Category Archives: succulents
Dirty Diggers plant sale (describing a beschorneria in bloom)
The beschorneria in bloom is a bit of an attention hog. Stepping outside, it’s the first thing that grabs my attention; the wonder of it, the unlikely circumstance of it forming a bloom over winter. I check over and over … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, Oregon garden, plant sales, succulents
8 Comments
Presidio Tunnel Tops
I first heard of what has come to be known as the Presidio Tunnel Tops in 2015, when visiting landscape architect Rania Reyes mentioned her involvement in a new Presidio Parklands Project in San Francisco. Rania was being given a … Continue reading
Posted in design, garden travel, garden visit, MB Maher, succulents
9 Comments
back in the Oregon Coast garden spring 2026
It’s raining. There’s tons to do. Five minutes home and we’re already chopping up the neighbor’s downed tree limb and beginning cleanup. Absent since November, there’s that burning question immediately upon arrival in spring: How did the garden fare over … Continue reading
Sherman Gardens & Library under renovation March 2026
With the heat wave mostly over, yesterday I drove south to Newport Beach for some garden time. Bathed in the cool coastal conditions at the Pacific Ocean, the Sherman Gardens & Library are a genteel lunch and garden destination that … Continue reading
Posted in garden visit, journal, plant sales, pots and containers, succulents
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notes on the March heatwave
Monday morning dawned fresh and cool with a minor epiphany. Stepping out the backdoor, the opening of the first poppy scrambles a sleepy brain with the sensation of a delicate jellyfish floating over the garden (upside down). This week’s West … Continue reading
another spiral aloe
Some plant failures just don’t let go. Three tries is generally considered reasonable, but after that? After that, reason doesn’t have much to do with it anymore. At my local nursery, coming upon a few gallons of the spiral aloe, … Continue reading
Posted in journal, Los Angeles garden post 2024, succulents
4 Comments
a cautious welcome to 2026
A pot of posole bubbles on the stove as the garden soaks up last night’s downpour. I’ve moved on from coffee to green tea to quiet a scratchy throat. The spicy posole will be therapeutic as well. Then maybe a … Continue reading
rainiest December in LA history
Los Angeles is having its rainiest December ever, which has everyone on edge because wildfire-scarred land doesn’t absorb rain well and tends toward runoff. A good portion of this rainy munificence fell inconveniently on heavy travel days over the 24th, … Continue reading
notes from the December garden/Los Angeles
December temps have been in the 80’sF, astonishing even to this lifelong Angeleno. Fairly quickly I’ve re-adapted to the prevailing attitude that keeping track of the weather is mostly irrelevant here. I left checking hourly weather forecasts behind in Oregon … Continue reading
resuming rambles around town
Spending winter in Los Angeles means I get to indulge a lifelong passion for looking at old stuff that goes way back to thrift-shopping in high school. (Seriously, we were dressing like Annie Hall before the movie came out.) Other … Continue reading