Abandoned Gardens Are Sad

Abandoned! 

The City Daily Photo Bloggers theme for October is "Abandoned." We can abandon almost anything. I wrote on this theme in May 2015 and featured many of our abandoned buildings. See "N" is for Neglected and Abandoned Buildings. I had to come up with something new for this post,  so I've decided to show you my abandoned gardens in Templeton. 

Photos of My Abandoned Gardens

In the photo below, you see what's left of an herb garden I planted about twenty years ago on a slope behind the house. 

Abandoned Herb Garden on Slope

Nature has a way of taking over when a caring gardener is no longer active. I had to abandon my gardens here after some major surgeries. Someone clears the weeds from around the edges during fire season, but there are still plenty hidden among the herbs. Most of what you see here are three varieties of sage left to do what they will. There are a few irises and they still bloom. Hidden from view are the santolina and lavender, which still hold their own. The oregano has almost been smothered by the sages, but manages to get its head into the sun enough to live. The rosemary has also survived. 

Perennial herbs are hardy. These plants have survived over a year with no irrigation. Of course when a flower bed with no perennial plants is abandoned, it will look like the one below. There may still be some rhubarb here if the drought didn't finally kill it, and some lemon balm may remain alive under the weeds. Now its mostly wild grasses, sow thistle, and mallows in season. 

Sometimes nature presents us with unexpected gifts, like this lupine flower that sprang up in the midst of the weeds on the slope. I actually planted lupine years ago, but it seemed to disappear. Some years it comes up and some years it doesn't. 

Here's yet another view of the abandoned herb garden on the slope. This shows you the lavender that was hidden in the other photo. It's only March in these photos, so lavender isn't blooming yet.  That bit of yellow near the left is a calendula -- the flower that keeps reproducing no matter what. See How Colorful Calendula Brightens My Garden All Year Long.

See what other City Daily Photo Bloggers have done with this theme. 

National Seed Swap Day

Collected Calendula Seeds in a Basket  © B. Radisavljevic

I'll have to admit that National Seed Swap Day caught me off-guard. I don't have a lot of seeds to swap today, but neither do I see any announcements of local events for swapping seeds today.

The only seeds I have an abundance of are calendula seeds. I would be happy to share those seeds year round with anyone local. I also collected a few kale seeds last year, but I will need to use them all myself.

Maybe the thing to do would be to suggest a neighborhood seed and plant swap for one of these weekends coming up. Now that my neighborhood has an email list, it might not be too difficult to get the word out. I can help a lot of people get these lovely calendula flowers into their yards. Once you have calendula flowers, you  will never run out of them. The photo below was taken on January 26 -- in the middle of winter. See more photos of the calendula I've grown in various stages of their lives, and learn how I eat it. 

Calendula in Bloom in January, © B. Radisavljevic

Calendula Flowers are the Only Ones Still Blooming at the Beginning of January

Calendula in my Garden 1-3-2016, © B. Radisavljevic

Winter can be a dreary season in the flower garden -- unless you are growing calendula.

 As I took my camera to the garden today, I saw that my calendula flowers are the only ones still blooming at the beginning of January. They were also providing color in December. I expect they will carry on until the daffodils bloom.

Calendula is not only colorful. It also useful. Edible calendula brightens my salads as well as my garden. It has medicinal and cosmetic uses as well, though I've not yet explored those. I've written more extensively about how I use calendula and shared even more calendula photos in this article: How Colorful Calendula Brightens My Gardens All Year Long. It can even survive light frost.  I made at this sticker at Zazzle from a photo in my garden. You can see how the bright orange calendula flower contrasts with the frosty plants around it. Those plants are probably weeds. Calendula reseeds easily and often grows  just like a weed unless you pull it out. I usually let it grow wherever it wants to.

Sticker: Frost-Kissed Calendula Flower Classic Round Sticker

If you landed here because you wanted to find out more about calendula, you can follow the link to my more detailed article. If you want seeds, I'll give you some if you live near me in Paso Robles. Just leave a comment telling me you want some and I'll see your email address to contact you. If you don't live near me, I recommend the seeds below. My plants are still reseeding here on the Central Coast of California. Buy one pack of seeds and you will never need another one.

Have fun growing and eating calendula. If you give it a place in your garden it will never leave unless you evict it.

 HERBS SEEDS AMERICAN GROWN Variety DOUBLE SIZE Packets Fresh Germinate-Ready Complete Heirloom Seed Herb Kit For Planting Your Own Perennial Organic Herb Garden - Indoor Potted or Open Herb Garden Beds. NON GMO - Plant Markers Included Calendula Rosemary Gladstar's Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner's Guide Earthcare Seeds ENGLISH MARIGOLD 500 Seeds Calendula officinalis

My Greens are Bolting and Making Flowers.

It's been hot this last week, but today we hit the triple digits and it appears the rest of the week will be as bad. This heat has caused my chard and kale to bolt. I thought you might like to see my kale flowering. It is said that one can eat the flowers and they taste like broccoli. I'll have to try it. 

Here's a larger picture. The kale pale yellow kale flowers aren't as high as they appear to be in this photo. I was holding the camera at an angle that makes them look taller than they are. In the distance you can see what's left of my pink hollyhock and the purple hyssop. The clary sage is in bloom in front of the brick pillar and juniper. The yellow flowers are calendula. 

Related articles

• Let's Talk About Kale One More Time, Because It Really Does Need a Massage - Strong Opinions
• The Growth of Clary Sage

My Light Purple Iris Finally Bloomed

Today I will share the favorite flower in my garden.  Taxes are finished and it's been hard to get time to take pictures outside my neighborhood while I've been working on them.

 I think this iris is indicative of all that's happening in Paso Robles gardens this week. Every thing is bursting into  bloom. It's hard to choose a favorite iris, but light purple is one of my favorites. White is also beautiful. They all are.

What Jesus said about the lily applies also to the iris - Not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed like one of these, even though they did not to work in order to grow more beautiful. Their Heavenly Father clothed them. So we should not be anxious about what we shall wear, either. We should trust our Heavenly Father who cares even more for us.

The flowers featured in the greeting cards below also came from my neighborhood. The lupine photo was taken near Rotta Winery in Templeton. The colorful garden is my neighbor's on the next block who always has beautiful flowers. All these flowers are in bloom here now. You can find just about any flower on any product at Zazzle -- from greeting cards to iPhone cases and teapots or mugs. I invite you to click through and look around.

 Inspirational card with lupine flowers Borage-and-Calendula, Beautiful Borage Greeting Card