You Ask We Answer Plus a Grand California Home Tour

You ask the questions today in this GARDEN LIFE and we try to answer them! Plus one more fabulous California home tour and also a few things on my list to get done in the gardens this week. Let’s plant some real grass for Easter, and fertilize the cool season grass on the front terrace.

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Well I am really excited to visit with you guys today on this Garden life we are going to go back out to California and visit one spectacular home that I have not yet showed you I think at every turn I said to myself oh I wish you guys

Were here with me arm inarm so we could have experienced it together simply magnificent um there aren’t enough superlatives that I could use about this incredible home overlooking San Diego really really wonderful and then maybe we’ll bring in a few friends that we also met while we were out there some

Animal friends that was really exciting for us um I’m going to do lots of of answer q&as with you guys kind of a rapid fire session we haven’t done before and address some other things that I’ve been wanting to really visit with you guys about and then we’ve got

Something to reveal um I’m going to give you a little bit of a glimpse into some of the things I’m going to be doing in the front yard uh front yard this coming week Stuart what do you say let’s do it okay well what do you think guys I’ve

Been waiting on these for a very very long time I cannot wait to style them get some flowers and things planted in the urns maybe move the finals around decide what will go where and in short order since the Tulips are coming up I am hoping that these will kind of be the

Icing on my Easter spring cake we also got them installed in the back I’ll be showing you those maybe not in this segment today but on down the line but I think they look pretty spectacular Stuart said they made the cottage look a little bit more important and have a

Little bit more gravitas and I guess I agree and especially when everything begins to Green up Bloom and burst forth this spring so let’s move on to a couple of things I’m going to be doing this week well now is the time I mentioned it earlier that I was going to be doing

This pretty soon and now the time has come I’m going to be putting down some of this slow release organic Morganite fertilizer I just got this bag at Lowe’s it was about $26 it will cover up to 2500 square ft so I will have more than enough to

Really fertilize both of these um both of these slopes the rolling Terrace I’m not going to use any great big spreader I’ve just got one of these hand spreaders I’ll be able to do that pretty pretty easily then I’ll make sure to water it in um somebody asked does it

Stink yes it stinks a little bit but to me it’s kind of a good stink because I know that that means it’s doing its job and if we get some rain here pretty quickly it should green this rye grass up before you know it which will begin

To set the stage for every everything else that will be blooming this spring so if you want to do it too it’s called Morganite 640 you can use it in your beds it will not burn it’s slow release um it’s pretty much uh fault prooof so if you

Are interested then I highly recommend it I’ve used it for Years well periodically I put something up on Instagram that says ask me a question I’m sure you guys have seen those posts before we get lots of questions from all sorts of different places uh but today we thought it would be fun to do one round at least of some

Really rapid fire short answer questions so Leah take it away I have not heard these before okay this is something you talked about a little bit the other day but um any suggestions on how to salvage a Myrtle topiary which is starting to drop leaves okay once okay if it’s just

Starting to drop leaves then give it as much water light TLC and a light feeding as you possibly can it may be a goner one follower recommended that you do the same thing and then you really encase the whole thing in like a plastic bag or something to provide kind of a

Greenhouse effect to see if you can get get it um to the point of Resurrection I don’t know that that really typically works I have had a number of of Myrtle tooper that look like they’re coming back and they’re really trying but then they finally just succumb so just give

It a lot of water give it a lot of light give it a little feed give it a clip and then just see if you can make it come back from the dead love it color for February oh color for February gosh how

Did we miss that Leah um I’m I we we we are definitely going to get back on track doing that but I am going to say kind of a corly pink love it is your front is your new front yard more labor intensive than the prior actually it’s

Less labor intensive now it’s more labor intensive because it’s new and I’m still installing plants and things are getting established but it is actually less labor intensive uh there’s not as much root competition from the tree and I’m not having to prune those big trees I’m

Still waiting for the trees to grow so overall I would say it’s it’s um equally as much enjoyment and less work toally fies are your signature plant what is your favorite plant oh that’s like asking me my favorite child but I you know I’m a boxwood lover I’m a I’ve called myself a

Boxwood and I there I’ve never met a boxwood I didn’t like I don’t think other than one that maybe was sickly or sad or dead but um I I am a boxwood Lover from way back she said it’s like picking a favorite child but then knew instantly what yeah I who’s your

Favorite child yeah yeah okay quick on to the next one what is the little window up in the Eaves at the front of your house do it go to anything it’s just a window it’s a little window up in the eve of my house that just is in goes

To the attic what’s your workout routine my workout routine has changed because my trainer moved to California recently she um she before she left she put together a little workout routine for me lately I have really been doing some interval training on my treadmill um for weight loss I still am doing some

Weightlifting and things like that according to the regimen that I have shared before let’s share that again Leo we yeah we’ll put it there and maybe we need to put it in the newsletter subscribe to get it um but but the other thing is is I’m having to be pretty

