By Cindy Poore
So just out of the clear blue sky comes a shocker! Someone, you have counted on to be there and just took for granted is suddenly not there. Leaving you with a big hole in your life. Things can change in an instant. Sometimes, you get a second chance. Sometimes not. Far too often I am complacent about the now.
You are with someone. Someone you just met, or someone you love and you are not really THERE. You are thinking ahead of what they are saying, trying to formulate what YOU are going to say next. Not really listening because of course, you already know what they are going to say, right? I am so guilty of this.
That is what I mean. The most important thing you can do today and everyday is to really listen to the person you are talking to. Don’t just jump in with a comment because you don’t want to loose the thought. Be in the now with them and be thoughtful of what they are saying before formulating a response.
This is my New Me Resolution. I don’t have to wait for January 1. I can start NOW. Be patient with me. It will take practice.
We finally got some cool weather along with a bit of rain. Not much, but a good start and just enough to start up a fire. Rain and a good fire reminds me of the restaurant scene in Harry met Sally. Yes, yes, yes!
With the cooler weather and shorter days, you need to be adjusting your sprinkler system like crazy to allow for the reduced water needs of your landscape.
If you haven’t already, fertilize your trees and shrubs soon for a healthier sleep through winter and an quick start in spring.
We just changed back to standard time. Some of you have battery operated sprinkler timers and now is a good time to change the batteries in those if we haven’t already done it for you recently.
Want a fall adventure but can’t get away for a trip? Take an afternoon and drive up to Wrightwood. The road is short and uncomplicated and the drive is worth it! Beautiful pines and fall trees and crisp air. Lots of cute little shops and tasty restaurants to temp you. Go up on a Friday afternoon and stop by the Farmer’s market. I got some terrific organic apples there and made some amazing no sugar apple butter with them.
CRAFTY? While you are there, pick up some pretty fall leaves. Spray one side of the leaves with some spray adhesive and stick to the inside of a quart Mason jar. Place a battery votive candle inside and voila! Instant Thanksgiving table decoration.
“Every leaf speaks bliss to me
Falling from an autumn tree”
Emily Bronte
By Cindy Poore
Where did the time go? It is almost fall. I long for fall the way a kid longs for Christmas. (that’s just around the corner too!) Fall is my time. The time for shorter, hopefully cooler days. Time to regroup and plan that last frenzy of activity you just HAVE to get done this year before the weather goes to heck. We are busy planning and planting some awesome new landscapes to get in before fall right now.
Fall is the BEST time for planting. Even in Wrightwood where winters are cold and frosty. Who doesn’t love a frosty morning, sipping something hot while sitting in the chill air outside and gazing on a beautiful scene in your yard?
So you are going to the nursery to buy some plants? Go with knowledge. I haunt the nurseries. It is like Disneyland to me. I want to take one (or more) of everything home. I was just at a big box store yesterday and saw some lovelies I would like to own.
These beautiful Morning Glories would be a great choice! They will look great,
until they don’t when it gets cold and then they will sleep until spring and decorate your yard next year.
Just as amazing are these hibiscus and particularly, the YELLOW hibiscus which seems uncommon. Unfortunately, hibiscus will not tolerate temperatures below 30 degrees and will die come winter unless extreme measures are taken to protect them all winter long.
So why do the nurseries up here sell these guys and temp us with this contraband? Just to make money off us? Well not entirely.
People forget that plants are living things and do not live forever. Both large and small plants and trees. If we keep in mind that everything has a place and time, we can enjoy all the world has to offer.
Plants, are just like everything else in your life, such as places, opportunities and especially people. They come into our lives and decorate them. But not forever. Appreciate this. Embrace this. Enjoy what you have while you have it.
~
“Gratitude Changes EVERYTHING”
August Garden Tasks
August is the peak of the garden season. Wonderful harvests from your fruit trees and veggies are pushing out produce like little mad scientists. Pick them quick or they will morph into something a bit unusual. Or the birds or squirrels will get them. You reap what you sow, so now is the time.
` Problems with worms in your apples or pears? I’m sorry to tell you that this is a MAJOR deal! Coddling moth is no joke. You should rip every one off the tree right now and pick up the ones on the ground and throw them away. Sad but necessary. Then for sure, apply dormant spray in winter. When leaves are gone but before new buds show up. This will help, but may not cure. Other treatments for Coddling Moth are expensive, repetitive and have to be timed expertly. Do this at a minimum. Don’t let fruit or plant debris sit on the ground overwinter.
