February 2025

Portions of my yard lie in deep shade throughout most of a summer’s day. Combine that with incredibly terrible soil and the result can be summed up as a discouraging mess.  I felt like planting annuals in those spots was just condemning beautiful flowers to a long, slow death sentence. Although I knew what would happen, I just kept planting, longing for the summer color. Finally, desperate for success, I dragged some giant-sized clay pots to the barren beds and planted them with shade-loving annuals. Those first pots certainly wouldn’t have won any design prizes, but at least the flowers lived and bloomed throughout the summer.

I am so tired of grey, dreary skies, frigid temperatures and biting winds  And snow, so much snow covering every inch of the yard!  I’m sick of being trapped indoors by slick sidewalks and icy roads. I desperately need spring to get here so I can dig in the garden. To counteract my descent into the winter blahs, I’ve done what every serious gardener does this time of year. I've been intently studying my collection of favorite catalogs, magazines and websites for new ideas to instantly transform my landscape this spring.

The floral departments of our local grocery stores are all decked out for Valentine’s Day. While shelves are overflowing with gift ideas for that special someone, the real focus is on the flowers. Dozens of samples of gorgeous mixed bouquets are sitting in coolers nudging shoppers to get their orders placed before it’s too late. 

Yesterday, while I was browsing the web, I ran across a relatively obscure article that started me on an unexpected tangent. The headline read: California’s monarch butterfly population plummets; fire wipes out Topanga habitat. The destruction of a prime butterfly habitat, to me, just added another victim to the life-changing tragedy that so many Californians have suffered.