Fionuala has loved the outdoors her whole life, with her passion for gardening beginning while playing and growing in the childhood gardens of her native Ireland. After moving to California over 30 years ago, she is the owner/manager of Cottage Gardens of Petaluma, a specialty nursery in NorCal. From this platform she shares her love of growing plants and transforming landscapes, while continuing to design and maintain gardens for clients. Having raised four kids with an appreciation for nature and the outdoors, and successfully sent them on their way with remarkable weeding skills, Fionuala now lives in the countryside of Petaluma with her dogs, hens, ducks and heritage hogs.
Ornamental grasses come in different heights, habits, forms, and colors—from low-growing, tidy tufts and arching mid-height mounds to tall, towering, back-of-the-border beauties. They differ in light, soil, water, and care…
Succulents are remarkable plants that have evolved the ability to store and reserve water within their plump and fleshy leaves and stems. This allows them to remain hydrated during times…
Harvest your summer vegetables to ensure continued production. Continue deep watering of fruit trees, and clean up fallen fruit. Deadhead your roses (Rosa spp. and cvs., Zones 3-9), picking often…
Though very graceful and delightful to behold in their native habitat, deer are a voracious force to reckon with in many Northern California gardens, particularly in summer and fall. In…
Start a deep watering schedule. This is especially important for fruit trees. Mulch some more. Add a layer of mulch to your ornamental and edible garden beds to ensure moisture…
The relationship between pollinators and plants is an important one. Almost 80% of the world's crop plants (grown for both food and fuel production) require pollination, as do most of…
Do you love creating your very own home-grown, colorful floral arrangements, but are you constantly plundering your perennial beds for the perfect blooms? An annual cutting garden, designed and dedicated…
Portraying itself as “47 acres of botanical bliss fronting the Pacific Ocean,” the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens (MCBG) is a heavenly place to visit any time of year with its…
Fill in the veggie garden for summer. Switch over to planting heat-tolerant lettuce varieties in the vegetable garden, and continue adding to your summer vegetables if space allows. Go out…
More than 130 butterfly species are found in Northern California. As delightful to watch in their natural environment as they are in your perennial border, butterflies are valuable as pollinators…
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