Howard was a Camellia person and the camellias are starting to set their buds around here.  I visited Howard a year before he passed away and we walked around his garden.  He had over two hundred and fifty camellias, rhododendrons, azaleas and Magnolias, all growing in about eighteen inches of fir bark.  We talked about how they love good drainage a complete fertilizer and regular watering.  I noticed that he had bags and bags of fertilizer.  He offered to sell me one (fifty pounds), I declined.  He had invented a fertilizer and had to order a thousand pounds to get the company to mix it up for him. He always had some for sale.  I wish he was still around because I would buy two bags now.  Howard always won a ribbon at the Camellia shows.

This is a client in the city that doesn’t do much gardening, knows that it is important and has an assistant to help him with the actual work.  I referred him and her to Flora Grub Nursery over on Jerrod.  I had been over there a week ago and their displays of succulent walls, Tillandia (air plants) in blown jars and many other exotic and common plantings were spectacular.  The place was buzzing on a Saturday and the staff is really helpful. Here is the info.

1634 Jerrold Avenue  San Francisco, CA 94124-2135

As the weather gets colder the ground does too and plants start to go dormant. What happens is that they slow down growth, circulation and flower show and finish up their spring summer push to reproduce.  Now is the time to do some detail work with your pruning shears to keep them looking good until it is time for winter pruning.  Dead head flowers, remove dead branches and leaves and shape a bit for show.  Wait until December for the big pruning jobs

This is a good time to collect seeds.  If you had a melon or tomato that you really liked, save some of the seeds and dry them for next spring

Today is my birthday and I am changing the rules.  I am giving gifts from now on rather than receiving them.  I have enough stuff.  I have some art, some music, some clothes, some tools, some cooking, sleeping and reading materials.  Now I think I will give away what I don’t need.  If I am any kind of an example then that will be my gift to you.  Happy my birthday.

If you come up with ideas, designs, new techniques or technology, I recommend sharing them.  There are probably others out in the world that are thinking along the same lines. Partner with them, share your strengths and try to help make the gardens, homes and people of this planet better for it.

Cultivate beginners luck.  There is truth to the old saying “beginners luck”, I have asked over a hundred people if they believed in it and an overwhelming majority said yes.  Why is this?  Because  when we do something for the first time we don’t have any experience of failing and thus we relax and can do better.  How do you cultivate beginners luck?  Think like a child, be fearless, try everything then go at it with excitement and panache.  You will be more likely to succeed.