A LATE SPRING DAY

A small group of local artists recently toured Comstock House and sketched and/or painted the house and garden. Here we see a lovely view painted by Milagros Owen. I can feel the warmth of a late spring day looking at it.

UPDATE: Richard Sheppard, another member of the group, has posted his artwork and commentary about their visit on his blog.

GINKO TREE

One of the wonderful things about the grounds are the magnificent mature trees. The oaks are majestic, but the ginko is glorious. In the summer the leaves are a yellow-green that whisper when the wind blows. In the fall, they turn a golden yellow that in the setting sun will glow with an inner light. As they fall, the leaves create a golden carpet. I understand that Helen Comstock was also fond of this golden carpet. Perhaps women named Helen (or Hellen, as my middle name is spelled) like this? The name means "sun ray"... and this seems so apropos.

FESCUE TO THE RESCUE!

It sounds like on would be putting too much seed to start a lawn, but the practice of "overseeding" is to scatter new grass seed on an old lawn. I forgot to do it last fall. But this fall, I am spreading 50 pounds of "Bonzai Dwarf Fescue" on the entire lawn. Actually, it is a tall fescue variety that is supposed to be slower growing. Given how much work it is to mow the lawn, slower is better!

In the past, I have put out a mixture of varieties, feeling that a monoculture is never a good idea. In fact, I don't even like a purely grass based lawn, preferring to have a mixture of grass, clover, and an occasional lawn flower. But this year I decided to try to bring the lawn closer to a monoculture in just one respect... that there should be some similarity in the various areas of the lawn. Frankly, the lawn looks patchy, have fine grass in one place and course grass in another. I want a bit more fine grass, and less course grass. Hopefully, the fescue seed will manage that.

Of course, I still want the occasional lawn flower. Dandelion is fine as an "occasional" lawn flower... but it tends to take over if the lawn is not lush. My favorite lawn flower is the english daisy. Three years ago, when we first bought the house, I scatter some bellis seeds. Today, those seeds have developed into a nice sprinkling of largish daisy flowers. The lawn came with a copious supply of violets, which I encourage.

I've been debating in my mind whether to plant snow crocus bulbs in the lawn. The idea is that since they bloom very early here in warm California, that they can bloom and fade before I need to start the spring mowing... but if the foliage doesn't lie low enough, it too will be mown down, hurting next year's bloom. I could always replant more bulbs each fall, but I'm loath to do that, being both lazy and penny-pinching. Perhaps I should just try a couple hundred and wait a couple years to see how they do?

Speaking of mowing. I deliberately mow the lawn the same direction each time, against modern advice, to deliberately induce that striped look that characterized the Edwardian, machine mown lawn, in contrast to the Victorian lawn that was mown by sheep! I liken the look to the green and white striped awnings also popular with the Edwardians.

TALL LILIES

SEASONS TURNING

During this past winter, the garden beds in front of the house were nearly bare, save for the lycoris leaves. I used the time to plant bulbs and seeds that would be in bloom this spring and summer. That work paid off handsomely.

This spring the roses are stronger and the lilies are taller. As my gardening efforts so far are merely experiments in which seeds and bulbs will thrive, my future gardening will be much more ambitious.

LILIES ARE BLOOMING

The lilies I planted in the new beds and at the corner of the house are starting to bloom. I planted tiger, trumpet, oriental, and asiatic lilies. This is just the beginning. I plan to put in more next year. If the gardening budget were unlimited, I would plant thousands of bulbs in the garden. Of course, I will try propagating them myself. Some lilies, like the tiger, will grow bulblets on the stems. I will plant those out. I've already scaled one bulb that arrived smashed. I may try scaling some healthy bulbs next year. So far, I planted the less showy types, more in keeping with an old fashioned Edwardian garden. Last year, the corner of the house was purfumed by the orientals in mid-summer. I'm unsure how they will fair this year, as the guys working on the porch trampled them!

FAREWELL-TO_SPRING

The Farewell-to-Spring has been in full bloom these past few weeks. The flower is very aptly named, as it blooms right at the end or spring, just before the summer solstice, in my garden. Since these seeds are so cheap and readily available at a local nursery, I plan on cutting them down low to see if I get a second flowering later this summer, no need to save the seeds. If I don't see a second flowering, I will pull them out to tidy up the bed.