`Idea for your next evening party? I’m just so into tea lights. Put some pretty tea lights into a quart Mason jar the light with long wooden matches and place on tables and little spots here and there in the garden. Want to hang them? Get some sturdy Florists wire and wrap several times around the mason jar just under the threads and create a “handle” out of the wire. Make the handle long enough so the heat from the flame is not a problem. Hang from branches of trees or hooks on your patio cover. Instant ambiance.
` Divide Iris July is best, but it is not too late to divide your iris now. Go out and multiply!
` Plant seedlings of fall crops such as broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts now. Sow, carrots, green
` Harvest herbs for drying right now. Keep from direct sun and place between two screens to air dry.
`Drought Priorities. Drought is everyone’s problem. You invested a lot of time and money into your landscape. Don’t loose it all because of crappy weather. Managing your yard’s watering system is critical! Our priorities for water for your landscape is to wean your plant off too-often watering. PLEASE work to manage your watering schedule so you will have healthier plants and a smaller water bill. Water your plants deeply and less frequently. If you have slope areas, water shorter multiple times with some time between waterings so water can sink in instead of rolling off. But you should not be watering multiple times and every day unless your landscape is brand spankin new! Call us and we will help you manage your water, not waste it.
Let Us Help You With All Your Landscape Needs
(760) 868-6104
My Favorite Recipes
Get your GRILL ON!
Keep grillin. Summer is not over yet! Try these for a tasty vegetarian snack or side dish at your favorite BBQ party. You can leave out the chopped kale or substitute fresh spinach or other green. I just try to incorporate more healthy greens into our meals when ever I can.
Cheese Stuffed Peppers
1 cup (8 oz) cream cheese room temp.
½ cup (4 oz)Shredded Parmesan
¼ cup Kale ( chopped fine)
4 mini bell/sweet peppers
4 Anaheim chilies
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Take several wooden tooth picks and soak in water while preparing dish. In a small bowl, combine the cream cheese, parmesan, and kale if desired. Salt and pepper to taste.
Wash peppers and with a sharp knife, cut ¾ the way through the stem end near the top. Gently fold back the stem end being careful not to separate from the chili and scrape the seeds and membrane from the peppers. Fill peppers with the cheese mixture and replace top. Secure top if needed with a wooden tooth pick soaked in water. Brush with olive oil and grill on a hot grill for 5 to 7 minutes just until pepper skin blisters and cheesey mixture starts to melt.
Yum. Enjoy with a glass of tea or wine!
By Cindy Poore
Love, love, love April. The flowers in our landscapes are bustin’ out all over with blooms and reminding us that everyday is another chance at a more colorful life.
Hope you are making the most of yours.
My tulips under my bedroom window are a riot of reds and yellows. They don’t usually show their colors until mid- to late April but have been blooming since middle of March. This past winter of warmer than expected weather has given all the plants (and weeds) a jump start.
The warmer weather and nice days inspire people to get out in their yards and enjoy the landscape. Or if the landscape isn’t what you want, now is the perfect time to plan what changes you want to make.
We get really busy this time of year with oodles of calls for landscape designs, installations and sometimes just consulting for people who want to do the work themselves and aren’t sure how to get started.
Even if you aren’t sure where and what to do, you can get started on improving your yard and scratching that landscaping itch with some plants in pots. Pots are great for people who want to try their hand at gardening or growing vegetables, but are afraid to make a mistake. Plant
something in a few pots and set them out on the patio and enjoy them for a while. You can plant them in the ground later.
I like to get really big pots of various shapes and size and put some nice drainage in the bottom. Use some shipping peanuts topped with landscape fabric and then really great soil. Make sure you use the regular peanuts and not the biodegradable kind or they will melt under the soil and your plants will sink.
When planting pots for color, I like to put in a foundation shrub, preferably evergreen. Plant it off center and put some single color annual or perennial plants and at least one “spiller” near the edge to fill the bare spots. A spiller is a ground cover or plant that will drape over the side of the pot.
