One of the first plants I remember knowing and loving as a child was a scented-leaf geranium. As little girls, my sisters and I were privileged to attend “fancy, grown-up” dinner parties at the home of a great aunt and uncle who lived outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Featured at such dinners were finger bowls in which were floated the leaves from my aunt and uncle’s collection of potted scented-leaf geraniums. Rubbing the leaves between our fingers, we girls were delighted by the lemon or rose fragrance that magically perfumed our fingers from the soft, sometimes fuzzy, textural leaves. Photo: The bold beautiful abundance of a P. ‘Angel’s Star’ in bloom in the greenhouse of Geraniaceae. (more…)

It is now officially Autumn and the length of our days diminishes a little with each circle of the planet. In the edible garden, harvesting has gone on for some time as spring crops moved over for summer crops and - lucky for us here in northern California - in many cases they have been replaced with fall crops, some of which are up and going strong, and our winter crops have gone in or are going in. Even if by “crop” I just mean a few rows of beets or carrots in the raised beds out back. Just as for the squirrels and the acorn woodpeckers, perhaps more than any other time of year, Autumn compels us to store up against the cold and the dark. It brings out our instinctive desire for some level of self-sufficiency. Photo: Cattle grazing, and honeybees working on the drive into Chaffin Family Farm - a model for the integrated family farm ideal - below Table Mountain in Oroville. (more…)

Rich, minty, sagey and earthy pine fragrances waft around you as you walk through Nancy and David Schleiger’s 2 acre plus, close to 26 year old garden. Beneath the sheltering canopies of stately old oaks and black walnuts, native plants and aromatic, blooming herbs line the walkways and borders in room after garden room of the long narrow property. The front garden, which greets visitors and acts as a bridge between the quiet street and the Schleiger’s house, is just the beginning. Cross the threshold of the back garden gate and you find yourself craning to see beyond the next gate, around the next corner, over the next border. “How far does the garden go?” you might ask in anticipation, “Oh, a ways,” Nancy might reply, modestly. Nancy Schleiger likes her garden plants to smell good, to taste good, to feel good and to help you to feel good. And whether its the herbs she has been cultivating and selling in our region for so long, or the many, many natives she now cultivates as well - both for her home garden and for her Native Springs Nursery- her plants generally fill all her requirements. Photo: Ornamental oregano.

Nancy, and her husband David, an architect, started working on their Durham garden in the early 1980s, and Nancy first started going to local farmer’s markets shortly thereafter. “I first became interested in herbs as I got to know more growers - especially those from different cultures such as some of the Hmong gardeners - I began to learn how other people use different plants - for food, for medicine. I started to experiment with different herbs and growing new ones each season and soon people started to seek me out for interesting herb selections,” Nancy explained to me as we wandered from the back deck garden, through a native and perennial border room and through a gate into the official Herb Garden. Photo: Nancy Schleiger standing beneath an old oak which reigns over her front garden, much of which is planted with native shrubs and perennials as well as hardy and drought tolerant herbs. (more…)