Watergarden San Jose

Up yours!

It's that time again. Up Your Alley (aka Dore Alley) street fair is just a few weeks away (Sunday, July 31). In brief, the fair originated in 1985 as the Ringold Alley Street Fair (on the infamous Ringold Alley between 8th & 9th Streets) and was intended in part as a sort of "Folsom Street Fair for the locals." The street fair officially became "Up Your Alley" when it moved to Dore Alley in 1987. Both the Up Your Alley and Folsom Street fairs are run by the nonprofit Folsom Street Events, who focus specifically on the San Francisco adult alternative communities. The fairs and other events they organize or fund year-round raise money for over 15 different local beneficiaries. In 2010 alone, they raised over 325k.

A couple of highlights are: 1) Bay of Pigs, the official Saturday night event (July 30) of Up Your Alley weekend, from 10 p.m.-4 a.m., at 525 Howard St., featuring DJs Frank Wild and Paul Goodyear; 2) Play, the official Up Your Alley T-Dance & Closing Party at the Mezzanine (444 Jessie St.) on Sun., July 31, from 5 p.m. to Midnight. Those are just two of the many events going on during the weekend. Check out their website at www.folsomstreetfair.com for details about these and the other events they organize and/or sponsor. Most events have discount specials if you purchase tickets early.

Sirs & boys & bootblacks: oh my! The International Leather Sir/boy and Bootblack weekend runs concurrently with Up Your Alley, at the Holiday Inn Golden Gateway (1500 Van Ness) from July 28-30. The highlights of the weekend are the two contest nights: Part 1 on Friday night (8-10 p.m.) and Part 2 on Saturday night (5-8 p.m.). Both are early enough to give everyone time to enjoy the Up Your Alley events later on each night, so no excuses!

The contests feature over 22 contestants in the Sir/boy categories, and nine in the Bootblack category. The producers and their staff made last year's events incredible fun. This year should be no different. Go to: www.leathersir.com for details, including info about all the great workshops and events planned during the days.

Naturally, I wish everyone luck, but I'm biased towards our own California contestants: Bootblack Luna, LeatherSIR Todd, and Leatherboy Mike. I think California should win everything, all the time. Good thing I'm not a judge. Speaking of which, the judging panel is a who's who of the accomplished in our community. Judging the Sirs and boys are: Master Mike Zuhl, Master Tony Palazzo, Brad Hill, Boy Stallion, Debra Isadora, Luke Daniels, Race Bannon, Queen Cougar. Judging the bootblacks are: "black," Syr Evan, Lamalani, Driller, boy Elena Franco, and Master C. I've been on judging panels before and it's not easy, but if anyone can pick some good representatives for our community, this crew can.

20 GRAPE HYACINTH FALL BULBS POND WATER GARDEN PLANT | Landscaping ...

Establishing Your Water Garden

ESTABLISHING YOUR WATER GARDENING  

Water gardening is a pleasant hobby especially if your water gardens is blooming with water lilies, hyacinths and lotus are beautifully and pleasingly in good sights. 

Combined with ferns and evergreens and filled with exotic fishes, your water garden becomes charming aquatic garden full of life and beauty. 

Preparing the garden  

Generally, there are two types of water gardens: the formal and informal. 

The type of water garden should harmonize with the home flower garden or with the surrounding premises. 

Concrete pools, tubs and aquariums are artificial water gardens which adds beauty and elegance to a place.

 You should treat your water garden like a well-balance aquarium to maintain clear water. The bottom should be filled with rich clayey soil to provide enough plant food. 

Add sad, fine gravel and rocks on top to prevent the water from having a muddy appearance caused by the movement of fish and other aquatic animals. 

You have to place around the water garden some flower beds, wooden or concrete benches ad sculptured garden ornaments to cast reflections on the water surface. 

Some plants ideal for water garden  

The followings are floating, submerged or semi-aquatic plants that may be grown in water garden. 

1)     Water lily hybrids

2)     Lotus, Nelumbium elumbo 

3)     Umbrella plant 

4)     Water hyacinths 

5)     Pickerel weed 

6)     Quiapo 

7)     Striped corn plant 

8)     Corn plant 

9)     Baston de San Jose 

10) Fragrant dracaena 

11) San Francisco 

12) Aglaonema 

13) Varieties of papua 

14) Varieties of dieffenbachia 

15) Coleus, mayana 

16) Philodendron 

17) Yellow water plant 

18) Wandering Jew 

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Cris Ramasasa, Freelance writer, writes about home gardening and Internet marketing tips. You can get a copy of his latest ebook “How to get started in Flower Gardening” and “Vegetable Gardening Made Easy”, also get lots of tips, Free articles, and bonuses  at: www.crisramasasa.