Think in contrasting colors. Use a tall heavenly bamboo with the sharp orange of a Gallardia and a nice gray foliage of Snow-in-Summer for the spiller. This would look stunning in a deep blue pot. Practically a whole landscape in a pot…
Keep your color scheme to only three main colors. Any more and the whole effect is diffused and distracting. Keep in mind, that freezes are still possible, so protect your new plants for at least another month from freezing, by covering at night or keeping in an area close to the house and with overhead protection.
Call us today
For help with your landscape
at (760) 868-6104
Spring is nature’s way of saying “Let’s Party!”
Robin Williams
April Tasks
¤April is when, near the end of the month, you will be safe to trim back your perennials and frost damaged plants. Some of your perennials look a little sad from winter weather (or what little we have had) and I’m sure you have been itching to get going on this.
¤Those of you that have fruit trees, now is the time to thin out some of the fruit while it is still marble sized. Take out about 1/3 to ½ of the fruit and you will get larger fruit in return.
¤Check your small plants for rabbit damage. Rabbits will eat anything except chain link. Put wire cages or fences around susceptible plants or planters to protect them, at least while they are small.
¤ Spray your weeds in your lawns while they are still young. Dandelions are crazy early this year! We can do it for you. Call us! 760 868-6104
¤ Time to prune back your butterfly bush (buddeladia) but leave the lilacs alone until after blooming unless you have ignored them in the past, then a renewal pruning is ok you will just get less blooms.
¤ Sow vegetable seeds like Swiss chard, carrots, peas and leeks in the ground and sow seeds for warm weather vegetables like tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelon, squash indoors for later transplanting.
Let Us Help You With All Your Landscape Needs
(760)868-6104
Ssssssssst! Watch out for snakes.
The local paper is reporting that the first snakebite of the season has already happened. Another marker of our early warm weather and short winter. REMEMBER: Constriction injuries are often the most serious part of a snake bite. Loosen or remove the clothing in the affected area of the snake bite, remove ALL jewelry. You will puff up and the damage that the tight clothing or jewelry causes, could result in loosing a finger or even a limb!
Don’t stick your hand into a bush or debris pile without looking first so you can stay out of trouble altogether.
My Favorite Recipes
April means Easter is not far off and lots of BBQs and parties coming up. If you want a really easy cookie to serve, try these. From my friend Annabel. I’ve eaten these baked by her hand and they are heavenly.
Really Easy Pecan Puffs
From Annabel O’Leary
½ cup real butter, room temperature
2 Tbsp. Sugar
1 cup flour
1 cup ground pecans
½ tsp vanilla
Dash of salt
Powdered sugar
Combine all ingredients and roll in 1 inch balls. Bake in 300 degree oven for 45 minutes. Roll in powdered sugar while hot and again when cold.
Chick Salad
By Cindy Poore
I love to find new ways to put healthy, but tasty in my diet. Try this salad for your next BBQ with grilled fish, chicken, beef or Portabellas.
Salad:
1 15 oz can Chick peas drained
1 15 oz can black beans rinsed and drained
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1 yellow or orange sweet pepper, chopped
2 or 3 chopped Kale leaves
Dressing:
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
1 tbs sugar or Stevia to taste
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground pepper
Put all salad ingredients in a large bowl.
Mix all dressing ingredients in a small bowl and pour over salad. Mix well and serve alone or over a bed of shredded lettuce.
By Cindy Poore
My youngest granddaughter (so far) is 5. This is the perfect time to teach her where our food comes from. I have plans to plant some actual food you can eat! I want her to know what real food is and where it comes from. I want her to experience the wonderful flavors of food fresh from the garden.
I’m so excited about this. Last year we planted sunflowers from seed. It was fun and we got to see them jump up high and bloom before winter even though we planted them late. I will keep you posted.
Got Weeds?
Even though we have had almost no rain, we still got weeds. Understanding that for the weed preventer to work, it has to be watered in once; most people want to wait until a predicted rain to have us spray. Which I understand completely because the effort to drag the hoses around to water that stuff in is a major pain and in cold weather too.
The water needed to water it in should not be a big issue for you. It takes between $0.75 and $1.50 (depending on rates and tier) per 1,000 square feet in
water costs to water in your pre-emergent equal to half an inch of rain. For a job of say…10,000 square feet that amounts to $7.50 to $15.00 in water costs.
