Starter gifts.

How sweet are these heirloom tomato starters?

Brought to me this morning by my super thoughtful friend and cohort Sharon.

I am sooo excited for tomatoes. I am a tomato nut. I got a late start this year on my garden, so I am just getting the first few mini green fruits on my plants. A couple more weeks and I will be in heaven!

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.

My dearest friend Sharon just came back from a great trip up North and found a yet another treasure that I am dying to go check out. Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company (based out of Missouri) Just opened their first outpost in California. Petaluma to be exact. In an old bank. It's called The Seed Bank, and it looks pretty amazing.

Luckily, I have Sharon who is ridiculously generous with her seeds, but I couldn't resist ordering their 2010 catalog. Thank goodness my husband just tiered out three more beds in our backyard- um yes, by himself. He's amazing and also a little crazy.

Check them out!

And Sharon did the cutest thing with her seed packets while they patiently wait to be planted- but Sharon! The photo is blurry!

terrariums are hard to photograph.

I'll pull out my real camera later.. but here's a quickie!

happy earth day!

In honor of Earth Day, I'm making some terrariums for friends. Hugely belated housewarming gifts, but better late than never, right?

I found this gorgeous sedum at the market this morning.

More photo's of the finished product later!

Daffodils.

If I have to answer the question 'what is your favorite flower?' my quick fire response is always daffodils.

Partly because that is what we always had in our garden beds growing up. I would make little bunches and hand them out to my teammates at weekend matches. Yep, I was a pretty dorky kid.

I love their pencil thin stems and bright yellow tea cup petals. It forever makes me think of the scene in old school Willy Wonka where Mr. Wonka picks a daffodil out of his candy garden to drink the nectar as a tea, then takes a chomp of the actual cup. For a sugar deprived 10 year old, that was pretty much the stuff my dreams where made of.

They are a sure and steady sign of spring and warmer days. Even now that I live in a place that is one long sunny day, it just doesn't feel right to buy them until March (they usual start showing up at the mart around January).

Cheap and cheerful as cut flowers, hardy and super easy to grow in the garden, they are forever my favorite flower.

Trader Joe's has cuts right now for 1.39 a bunch. Or plant some bulbs. You are really supposed to plant these guys in the Fall months, but I might try to trick nature and pop some in around my citrus trees. They are great to lure bees over and according to the American Daffodil Society, like the shady companionship of a citrus tree.

Silverlake Farms.

I just signed myself up for some gardening workshops with Silverlake Farms. I was lucky enough to volunteer for Tara last spring and learned so much. Check them out if you are interested in some serious (but fun) learning. I am really excited to learn how to grow things that don't get completely bulldozed by bugs. It's a two part series called 'Creating an Edible Garden in Los Angeles'.

Fun stuff, right? There are a few mix and match dates so you can do both parts at various times. So smart for all of us with wacky schedules.

Oh, and here are some flowers from a wedding last spring we helped Tara with. It was 99% flowers grown by Silverlake Farms in Los Angeles. Pretty cool, right? The bride collected all the milk glass. Sooo pink and pretty!

Photo's by the ever talented Max Wanger.

See you there!