By Julie Chai, Sunset associate garden editor

Photos by Alicia Martin

We can't wait to check out the Late Show Gardens, a brand new garden show at Cornerstone in Sonoma, California focusing on design and sustainability. We've been looking forward to it for months since the contributors are some of the biggest names in horticulture—essentially the who's who of the garden scene—from the Bay Area and beyond.

As you can imagine, pulling together a garden show is a major undertaking. It involves endless planning and organizing, and the week before the show, when designers actually start building the display gardens, is especially intense. Tons of soil are hauled in, along with large trees, landscape art, and accessories—the photo above is a behind-the-scenes look at two displays, Growth Melt and Overgrowth, in progress. We can't wait to see what they look like when they're done!

The show kicks off this Thursday 9/17 with an evening preview party, and runs through Sunday 9/20. I'll be there Friday—hope to see you there!

For info and tickets, go to thelateshowgardens.org or call 415/721-1550.

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

Candle lanterns like the one shown below look simple enough to figure out without instructions.  But why waste time blundering through it?  Willi Galloway shows how to turn old jars into candle lanterns step by step on her blog, DigginFood.  She's come up with some pretty embellishments, too.

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I check in reguarly with Barbara E. at Wild Suburbia because she's way ahead of me in her adventure with California native plants, and I inevitably learn a lot.

Her blog entry on Native Grasses, Sedges, and Rush for the Garden, for instance, is practically a thesis. 

I like her photography, too.

Finally, even though other garden bloggers have linked to it, we wouldn't want you to miss Owen Dell (that's him hamming it up below) and BIlly Goodnik of The Garden Wise Guys rocking out on their video, Taking Out the Grass is a Gas on YouTube.