By Jim McCausland, Sunset Magazine

Every year, the weekend after Thanksgiving, my wife and I set up our Christmas tree. The trick is to keep it fresh from Thanksgiving to Christmas, which is a week longer than what is usually recommended. Here's how we do it.

To make sure it's absolutely fresh, we cut our own tree at a local Christmas tree farm. In our area, cost is about the same as the price of a parking-lot tree. This year we chose a 'Friesenberg' noble fir (Abies procera). That variety was originally selected at Mt. St. Helens for form and color by Danish horticulturists.

As soon as we got it home we cut another 1/2 inch off the bottom of the trunk and set the tree in a stand that we filled with water. It's essential that the time between the last cut and contact with water is very brief—I shoot for five minutes, max—so the cut bottom won't develop a callus that interferes with water uptake.

Once the tree is in place the main job is watering, even with a large reservoir. For example, the water level in our stand dropped an inch in the first two hours after we set up our 'Friesenberg'. We simply have to keep topping it off every few hours for the first few days (and the first couple of nights) after bringing it home. Then water uptake naturally slows down. Attentive hydration is your best protection against a Christmas tree fire—a frighteningly fast and fearsome thing. If the water supply drops below the bottom of the trunk even once, the cut surface will callus, and the only remedy is taking the tree out, recutting the bottom, and putting in back in place. Do that once when ornaments are in place and you'll never miss a watering again.

Not all trees suck up water at the same rate. Ask somebody who knows trees before you cut. Grand firs are the most thirsty, but the most fragrant trees as well. And, like Douglas firs, grand firs are very often sheared when you buy them, so they're very dense (and more needles mean more transpiration). I favor the other true firs because I like their unsheared shapes and colors better.

Most big Christmas tree farms have bailers (below) that wrap trees in string to you can fit them into the trunk of your car or on the roof. I paid a couple of dollars extra for bailing, and it's worth it if you don't have a truck.

In the past, we've used a beautiful subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) as a live tree, and loved it during the five years we had it. But the down side is that live trees are very heavy to move, keep growing bigger and heavier every year, and bring spiders and slugs inside. If you buy one of these, hose it down well the day before you bring it in, make sure you have waterproof floor protection under it, and precheck the bottom of the container for creepy crawlies.

By Jim McCausland, Sunset Magazine

Several years ago I bought a house with freeze-proof hose bibs. They look like regular hose bibs, but their water shutoff valves are recessed into the house wall, where hard freezes can't reach them.

I thought these would protect my water lines, but got a nasty surprise when I turned on the hose after our first winter in the house. Water poured through a ruptured pipe and into the house wall. It took a lot of work to fix.

So what did I do wrong?

I left the hose attached all winter. Never do this.

When a really hard freeze settles in, the water inside the hose freezes solid, so the still-unfrozen water on the house side of the ice plug can't escape. But gradually that water freezes too, expanding as it turns to ice and eventually bursting the pipe inside the wall. You won't know it until you turn on the water in spring, because the break is on the hose side of the valve; water doesn't leak through it until you turn the water on.

Older and wiser now, I disconnect my hoses and drain my sprinkler system as soon as the first fall frost whitens the lawn. Then I'm safe for another year.

By Jim McCausland, Sunset Magazine

Fall is my favorite time of year, in part because I love the variety and colors of autumn leaves that color up almost every garden. But I want them to color up the indoors too, so I press them.

My technique is simple: I just put dry leaves in a flower press like the one pictured at right and let them dry still further and flatten out before I arrange them. If you don't have a press, put leaves between the pages of an old book (do they make phone books any more?), or even between layers of newspaper with a book on top.

I've put leaves in a shadow box and framed them to hang on a wall, but one of my favorite designs, which was assembled by April and Annette Shelton, is on a round mirror covered with cut-to-size glass that holds the leaves in place. A candle goes on top, where it makes a perfect seasonal tabletop decoration.

