Under the Solano Sun

I recently discovered a plant buried underneath a shrub on my hillside. It survived these last three years in a small clay pot that was only half-filled with soil! The plant was not in very good shape, as you could well imagine.

I was cleaning the house recently and ran across a book on water. The title is Water in Plain Sight. I'm not sure how I acquired it maybe at the last Master Gardener Plant Exchange. But it came at a perfect time for me to read.

As winter begins, it provides an opportunity to assess what is working in the garden and what isn't, including whether and how plants should be pruned, moved, or removed. Now that many plants have lost their leaves or are dormant, it is easier to assess potential edits to the garden.

Blog by Michelle DavisHolidays are upcoming, and so are the foods we associate with them. One that I love to eat during the holidays and year-round is Ipomoea batatas, or sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes may well have been the earliest food crop. Archaeological evidence dates it as far back as 2500 BCE in Peru…

For years I thought this tree at our seasonal pond, was a Brazilian pepper (Schinus terebinthifolia). Finally, I decided to look more closely into its identity. A Brazilian pepper is, of course, one of the topmost invasive species, mostly where there is plenty of water, like Florida and Texas.