Happy Vernal Equinox!

Fingers crossed for more rain, too...

Happy Summer!

There's no better way to celebrate the longest day of the year than with a nice game of pétanque...

or everyone's favorite word game...

 or even a dip in your (almost) pool!

Cheers!

Topanga HeARTs Festival - Saturday, February 2nd

Support a great cause and visit us this Saturday at the Topanga HeARTs Festival!  Sales benefit the Topanga Community Club Playground  because Topanga kids of all ages deserve a safe place to play.  

We will be selling benches, stools, fountains, stone planters and all sorts of hand crafted odds and ends.

Baby's First Haircut

Like all new parents, good garden tenders / proprietors have the utmost concern for their new baby plants.  They watch their gardens like hawks; noting and analyzing each change.  While this can be fun for some, it is agonizing for most (and rightfully so).  However, like with children, the proper establishment of a garden (spacing plants for maturity) is crucial to its longevity and success.  Once it is understood that plants take time to fill out to their mature size, the tender of the garden will be able to enjoy this growth process.  And before they know it, it will already be time for their baby's first haircut.

December: 10 month old garden.  First winter clean-up.
UC Verde is going dormant for the season.
Fruit trees are losing their leaves.  Muhlenbergia rigens' tawny inflorescence dapple the garden.  

See the progress after the jump...

Succulent Frames

We've been up to many interesting projects over the past few months here at R&S.  This is one we're particularly excited about since we've always wanted to make them, but never been able to find the time (or the right job). 

This set hangs on a shaded patio wall.

This large one hangs on a hot, west-facing wall.

(see the genesis of this one after the jump)

Happy 280th Birthday, Mr. Washington!

We sent our East Coast correspondent / tech guru, Jon Tashman, to take a walk around the grounds of Mount Vernon on a drizzly February day to see what it would have felt like to be George on his birthday.

Front of the house

Sheep grazing

Virtual Bouquet

Forget the red roses!  These are just a few plants that ignite passion around our office (and are a little less thirsty).  They are great alternatives to the traditional red and pink flowering garden plants of February (Cammelias, Bergenia, Purple leaf plums and Indian Hawthorne - you know who you are).

1. Malus 'Dorsett Golden' - a low-chill Apple
2. Ribes 'Barrie Coate' , Chaparral Currant - happy in sun or full shade
3. Heteromeles arbutifolia, Toyon - the reason the hills above LA are called Hollywood.
4. Grevillea 'Canberra' (aka 'Pink Pearl') - beautiful bank cover
5. Cercis occidentalis, Western Redbud - great deciduous small-scale tree
6. Ribes glutinosum 'Claremont' - Yes, another Currant.  6't x 6'w, Summer deciduous.

Happy Valentine's Day!