Functional sculpture at Garden Temple

This is the kind of store, a life changing sort of store, that makes me want to open the same business so I could spend all of my time there. That is kind of what happened with David Mills, who with wife Mari, founded Garden Temple in in Studio City in 2002. Prior to opening the showroom David traveled the world buying and selling ethnic art, including stone basins from Central America. It seemed a logical next step to install pumps, but the logistics are more complex. “We get the stone in various states of completion from India, Guatamala, Vietnam.…than the fountains are finished locally. “I love being in a creative business that offers a bit of nature in the city,”  says David. “I grew up in the valley and miss the open spaces. This is a neighborhood space. We welcome people to come in and wander around, like the family with small children who come almost every weekend.”

The simple, attractive forms David designs and fabricates facilitate water flow and fall. “We also install and maintain our fountains, and we are very safety conscious. It’s also important that the parts underneath that you don’t see are durable  and made of high quality material.” Garden Temple’s large outdoor showroom and indoor area showcases hand chiseled stone troughs, basins and blocks, copper vessels, exotic indoor plants and planters.

Garden Temple, 13055 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, 91604 / 818–783-0079 / 10 — 5 / 7 days a week / www.gardentemple.com

On the web: Burkard Nursery in Pasadena is having their Labor Day sale Friday, September 3 thru Monday September 6. All items 30% off. (626) 796‑4355 / www.burkardnurseries.com / More information in Find a nursery under East Valley and beyond.

Wild Wings slogan: We can help you make your back yard come alive!

My friends Tom and Jamie recently took me to a killer store: Wild Wings. It’s their source for some pretty exotic bird seed. Started by partners Bonnie and Scott a year ago, Wild Wings is a beautifully designed and thoughtful store. “Scott has loved birds his entire life” reveals Bonnie. “We wanted a business that would reconnect people to nature.” They also focus on children, hoping to inspire them to go outside instead of being glued to their electronics. “Kids especially enjoy our butterfly habitat” Bonnie says. “We also carry frog and ant habitats.” They are very knowledgable about ways to attract all sorts of wildlife to your city backyard. Other offerings include :

• custom blended bird seed
• bird feeders, houses and baths
• toys, unique gifts and garden accents
• field trail guides and books

We are so lucky to have this store in SoCal! They are located at 4337 Woodman Avenue in Sherman Oaks (91423) near Ventura Blvd with easy parking in the back. Phone @ 818–995-0022. Hours are Tues — Friday 10 — 6, Sat 10 — 5, Sun 12 — 4, closed Monday. www.WildwingsLA.com.

An announcement from Sheridan Gardens in Burbank: This Saturday, August 28th at 9:30am, is our Planting Now for Fall, Winter and Spring color class. It is being hosted by Chris Van Deusen. Also our sales representative from Kellogg Garden Products will be talking about ways to improve soil preparation. 818–841-8845  www.sheridangardens.com

California native plants

I recently toured Matilija Nursery with owner Bob Sussman, who started his growing business about 16 years ago. Nestled among the orchards of Moorpark, this SoCal nursery carries a choice variety of native plants, and  native and hybridized irises. Bob has provided Socalnurseryplants.com with the following information about native plant growing:

What to do now???  The end of the summer dog days.……

In case you haven’t noticed, this is the most challenging and demoralizing time for a native garden, especially a new native garden. The reason for this is that a native garden, or any garden for that matter, always has a component of trial and error.  Most of us tend to focus on the “error”,  what didn’t work and what died?  This was indeed the case at a recent consultation I went to last week where the new garden was going through its rough first year.

Most native plants flower intensely in spring but by summer things are going the other way.  There are non-violent solutions to all of this and things to do like maintenance and planning.

You can start cutting back things that “need it”. Things that need it are salvia’s, sphearalcea, encelia, grasses and even matilija poppies but not ceanothus or manzanita. Clear out leaf litter except under oaks — my preference. Weed and spread mulch. That will give everything a much neater and cleaner look while keeping the ground cooler and plants greener.

Planning! What croaked and what didn’t? What looks good during the summer heat? Most casualties occur in the first year.  While there are many reasons for plant casualties, it’s generally “wrong plant, wrong place”, but you may not know this until the first summer. Then you find out.  What to do?

Repeat the successes and not the failures. Look at those things that did well and plant more of those. Go to the native plant nursery (Matilija Nursery) or botanical garden in summer/fall and see what looks nice and in flower!!!!.  Then, plant the plants that are both flowering and/or look nice.

Flowering plants put the focus of your eye on the flowers and not the part of the landscape going to seed or in to dormancy.   Here’s a partial list of what is flowering now: lessingia, erogonum grande rubescens ie red buckwheat (finishing now), California fuchsia, chilopsis linearus (desert willow), malacothamnus nutalii (bush mallow) and abutilon palmeri.

Matilija Bob will now do consults for about $100 per visit depending on where you live and you get a 20% discount certificate good for 60 days on nursery plants to boot. Way better and cheaper than a psychologist!

Go to www.matilijanursery.com for more articles like the one above.

An owl at home

Is there anyone who doesn’t love the magnificent, nocturnal owl ? (except for rodents!) Owls are such iconic and highly specialized birds, and yet I have seen so few of them in my lifetime. Seeing an owl is an event. With this in mind I visited the Hungry Owl (www.hungryowl.org/), a website based in Marin, California devoted to the preservation and protection of owls. This organization is serious about owls. Some to the things you will learn: owls are on the decline, especially in the Midwest; there is no safe rat poison; owls can consume a third of their body weight per night; and a family of 5 can consume 3000 rodents in breeding season. The Hungry Owl Project sells owl boxes, plans for owl boxes, bat houses and bluebird boxes, and will instruct you on exactly how to use them.

On another note:   On the web @ http://www.richmondgrows.org/: A seed lending library in Richmond, Ca., northeast of San Francisco, that is operated out of a public library.

Nopalito Native Plant Nursery In Ventura will be holding the following talk this Saturday, August 21, 2010, Native Plants for Parking Strips… Ugly Title, Beautiful Results, with Barbara Eisenstein, garden blogger and horticulturist. Go to www.Nopalitonursery.com.

]]> http://socalnurseryplants.com/nursery-information/owl-love/feed/ 0