GARDEN SURROUNDINGS: Gardens and Nature Through our Lives
- 13 hours ago
- 3 min read
By Francesca Filanc, for Let’s Talk Plants! September 2026.
Gardens and Nature Through our Lives
Petrea volubilis grows repeatedly in this garden. I moved to this property in 2015 and started preparing right away to make changes and to put my own mark on the Garden. (https://francescafilanc.com/garden-surroundings-in-the-garden/)
Climate change has made things challenging in the garden. Plants are blooming earlier in the year. ‘First love Gardenia’ used to bloom all of July and August. This year it put out its first bloom on May 1 and was all finished before July. Roses have always looked terrific in my garden. This year they are not doing well.
Try putting worm castings underneath the roses. That helps with pests and diseases (https://francescafilanc.com/garden-surroundings-worm-castings-for-a-vibrant-healthy-landscape/). Petrea seems to love this very hot, humid summer we are having. I saw a photo of Oprah Winfrey on Instagram, talking about a book for her book club in front of petrea in her garden and it’s looking wow gorgeous like the one in my garden. Petrea, native to Australia, obviously likes this hot, muggy weather we are having in southern California this summer.
We plant seeds every summer behind the swimming pool. We planted sunflower seeds that never came up. We planted new ones and they will be looking gorgeous in September.
Zinnia seeds were also planted at the proper time and never came up. But now they are coming up Marigold’s are happy also.
With this hot weather, it’s really important to keep our pets cool inside the house most of the time. I have a little trick for keeping my house cool. This has nothing to do with gardening. I run the air conditioning starting at 9 PM and I turn it off in the morning. I keep the house all closed up.
A girlfriend a few months ago, came over and said ‘Fran, I like this it feels like a cocoon.’ My friend’s remark made me feel better about having the house all closed up during the day. I turn all the fans on in the morning and then the house stays nice and cool for the dogs even with weather up by 100°F as it is today. It’s important to me to keep all the water features and fountains filled up for the birds. With this really hot weather, dozens of songbirds use the fountains and bird baths all day long.
Any watering and gardening that I do happens early in the morning and in the evening. I swim in the pool every day early morning and at night.
I take a whole watermelon and cut it up and keep it in the refrigerator. If you like cilantro, it tastes really good with cilantro sprinkled on top.
During the day you can take bites of watermelon and it’s so refreshing. I also keep ice tea that I make homemade no sugar just bags of tea and I keep that in the refrigerator. It’s important to stay hydrated. Specially if you’re gardening.
Stay Cool and Happy Gardening!
Francesca
Artist, author, photographer, fly-fisher woman, Francesca Filanc grew up in old Del Mar and these days lives, paints and gardens in historic Olivenhain with her two dogs.
Find her art and writings here:
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Have gardening questions or want to learn more about Francie’s art?
Contact: Franfilanc@gmail.com
