Fall Family Festival 2013

 

Some of my favorites from last weekend's event: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151973264488211.1073741827.350714093210&type=1&l=ac886cee8e

Wildflower Festival 2013

This Saturday, March 2 will be my 4th show at the Coachella Valley Wildflower Festival presented by Friends of the Desert Mountains, located at the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument Visitor Center.

I always look forward to this show because it celebrates the natural beauty of the Coachella Valley, steps aways from where I grew up.

I will have a few new items for children and women, including new  desert plant prints on dresses, tops and accessories.

Smoketree dress

Paper Moon dress

As well as my new jewelry line made entirely out of upcycled and organic materials.  As always a portion of all sales go towards protecting the native habitat of the Coachella Valley. 

Book of the Garden necklace

 Vintage Book & Wine earrings

My sister, Meghan Kelly will also be joining me this year with her incredible photography from her expeditions around the world.  

I look forward to seeing everyone on Saturday!

Please share with your friends my FACEBOOK event page...
Join Tea With Iris at Wildflower Festival 2013

Here are some of my favorite shots from previous years...

Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument Visitor Center***

51-500 Hwy 74Palm Desert, CA 92260
***shuttles run from St. Margaret's Church: 47-535 Hwy. 74, Palm Desert
FREE admission and parkingTelephone: (760) 862-9084

Spend the day with your family and friends in support of the National Monument and Friends of the Desert Mountains. Join us in search of wildflowers with guided hikes and nature walks, and enjoy kids’ activities, plein-air painting, various workshops, raffles, and vendors. Free entry to event. Food and merchandise will be available for purchase.

Festival attendees browsed and shopped at over 40 vendor and exhibitor booths, attended one or more of the seven specialty workshops involving photography, wildflower identification and landscaping, got messy in the Kids’ Zone with face painting, arts & crafts and live entertainment, enjoyed a selection of beer and wine while listening to The Bill Saitta Group provide great jazz music, and participated in an interpretive hike or walk in search of wildflowers. Overall, more than 1300 guests enjoyed a picture-perfect day at the National Monument Visitor Center on Saturday, March 3, 2012 while attending the Annual Coachella Valley Wildflower Festival in Palm Desert.

A Cactus with a Purpose

When we first bought our home in 2004, my husband and I were eager to start to turn our front yard into a private,drought tolerant and native animal-friendly garden for the birds, lizards and most importanly our tortoise Iris of course.  I found a photo of Diego Riviera and Frida Kahlo's home studio in Mexico City in one of our magazines and loved how the border was landscaped with a minimal looking hedge of cacti...

Here is how ours turned out...

Yesterday, I trimmed the cacti to grow more columnar and to make it easier to rake the mesquite leaves and harder for black widows to hide. The cuttings will dry for a couple of weeks...

then I will plant them around the wall in our backyard.  Not only is this cactus beautiful and drought tolerant but it produces the most attractive flowers at night and also the sweetest fruit that tastes like a mix between dragon fruit and kiwi to me.  I plan to grow these all around our property since you can never have enough of these fruit since we compete for them with the birds and Iris...

