gardening | Gardens For Goldens

Look Up

May 17, 2020 by Ogee

My preference for a packed garden has led to some thuggery. I spent the day cutting back prized but overgrown California fuschias, cerinthe major (honeywort), and even California poppies to allow the verbascum, sea holly, and blazing star see the light of day. It’s a happy garden that grows so vigorously that it needs to be edited in May! Sometimes, gardeners get tunnel vision; all we see are the weeds and work. The same with rescue; the sad stories and […]

Categories: Dog Fostering, Dog Rescue, Dogs, Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue, Pets, Puppies, Rescue • Tags: Dog Fostering, dog rescue, Foster puppies, gardening, Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue, Look Up

Nature Will Improvise

October 20, 2019 by Ogee

We need new descriptors for gardening in our valley now. Thanks to climate change, “full sun” should be relabeled “scorch-resistant.” Beyond “drought tolerant” should be a new category: “desert-like.” Everything I thought I knew about the garden has changed. “Despite the gardener’s best intentions, Nature will improvise.” ~Michael P. Garofalo Nature will improvise. But our gardens, as we have known them may be forever altered. Plants that once sought daylong sun now shrink from the blazing afternoon heat and require […]

Categories: Gardening, Homeward Bound Memorial Garden, Nature, Nature Photography • Tags: Adapting, gardening, Gardening Climate Change

A Garden Is Not a Place

May 12, 2019 by Ogee

“A garden is not a place: it is a passage, a passion. We don’t know where we’re going; to pass through is enough; to pass through is to remain.” ~ Octavio Paz I am never alone in the garden. When all have left and I have it to myself, I am still surrounded by the memories of all that remain.

Categories: Gardening, Homeward Bound Memorial Garden • Tags: Clematis, gardening, Homeward Bound Memorial Garden, Jupiter's Beard, Love in a Mist, Octavio Paz

Fall Garden Project Number One

October 7, 2018 by Ogee

No, really, there are no remains in the Memorial Garden…although you might suspect otherwise if you saw this. While we were away, fall signaled its arrival. Just hints so far, but the creatures know. And with cooler days come a mountain of projects. First on the list: a complete demolition and re-do of the raised bed area of the garden. Once, these housed a mountain of overgrown and deadly blackberry brambles. They spread their spikes throughout the garden, so they […]

Categories: Gardening, Homeward Bound Memorial Garden, Nature • Tags: Fall Garden Project, gardening, Homeward Bound Memorial Garden Sacramento, new garden bed

The Return of the Ninja Gardeners

January 28, 2018 by Ogee

A few brave roses somehow survived frost, hail, and cold and were still attempting to put on a show on a foggy Friday. Such is gardening in Northern California. But the arrival of crocuses and narcissus signal – it’s time for the roses to go. Our gardeners are like ninjas; rarely seen – but they leave a trail of weeded and dead-headed beds behind as evidence of their stealth powers. Once a year, I am able to wrangle them together […]

Categories: Gardening • Tags: gardening, Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue, Homeward Bound Memorial Garden Sacramento, Puppies, Rose Pruning

To Rule A Garden…Or More

August 6, 2017 by Ogee

“Anybody who wants to rule the world should try to rule a garden first.” ~ Author Unknown I found this unattributed quote and it struck me as true. Nothing humbles like a garden – a tiny microcosm of the world where distinct forces work best in harmony, but are sometimes pushed into doing battle for survival and the chance to ensure future generations. I’m not really sure that anyone ever rules the garden; to assume so would tempt Mother Nature’s […]

Categories: Gardening, Humanity, Nature Photography, Thought • Tags: Anna's Hummingbird, Dahlia, Dragonfly, Gardener Traits, gardening, Monarch Butterfly, Praying Mantis, Swallowtail Butterfly, Tiny Frogs

Who Let The Dogs Out?

May 31, 2015 by Ogee

Who let the dogs out? Well, actually, I let some of them out, interrupting gardening chores today to help get the dogs out while most everyone was at the Reunion Picnic. Once a year, Homeward Bound takes over a local park where dogs from the “Class of 2000” on come together. It’s a great opportunity to see the results of our work in the happy faces of the adopted dogs and their humans. Here’s one group courtesy of my friend, […]

Categories: Gardening, Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue • Tags: Bird Nests, gardening, Gardens Golden Retrievers, Homeward Bound Reunion Picnic, Killdeer

Promises Kept

April 5, 2015 by Ogee

It wasn’t a lot … but it was something … and in our current state of drought, we are grateful for anything. Just after all the dogs were walked, dark skies turned to a quick downpour – with the promise of more on Tuesday. Every drop and every cool day extends our hope for the garden (which looks lush and full in spring) to survive another California summer. “We never know the worth of water till the well is dry.” […]

Categories: Gardening, Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue • Tags: California Drought, California Rain, dog rescue, gardening, Golden Retriever Garden, Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue, Nature Photography

With Good Company

March 1, 2015 by Ogee

“A single leaf working alone provides no shade.” ~ Chuck Page It was a great weekend at the rescue and in the Memorial Garden where I was joined by Maria, Anna, Peggy and Steve. It’s unusual for so many of us to gather at once. With a moderate storm in the Sierras above us, the skies looked ominous. Steve assured us that it would not rain. He lied. But before the brief shower sent us scurrying for cover, we managed […]

Categories: Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue • Tags: Chuck Page Quote, dog rescue, gardening, Homeward Bound Memorial Garden Sacramento, Nature Photography