First

The first lavender cutting of the year.

And the first roses.

A Pleasant Valley

While I wait for the time to plant and muck about in my own garden, I enjoy meandering through the agricultural area where I live and soaking up the garden views.  At least two times a week, I drive along a two lane street called Pleasant Valley Road.  Here on the Oxnard Plain in coastal Southern California, the farmers are able to harvest at least three crops a year.  This month is strawberry season.  And it's celery, cabbage and lettuce harvest time.

This morning I was stopped at a red light waiting to cross over the Pacific Coast Highway.  I looked to the right and at the horizon there was--nothing.  The Pacific Ocean is out there beyond the fields and wind break trees.  Closer in near the road, the strawberry field was a striped quilt of bright red and pale yellow polkadots on an emerald green background.  Along the edges surrounding it were bias bindings of orange and yellow marigolds.  I looked to the right.  Far off in the distance the mountains rose to the sky still wearing their mufflers of snow from last week's storms.  Nearer to me, two small oil wells were bobbing their little bird heads up and down pecking at the ground to extract the thick gooey stuff.  Next to the road, the celery stood a foot tall, ready and waiting for the pickers to arrive to gobble up the leaves and stalks.

I feel so very fortunate to live in a pleasant place, in a valley where I am surrounded with plants and fields of fruits and vegetables all year long!

Contentment

“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”

-Cicero

Pink

When I was living in Los Angeles in a home with no garden, I was given a pink hydrangea.  Doing what any reasonable gardener would do, I planted it in a pot.  After I moved to our little cottage, I decided that since the pink hydrangrea seemed to like living in the pot, I would leave it there.

It is flourishing,

thriving, in the pot on the porch.

Hot Pink Hydrangreas

are very different from the cool blue plants my grandmother grew in her Pacific Northwest garden.

What's Bloomin'

Even though my garden is much smaller than my friend's backyard square foot garden, the poppies are blooming wildly among the 'poor man's orchids'.

The jasmine is twining its way up the trellises.

Oh so fragrant!

Mystery Rose

Recently, a friend gifted me with this rose bush from her lavender and rose farm.

Watching it bloom and seeing its flowers, I think it might be Eglantyne.

But I could be wrong.

Le Reina Rose