# Gardening for nature, walks with my dogs and the books I’m reading.



## MarkD (Dec 1, 2022)

I’m feeling inspired by #Gary's diary about  building his cabin in retirement to share what I’m doing in retirement.

Until the pandemic hit working out at the YMCA was a big part of retirement and made a huge difference in how I felt. Even before that I decided to lose the extra weight I’d put on as the teaching I used to love became more stressful and less fulfilling after No Child Left Behind. I lost more than 20 pounds as part of a New Year’s resolution in my first year of retirement seven years ago. I joined a Healthy Eating class at Kaiser which met ten times, once a week. I did another class in the fall and one last one the following January losing 50 pounds in all. But quitting the Y has resulted in gaining back 15.

Anyhow the best parts of retirement has been more time to develop my garden, walk my dogs and read great books.

Here are a couple of plot plans I once made of my garden before it was as finished as it is now. (No garden is ever truly finished.) I didn’t make a plan at the beginning and then stick with it. The garden and my vision for it evolved together unhurriedly.

I started making the back garden soon after I started teaching, more than thirty years ago.  Our back fence abuts a city park to the east.  To the south is a community orchard and on the north a year around creek separates our parcel from our neighbor.  Our place is a a little cracker box of a warehouse, 40 by 80 feet situated in the southwest corner of our 100 feet wide by 120 feet deep lot. It isn’t large by rural standards but is unusually large by suburban standards and we have far more open ground than neighboring commercial buildings.



The second one is centered on the back garden and the first drawing, showing the side garden m, has been rotated 90 degrees from its orientation in the other drawing.



To give you a feel for it now here is a short video I took two years ago walking out the side doors, heading out to the back garden as far as to the pond where a hummingbird working over a red flowering Salvia wagneriana and a mostly orange colored Lobelia aguana seemed like a natural place to end it.


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## MountainRa (Dec 1, 2022)

I enjoyed the video! You must live in the sunny south somewhere.


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## hollydolly (Dec 1, 2022)

Ooh the garden is Glorious, Mark... just what I;d like my own garden to be like..I even saw a hummingbird I think...wow , such a beautiful place in Suburbia


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## Bellbird (Dec 1, 2022)

Absolutely beautiful, you have put a lot of work into it, I loved seeing the Hummingbird, we don't see them in N.Z. Thanks for posting.


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## MarkD (Dec 1, 2022)

MountainRa said:


> I enjoyed the video! You must live in the sunny south somewhere.



Yes just across the bay from San Francisco, what an early gardening influencer described as “full fog” which passes for sunny here during certain seasons.


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## RadishRose (Dec 1, 2022)

Heavenly!


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## MarkD (Dec 1, 2022)

hollydolly said:


> Ooh the garden is Glorious, Mark... just what I;d like my own garden to be like..I even saw a hummingbird I think...wow , such a beautiful place in Suburbia


Well my neighborhood leaves something to be desired.  The best I’ve heard it called is seedy.  But it has improved and having the park nearby makes illicit ball work with the dogs early mornings easy.

You’re very kind.  My garden was inspired by one I saw a long time ago made by a guy with tons and tons of concrete poured to look like the exfoliated granite in his favorite hiking and camping areas in the Sierras around Yosemite.  But his plant palette was unapologetically exotic and the effect made me want to make a garden too, a Pseudonatural paradise laid out to entice birds, butterflies and beneficials.

https://harlandhandgarden.com/


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## RadishRose (Dec 1, 2022)

MarkD said:


> I’m feeling inspired by #Gary's diary about  building his cabin in retirement to share what I’m doing in retirement.
> 
> Until the pandemic hit working out at the YMCA was a big part of retirement and made a huge difference in how I felt. Even before that I decided to lose the extra weight I’d put on as the teaching I used to love became more stressful and less fulfilling after No Child Left Behind. I lost more than 20 pounds as part of a New Year’s resolution in my first year of retirement seven years ago. I joined a Healthy Eating class at Kaiser which met ten times, once a week. I did another class in the fall and one last one the following January losing 50 pounds in all. But quitting the Y has resulted in gaining back 15.
> 
> ...