By Jim McCausland, Sunset Magazine

In the course of a garden remodel for Sherry Burke of Bainbridge Island, WA, designer Susan Calhoun (Plantswoman Design) built a wonderful vegetable-cleaning station that keeps dirt in the garden and out of the house.

It comes in two parts.

The heart of the system is a cleaning table complete with sink and cold-water supply. The sink was a freebee Sherry picked up by the road (and Kohler, no less). Susan made an opening in the tabletop for the sink and installed a rudimentary drain pipe that channels rinse water back into the garden.

Clean water comes through a self-coiling hose that's fed by a ground-level hose bib under the table. Sherry uses the shower setting on an adjustable hose nozzle for the rinse, and lets washed veggies drain in a collander before she takes them indoors for the table. When she's done, she hangs the hose hang from a hook next to the sink.

The small compost bin on the left side of the table holds the wilted leaves, split fruit, and carrot tops that inevitably come with the harvest.

The vegetable garden itself grows in galvanized stock tanks (below) that keep the crops elevated, where they're easy to plant, tend and harvest. Herbs grow in the ground around the stock tanks.

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

I try not to look at Dirt Couture, the retail portion of Cindy McNatt's garden blog, Dirt Du Jour, because--between Coldwater Creek and Chico on-line sales--I have enough temptations as it is.

But, visiting her garden recently and seeing some of her products first hand, I got curious about what her best sellers might be.

Turns out Hose Clothes, which you might describe as tights for the common garden hose and which turn a utilitarian item into garden decor, are her top seller.  Especially in this leopard version.

Guess gals just can't get enough of animal prints.

And her best customers?  Germans.  Not sure why that surprises and tickles me but it does.

Air Head, a foliar feeder designed for tillandsia, is another customer favorite.

Tillandsias are such easy plants, says, McNatt, people forget they do need some care.  Soak them in water at least once a month, mist once a week and feed them with this mist-form fertilizer every other week, and they'll stay healthy and happy, she promises.

Here's another best seller.  When a friend complained about having to buy a 50-lb. bag of cement just to make one  hypertufa trough, McNatt saw a marketing opportunity.

Premix the hypertufa ingredients and sell in a size just right for one larger container or a couple of small ones.  Just add water and you're ready to sculpt.

Her mix also includes some colorant, which is a nice touch.

And the artisan-made concrete bowl below?  A little too pricey to be one of her best sellers most likely. But, maybe, why I've been wise to stay off Dirt Couture until now.  Tempting, very tempting.

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

I wrote about the combination watering hole/bird bath Cindy McNatt (of the garden blog Dirt Du Jour) created in her own yard and about what a successful bird magnet it turned out to be in my last post.

Here's another way to achieve the same thing.

This fountain is outside my home office window.  Water comes up through the center of the urn and spills back into the basin below.  The urn is filled up to the top with river rocks so birds can land on the top for a drink or to take a bath, and they do both. 

Like Cindy McNatt's ground-level fountain, mine was a success, too, from the day the reservoir was filled and the water started circulating.  Hummingbirds were the first to show up, followed shortly thereafter  by sparrows and finches. 

As Cindy mentioned, the big payoff, though, is migration periods.  To see something like a Western tanager land on that rim, so close to my window, will, I hope, never fail to excite me.

Hot Santa Ana days, though, can be almost as thrilling.  The urn isn't big enough for crows to land there comfortably normally, but when they're thirsty, the wily creatures manage it, though awkwardly.  And hawks drop in sometimes, too.  Now that's a sight that will make your heart stop.

Really and truly, if you want more birds in your yard, forget food.  Give them fresh water.  They'll come.

P.S.  Remembering crows reminded me of Jim's post about crows and math, still one of my favorites of his.  Check it out.

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

photo by Cindy McNatt

Bird feeders will attract avian visitors to your garden, for sure.  But providing a constant supply of fresh water works even better, as garden blogger Cindy McNatt (Dirt Du Jour) will attest.

