Author Archives: Denise

the first summer dahlias and a freakish summer rain

Posted on July 11, 2013 by Denise

I moved the dahlias to the community garden this year and am so very glad I did. Just as in my own small home garden last year, the plant is a sprawling mess, but now I don’t have to look … Continue reading →

Posted in climate, cut flowers, edibles | Tagged community garden, cutting gardens, Dahlia 'Chat Noir', dahlias, Pole beans Trionfo Violetto, solanaceae family | 13 Comments

the High Line in June

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Denise

For about five days in mid-June a small group of us toured gardens on Long Island, NY, with the last day, Sunday, dedicated to visiting the High Line and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, which seemed a perfect ending to the … Continue reading →

Posted in garden travel, garden visit | Tagged Allium, astilbe, Baptisia alba, Dalea purpurea, Echinacea pallida, Eremurus, Knautia macedonia, New York gardens, Stachys 'Hummelo', The High Line Park | 16 Comments

a much anticipated visit to the garden of Shirley Watts

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Denise

I’ve been home for over a week, but I left my heart in….okay, not my heart, because that’s solidly esconced here at home in the LBC, but I think I may have left my sensorium in San Francisco. On the … Continue reading →

Posted in artists, garden ornament, garden visit, MB Maher, pots and containers, succulents | Tagged "Natural Discourse", Bay Area gardens, Begonia grandis, Echeveria nodulosa, Leslie Bennett of Star Apple Edible Gardens, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Mathiasella bupleuroides, Mimulus naiandinus 'Mega', Nicotiana sylvestris, The Rose Grocery garden, University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley, verbascums | 1 Comment

scenes from the garden 7/6/13

Posted on July 7, 2013 by Denise

There’s an unspoken Upstairs/Downstairs, front garden/back garden dynamic at home, as I suspect there is with most hands-on gardens. Most of the front garden isn’t tinkered with much anymore, needs little attention, more of just keeping an eye on sizes. … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, Bulbs, garden travel, garden visit, plant nurseries, Plant Portraits, succulents | Tagged Annie's Annuals & Perennials, Calamintha nepeta 'Gottlieb Friedkund., Cuphea viscosissima, Digging Dog Nursery, Dymondia margaretae, eucomis, Euphorbia atropurpurea, Phormium 'Alison Blackman', proteaceae family | 7 Comments

Garden Bloggers Fling 2013; Matt Gil Sculpture Garden

Posted on July 4, 2013 by Denise

Second garden on Friday, designed for a work/live fabrication studio and sculpture display space in a light industrial neighborhood of San Francisco. We are an avid bunch, craning necks, snapping cameras, firing off questions (my bad habit). I have to … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, garden travel, garden visit, plant nurseries, pots and containers, succulents | Tagged Agave 'Blue Glow', Agave americana var. medio-picta 'Alba', Agave parryi var. truncata, Aloe plicatilis, anigozanthos/kangaroo paws, Annie's Annuals & Perennials, California poppy, cussonia, Dan Carlson of Wigglestem Gardens, Dramm garden supplies, Eschscholtzia californica, Garden Bloggers Fling 2013 San Francisco, Geranium incanum, hillside garden, Matt Gil Sculpture Garden, protea | 6 Comments

Garden Bloggers Fling 2013; Organic Mechanics Garden

Posted on July 3, 2013 by Denise

The first garden on Friday was created in the courtyard between two apartment buildings originally gifted to twin sisters by their father in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco. The Organic Mechanics, James Pettigrew and Sean Stout, see opportunity where … Continue reading →

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, artists, design, garden travel | Tagged Agave ovatifolia, Garden Bloggers Fling 2013 San Francisco, James Pettigrew and Sean Stout, Leucadendron linifolium, Organic Mechanics, salvage | 7 Comments

favorite plant of the week: Echeveria ‘Opal Moon’

Posted on July 2, 2013 by Denise

Loree at Danger Garden has been faithfully reporting on her favorite plant in the garden every week and has asked others to join in when so inspired. So many succulents dangle or trail their blooms, but these blooms are hoisted … Continue reading →

Posted in Plant Portraits, succulents | Tagged Alstroemeria isabellana, Bomarea, Echeveria 'Opal Moon', Far Reaches Farm, Loree's Danger Garden | 1 Comment

Occasional Daily Photo 7/1/13

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Denise

The garden continued its beguiling ways while I was away, offering up new studies in green and blue, umbellifer and thistle, as the samphire, Crithmum maritimum, sent up blooms through the eryngium that just gets bluer and bluer every day. … Continue reading →

Posted in MB Maher, Occasional Daily Photo | Tagged Crithmum maritimum, Eryngium planum, Garden Bloggers Fling 2013 San Francisco, MB Maher, Shirley Watts | 4 Comments

our far-flung fling

Posted on June 29, 2013 by Denise

We move too quickly to keep up. There is much to say about the team at Organic Mechanics, photos to share of a vast and wine-fueled dinner at the Conservatory of Flowers, stories to tell of the city itself as … Continue reading →

Posted in artists, design, garden ornament, garden travel, garden visit, MB Maher, photography | 12 Comments

gardens hate traveling

Posted on June 26, 2013 by Denise

I love to travel, but my garden hates it. But, theoretically, it really shouldn’t be that difficult, leaving the garden for a few days in late June. Most of the pots are filled with succulents this summer. Nothing too tricky. … Continue reading →

Posted in creatures, garden travel, pots and containers, succulents | Tagged Aeonium 'Lily Pad', Echeveria, Ein the wonder corgi, Garden Bloggers Fling 2013 San Francisco, Moussonia elegans, Musschia wollastonii | 1 Comment