Category Archives: agaves, woody lilies
dog days of August bite garden
My leaning Cussonia gamtoosensis took a serious dive earthward in late August. Like a watched pot that never boils, it’s difficult to discern when a chronically leaning tree is in imminent danger of failing, but clearly the cabbage palm was … Continue reading
Sunday clippings 9/3/17
Did the Powerball mania descend on your home too a couple weeks back? Just because I never buy Powerball or lottery tickets, magical thinking really kicks in when news of the big jackpots reaches even my normally oblivious state of … Continue reading
cooling down the house with a garden; a modest proposal
I know I mostly talk about plants with a micro focus trained on their singularly gorgeous attributes, like Echium wildpretii above, but with this post I’m going to pull out of that narrow focus a bit and go wider. Normally … Continue reading
the August urge for going
Gardeners are by definition rooted and bound to their gardens. Leaving home can mean missing out, and we don’t want to miss a thing, especially in summer. Like this Puya mirabilis’ first bloom in my garden. Why, hello, you beautiful, … Continue reading
friday clippings 7/28/17
I’ve been in an insatiable mood for plant shopping lately. I found this variegated form of Salvia ‘Berggarten’ yesterday at Roger’s Gardens and am putting up its portrait immediately because it may be its last. This salvia and my soil … Continue reading
midsummer tuneup
July is usually the month my garden needs a tuneup, a jolt of the unfamiliar to keep me inspired all summer long. Checking out July Bloom Day posts back to 2013, this July has a lot of the same characters … Continue reading
Sunnylands
Summer Nights in the Garden at L.A.’s Natural History Museum
Wisps of Dalea greggii with opuntia and ‘Sharkskin’ agave atop the Living Wall. Sunset and St. Catherine’s Lace, Eriogonum giganteum Finally, an opportunity to grab some “magic hour” photos of Mia Lehrer’s entrance garden (former parking lot) at the Natural … Continue reading
Susanna Dadd in Pacific Horticulture
This summer issue of Pacific Horticulture is so much fun, filled as it is with lots of familiar faces and voices. All kinds of echoes and ripples from the virtual garden community spill over into this issue. Not only does … Continue reading
Bloom Day July 2017
Don’t laugh, but I really did worry this spring that there might be some gaps and (gasp!) bare soil this summer. I thought I was being much too generous with spacing as I split up grasses over the winter and … Continue reading