Succulents and More™

Last week, I tagged along with the Contra Costa Succulent Garden Club to visit Edna’s succulent nursery in San Pablo . I’d heard whispers about Edna’s garden for many years, and I was happy I finally had the opportunity to go. As it turns out, I didn’t have to wait for a special invitation: Edna welcomes visitors any day of the week. Edna Roberts To get to Edna’s place you take the same freeway exit as to go to Curious Flora (the former Annie’s Annuals) — except Curious Flora is west of the I-80 and Edna’s is to the east. The entrance to Edna’s nursery is at the bottom of a steep driveway. There’s a great view across North Richmond towards the Chevron Refinery on San Pablo Bay. I didn’t have a clear idea of what to expect, but I definitely didn’t expect this : Edna’s nursery is much bigger than I’d thought! When I think of a backyard nursery, I picture a few tables with a modest selection of plants. The sheer volume of plants at Edna’s was a big surprise — as was the beautiful pr...

Our siding project wrapped up on Wednesday. To our amazement, the crew completed this massive undertaking in just eight working days. They worked long days: typically 10 hours, on Friday even 12 — in total, about 370 human-hours. They were like a well-oiled machine; everybody had their assigned duties, and it seemed that very little time was wasted on lengthy backs and forths. I’ve started putting the garden back together, but it will take some time. This is the perfect opportunity to make edits and move things around until it feels right. You’ll be the first to know when there’s anything newsworthy to report. Today, though, is the big day when I reveal the siding color we chose. I realize y’all have been waiting with bated breath, maybe even lying awake at night, tormented by not knowing. Wonder no more! But first I want to show you some of the colors we could have chosen but didn’t : Colors we didn’t choose Our color is included in these: We chose one of these colors Any guesses? S...