Careful because recently I have developed a really um ferocious case of golfer’s elbow do I golf no but it’s from I think lifting some things that are a little too little too heavy um moving some pots that are a little too heavy I just need to learn to be patient

They just have to stay where they are for a while um and and sometimes I I just need to know my own my own limits so I’m having to be very very careful with that and a shoulder that I think I damage doing the same thing but that’s that’s my workout routine resistance

Training and cardio love it how many pairs of garden boots do you have oh wow uh I I would say under 10 more than five and under 10 other than that I’d have to count any favorite Gardens to visit in the US and abroad oh my goodness so many

Favorite Gardens I so many out in California that I haven’t been to I haven’t been to fi I I mean a number I haven’t been to Longwood Gardens um I there there’s just more than I can count sadly I’ve probably been to more gardens around the world than I have some of the

More famous ones here I haven’t been um well let’s just say there’s a lot that I have not visited here yet yet um did you feel the recent Oklahoma earthquake oh my goodness did I feel it yes I not only felt it my little cottage felt it I noticed a new crack um

In I haven’t showed it to you guys there’s a new crack in the in the corner going into the master bath that wasn’t there before the earthquake it was a 5.1 it yeah you guys felt it too didn’t you yeah yeah here’s here’s my question

Of the day if you guys live in Oklahoma tell me where you live and if you felt the earthquake or not it was pretty scary why these are starting up again I don’t know but it is it is frightening have you ever been to Italy oh yes I’ve

Been to Italy on more than one occasion I absolutely adore it um we’ve taken the boys there hubs and I have been there on two separate occasions Just the Two of Us such a romantic place to go and such a large country you get a different vibe

Depending on where where you visit if you go to Northern Italy um it’s more like Austria if you go to the southern part of Italy it’s it’s got a whole different vibe love ital travel book your Tri to sorry if you weren’t able to add all

The plants at once in the front yard which plant would have been your first oh definitely the everg well first of all tree you know I would put in my trees first because they need to mature and get larger as quickly as possible but then I would put in all of the

Evergreen structure the Hol definitely would go in the boxwood and the boxwood Villages went in so all of the Evergreens and then my next step even though you didn’t ask would be large flowering shrubs uh which were probably deciduous um obviously my encor alas are

Kind of in between and then after that I would put in the perennials then I would go with the bulbs and and the annuals and the seasonal color love it what are you most excited about for the spring season I think what I’m most excited

About is this is the first spring at the cottage and I I’m just not sure what it’s going to look like and how the whole spring show is going to come together you guys know that that I planted about 800 tulips that are coming up slowly that has me kind of nervous it

Was a very um I I was this is weird overall it was a mild winter except for like two weeks where the temperatures just fell off the cliff and it got down to zero and we had record setting temperatures so um so it’s just been it’s just been a difficult winter but

I’m just looking forward to it coming together and as a as a kind of corollary to that I guess what I’m really looking forward to are all of the the little people on my street that will see all of the Tulips for the first time I’m already um let’s true it’s the first

Time we’ve gotten to see the show here yeah the show here and it’s and hopefully I’m I’m nervous you know can I live up to to the other house I’m not sure but it will be new for this space new to the neighborhood new to all the little people in the neighborhood and

Yes already I have been contacted by lots of people when they found out I was going to plant that many tulips if they could come by for Easter pictures and my goodness yes yes yes yes okay last question which goes along with that what’s been the biggest challenge with

Starting over in a New Garden I think um learning how the light falls learning just how hot it’s going to get up here on a south facing exposure learning just how windy it’s going to be and just the fact that probably overall I’m used to a mature

Garden this is is not a mature garden and it takes no matter how big the specimens I plant it nevertheless takes a while for plants to get established for plants to flourish for plants to not succumb to the vagaries of Oklahoma weather both in the summer and the

Winter so I think that’s that’s been my biggest challenge is I’ve moved from a mature garden that was there for 30 years I in some cases took that for granted and now you’re starting over it’s it’s like it’s like people um a uh you know a person’s greatest strength is

Their greatest weakness and it’s true of a garden its greatest strength is its greatest weakness it gave me an opportunity to start over to try new things to correct some of the mistakes i’ made in the past but its greatest weaknesses is it’s not mature and I am

Still at the top of the learning curve not at the bottom love it well that is all for this time but we’ll we’ll post some more questions yeah now I am I am going to answer a lot of questions that you guys had because um because I think

It’s instructive so the last Wednesday walk about who knew that so many people were going to have such strong opinions about things so I thought I would address it again not from a a place of being defensive or even a place of of vulnerability because believe me if you

Are on social media if you’re on the news if you’re a sports caster if you in the public eye in any in any respect you have to have pretty thick skin and I would say you guys I’ve got pretty thick skin don’t I but that said if there’s

