Category Archives: agaves, woody lilies
green walls around town
The Smog Shoppe, a special event venue in Culver City owned by Woolly Pocket creator Miguel Nelson, famously deployed the pockets on its cinder-block facade in 2009, which has since been regularly reported on by local media and blogs. I’d … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, design, driveby gardens, succulents
Tagged aeoniums, Agave attenuata, California, Crassula multicava, Culver City, designer Miguel Nelson, green walls, Senecio mandraliscae, Senecio vitalis, Singapore, the Garden City, The Smog Shoppe, Woolly Pockets
Comments Off on green walls around town
the desert gardens of Steve Martino
I’m checking the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days website daily now, anxiously awaiting full publication of this year’s schedule. I’m expanding my radius to include Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona, Palm Springs, California, New Mexico, anyplace I’ll be likely to find some … Continue reading
Bloom Day March 2014
Typical for March, the reseeding poppies are the biggest showboats in my garden at the moment. Anticipating where and against what backdrop another loopy-necked bloom will open each morning is a huge part of their appeal. Summer-dormant Pelargonium echinatum has … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, Bloom Day
Tagged Agave lophantha 'Quadricolor', Andrew Lawson, blue oat grass, Broughton Grange, Digiplexis 'Illumination Flame', Disocactus flagelliformis or Rattail cactus, dyckias, Euphorbia rigida, Helicotrichon sempervirens, Manihot grahamii, Orlaya grandiflora, Papaver rupifragum, Papaver setigerum, Pelargonium 'Crocodile', Pelargonium echinatum, Phlomis lanata, Salvia flava, Solanum pyracanthum, Tom Stuart-Smith, Verbena lilacina
10 Comments
the Taft Garden
“Ancient geologic forces shaped the Ojai Valley that modern-day visitors find so attractive. This part of Ventura County lies in a region geologists call the Transverse Range Province. Transverse means “lying across,” and the mountains and valleys in these parts … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, garden visit, pots and containers, succulents
Tagged Aloe striata, aloes, Australian Native Plants Nursery, Australian plants, Brachychiton rupestris, cussonias, Jo O'Connell, leucospermums, Ojai Valley, Pacific Horticulture, proteaceae family, South African plants, Taft Garden, The Mediterranean Garden Society, Transverse Range Province, Ventura County, Xanthorrhoea
20 Comments
Agave geminiflora
Agave geminiflora spangled in morning dew is one of my favorite sights these mornings. Slow growing, doesn’t offset, rare denizen of open oak woodland in Mexico, and just about everybody agrees the best thing in a container since Nutella. The … Continue reading
agaves love company
At least I think they do, because I’m forcing them to get along. It might be closer to the truth to admit that it’s me that loves the company of agaves. Because if that’s love Mr. Ripple is showing the … Continue reading
back at the ranch
All day long this past work- and appointment-filled Wednesday I clung to the idea of fitting in a short visit to Rancho Los Alamitos. I’d heard there were some changes with the barns, and there was a new foal, all … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, design, garden ornament, garden travel, garden visit, pots and containers, succulents
Tagged Agave franzosinii, Alexander Cassatt, Beaumontia grandiflora, California rancho period, Ficus macrophylla, Florence Bixby, Florence Yoch, Frederick Law Olmstead, historical preservation, Huntington Desert Garden, Mary Cassatt, Moreton Bay Fig tree, Penn Station, Rancho Los Alamitos, Rosa banksiae 'Lutea', Shire draught horses, Solandra maxima, William Hertrich
7 Comments
Modernism Week in Palm Springs
It’s Modernism Week in Palm Springs, so what architectural gem did I visit? A Wexler steel house? Maybe a Neutra? Nope, but I did visit a cactarium, the world’s first. The cactarium belongs to the Moorten Botanical Garden, a small, … Continue reading
the new courthouse
Governor George Deukmejian Courthouse, Long Beach, California The old, crumbling, brutalist-era courthouse where I did a lot of jury duty time was finally, mercifully shuttered, its broken escalators never to confound us again, and the new courthouse went up a … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, climate, design, driveby gardens, succulents
Tagged AECOM, artemisia, Berkeley Sedge, Carex tumulicola, COR-TEN steel, FASLA, Governor George Deukmejian Courthouse, Hesperaloe parviflora, ipe wood, Joseph E. Brown, landscape architecture, LEED buildings, miscanthus, raised planters, Senecio mandraliscae, Superior Court of Los Angeles County
8 Comments
cowboy corgi and the giant hesperaloe
The corgi got a bath, the hesperaloe got away. Bathed and brushed and made to wear a silly bandana, which he bears with his usual dog grace. Just like cowboys, everybody gets a bath here for the weekend. A recent … Continue reading