What the main problem is, I can’t know when it is going to rain. And how much. And rain usually comes in right after or with wind. That limits us in when we can spray safely.
So give us a call to have your weeds sprayed right away. Just getting rid of your existing weeds before they get too numerous, or too big, or set seeds will be a prevention tactic all on it’s own. And if you need someone to help you water in your pre-emergent, we will be able to help you with that for an additional charge.
Now offering watering services for your pre-emergent application.
Call us today at (760) 868-6104
March Tasks
¤Now is the time to tidy up your garden by removing dead leaves from your perennials and cutting back your grasses.
¤Just FYI. The Crepe Myrtles and Russian sage will still look dead for another month or so. Don’t go off thinking they are dead. Patience.
¤If you got tulip bulbs, fertilize after blooming with a balanced fertilizer like 10-10-10 or 12-10-18. This is when the new bulbs are forming and the best time to fertilize.
¤Feed all your plants and lawns now, and you will be rewarded with lots of great new green growth and blooms.
Why does my rose bush
look wet?
Spring has sprung. Well, we really did not have much of a winter. What? It rained like twice? The plants have been gearing up for a long growing season this year and the roses are no exception. They are putting out new leaves like crazy. Pretty soon you will see flower buds and beautiful blooms. And sometimes, their leaves will look wet.
The lush new growth of spring plants and the warm weather will bring out the aphids. The aphids secrete honeydew a sticky (and I’m told sweet) which makes the leaves look wet. The honeydew also attracts ants. Ants love aphids and often take care of them just to harvest their honeydew. Sorta like us and cows, ha ha.
If you see ants on or near your plants, look for aphids. Aphids come in all colors and their size can vary a lot depending on their growth stage.
Aphids are usually more annoying than dangerous to your plants. A good strong spray from a garden hose a few days in a row should take care of most of the little guys.
If that doesn’t work, give us a call. Now it the best time for us to apply a season long control for your plants that will kill and repel insects that feed on your plants.
We can kill and prevent bug damage to your plants, trees and shrubs for months with one application.
Call us at (760) 868-6104
The magic of deadheading flowers
Most people have heard of deadheading flowers, but don’t really know why it is so important. Consider that the flower plant is trying to reproduce by flowering. When you cut off the blooms, the plant will respond with more flowers!
My Favorite Recipes
Dinner for One (or two)
I have a lot of friends who are singles or couples who don’t want to fix complex meals but still want to eat good food. Since I share that same situation, I look for things to cook that are yummy, but don’t take a lot of time and ingredients. One of my favorite go-to meals is a game hen. Since they are about 1 ½ lbs each, one hen is enough for two. If there is just you, then you have some wonderful bird left for a salad the next day. Try this recipe and its variations for a great meal.
1 1 ½ to 2 lb game hen, rinsed and pat dry
Salt and pepper to taste.
That’s pretty much it. Wrap the hen in a large piece of aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes in a 375 degree oven. Unwrap foil from the hen ( push to sides) and roast for 15 more minutes to brown.
Then try one of these great variations for the last 15 minutes after unwrapping foil from top of hen.
Baste hen with BBQ sauce.
Baste hen with your favorite flavor of jam.
Mix 2 tbls. Apricot jam mixed with 1 Tbls. Dijon mustard and ½ tsp cracked pepper and baste hen during last 15 minutes of roasting.
But wait! There’s more.
2 small red potatoes, quartered
2 large mushrooms, quartered
4 stalks fresh asparagus, cut in half
1 small zucchini, sliced in coins
¼ red bell pepper sliced
2 Tbls. Italian salad dressing
Place all veggies in a bowl and toss to coat. Place veggies in a large piece of aluminum foil and wrap. Bake veggies in a 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes. Serve with the game hen.
“The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not smashing it.” Arnold H. Glasow
- Staying Home May 31, 2020Staying home has new meaning since the tragic and crazy world of COVID-19. While most are keeping a low profile at home, Perfection Landscape knows that we are essential for helping our clients care for their home environments. We continue to do maintenance for our regular and new clients keeping with social distancing guidelines for […]
- Weeds are Back! March 10, 2018Is your yard Exploding with weeds ? You may think a few weeds here or there aren’t much to worry about, but did you know most weeds are capable of producing over a thousand seeds each? Rain and the warmer weather that will follow will make conditions just right for hose little land mines […]