Town Mouse and Country Mouse

The chaparral below our house, after thinning in February
(some of the lower bare area was bare before -- it never recovered from thinning we did some years ago)
Readers of this blog will know that I've been hung up on the general recommendation that for fire safety, I must change a closed-canopy chaparral ecosystem (filled with wildlife and protecting the soil) to sparse islands of isolated shrubs (and limbed...

What's wrong with this picture!
Muhlenbergia rigens, deer grass, is not the best choice of plant
next to a building in a fire prone area of California.

This picture makes it look like our house is up to its decks in chaparral!
I chose a dramatic image!
Long-time subscribers may note that our blog has taken a break since around early summer. Sorry for our absence. I'm back. I hope. With a theme: wildfire....

Jones' Mallow in Late June
How fast time goes by! It feels like yesterday that the spring rains made for a lush garden and an exciting garden tour. By now, the garden has settled into its summer pattern. Some plants, such as the Polypody fern and the Western Bleeding Heart, have...