Ever a teaching moment I really want to I want to share it and so many people were in some cases I would say rude slash unkind um some I would say just maybe they just don’t they can’t see the vision of it but um if you are rude SL

Unkind as all of us experience on social media if if you are that rude then you just don’t need to be part of this very loving Community anymore and I will just not allow you to look at the channel anymore if you’re that rude but the

Other thing I think is that so many so many people are still comparing it to the other house they said oh it doesn’t look like there’s any Greenery it looks too cluttered it looks well I I’m I’m going to address that because I think there is a learning there’s a lesson in

This for all of us right now and that is to show yourself some Grace if you are looking at your garden right now and it looks like a holy mess well it’s been a holy mess of a winter the other thing is if you’ve got lots of plants that need

To mature to soften a lot of the structures to soften The Hardscape to soften um well whatever you have going to hide your compost pile to hide your rain barrel well that takes time and it doesn’t happen overnight so um so I’m showing myself some Grace it’s it I

Agree it definitely looks very cluttered right now for a number of reasons one it’s winter number two I don’t want to keep doing the same things over and over again so I’m waiting for the railings to be installed I’m waiting for some other things before I stage it all and it is

Winter after all and I do have golfer’s elbow so I’m trying to be mindful of that so but show yourself the same Grace it takes time it doesn’t happen overnight it happens in layers and those of you that saw what it looked like last fall I think you you know that um my

Faith in myself and in my landscape is not completely unjustified so you know it’s been a hard winter and um I think it affects our moods I think it affects our landscape so show yourself some some Grace so there you go I think that answers our our q&as for this segment um

We’ve got some other things to talk about so let’s take a break A The Well with the sound of church bells chiming in the background let’s plant a living Easter basket with our own Easter grass I’ve had this really really substantial very heavy concrete Easter basket for years I got it many many years ago at Mockingbird Manor and every

Spring I use it in one way or another to celebrate the holiday so I’ve started out by making sure that the drainage hole at the bottom is clear that nothing is going to get clogged up and then as a bottom layer and because I don’t want to

Add really much more weight if I can avoid it I’ve just put some of the branches of the dusty miller that I cut and that will give me a little bit of drainage it will break down over time but honestly I don’t really care because this is very much a

Shortterm proposition to plant this Easter basket I just want the grass to look good for oh you know couple of weeks and after that I’ll probably replant it or do something else with it so how am I going to go about it well I’ve got some soil here I don’t even

Really care if this is much of a high quality soil because again this is a short-term proposition so I just took some out of another pot another container that I had up here in front you can see this is nice and moist it’s got a little bit of grit in it but that’s

Okay and all I’m going to do here is just kind of even it out now obviously could use fresh potting soil or you too could use just some dirt that you have already existing that may be it might need to be amended or a little bit

But in this case you don’t really need to worry about it okay this is the fundamentals grass seed perennial Ry mix that I like so much it’s very very fine bladed and I am going to plant this very very densely on top of the surface of

The soil far more Den ly than I would do it if I were uh top dressing or over seating rather my Bermuda grass this again is for a very shortterm proposition and this is also seed that is over a year old so the viability on

It may not be great if I wanted to use it on in my landscape but if I plant it heav heavily enough and enough of it germinates I’ll get more than enough coverage here for my Easter basket and what this will do is it will just grow

It’ll just grow real grass and then I will stage some Easter eggs maybe an Easter bunny I can even take out a section of the grass and maybe plop in a few little bulbs or something if I so choose so you can see how densely I’m planting this now I’m doing

This now because Easter is March 31st and I want to make sure that I have a good stand of grass before Easter time the other reason I’m doing it now is because even though last night it got down to 26 this week we are going to get as high

As 77 supposedly on Wednesday we’re going to have highs in the 60s and 70s and the lows just in the 50s make up it cannot it is definitely roller coaster so you see I am really really putting a a lot of seed in here and I kind of brushed it

In then I added a little bit more seed now what am I going to do next you might ask well I am going to get some risers that I will put underneath the basket itself so that when I water it it really won’t stain the concrete too much and

Then I’m going to cover this with a piece of plastic now why am I going to do that because I really want a greenhouse effect here and I will get it by covering this with a piece of of plastic it will hold in the moisture it

Will hold in the Heat and it will really speed up germination of this seed in fact I have used this technique before and it has germinated in as few as 3 to four days once I get germination I will take that plastic off and I will let it

Just kind of grow on its own as it would in the real landscape but that’s a real fun way to think about your decor for Easter is by planting Easter grass I have done this a million times it is so much fun you can use big pots you can

Use small pots you can use make little tiny individual lawns in small pots and set them at each place setting when you have your Easter brunch at any rate whatever you do I am encouraging you to try it a fun thing to do with kiddos and what’s not to Laugh