We pack Brie and freshly baked bread, panettone and clementines, and a flask of tea and head for a hike and picnic at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, www.parks.ca.gov.
This is something we do every week but today we intend to study creek beds.
A Creek Bed
We carefully observe the way large and small rocks lie in creek beds because we intend to replicate this in our dry wash so that it will look natural.
We arrived home yesterday evening. During the night it rained and blew. Santa Rosa received more than two and a half inches of rain, a tremendous amount for an October rainstorm.
Gardens of the Wine Country has cut the wash, dug the pool and rototilled the dead grass into the soil. They tell us that the ground was very hard, more like mudstone than mud.
The walks on our Moorish Trails trip take us through olive groves and vineyards and into the Sierra Tejeda Natural Park
One day we walk to the pretty white village of Salares, where we eat lunch.
We love to see new places but we also love Sonoma County. In a few days we'll be back home, and able to see the re-contouring of our front yard.
We have joined an Explore trip called Moorish Trails and are staying in the delightful Andalucian village of Canillas de Albaida.
Not Quite A Garden But No Longer A Laundry
The laundry where the women of the village did their washing is no longer used for that purpose and has been filled with plants.
We walk through an arch in the city wall to find the botanical garden. We hope to see plants here that will flourish with little water in our Mediterrranean climate.
Tamarix Africana, Euphorbia Dendroides, and Berberis Australis all look interesting.
We're in the lovely walled city of Cordoba in Spain. We visit La Mezquita, which was started in the 8th century on the site of a Christian Visigoth church. The interior has row upon row of columns, topped with red and white striped horseshoe arches. The Catholic cathredal was built into the mosque in the 16th century.
My friend, Cynthia, who has been keeping an eye on the yard while we're away, e mails that a crew was digging up the front yard last time she visited. We're pleased to hear that work has started.
We arrive in Barcelona, a lively city with amazing architecture, great food and a terrible problem with pickpockets. The gardener replies to an email from Gardens of the Wine Country asking for clarification of the details of the work we want done.
We take the train to the pretty French town of Narbonne, where we meet my brother and sister-in-law, and pick up a boat from the excellent LeBoat company. We leave the mooring and start on our way up the Canal de la Robine to the Canal du Midi.
It's really fun, but as we cruise along, guiding the boat through the impossibly narrow arches of bridges
and buying bread and delicious cakes at village boulangeries
our thoughts occasionally turn to the front yard and we wonder if the work's been done yet.
Time to Pack
We ask for price quotations from two landscape contractors for rototilling the whole area and cutting the wash. Neither is satisfactory. One refuses to quote unless she can also do the planting, which is not what we want. The other estimate is outrageously expensive. We’re now seriously concerned that we will not get the job done this year as it's nearly time to leave for Europe.
Our neighbor owns Gardens of the Wine Country and we call him to ask if he can recommend a contractor. He says he's interested in the job and gives us an estimate which we accept. He'll do the work while we're away.
Belle Feuille Garden Design Plan
A friend of our neighbors
recommends Belle Feuille Garden Design, and in early September
we meet with Michelle and Lynette, two charming women, who walk around
the J C neighborhood with us, and show us examples of their work.
We like what we see, although the meadow they’ve planted in a front
yard causes me to cough and sneeze. They point out that
many of the plants on the original plan will be brown and unattractive
in the winter. We discuss our ideas for the garden with them and Michelle draws another plan for us. By now
we’re becoming seriously concerned about time because winter storms
are approaching and we’re leaving for a month in Europe in mid-September.
Espaliered apple
tree
It’s now July and we’re harvesting zucchini and peppers from the back yard, also a few tomatoes, although they’re woefully late this year. The peach trees have produced almost nothing. Stone fruit don’t do well in this garden but apples and pears thrive.
Our only contact with the landscaper is through his cell phone and in answer to our many calls over the next six weeks we get a single message that he is still interested in doing the work. We’re becoming increasingly frustrated and concerned that the summer is going by.
Photo of roses with 'upside down' tomatoes in the black pots hanging from the frame
The new roses we’ve planted
at the back are doing well and look pleasant against the Nepalese plumbago
we bought at the Quarryhill Gardens plant sale (a great temptation to
all gardeners), and planted in a handsome pot bought from Costco.
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