit dana point nursery for the plants. we convinced the owner to go with 1 huge impressive euphorbia “firestick”, two 5 gallon aeoniums and an assortment of 6 inch succulents including 3 jades and 6 echeverias – 3 of which included the “evening glow” hybrid. we also decided on topping the garden off with lava rock – my personal favorite for cactus and succulents, even in potted gardens.

me planting

laying down the lava rock

i am always happy to be planting any type of garden, as long as i brings the owner happiness and pleasure. unless someone has a strong aversion to cactus and succulents i try to convince people of their beauty and austere. there are so many textures, colors and shapes to choose from. i think sometimes my clients get tired of having to constantly maintain the english garden plants – always pruning, and replanting color and cleaning up leaves that they are turning more towards the low maintenance style of cactus and succulents.

the final project

euphorbia "firestick", echeveria "evening glow", jade

jades

echeveria, aeonium, firestick

march blooms

the rain has been coming down here in southern california – on and off – for the last two months. not every day of course, and not like heavy east coast or north western rains, but good healthy rains nonetheless. in fact, i was stranded at home – off of work – for a whole week back in january. the great thing about the rain is that all the plants have been given a good deep drink as the days begin to get longer and warmer. eventually the cool days and nights will give way to an unbearably long summer with not a cloud in the sky or a drop of precipitation for about 8 months.

only within the last two to three weeks have new leaves begun popping out, bulbs sprouting and blooming and buds forming on the citrus and fruit trees. in the beginning of february i began fertilizing with triple 15 and also gave the lawns a boost of nitrogen.

today was just too beautiful to pass up taking some great photos of the new growth and flowers at some of my jobs. the freesias are blasting impressive blooms, and some delphiniums i planted back in january are stretching to the sky. my garden sidekick, ozzie, was in awe of how in just a short amount of time the plants have begun to “pop-off”, as he says. he was attributing it to our fertilizing, which i agree with, but was also telling him how it is just the right time of year – and the good amount of rain we’ve been getting this year. the native wildflowers are going to be something to see too.

just this morning we were working at about 8:30 a.m. when a big storm cloud pushed east from out over the ocean and onto land. the dark clouds down-poured for about 20 minutes before letting up to a perfect blue sky with patches of cumulous clouds. it was quite a fresh cool day not to be sitting behind a computer!

all these photos were shot in laguna beach. i was very glad to be out in the garden today – enjoying the amazing scent of pink jasmines and orange blossoms, and checking out the array of color and life.

enjoy the gardening – scott

alyssum - freesias - roses

iris

orange tree blossoms

freesia

leucojum

delphiniums with sunflower

welcome to white sage gardening

the idea behind this blog is simple. it is a blog about gardening. it exists to answer your gardening questions, as a tool to research plants and gardening techniques and as a fun place to check out photos of plants.

i got into plants several years ago and it quickly turned into a passion. a passion so strong that i went back to school for horticulture and got a job at a local nursery to teach myself about plants. at the same time i volunteered at a botanic garden for even more hands on experience. now, several years later i run a modest gardening business in southern california.

a friend of mine convinced me to start a blog as a way to reach out to other fellow gardeners. i hope this blog will grow over time and become a fun place for you to visit. my intent is for the users of the blog to direct its path. i will post photos and stories of my day to day activities in hopes that other gardeners will find them interesting, helpful and enjoyable.

i chose to be a gardener because i love being outside working with plants and giving life and happiness to my clients. the positive energy that flows through the plants and the earth is something i feel every human should enjoy. the benefits of being a part of the natural world are often forgotten and overlooked in this day and age where technology reigns supreme.

i know for a fact that my health has improved remarkably since i began gardening for a living about 5 years ago. i hope this blog encourages everyone to get outside and feel the earth through their fingers, to plant something new in their garden, and to feel the quiet perfection of nature.

thanks for reading – enjoy the garden

scott j ward – white sage gardening

flowering plum tree