Succulents and More™

We spent Christmas at my mother-in-law’s house in Mount Shasta, about 3½ hours north of where we live, at an elevation of 3,500 ft at the base of the 14,179 ft volcano it takes its name from. We were hoping for a white Christmas, and it did snow higher up on the mountain... ...but in town it rained. A lot. My MIL’s barn Stella wasn’t happy about the wet stuff falling from the sky... ...but she enjoyed tearing up the wrapping paper from our Christmas presents... ...and spent a lot of time on window patrol, just in case a squirrel or who knows what else dared to venture into the yard: In the end, though, we did luck out. It finally snowed on Boxing Day. First tentatively... ...then pretty heavily for a while: In the end, it didn’t amount to much, but it was still a pretty sight. Here’s my mother-in-law’s backyard with a bit of snow... ...Mount Shasta... Mount Shasta (14,179 ft) Mount Shasta (14,179 ft) ...and Castle Crags, about 15 miles south of Mount Shasta: Castle Crags (~6,500 ft) On...

Like last December , my final post of the year is a month-by-month recap of what I blogged about in 2025. I didn’t travel beyond the borders of California (our massive siding project was expensive, so no big vacations), but I still managed to visit quite a few fantastic gardens, all of which provided inspiration. On the homefront, I continued tweaking and refining, completing the rock border around the individual beds both in the front and the back, and building a few new beds. Above all, I wanted to thank you for letting me share my garden adventures with you. Reading your comments is always a highlight for me, so please keep them coming! No trip to the desert for me in 2025, so I asked AI to bring my vision of a drive through a cactus- and agave-studded landscape to life January Highlights: I updated you on my greenhouse, highlighted some pretty vignettes in our garden, and showed you how I gained an extra 40 sq.ft. in the front yard by moving the fence. I also g...