Above is a water park for birds McNatt created at her home in Tustin, California.  When she moved in this highly visible spot was filled with a mound of dirt composed of the decomposing roots of a recently removed monster ficus tree.  Cindy hauled away tons of dirt and created this bird fountain.

Three vintage stepping stones found buried on her property form the heart of it. They rest on cinder blocks. Below is a reservoir contained by a pool liner and a pump in a low hole filled with gravel.  The pump runs constantly to keep water fresh the way birds like it.  (Keeps mosquitoes from breeeding, too.)  The reservoir is topped off daily with water from the sprinkler set-up.

The combination fountain/bird bath works even better than Cindy hoped.  Hummingbirds, sparrows, and other regulars show up daily.  But migration seasons are when the fountain really proves its worth.  "Cedar waxwings, warblers, tanagers, vireos, grosbeaks, lazuli buntings, and other migrating birds show up and hang around for a week or more," she says.  "It's thrilling to look out and catch those flashes of color."

See this previous post for another glimpse of Cindy's garden

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

 I caught up with fellow garden blogger, Cindy McNatt (Dirt Du Jour), last week at her own garden in Tustin.  I found much to like there, but this quiet spot may have been my favorite.

An inviting bench under the shade of an apricot tree with this object in dappled shade to hold my attention and encourage me to linger.

Just a large fish bowl filled with clear water with a few water lettuce floating on top. 

What could be easier?  Or more pleasing.

What to copy the idea?  Cindy makes it easy.  You can buy water lettuce plants from the retail section of her blog, Dirt Couture.  The plants are harvested from her own garden.

Cindy also likes to use water lettuce as a houseplant. Sometimes she places several plants in a large glass salad bowl.  Other times just one in a tall glass cylinder. 

"Water lettuce is an entertaining houseplant," says Cindy.  "The roots look beautiful when the lights hit them."  Indeed.  Below photos are Cindy's.

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

Descanso Gardens in La Cañada Flintridge is less than a month away from the grand opening of their newest attraction, the Sturt Haaga Gallery.  The Gallery, adjacent to the Boddy House, is blossoming forth from the old garage.  

There will be two galleries in the footprint of the garage, as shown below.

The new addition to the garage, which burrows into the hill behind it, shown below, will hold a third gallery.

And those enormous--the larger is 20' x 10', the smaller 11' x 8'--grids?  They'll be supporting hanging gardens soon. The plants have been grown and are ready to pop in.

Modular units such as the one on the left will be planted and hung on the grids.   When finished the larger grid will look something like a kelp bed does when you snorkle over it, says Brian Sullivan, the director of horticulture and garden operations at Descanso and the designer of the Sturt Haaga Gallery gardens.  "

"A ribbon effect, loose and flowing."  The smaller grid will be "painted" in a complimentary pattern, also wave shaped but with tighter plants.

Because the support system for the modules is slightly angled, the finished products will look like giant paintings propped against the wall, says Sullivan.  And, like exhibitions in a gallery, the "paintings" will not be permanent.  New versions will be substituted every year or so.

Thought it looked to me like Sullivan had a lot to do before the grand opening of the Gallery on September 16, he says they're right on schedule. 

Though he promised to send me photos as soon as these grids are planted, I was too jazzed about the project to wait.  So consider this a teaser.  When his completion photos arrive, I'll do a follow-up.

By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

On Wednesday I suggested that anyone interested in losing their lawn or sustaining it a more environmentally friendly manner check out this month's Garden Designers Roundtable where those bloggers tackled this issue along with guest contributors from the Lawn Reform Coalition.

I have been reading those posts myself since and came across this opportunity in Genevieve Schmidt's post about ways to keep your lawn but reduce its environmental impact.  

One of the ways, she says, is to revert to a mower where you supply the power.  And with the new Fiskars Momentum Reel Mower, says Schmidt, you can do that without being Hercules.  She's giving one away.  Click here to enter the contest.  Don't delay, though.  Today's the last day to enter.

But read some of the other posts on the Roundtable, too.  Great information all in one spot.