Shawna Coronado's Blog, page 24

Walking Muir Woods in California

Whenever I travel, which is often, I try to fit in an extra day for adventure. Real adventure. In my mind, “real adventure” is when you set out for some place you have never seen or experienced before and you place your whole heart and soul into that experience; throwing yourself into something wonderful. Take risks and push the boundaries of your comfort zones. Live a little bigger. When you come out at the end of the adventure you will be exhausted and have a giant smile on your face. I feel this is so much better than living in the “safe zone”. My latest real adventure was to discover Muir Woods.

Before I spoke at the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show, I rented a car and spent a morning at the Flora Grubb Gardens in San Francisco (I’ll tell you about that in another post), then I crossed the Golden Gate bridge and wound my way north through the Marin Headlands towards Muir Woods. Magical mountain views of the Gold Gate bridge (above) and wildflower strewn hillsides (below) were soon left behind for the cool, quiet of the mossy woodlands.

Curvy roads lead me to Muir Woods National Monument, which is named after John Muir. From the Muir website – “When John Muir learned that William and Elizabeth Kent were naming a redwood forest near San Francisco in his honor, he declared, ‘This is the best tree-lovers monument that could possibly be found in all the forests of the world.’ The couple had purchased the land to preserve its beauty and restful wilderness; and in 1908, they donated it to the federal government to protect it from destruction.”

I visited Yosemite, a giant redwood forest located farther south in the Sierra Nevada area of California a few years ago to see the Giant Sequoia trees. Those trees were enormously larger than the trees at Muir, but the redwoods at Muir Woods (Sequoia sempervirens) hold a different and unique feeling when compared to their family in other woodlands because it is considered a temperate rain forest. Muir Woods is the one of the last old-growth coastal redwood forests on the planet. It is moss filled, wet, dripping, and quiet. It’s as if sound is absorbed by the moss, so when you walk the paths you feel powerfully connected to the woodland; almost as if you breathing, living, and existing with the trees instead of simply walking through them. Powerful. Quiet. Beautiful.

Muir Woods has extensive walking paths beneath the redwood trees which enable visitors to hike many miles. There were few people when I visited Muir – nearly empty – so I walked slowly to really absorb the woodland feel. Each redwood has a unique personality and the tallest tree in the park is 258 feet, which is approximately equivalent to a 23 story building. When you stand beneath a tree and look up, you look up up up forever.

In the under-story of the Muir Woods system is a complex growth family; ferns, leaves, wildflowers, mushrooms, woodland plants, and trillium (below) dance a complex waltz with all types of wildlife, insects, amphibians, spiders (above photo hanging over leaf), and mammals. Muir Woods is one of the most beautiful, inspiring, and healing places I have ever been. I hope my photos show you how much I loved it – you must visit if you get the opportunity and breathe in all the magic at one of America’s only temperate rain forests.

 

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San Francisco Flower and Garden Show 2016

With the speaking and tour season in full swing, I have been traveling around the United States visiting garden shows, speaking, and getting some fantastic garden ideas. Most recently I have returned from the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show and wanted to share a few of the display gardens with you (see below). One of the best things about the garden show was all the plants that were both on display and for sale. Happily I spent a lot of time with my garden friends and, of course, brought back a suitcase full of succulents to plant in my container gardens this season.

There is only one day left to attend the show, so get yourself to the San Mateo Event Center tomorrow if you live nearby. My favorite part of the show was all the talented speakers. I was privileged to listen to garden talents John Bagnasco, Rizanino Reyes, Debra Lee Baldwin, Mary-Kate Mackey, Susan Morrison, Saxon Holt, and Nan Sterman among many others. If you missed it this season, plan to go to the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show next season and get a whiff of spring — beautiful flowers, trees, and plants abound.

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Chicago Flower and Garden Show 2016 Preview

This morning I arrived at the Chicago Flower and Garden Show and captured some preview photos just for you. This florific show runs from March 12 – 20, 2016 on Navy Pier in Chicago. Whenever I walk into the CFGS I am immediately taken with that fresh breath of spring and think, “How amazing! How gorgeous! How wonderful!” My favorite display at the garden was the amazing water feature displayed by Aquascape Inc (see above photo). Many of the gardens show tips and ideas you can bring home to your own garden.

Below you can see a few delicious views of the gardens, from tulip varieties to creek beds to living walls of all sorts. I loved the Gro Products elevated beds and living walls, and truly enjoyed all the lovely flowers. Get your tickets online today at this LINK. Enjoy the 2016 Chicago Flower and Garden Show this week — it’s a beautiful taste of springtime.

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Snowdrops in Bloom Galanthus Elwesii

Finally, after months and months of winter, we now have a gorgeous view of early spring Snowdrops from Jung Seed in my garden. ::choirs singing:: Gardeners are applauding all over the northern parts of the country to see a little relief from the cold and gray as the snowdrops come into bloom. We made it to spring my friends. Hallelujah!

Snowdrops, and particularly this variety known as ‘galanthus elwesii’, are easy to grow – simply dig a hole in a sunny to part-sun location in the fall. They love richly amended well drained soil and will fill in nicely, so plant them about 3 inches apart. Dig a hole about 4 times the size of the bulb in depth, then plop the bulbs in the hole with their pointy tops facing up. Wait out the winter in misery, then be surprised when these darlings poke their little heads out of the ground often while there is still snow on the garden to say hello. Let the greenery whither before cleaning up the area so that energy gets passed from the greenery back into the bulb. Growing snowdrops is easy and falling in love with them is easier still.

