Shasta Daisies Make a Great Welcoming Entrance

I want to share with you a great garden tip for an informal hedge, the perennial Shasta Daisy, Leucanthemum x superbum, Luther Burbank’s original hybrid. I struggled to find a suitable hedge or border for the entrance of my home because it is a sunny expansive area, had to look good year round, and present a warm and inviting entrance.

Why I like creating a border with Shasta Daisy:

1) I didn’t even buy the first starts, but were given to me by a dear friend. With the right happy conditions Shasta Daisy multiplies by itself, into a 2-4’ tall x 2’ wide mass. I wanted a fairly tall border in front of my Intrigue roses.

2) They bloom in July or mid summer when other parts of my garden are waning. The bright white flowers create a warm, cottage effect which put a smile on your face. Dead heading spent blooms encourages more blooming. Once all of the blooms are finished, I still have a beautiful green frilly perennial border throughout the year.

3) Shasta daisies like sun, but will fair well with some shade. They like moderate water. I have them on drip away from my home.

4) Butterflies are attracted to them, and often are fluttering around them.

5) In the spring or fall, I can divide plants to increase or reduce the width of my border.

6) Shasta Daisies glow in moonlight.

7) They are an excellent cut flower, last a long time in a vase, for your garden bouquets.

8) Shasta Daisies are easy to care for, fairly disease resistant, and respond well to a good pruning once a year.

9) Mass planting or repetition is always solid design.

Do you have this wonderful perennial in your garden now? Not only are Shasta Daisies great for a border or hedge, they do well in containers too!

Smiling Shasta Daisies Are Perfect Greeters

St. Francis Amongst the Provence Lavender

In a quiet spot in my garden accompanied by St. Francis, patron saint of animals and the environment, I have two rows of Provence lavender growing. For my lavender, it is usually the end of June, beginning of July, when the lavender spikes begin to flower and it is time to harvest for drying. I don’t harvest all the lavender, so as to save some of the lavender for the bees, butterflies, and pollination.

Lavender spikes are ready to harvest when the bottom third of the spike starts to bloom. Make sure lavender spikes are totally dry and not wet from morning dew. Gather your lavender spikes in bundles, tie together with twine, and hang upside down on a wire hanger. I use a simple paperclip to secure my lavender bunch to the hanger. For a small amount of lavender bundles, hang in a dark, dry place with air circulation, like a guest bedroom closet. Place a towel or cloth under your lavender bunches to catch any lavender that drops. Drying in a dark space or closet will preserve the color of the lavender flowers, which will dry in 8 to 10 days. Rub your dried flower heads together over a sieve to separate anything other than your prized lavender buds. Store in an airtight glass jar, either tinted or in a dark pantry. Dried lavender will keep their flavor for culinary use, for many years, but I try and harvest enough lavender buds to last me until next year.

Lavender plants need to be cut back to beautiful mound shapes each year once harvest and their bloom time is over. Cut back your lavender plants by about one half in size and just above their woody stems. This will rejuvenate your lavender plants for the following year.

Hanging Provence Lavender Ready For Drying

Provence lavender is one of the preferred culinary lavenders due to its very low camphor level, and pleasing lavender flavor. So versatile, it can be used in sweet or savory recipes. Think Lavender Sugar, Honey Lavender Ice Cream, Lavender Lemonade, Raspberry Scones with Lavender Glaze, Herbs de Provence, Lavender Balsamic Vinegar, Grilled Lamb with Lavender, and more!

Harvested Dried Lavender

Provence lavender is also a very good landscape lavender known for it’s beauty and fragrance. Planted in mass, it could be a stunning focal point in your garden. Drip irrigation works best, and water in moderation.

With all of these attributes, why not add Provence lavender to your garden.

