Author Archives: Denise

Foreword to Piet Oudolf Landscapes in Landscapes

Posted on August 25, 2011 by Denise

I didn’t dare take this beautiful book on the recent camping trip, so it sat waiting in a quiet house. A couple pages behind the cover’s brisk Helvetica type is this arresting foreword by Robert Hammond, co-founder of the High … Continue reading →

Posted in design, garden travel, MB Maher | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Into The Fog

Posted on August 24, 2011 by Denise

Every August we head for mists and fogs, usually those that creep on cat’s paws and shroud the coastline of Oregon. But this year, squeezed by budget and time constraints, we took the advice of Far Out Flora and Gardenbook … Continue reading →

Posted in garden travel, Plant Portraits | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

Foliage Follow-Up August 2011

Posted on August 16, 2011 by Denise

Thank goodness Pam at Digging hosts a Foliage Follow-Up to May Dreams Gardens Bloom Day. The blooming lineup in my July Bloom Day post can stand in with very little revision for August. Holding down the fort and keeping the … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, Bloom Day, Plant Portraits, succulents | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Inter-City Cactus Show & Sale

Posted on August 14, 2011 by Denise

I went to the show, had my mind blown, took some pictures. In other words, a typical succulent show…except that I introduced myself to a best-selling author on succulents in the landscape and containers and then gushed and fawned and … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, pots and containers, succulents | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Arguing With A Bad-Tempered Gardener

Posted on August 12, 2011 by Denise

What an odd concept, to separate enjoyment of gardens from the process of garden-making. A garden magazine article a couple months ago introduced me to this astonishing notion, when it profiled the owner of a complex garden who spoke intelligently … Continue reading →

Posted in design, essay | Tagged , , , , | 13 Comments

Devils in the Details

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Denise

I’ve been pestering MB Maher to shake loose some more video work, and he keeps telling me the coffers are empty at the moment, that he’s hard at work on a new series on designers tentatively titled Field Studies. However, … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema Botanica, design, garden visit, MB Maher | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

Begonia partita

Posted on August 8, 2011 by Denise

The begonia genus is so vast, that the best approach is to find a guide or mentor to help wade through the many species and hybrids to find the really interesting plants and those most suitable to your tastes and … Continue reading →

Posted in Plant Portraits | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

Succulent Experiments: A Tutorial

Posted on August 6, 2011 by Denise

What a surprise that Apartment Therapy liked the hanging planters for succulents I blogged about recently. The ones made from…um…car jack stands. Which we just happen to have in abundance here at home because there’s a couple 1970’s Volkswagen vans … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema Botanica, Department of Instruction, MB Maher, pots and containers, succulents | Tagged , , , , | 16 Comments

Tropicalissimo Redux

Posted on August 2, 2011 by Denise

Anybody remember “tropicalissimo”? In gardening, it references a word used maybe a decade ago for the then-shocking innovation of incorporating tropicals in summer borders and containers. A fairly mundane practice now. Somewhat counter-intuitively, I’ve found these plants, the alocasia, colocasias, … Continue reading →

Posted in design, pots and containers | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Blue Bottle & Finial

Posted on July 31, 2011 by Denise

I cleaned out my garden shed the other day and found this blue bottle buried under twine and dirty garden gloves dried into angry fist shapes. There was apparently attraction enough at one time for me to squirrel the bottle … Continue reading →

Posted in design, garden ornament, succulents | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments