Category Archives: succulents
what’s on the table
In the garden, the development of this little silene has been incredibly exciting, however much it underwhelms the camera. My normally sober-as-a-judge succulent garden is having a deliriously frothy moment this first week of May.
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, journal, pots and containers, succulents
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Worldwide Exotics Nursery
It was that article in the Los Angeles Times sometime in the ’90s, accompanied by a photo of Gary Hammer crouched in a rock crevice or slot canyon with a curtain of waterfall flowing behind him. The article that christened … Continue reading
a day of mystery plant shopping
It started off mid-Saturday morning May 1 at Ray and Netty’s plant sale at their home in Atwater Village. There in the driveway was a 3-gallon plant beckoning me with the intriguing tag “mystery euphorbia.” Ray Valentine really knows how … Continue reading
Posted in garden visit, journal, plant sales, pots and containers, succulents
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spring-blooming Aloe camperi
There are so many, many great aloes. A collector’s garden of aloes in zone 10 is a serious temptation. As are agaves. My desire skips like a stone across both these great groups of succulents, trying not to sink into … Continue reading
Posted in Plant Portraits, succulents
3 Comments
April garden journal
Because the Alstroemeria ‘Indian Summer’ I had previously tried to establish here had failed to thrive, I assumed that it was dead, not dormant, when I replanted this rocky area in November. Which was fine, because I was going in … Continue reading
Posted in journal, plant nurseries, Plant Portraits, succulents
10 Comments
Yucca ‘Magenta Magic’
Seems like only yesterday we were all very excited about Yucca aloifolia ‘Blue Boy,’ with enticing photos whizzing by with some regularity on blogs and public garden websites. So much exciting potential for dry gardens! In my garden, they never … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, succulents
8 Comments
introducing Nicotiana mutabilis
The back of the garden is a bit crazy right now, what with the miscanthus, the flowering tobacco, Eryngium pandanifolium, Roldana petasites, kangaroo paws and others jostling to claim their allotment of soil and sun. And if that wasn’t enough, … Continue reading
Posted in journal, plant nurseries, Plant Portraits, pots and containers, succulents
5 Comments
clippings 3/23/21
The poppies self-sown into the new gravel area have grown so tall I wasn’t sure if they were my old standbys, the smaller statured Papaver setigerum. Blooms opening this week confirmed that indeed they are, but just gaining a bit … Continue reading
Posted in Cinema Botanica, clippings, journal, succulents
8 Comments
recent garden distractions
Does the world distract me from my garden or the garden distract me from the world? The balance has been different at various times in my life, so I like that the relationship is flexible. Spending most of my days … Continue reading