Kumquat-Cardamon Tea Bread, Perfect for a  Gift

If you are lucky to have a kumquat tree, you must have this recipe, Kumquat-Cardamon Tea Bread from Bon Appétit November 2005. The secret ingredient is 2 cups of kumquat puree and maybe another secret ingredient, crushed pineapple in its own juice. Wow! Such a moist and delicious tea bread. This recipe makes 2 large loaves, or several mini gift loaves. Topping each tea bread with a citrus glaze and slices of kumquat makes this a beautiful presentation! Enjoy!

Kumquats are very versatile and can be used in meat sauces, salads, and sweets. Kumquats can easily jump between sweet and savory, and beckons you to use your imagination. 

Kumquat Trees Can Be Grown in a Container

Digging into my archives here is my post on Knock-Out Kumquats, from November 2008, for more information about growing kumquats in your garden. Do you have a kumquat in your garden?

For some time I have wanted an urn in my garden, an urn that was simple but gave a nice touch to the garden. Urns are easy, as they can be planted, take the weather, moisture, and look great just where they are placed.

So in my mind, I began the hunt for the perfect white urn. Why white, because I have two existing white fountains, white is in my garden color palette, and I have a white stucco home. White is a theme. I have found white urns are a bit harder to find than other colored urns. 

So my journey began to find a white urn that would work well in my garden. In my travels and every day life, I came across fabulous urns and began to have "urn envy."

Recently, I stumbled across an urn that I thought would look great in my garden. I should say "urns" as I found three, and made a little vignette. Where did I placed these urns? In a perfect spot, the olive grove. Interestingly, these urns are almost a collage of the fabulous urns I had seen and been admiring, only better, because they seem perfect for my garden in color, form and size. Their white color draws your eye to their heavenly spot, in a most simple and natural way.

Urns in My Olive Grove

I found urns for my garden, at the most surprising place, HomeGoods. These urns are very reasonable and beautifully handcrafted in Mexico by local artisans. Suggestions to find urns for sale are nurseries, garden shops, flea markets, and home decor stores. Know what you are looking for, and keep your eyes open!

Luscious Cherry Tomatoes From the Garden

It has been a splendid tomato summer! Volunteer cherry tomatoes from last summer's plants joyfully returned without a nudge. I had the sweetest cherry tomatoes from May through July. The best recipes are the simplest. I washed the tomatoes, halved them, tossed them with fresh Basil Temecula Olive Oil, dried basil for further basil flavor layering and extra intense flavor, freshly ground Tellicherry black pepper, and kosher salt. I roasted them in the oven at 400 degrees F. for a half hour. At this point the cherry tomatoes caramelize and are ready to be tossed over my favorite pasta or zucchini-spiraled sauteed pasta. It doesn't get any better than this!

"Dressed to Thrill" Cherry Tomatoes

In July, the beefy big boys started making an appearance, Cherokee Purple, Lemon Boy, and Renee's Garden Crimson Carmello, a top flavor "French tomato variety renowned for exquisite flavor." I used these tomatoes for summer sandwiches and sumptuous salads.

Cherokee Purple and Renee's Garden Dark Green Raven Zucchini

In August, the Italian San Marzano tomatoes and Inca Jewels Container Roma tomatoes (seeds from Renee's Garden) start ripening. I want to use the roma tomatoes for rich, flavorful tomato sauces. I sliced and froze the roma tomatoes for recipes for my fall upcoming "Lunch in Provence" Cooking Classes.

Jeweled Roma Tomatoes and Italian San Marzano Tomatoes

To have tomatoes all summer long, plant different varieties for different uses. Always plant a few new varieties to experiment with. Although I sent away for tomato seed varieties from Renee's Seeds, Home Depot had a good selection of different tomato seedling varieties such as Cherokee Purple, Indie Rose, and Lemon Boy.

"Life is endlessly delicious," treat yourself, a friend, or loved one to a fall "Lunch in Provence" Cooking Class! For more information, please visit, Cooking Classes.

Carolyne Roehm Signing Books After Her Presentation

The Prado at Balboa Park was the perfect setting for a rare San Diego visit last week by one of America’s most important tastemakers, Carolyne Roehm.  Roehm has been a part of American design culture for decades with career chapters in fashion, gardening, entertaining, publishing, and decorative arts.