Here is some information on the cacti with the linked website at the bottom:
Scientific: Cereus repandus [also known as Lophocereus schottii or Cereus peruvianus (though not from Peru) and often confused with Cereus hildmannianus]Common: hedge cactus, Peruvian apple, queen of the night, night blooming cereus (the common names for plants in the genus Cereus are all mixed up!)Family: CactaceaeOrigin: Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina (uncertain)
Pronounciation: Ser-E-us re-PAN-dus
Hardiness zones: Sunset 13, 16-17, 21-24USDA 9 (marginal, protect from cold) - 11
Landscape Use: Strong focal point for xeric landscape themes, container plant, rock garden, large patios, and even as a natural screen for garbage containers.
Form & Character: A majestic columnar cactus, upright, tree-like, branched and contorted, convoluted, dominant.
Growth Habit: Slowly upright and branched to 20' (specific variants can grow to 50').
Foliage/texture: Stems sometimes segmented, dull to light green, ribs mostly 12, mostly spineless to very short spines; coarse texture.
Flowers & fruits: Flowers large and white to 6" across, borne on a elongated tube, somewhat fragrant, tube short often ridged, stigma often exerted before flower opens, flowers at night; Fruits, globose, red when ripe and rounded like a small apple with a white pulp to 2 1/2" diameter.
Seasonal color: Spectacular flower display in late spring, sometimes will flower during early fall.
Temperature: Tolerant to 20^oF.
Light: Full sun and NO shade.
Soil: A well-drained mineral soil is best.
Watering: Water only occasionally if at all during summers.
Pruning: None, except to control size by occasionally thinning out awkward or crossing stem branches.
Propagation: Easily propagated from softwood stem cuttings of most any length. Will develop roots after directly planting stem cuttings into the soil (right side up!). Make sure to first allow the cut surfaces of the stems to harden for several weeks (callous over) before planting directly into soil.
Disease and pests: Susceptible to root rot in damp poorly drained soils.

http://www.public.asu.edu/~camartin/plants/Plant%20html%20files/cereusrepandus.html

Drying Herbs

All of the herbs in my garden are in their prime with the mild spring temperatures and recent rain.  Every morning I collect a bunch of herbs to dry and preserve them...my form of therapy. Like the oregano in the photo below which looks like a miniature rainforest.I want to be able to use the dried oregano throughout the summer, especially in our staple food...empanadas.  Other herbs I'm drying this time of year include mint, chamomile, marjoram, lavender and sage.

I dry my herbs under our patio cover in the garden.  If you are drying herbs outside, you just want to make sure to hang them upside down in a warm, dry, airy place out of the sun.  Here is a great resource for harvesting and preserving herbs...

Harvesting and Preserving Herbs for the Home Gardener

Tea With Iris at Season of Splendor Boutique this weekend!

I'm getting ready for a very big shopping event this weekend in the Coachella Valley. Below is the link to the event information:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=171146076239463

My free gift with purchase was so popular last month at the Fall Family Festival in La Quinta that I've decided to do it again for this weekend's shoppers.

So, with every 'Tea With Iris' purchase at this weekend's event, you will receive a free veggie seedling and/or a fresh herbal and pepper bouquet from our garden. Hope to see you there!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

TWO SISTERS PROMOTE ZERO WASTE BY UPCYCLING

Leslie Kelly Shockley with some of her upcycled goods

Leslie Kelly Shockley during her U.S. Peace Corps service in Cantaan, Philippines

Meghan Kelly during her U.S. Peace Corps service in Korotubu, Fiji

Tea With Iris founder Leslie Kelly Shockley creates upcycled goods to promote waste-free living. “Upcycling” transforms unused materials into new products. Shockley, a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (1996-98), recognized the connection between waste management and the environment during her work in the Philippines. She observed how waste management is a daily struggle for rural communities that lack proper landfills. Since their livelihood relies on the health of the environment, the reduction of waste is vital. “I was so impressed on how resourceful the people were in everyday life”, says Shockley.

Shockley’s sister, Meghan Kelly, recently returned from her Peace Corps service (2007-10) in Fiji. She also experienced how community members resourcefully dealt with waste issues.

With their experiences abroad, the two Coachella Valley natives came to realize that many Americans can improve on reducing waste on a daily basis with minimal impact on their lifestyle. Through Tea With Iris, the sisters work together to educate and promote healthy living through gardening, composting, and other simple ways to reduce waste.

Their upcycled products are available in the Riviera boutique in Palm Springs and at Albert & George in Rancho Mirage. Shockley and Kelly will be at the Albert & George grand opening on Friday, December 10. They will also be at the Sacred Heart Christmas Boutique at Rancho Las Palmas Resort on Saturday, December 11 from 9am-2pm. You can also read more about Tea With Iris at www.teawithiris.com