You might like this for the gardening aspect-


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## hollydolly (Dec 1, 2022)

MarkD said:


> Well my neighborhood leaves something to be desired.  The best I’ve heard it called is seedy.  But it has improved and having the park nearby makes illicit ball work with the dogs early mornings easy.
> 
> You’re very kind.  My garden was inspired by one I saw a long time ago made by a guy with tons and tons of concrete poured to look like the exfoliated granite in his favorite hiking and camping areas in the Sierras around Yosemite.  But his plant palette was unapologetically exotic and the effect made me want to make a garden too, a Pseudonatural paradise laid out to entice birds, butterflies and beneficials.
> 
> https://harlandhandgarden.com/


goodness me you've recreated that Harland Garden exceptionally well.. wow!! Congratulations.. you've clearly made a Halcyonic space in the middle of something not so pretty...


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## Jackie23 (Dec 1, 2022)

Absolutely beautiful garden, love the roses.
I've enjoyed great vacations in your city.  Thank you
for sharing.


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## MarkD (Dec 1, 2022)

Bellbird said:


> Absolutely beautiful, you have put a lot of work into it, I loved seeing the Hummingbird, we don't see them in N.Z. Thanks for posting.



I see by by your avatar that you are into birds.  Before I started the garden I got interested in keeping small birds in outdoor aviaries.  I built the first following my first year of teaching in 1990.  After my second year I built two more.  Soon after that I got interested in planting the aviaries.  Eventually that led to wanting to plant the garden for local bird life since the creek is part of a natural flyway.

An old photo looking down on my aviaries and my bank of the creek from the warehouse on the other side.



A night heron hanging out above an aviary.



One of mine, a male Mesia inside the aviary the heron was sitting on.


I built this faux rock wall with planting pockets at the end of one aviary.  But by this time I’d removed all the wire around that aviary.



I kept the wire in place around the neighboring aviary to house an outdoor bed in a space I could shut out vermin.  When I was still teaching but hadn’t yet had my sleep apnea diagnosed I drag myself home and collapse here.


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## MarkD (Dec 1, 2022)

RadishRose said:


> You might like this for the gardening aspect-



Yes I do and I think I’ve seen this and liked it very much.  Thanks for the memory!


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## hollydolly (Dec 1, 2022)

My garden...


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## MickaC (Dec 1, 2022)

MarkD said:


> I’m feeling inspired by #Gary's diary about  building his cabin in retirement to share what I’m doing in retirement.
> 
> Until the pandemic hit working out at the YMCA was a big part of retirement and made a huge difference in how I felt. Even before that I decided to lose the extra weight I’d put on as the teaching I used to love became more stressful and less fulfilling after No Child Left Behind. I lost more than 20 pounds as part of a New Year’s resolution in my first year of retirement seven years ago. I joined a Healthy Eating class at Kaiser which met ten times, once a week. I did another class in the fall and one last one the following January losing 50 pounds in all. But quitting the Y has resulted in gaining back 15.
> 
> ...


Thank you for your post, enjoyed it very much.


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## RadishRose (Dec 1, 2022)

@MarkD How difficult was it for your wonderful garden in the drought this summer? It seems you're in CA which got really dry!


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## MarkD (Dec 1, 2022)

hollydolly said:


> My garden...


Ooh, a nice payoff for making the post - getting to see some new and beautiful gardens!  Thanks.  I so envy your year around rainfall.  We actually got some today and it is the season for it but we need more.  (We always need more.)

I hope that ladder in the third picture was being used by someone else.  I've decided not to be getting up very high on ladders or by climbing trees anymore.  Seems to me the time to stop is before you lose your mobility.  

Last year I paid an arborist to do prune some trees for the first time.  I hope to stick to the 8 foot orchard ladder or get someone else to do it from now on.


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## hollydolly (Dec 1, 2022)

MarkD said:


> Ooh, a nice payoff for making the post - getting to see some new and beautiful gardens!  Thanks.  I so envy your year around rainfall.  We actually got some today and it is the season for it but we need more.  (We always need more.)
> 
> I hope that ladder in the third picture was being used by someone else.  I've decided not to be getting up very high on ladders or by climbing trees anymore.  Seems to me the time to stop is before you lose your mobility.
> 
> Last year I paid an arborist to do prune some trees for the first time.  I hope to stick to the 8 foot orchard ladder or get someone else to do it from now on.


