Author Archives: Denise

weekend plans

Posted on March 9, 2018 by Denise

Any big plans this weekend? We’re promised some rain, so it won’t be warm enough for pool parties. I’m meeting up with a friend this Sunday at the Huntington. While she’s traveling in Southern California, she’ll be visiting another garden … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, artists, garden travel, garden visit, MB Maher, succulents | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

wednesday vignette

Posted on March 7, 2018 by Denise

High up on a windy hill, on the site of an old quarry, two people level and plant and build and dig and move rock to mend a gouge in the earth. Each night cautious paws softly explore the smooth, … Continue reading →

Posted in clippings, garden visit | 6 Comments

this week in the garden; more silver leaves

Posted on February 28, 2018 by Denise

Silver plants have sneakily become a new obsession. I should qualify that as unfamiliar silver plants, ones I haven’t grown before, and I’ve grown a lot. (Last year’s silver crush was the Afghan fig ‘Silver Lyre,’ mail-ordered from Cistus, a … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, journal, plant crushes | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Kate Ballis’ Infra Realism; Palm Springs as you’ve never seen it before

Posted on February 23, 2018 by Denise

In a sharp rebuke to my last post about how balmy the weather has been, this unexpected February cold front afflicting the West Coast has me and the cat cooped up in the garden hut/office as close to the space … Continue reading →

Posted in artists, clippings, design, photography | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

friday clippings 2/16/18

Posted on February 16, 2018 by Denise

dark background is the creeping fig wall (Ficus pumila covering 6-foot high CMU wall, extending 2 feet up from the top, for a privacy-enhancing 8-foot wall) It’s been an incredibly balmy week in Los Angeles, notwithstanding a teasingly insufficient bit … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, artists, clippings, design, garden travel, journal, MB Maher, pots and containers | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

a much-delayed visit to Descanso Gardens

Posted on February 9, 2018 by Denise

I was determined to attend botanist Jeff Chemnick‘s talk on plant exploration in Oaxaca, Mexico, yesterday, 7 p.m., hosted by SoCal Hort, located in an auditorium within spitting distance of Griffith Park. I had just visited his home garden/nursery in … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, garden travel, garden visit, journal, succulents | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

a faithful February friend

Posted on February 6, 2018 by Denise

The Cactus Geranium, Pelargonium echinatum, has been brightening my February for over a decade. And it just might be one of the most well-documented plants on the blog. This photo from February 12, 2013, is one of many over the … Continue reading →

Posted in plant crushes, Plant Portraits | Tagged | 2 Comments

monday clippings 2/5/18

Posted on February 5, 2018 by Denise

There’s an unexpected addition to the container garden, and not one that I’d necessarily pick out of a lineup as an especially attractive succulent, like Agave ‘Kissho Kan’ in the foreground. I encountered this little space oddity on a walk … Continue reading →

Posted in clippings, journal, pots and containers, succulents | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

the January report

Posted on February 1, 2018 by Denise

Another January gone. There have been nine reported on the blog. A lot has changed, but a lot is still weirdly the same. (For example, my obsession with poppies and agaves.) Inconsistent, ambivalent, flighty — those are the words that … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, blog, succulents | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Australian garden design

Posted on January 31, 2018 by Denise

Australia. Big continent. Vast, you might say. My familiarity with Australian garden design, however, is the opposite of vast. Southwestern Australia is one of the five true mediterranean climate zones, like where I live here in Los Angeles — dry … Continue reading →

Posted in artists, climate, design, garden travel | Tagged , , , , , , | 10 Comments