Wildfire Season Is Here–Are You Prepared?

Mill Valley Fire Safety Demonstration Garden

The warm weather is finally here. Time to plan summer vacations with family and friends, but have you spent any time planning for wildfire season? As we experience an increase in warmer days, the vegetation around our homes will begin to dry out and become more flammable. Now is the time to be proactive and protect your home by creating defensible space.

Plant Pick: Isoplexis Canariensis

Isoplexis Canariensis

The Canary Island foxglove is another vertical wonder for small and large gardens alike. It is native to Tenerife, part of the Canary Islands and is a member of another large plant family, scrophulariaceae (the figworts). Plant relatives include digitalis, hebe, mimulus, penstemon, phygelius and verbascum to name just a few of the nearly 3000 species.

Out of School & Into the Garden

I wanted to spend some quality time with my kids and their friends on these long summer days. So, I took a break from my attempts to catch up on weeding and found creative inspiration right outside our front door. To mark the changing of the season, we made a “solstice compass”. We harvested some willow, made a cross to represent the 4 directions, and connected the ends of the cross to form a circle (or at least a semblance of a circle). Foraging in the garden, we harvested chamomile, thyme, valerian, penstemon, snapdragons, and verbena to give it some color.

Right Plant, Right Place: Beauties for Dry Shade

Heuchera maxima, credit:  Anne Weinberger

Bay-Friendly Qualified Professional Anne Weinberger recently shared these plant musings with the Piedmont Patch. The cheerful heuchera blooming in the dry shade by my back door inspired me to share her post. -Ben Duggan

I might as well tell you right upfront that I’m a plant fanatic. So please don’t get all glassy eyed if I carry on about the rainbow of new California sticky monkey flower hybridsor how every time I spot a madrone tree alongside a hiking trail I stop to stroke its sensuously smooth mahogany bark, dreaming of planting yet another variety of its sexy—and more garden-worthy—manzanita cousins in my own private patch.