No the ladder was being used by me to top the hedges.. I have no choice it has to be done.. ..the last 3 years have been quite problematic in that our summer have been very dry and hot.. in the 90's.. and no rain for weeks at a time.. then all during November we've had almost constant rain... so on a month when we in the South of England never expect to have to cut back and trim.. and even mow, we're having to do it because everything is still growing..


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## MarkD (Dec 1, 2022)

RadishRose said:


> @MarkD How difficult was it for your wonderful garden in the drought this summer? It seems you're in CA which got really dry!



It was pretty bad.  But I lost just a couple potted plants.  In general summer is like other people's winters.  It's the hump my plants have to make it past to survive and keep their place here.  But I do have a couple places that I give more regular water too.  Zoning plants like that and having lots of unplanted pathways is part of how I get by using less water.  I do think preserving negative (unplanted) space around planted areas sets them off nicely.


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## Pinky (Dec 1, 2022)

@MarkD
Thank you for sharing your beautiful gardens with us. It's so lovely seeing the hummingbird in the video. It
has been a long time since I've experienced such a tropical environment. I had a small, but lovely garden
when I lived in South Australia. Alas, I have no images saved on my computer


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## Della (Dec 1, 2022)

Wow!  I'd like to sit in one of those blue chairs all afternoon and just drink in the beauty.


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## Gardenlover (Dec 1, 2022)

@MarkD - You've created a stunning garden to say the least. I enjoyed the shot of the humming bird going from flower to flower. 

Do you ever have any issues with Strawberry Creek flooding?


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## MarkD (Dec 1, 2022)

Gardenlover said:


> @MarkD - You've created a stunning garden to say the least. I enjoyed the shot of the humming bird going from flower to flower.
> 
> Do you ever have any issues with Strawberry Creek flooding?



Actually one year we got so much rain so fast that the foot bridge in the park just up stream was covered over in mud and plant debris half way up its railing.  When I opened the gate to better see how much water there was, I couldn’t actually get down the bank at all.   I’m very fortunate that the creek bends away from me at a key junction so that it doesn’t wear away my bank (At least not until it bends back the way later.)

Anyone inspired to share their own garden photos is very welcome to.  (Hint, hint.)


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## MarkD (Dec 1, 2022)

Pinky said:


> @MarkD
> Thank you for sharing your beautiful gardens with us. It's so lovely seeing the hummingbird in the video. It
> has been a long time since I've experienced such a tropical environment. I had a small, but lovely garden
> when I lived in South Australia. Alas, I have no images saved on my computer


The hummers are a big favorite of mine too.  One time they nested in the fork of a succulent (Euphorbia lambii) less than three feet above the ground.  Surprisingly both babies fledged successfully.  Usually they nest in a fruit tree or somewhere where it is harder to spot them.  This photo shows them early on.  


And then as they matured.  



Their nest was beside the pond in front of the birches.  In this photo the plant with nest is in the lower left corner, where it’s lowest branches fork for the first time (but just out of the photo).  



If you continue down the back path below those big yellow Telanthophora grandiflora flowers you come to the plants that they might love most, the orange tubular flowers of Iochroma fushiodes and the orange bell like flowers of Abutilon.  



Another bird I enjoy seeing in the garden are bushtits. They are almost as small but don’t hover and they eat tiny pests. They roll through the garden in large gangs working over all the shrubs and trees. While they’re not the aerialists that the hummers are they are no slouches on the wing and come in numbers. When they work through an Iochroma, the hummers find something else to do. I shot this video about a year ago. I had to prune this plant down and yet hated to do so with hummers overwintering. They continued to feed from the flowers on the curt branches on the ground. Anyhow the happy sight of bushtits feeding up about 25-30 feet. Shot with my phone on maximum magnification. At least thinning it made it easier to see these little guys.


