Gardening During Pandemic

Thank God for gardening! Between dealing with my demented mother and this pandemic, gardening has been my savior. 

I did a number of fairy gardens this year. This arrangement if my favorite! 

In 2009, I changed my yard from grass to dymondia, a drought tolerant ground cover. I started with plugs. I noticed that not only had it made an excellent ground cover, but it was starting to encroach the flower bed area and covered the stepping stone path.

So, I took care of that problem this past winter, 2020. To the bedding area, I removed some of the carpet roses and have planted different drought tolerant flowering plants--new to me. It's an experiment to see what works.

One of the plants is a California native called Sticky Monkey Flower. It comes in numerous colors. The first time I saw this plant was during a hike at Arroyo Seco. Yes, a true native plant! That plant's flower was orange. My Sticky Monkey Flower plant is planted under a volunteer oak tree since they love growing under oaks. I plan on adding a couple more Sticky Monkey Flowers to my yard this year.