Currently traveling the country promoting her latest book, Carolyne Roehm at Home in the Garden, The Village Garden Club of La Jolla was pleased to present Carolyne Roehm as this year’s “Meet the Master” grand event.  

“Meet the Masters” was inspired by one of the club’s founders, Adrienne Green, and is held yearly in her honor. Each year The Village Garden Club of La Jolla brings world-class floral designers to San Diego to speak and demonstrate their master floral creations. This educational event is a gift to the club’s members, the greater San Diego Community, and beyond.

Beautiful, stunningly statuesque, and dressed in a bone-colored monochromatic pant suit, Roehm spoke to over 230 devoted luncheon attendees in a warm and charming manner about her 33 years of personally creating and refining the pastoral lands, gardens, and ponds on her historic 1765 property in Connecticut called Weatherstone.

Roehm shared her incredible life’s ups and downs, paralleling her Weatherstone property’s ups and downs, often using metaphors between life and a garden.  One common thread throughout her life has been her love affair with flowers, and “a garden is a canvas for making colors, textures, and shapes.” Her passion for flowers is what drives her garden philosophy. She carries her garden palette, what she is planting, tying it through to her table, dishes, and what works best with what.

Roehm ended her presentation with one of her favorite quotes from Frank Lloyd Wright, “Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature.  It will never fail you.”

A timely article from One King's Lane visits Carolyne Roehm at her Weatherstone home. For more information, visit Carolyne Roehm.

Entrance to The Prado, Balboa Park

Local 92024 Magazine, January/February 2016

Many thanks to my local 92024 Magazine, January/February 2016, for their "Flora, Floats, and Fun" article on page 42. Their recognition highlights how I was chosen to ride Scotts Miracle-Gro float in the 2016 Tournament of Roses Parade, with it's special California Grown certification.

I've been a resident of Encinitas for over thirty years, and know how much flower growing has been a rich part of Encinitas history. The sandy soil and temperate climate were ideal for flower and bulb growing. 

I was thinking of my Encinitas community on Rose Parade Day, honored to be representing my community, California home gardening, and symbolically bringing a little bit of Encinitas from my own garden, in the form of olive tree branches, rosemary, and lavender foliage to be on the float along side me.

Dirty hands are all in a day's work for Bonnie Jo Manion. That's because this avid garden writer, speaker and photographer knows first-hand that working the soil is what it takes to create beautiful things others can enjoy.

It is official, the Miracle-Gro Rose Parade website is up and running with news, announcements, and details on their upcoming float. Miracle-Gro is the Official Rose and Flower Care Company for the fourth year in a row for the Rose Parade, and this year is especially meaningful as their float will be "California Grown" certified. This means that 85% or more of the flowers and plant material will have been grown in California. Today 98% of the roses in the United States currently come from outside of the country. Miracle-Gro is the first major brand to take this hugely visible step to support California Flower Farmers, The California Cut Flower Association, and invite customers like myself to supply flowers and plant material for their float.

Last month the talented film crew for Miracle-Gro visited my garden for a garden interview and a first-hand look at what plant material I will be sharing from my garden for their float as one of the "Miracle-Groers."  In the video you can see the olive tree, lavender, and rosemary cuttings which will make the symbolic journey. 

Maybe I should explain what are "Miracle-Groers" and why they were selected. Four Southern California gardeners and two California flower farmers  were chosen to participate as "Miracle-Groers" and grow flowers and plant material from their gardens and farms that will be used on the float. Not only were "Miracle-Groers" selected on their ability to provide flowers and plant material, they have demonstrated a passion for sharing and inspiring gardening in their communities and beyond, and providing helpful tips and information for conserving water during the state-wide drought. We all are honored to be riding the Miracle-Gro CAGrown "2016 Farm to Float" together at the Rose Parade this coming New Year's Day. Meet the Miracle-Groers, with their interesting backgrounds and stories.