Gardening at the San Diego Fair

This morning, as I’ve been doing every other day since Wednesday, June 5, and as I’ll be doing every other day until July 4, I went to the fair (but only to water).  For the past seven years, I’ve agreed to do the watering of the San Diego Rose Society’s demonstration rose garden at the fair.  This has been a labor of love as waking up, so to speak, with the rose garden and all the other beautiful gardens at the fair starts my day in the nicest possible way.  I’m usually there between 7-7:30 am when almost no one else is around.  It takes only about 15-20 minutes but the glow I get from it lasts all day.

Today, I looked around a little at some of the other gardens and, while I didn’t see them all, a couple stood out.  The rose garden, of course, and then, directly across from the rose garden is the Home Depot award winning “Jungle of Pangaea” garden.  I also really liked the winner of the Pat Welsh Award for the Garden Most Likely to Appeal to Children.

Another garden that caught my eye was the “Rainthanks and Greywater” garden because I’m interested in learning more about how to catch rainwater and reuse grey water in order to conserve and extend the water I’m already using in my home.

The last garden I’m going to show you is the award winning garden from Solana Succulents.  I am so into succulents now that I tend to be a little boring on the subject because all the little pots that I used to plant with summer annuals I’ve now planted with succulents and, rather than dying from neglect (if I missed one day of watering), they are thriving.  The Solana Succulents garden is a lovely display of interesting and beautiful plants and it just makes me want more.

So, there you have it, a little garden preview of the fair.  I suggest you go see the rest of the gardens sooner rather than later as they tend to look a little worn as the fair progresses.
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Stevie Hall is President of Gardeners 92130, a 501(c)(3) non-profit garden club affiliated with California Garden Clubs, Inc.  “I am a California native, born in Santa Monica.  My husband, Ned Hall, and I  moved back to California from Connecticut in 1987, living first in Rancho Santa Fe, then Solana Beach and, in 2000, moved to the St. Augustine section of Torrey Hills.  My very first interest in having a garden and my very first garden was when we moved to our home in Torrey Hills.  Along the way I’ve become a certified consulting Rosarian and belong to three rose societies.  My rose obsession began to wane a few years ago as I’ve become more and more interested in growing fruit, vegetables, herbs and now succulents.  I am an obsessive reader and whenever a new gardening idea begins to beckon me, I head to the (Solana Beach) library for whatever books they have on the subject.  I am eager for every growing season.  The thing about a garden is that plants just want to grow and if they get the food and water they need, the possibilities are infinite.  Just thinking about it makes me want to get outside and get my hands in the dirt.”