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Why Use Organic Cotton

Every day of my life there’s a battle being waged over my extreme allergies. I have a lot of them – I’m basically allergic to the world. Sadly, I am particularly allergic to dust. This means that I have to wash my bedding once to twice per week in extreme hot in order to kill dust mites. Washing this often also kills my sheets and blankets – you can see in the photo (right) showing my most recent quilt death. My bedding dies hard and often. Essentially I am boiling my sheets and blankets several times a week because THIS IS WAR. With all of my chemical and scent sensitivities I also have to wash my clothes in unscented soaps for lower exposure to the things that trigger my allergies. With all of this in mind, when Essentia reached out to me about their organic cotton sheets and comfort pillow and asked me to review them, I said yes because lower chemical exposure for me is always a better thing.

The Pillow

While the Essentia Comfort Pillow was, indeed, comfortable to sleep with – it was very supportive and definitely helped my osteoarthritis pain that I have in my neck and upper back – the ingredient list on the manufacturer tag (photo right) is a concern because it says that the internal ingredients are not 100% cotton, only the exterior is 100% cotton. With that in mind, it does not give me a solution which works for my allergies. I have to be able to wash as much of the pillow as I possibly can in extreme heat in order to have it work effectively with my allergy problems. Memory foam melts in high temperatures.

The Sheets OHHHHHH The Sheets

What really worked for me was the 100% organic cotton sheets. Essentia did it right with these organic sheets because while they only have a 300 thread count, they are extremely soft. It’s like climbing into silk. I washed them before use and you can see in the photo at top that they are a bit wrinkly without ironing. To be blunt, I could care less about wrinkles because I’m after comfort and allergy help. Instructions suggest that washing in cooler temperatures will preserve the life of the sheets. However, I washed them in extreme heat with no problems whatsoever.

Why Use Organic Cotton

I’ve always been a Doubting Thomas when it comes to trends. I want to better understand why using an organic product is important, so I started by researching the topic. It turns out that organic cotton, while often more expensive, can help reduce the amount of chemicals you are exposed to. For instance, according to the Rodale Institute, non-organic cotton farmers use toxic amounts of chemicals to control insects and fungal issues and cotton is considered the world’s “dirtiest crop”, with 90% of cotton also being genetically modified.

Once the cotton products are created the waste bi-products from the chemical-filled cotton is used as feed, turned into oil (Crisco is mostly made from cottonseed bi-products), and small pieces of this waste is used as cellulose additives for food and makeup products. The world’s dirtiest crop is in many of the products we eat and use. We sleep on, dry off with, and live in cotton — what effect is this heavily chemical laden GMO product having on the human being? We’re exposed to so many chemicals daily, that it’s hard to tell what specific problems this exposure causes. However, common sense says that eliminating the amount of chemicals that touch our skin daily is a smart approach to our personal and environmental health.

Sleeping on organic cotton makes me feel as if I am doing a little something better for myself and for the environment. Silky softness also helps – living in soft, comfortable, and chemical-free is a step in the right direction. This post started out as a product review and ended up as a self-discovery on the amazing amounts of chemicals that are found in cotton as well as all the items in the world that are made from this chemical-filled bi-product. If given a choice, I’d rather live with less of these chemicals and more of the all natural organic cotton whenever possible.

 

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Chicago Botanic Orchid Show Plus Tomatoes

This weekend I drove up to the Chicago Botanic Garden for an all day all exciting all wonderful event — the annual seed exchange event, the Orchid Show (still going on now through March 13, 2016), and an epic luncheon and speaking event with “That Tomato Guy” Craig LeHoullier who wrote the magnificently informative Epic Tomatoes. My favorite part of the day was meeting and learning from Craig and his wonderful and magical obsession with tomatoes.

First there was a blogger luncheon where we were invited to converse with Craig LeHoullier and Lisa Hilgenberg, brilliant horticulturist for the Fruit & Vegetable Garden at Chicago Botanic. I had so many tomato questions that I could not keep my hand down. Number one on my list of questions is how to handle bottom end rot drama. Their answer – bottom end rot is a calcium deficiency caused by infrequent and irregular watering conditions. Watering regularly is the best cure, but adding bone meal to the planting hole will assist in having available calcium for the plant. Using Tums and other home cures is mostly myth and will not work. Keeping steady, consistent moisture on the roots of the tomato will help a lot. After the blogger event we were delighted to hear Craig speak. His list of favorite tomatoes that taste delicious and are healthy growers is below.

That Tomato Guy’s Favorite List of Tomatoes (in no particular order) –

Cherokee Purple (he named this one!)
Lucky Cross
Cherokee Chocolate
Cherokee Green
Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom
Green Giant
Nepal
Sun Gold
Stump of the World (or Brandywine)
Rosella Purple (dwarf)
Dwarf Sweet Sue (named after Craig’s wife)

After the lovely tomato event I went to the Annual Seed Swap, then toured The Orchid Show. Woweewowowowowow!!! Orchids were overflowing out of the greenhouses, halls, and rooms at the annual botanic garden event. With more than 10,000 orchids all blooming at once, the Orchid Show is a breath of fresh air in middle of winter. I was captivated with all the various colors and designs of orchids and blown away by the fact that there are more than 27,800 species or orchids in existence today. And no no no – I could never identify all the varieties and colors I saw at the show, but I give you a few photos below to inspire a bit of spring happiness in your heart today.

Special thanks to the Chicago Botanic Garden for the tickets to The Orchid Show – all opinions are absolutely my own and were not influenced by the ticket I was given. Give me spring. Give me fresh flower smells. Give me orchids. I truly loved visiting this bit of plant heaven.

 

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