Garden Party Santa Barbara Style-Viva La Fiesta!
Garden Party Santa Barbara Style!
With Old Spanish Days right around the corner, Fiesta parties aren’t far behind. A Santa Barbara tradition for 92 years, Fiesta is a city-wide party where locals and visitors alike take to the streets, watch the parades and best of all, there are lots of Fiesta parties. As any seasoned Santa Barbara Local will tell you, Fiesta season is Garden Party Season. Don't have a perfect garden? These 6 simple steps will get your garden ready to party in Santa Barbara Style-Viva La Fiesta!
Six Steps To A Party-Perfect Garden
Santa Barbara Old Spanish Days Fiesta Parade
Color-The Secret To A Fiesta-Worthy Garden
Beautiful Color garden fit for a party with Mexican sage, geranium, yarrow
Brightly colored flowers in vivid colors are essential for creating a Fiesta-worthy atmosphere. Choose Ivy Geranium for its long-lasting and easy-care nature in deep red, vibrant rose, intense violet; add a touch of yellow with a few marigolds for the perfect combination for a summer celebration.
Light It Up!
Lumarias along meandering garden path to garden party
Brighten up your garden with lighting the easy way. Make luminaria by putting sand in the bottom of plain white paper bags, place a votive candle in each and place them along your paths. Strings of plain white light bulbs are all the fashion right now and will add a bit of magic to any garden setting.
Give It Some Love
Bird bath surrounded by colorful perennials, Mexican evening primrose, penstemon, red ivy geranium, iris, alyssum
Go through your garden and “give it some love” by picking/clipping or just pulling off spent leaves, flowers and dead branches. Keep this up until every plant is garden party perfect.
Mulch-One Step Instant Improvement
Your garden will look better instantly if you do this ONE STEP: put a deep layer of mulch on every square inch of earth (don’t cover the plants, please). A fresh coat of mulch makes a garden look neat and clean in record time.
Grab Your Broom
Take a walk around your garden party area and look around. If you are like any normal person, there are cobwebs, dust and debris on the eaves, walls, porches, etc. Grab your broom and sweep everything down including garden furniture for an extra sparkle.
Wash it Down
With the recent fires, and the general lack of rain, everything is dusty! After you mulch, and sweep away all the debris, wash it all down. You may have sooty mold or waxy dust. If this is the case and plain water isn’t doing the trick, use a bit of soapy water to clean off plants-and even your woodwork and outdoor surfaces. Best choice is Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint Castile soap (1 Tbs per quart of water). Get a large sponge and start washing every thing down. The bonus is Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint soap is also good for pest control.
It's Time To Fiesta!
A garden party is the perfect way to celebrate summer and fiesta
Now that your garden is dazzling invite over a few friends or even a few strangers and get ready for the compliments.Until next time, Viva La Fiesta!