Category Archives: succulents

Occasional Daily Photo 4/21/12

Some mornings the poppies do an especially fine job of arranging their blooms throughout the gravel garden. Orange notes from Papaver rupifragum and dyckia (I know I keep referring to this bit of garden as the “gravel garden,” which it … Continue reading

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221 North Figueroa Street, Los Angeles

From the tenth floor looks like this: And at ground level. Aloes, furcraea, Kalanchoe thyrsiflora, Senecio mandraliscae, Dichondra argentea. One of the most successful public plantings of succulents I’ve seen around town. It’s been at least five years since I … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, design, succulents | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Foliage Followup April 2012

Grasses and agaves, yes, of course, solidity and movement, so why not grasses and aloes? A youngish Aloe marlothii and the evergreen cold blue steel blades of Blue Oat Grass, Helicotrichon sempervirens. I can’t imagine keeping a plant in the … Continue reading

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a lull between rainstorms

Two storms this week, unusual for April. February is usually our wettest month. The first storm arrived around midnight Tuesday, the other is due later tonight. Just before the first storm, leaves were swept, tables and chairs straightened. Later that … Continue reading

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last day of March 2012

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Bloom Day March 2012

A dead car battery after work has me skidding and sliding to make the Bloom Day deadline. Some of the new plants I ordered for spring became candidates for March Bloom Day literally right out of the box. Like this … Continue reading

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winter walkabout

Les of A Tidewater Gardener frequently posts some of the most beautiful landscape photography to be found on garden blogs. On his blog you may be introduced, as I was, to John Irving-esque names of natural phenomena like The Great … Continue reading

Posted in agaves, woody lilies, garden visit, Plant Portraits, succulents, The Hortorialist | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

blue/yellow/green

Where were we? I’ve been working at the day job like a navvy, trying to clear some time for spring garden visits, shows and whatnot. But the garden in March initiates a measured sequence of distractions, which can really mess … Continue reading

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Foliage Followup February 2012

Pam at Digging hosts this sequel to Bloom Day on the 16th of each month, a chance to stand up for photosynthesis and plead a case for the slighted leaf, doomed in most gardens to forever playing second fiddle to … Continue reading

Posted in MB Maher, Plant Portraits, pots and containers, succulents | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments

mid-week garden jaunt

There is a beloved, family-owned nursery in Pasadena that, over the past couple years, has become breathtakingly expensive. My now-20-foot Chinese fringe tree was bought here as a sapling they raised from seed. Many of my agaves were found here, … Continue reading

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