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## Pinky (Dec 1, 2022)

Love the video, Mark. We don't get the variety of birds in the city that my nephew gets living out in the
country-side. 

I miss the personalities of the colourful bird species of Australia. You are fortunate to have your gardens
that attract so many.


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## palides2021 (Dec 1, 2022)

Great videos, and amazing work on your back yard! Loved the hummingbird! These birds are so fascinating to watch. I'm very tuned into sound, and the tranquility of your garden seemed like an oasis from the background noise (sirens, children playing).


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## RadishRose (Dec 1, 2022)

Mark, you're like a walking encyclopedia of Horticulture


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## MarkD (Dec 1, 2022)

I’m in a horticultural society and I used to read a bunch of garden books to get ideas and discover more cool plants.  But I don’t really know much compared to the hard core ones in the group.  I like to say I just like doing art projects with plants in an easy climate.


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## dobielvr (Dec 1, 2022)

Your yard/garden is so lush w/greenery and beautiful flowers.
It looks almost like a nature preserve.

I didn't know there were places by San Francisco that could look like that.


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## MarkD (Dec 2, 2022)

Thank you.  Of course it mostly looks lush during the wet season and for a while there after depending on how miserly I’ve been with the hose.


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## Alligatorob (Dec 2, 2022)

Very impressive @MarkD !!  I envy you, except maybe for the living in the Bay Area part...  I lived in Concord for a few years long ago, so I do know it.  Beautiful and interesting place, but too many people for me.  At least  you have a private hide away.


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## MarkD (Dec 2, 2022)

Alligatorob said:


> Very impressive @MarkD !!  I envy you, except maybe for the living in the Bay Area part...  I lived in Concord for a few years long ago, so I do know it.  Beautiful and interesting place, but too many people for me.  At least  you have a private hide away.



My youngest brother and his two kids live in Concord and he has a neighbor with a wonderful garden. But it gets brutally hot in the summer and colder in winter.

True about the numbers of people here, especially if you had to commute.  Fortunately for me the school where I taught is only a mile away.  The cost of living is very high too so living on a teacher’s pension is dicey.   Fortunately I prefer to check books out from the library, walking my dogs is my chief form of entertainment and is free, and the only thing I buy for retail therapy is plants and food - and I’m trying hard not to eat too much especially of the less healthy choices.  Also I never buy plants any more without knowing where I can place them so that slows me down .. some.


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## MarkD (Dec 5, 2022)

Time for another post.  It sure looks like this is destined to become a garden centric thread and less about books and dogs.  The dogs at least will show up in many garden photos because they’re always with me and they’re my preferred garden ornaments.

Today I thought I’d take one area of the garden, the one just inside the back gate, and show some photos of its development over time.

This one shows the gate between the side and back garden from the backside back when it was pretty new.  You can see the gazebo over the top of the fence. The metal archway between the greenhouse and center bed isn’t in yet.  In fact the center bed is little more than an idea at this point.  No fountain yet either.



Some years later this photo show how that corner between the greenhouse and the gate is coming along.  The ground is just mowed weeds between new plantings and pots. 



More years later looking through the metal archway in the last photo toward the same area where the fountain finally shows up.  Oh and behind the fountain are some navy blue Chinese brick tiles which I’ve used in several places after seeing them in a wonderful garden in the Oakland hills




The next is an early planting scheme around the fountain (earlier than in the last photo actually).  There are snazzier renditions but I like this more somber scheme.  In both photos you can see that the flooring in this general area is of gravel.  The blue chairs at the other end have arrived too.



Finally getting into the look of the last couple years when I dug up the day lilies that bordered the gravel along the island bed and put in a raised bed which added a ton of casual seating for larger groups. Also visible is the foliage of Acacia cognata growing in a large bottomless pot between the side gate and the fountain. Finally two of my mobile garden ornaments make appearance, Smokey my currently eldest dog and Heidi Rose who preceded him but has left us now.




oh what the heck here is the video I shot in this area the day Smokey arrived from a Colorado breeder. That boy arrived in a plastic kennel and took close to two hours to emerge. I wasn’t going to rush him. In the end I think it was his interest in Heidi that drew him out. From October of 2015.


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