theGardenPages.com - Wallpaper, Plant Links and Gardening Info

* We are in sunny southern California, USDA zone 10
* Heavy, clay adobe, alkaline soil. Use pitchfork, elbow grease and compost
* One compost pile in a container from a cool LA County Water Conservation program
* Average 7 inches of rainfall a year. Not big on watering either

This is what it's all about

theGardenPages was started by a single mom trying to keep the fridge full for the teenager.

I love gardening and that's how started out working on these pages.

Visit my new garden store on eCrater

Garden and Plant Store

I've opened this as a section of my MomsRetro Store there,
if things go well I may expand and give theGardenPages it's own store.
AND for a LIMITED TIME I have cuttings from the plants
you've read about on my web pages and blog!

Drop by my BLOG

theGardenPages Blog
Keep up on what's blooming in the garden and
ask questions about the articles or plants you've read about here

Visit my AngelCityArt store for new art by me:

Kitchen artwork, garden humor, snappy sayings, vintage art
and new retro designs and more at my Cafepress store AngelCityArt

Angels Needed!

Please help me promote my stores by posting my Coupon Page

Visit my Secret Coupon Page with discounts at all my stores!
Please print and post freely!

Other Stuff I've Been Doing

I'm getting addicted to this new Squidoo thingy
and you can get a lot of info and resources all on one page.
Please drop by, leave me a note and please rate me.

Rosemary Squidoo Page
Haworthia Plant Cult Page
My Lovely Lavender Page

Questions, need graphics for your eCrater store or an article?
Ask me

Like our artwork?
Find framed garden prints, plant posters, gardening shirts
or floral home & kitchen decor at my AngelCityArt store at CafePress.

Link to Us:

View All My Syndicated Home and Gardening Articles

All content ©LauraZinkan 2008

Thanks to a few bad apples stealing my bandwidth and getting me in trouble,
I am now forced to put up this bitchy disclaimer:

These images are intended for use as wallpaper on personal computers ONLY. I wanted people to have a nice image on their desktop to look at while their boss is screaming at them.
My images are NOT for your website, cat wedding cards or any other project. You are not allowed to download these images without permission (and a licensing agreement) in writing. You are NOT ALLOWED to link to these images. If you link my images to your website I will block your access and replace my image with something you won't like - neither will your ISP. You are also subject to bad karma and ill wishes from all the innocent gardeners who have to wade through this paragraph just to get to the good haworthia bits.

A Garden For Your Desktop

Relax with a nice garden photo wallpaper on your computer.
These plants are happy in my garden so I thought I'd share them with you. Read more about these and other succulents plants and water saving shrubs on my Succulents and Native Plant page.

Click on the image to see wallpaper size - 1024 x 768

Aloe Vera

Aloe Vera (Aloe vera) is a succulent whose fleshly leaves grow up to 2 feet long and as wide. Mine is in a pot with another little succulent called rosary plant.

Aloe plants get bright orange flowers on long stalks in the spring. It does best in light shade. Dark brown or reddish spots on the leaves is a sign of sunburn. They need water about once a month, or when the stalks look shriveled. USDA Zones 9-10.

Aloe is famous for its healing properties. Cut off the skin and use the pulp on sunburns or other skin irritations. It worked like a charm on my baby's diaper rash. Read more on the Aloe Vera page...

French Lavender

French lavender (Lavandula dentata) blooms almost all year and is drought tolerant. It takes full sun to partial shade.

In my garden, it gets compost for fertilizer and to keep the moisture in. I give it a little water during the hottest part of summer. USDA Zones 5-9.

It reaches 3 to 4 tall and 4 to 6 feet wide with narrow green or gray green leaves. The purple flowers are 1-1 1/2" long. The flowers are great in fresh arrangements, or can be dried just by hanging.

Lavender is a great insect repellent. Wrap up a few blossoms in a piece of fabric and place in your drawers. I tuck sprigs into my woodpile to keep out bugs. Lavender has been used in love potions for centuries. It is also worn to attract love and elevate mood. Read more about these fragrant plants on our Lavender Page...

Haworthia Correcta

I just love these little gems. And they are growing a cult following. Their leafs are translucent, so they seem to glow from the inside when the sun hits them just right. They are deep emerald green to light lime green. The tips of their leaves are like windows looking into the green jelly inside.

Outdoors, succulent Haworthia plants like shade from the hottest sun or they get orange and burned. Indoors, try them on a bright windowsill out of direct sunlight. If you are lucky they will reward you with a single white flower on top of a 12” stalk in the winter. The flower has just two trumpet shaped petals. Exquisite. USDA Zones 10-11. Read more about Haworthia on my Succulents and Native Plant Page...

grow your mind bookmark for gardeners and teachers

Encourage Reading with a Fun Free Bookmark!

Here's a little bookmark for you to print out. At first glance, it looks like a topiary plant in a pot. Look closer and you notice it reads;

Grow
Your
Mind.
Read a book.

You can drag it to your desktop and copy it into a Word document.

Teachers; this will look fine if you want to print it in greyscale.

Print a few on card stock and pass them out to the class!

Links to Western Native
Plant Nurseries & Organizations

A few seed and plant sites I've discovered over time. They either have great info on western US natives, drought tolerant plants or succulents & cacti. I don't get paid for their links, I'm just happy to spread the good word.

Some sites have information about current threats to native plant environments -- and what you can do to help!

Since you're feeling plant-y, I encourage you to join and support the local native plant society for your state or region. You can find a plant society in your area by searching on 'native plant society + your state name' in Google.

California Native Plant Society (CNPS)

California TreeLink The Community Forestry Resource

Far West Bulb Farm (California Native Bulb growers) Home Page

J. L. Hudson, Seedsman - my absolute favorite 'underground' seed company now has an online site! (Relax, he still doesn't have a phone and typsets his seed catalogue without computers.) Unique flowers, desert vegetables traded on treks into Indian territory, heirloom tomatoes from frozen Siberia, info on sustainable living, seed saving & germination research, I LOVE THIS GUY!

Las Pilitas Nursery - Cool nursery and amazing information on natives. Here's a page on California native plants used by California butterflies with pictures!

Plants of the Southwest

Redwood City Seed Company

Theodore Payne Foundation for Wildflowers & Native Plants

Urban Bee Gardens - Find out how you can help save the bees!

US Arboretum's Online USDA Zone Map.

Western Native Seed - wildflower and grass seed

*Thanks for dropping by! Find Gardening Art and Sayings at Our AngelCityArt Online Store*
	Double Delight Red and Pink Rose Double delight red roses	Gardening Sayings and Humor For composters, rose lovers, veggie gardeners and more	Wall and Kitchen Clocks Retro, modern, floral or plain take time to browse our fun designs